New manager George Kay could not do much to save the 1929/30 season which saw the Town finish a disappointing thirteenth, but during the following summer went back to his old club West Ham, who he had captained in the first F.A.Cup final at Wembley in 1923, and signed Tom Hodgson for £100.  Little did he know that Hodgson would remain involved with the club for over fifty years as player, director, chairman and finally president.

The new campaign got off to another poor start but after Christmas things gradually improved and with Andy Rennie now fully fit after an injury hit period during the previous season the team finished a creditable seventh.  Supporters were right to wonder why the players could not have put on performances during the first part of the season as they had the second, as the division was there for the taking.

The Town and Clapton Orient really got to know each other during the 1930/31 season.  Drawn together in the F.A.Cup the teams drew 2-2 at Luton but the Town were victorious in the replay at Highbury. Arsenal’ s ground was used because the authorities had decreed that the fence surrounding Orient’s new Lea Bridge enclosure was too close to the pitch with the playing area then too small if the lines were re-drawn.

With the Town obviously still in the F.A.Cup, a scheduled home league game against Orient was changed to the Monday afternoon of 15th December but no-one appeared to have told the referee and linesmen who did not turn up.  A local referee was eventually found and after borrowing a whistle from a police officer started the game almost an hour late. With the away side winning 4-3 bad light and fog eventually caused the game to be abandoned with 20 minutes left which was no surprise given the time of year!

When the game was eventually played the Town went down 0-1 in a bad tempered contest which saw ace marksman Andy Rennie dismissed for the only time in his career.  “He dared me to pull his nose so I did”, said Rennie afterwards.  For nose pulling read thumping which was not the thing to do right in front of the referee. 

Rennie’s subsequent suspension meant that he missed the away league game at Clapton which the Town lost 2-3.

Thames Association Football Club enjoyed a brief, exciting but ultimately unsuccessful life in the east end of London as a club formed to play at the new West Ham Stadium. Born in 1928, Thames was the brainchild of a quick talking showman who wanted a football club to fit in alongside his speedway team and his greyhound racing. 

Immediately accepted into the Southern League it was only two years before they had remarkably been voted in to the Football League. Albeit situated in a densely populated area Thames were on the doorstep of West Ham and Clapton Orient with Arsenal and Tottenham not much further away and it is little wonder that they struggled crowd wise from the off which must have been particularly galling to the men in charge who saw spectators dotted around a stadium that had held 64,000 for speedway and 56,000 for greyhound racing!

When the Town visited Thames in December 1930 a crowd of only 469 turned up which was a new low for a Saturday game, a Football League record which stands to this day. The Town received a postal order for 1/8d (8p) in respect of their share of the gate which was framed and hung on the boardroom wall.

Such was the Town’s poor form in the first half of the season that they went down 0-1 to Thames in the east end fog although in mitigation the players had just got through a tough F. A. Cup replay only two days before.

By the time of the return the Town were in a rich vein of form but were surprised when Thames took the game to them and were the stronger side for the opening 15 minutes. George McNestry then opened the scoring against the run of play before Archie Clark netted from the spot after a Thames defender handled the ball. Robert Bryce and Jimmy Yardley then scored before the interval and as the players left the pitch the crowd of 6,029 could not believe the scoreline.

The second half started the same as the first with Thames having all the play only for the Town to net four more in the final twenty minutes with McNestry, Yardley, Jackie Slicer and Archie Heslop all on the scoresheet.

For the record, Thames finished bottom of the table in 1931/32, did not seek re-election and quietly folded never to be seen again.

Luton: Harford, Kingham, Hodgson, Clark, McGinnigle, Fraser, Heslop, McNestry, Yardley, Bryce, Slicer.

Thames Association: Bailey, Donnelly, Smith, Warner, Spence, Igoe, Le May, McCarthy, Perry, Phillips, Mann.

Below: Jimmy Yardley forces Thames 'keeper, and former Hatter, Harry Bailey into a save. 

As the 1930/31 season drew to a close, money problems re-surfaced as they have done with predictable regularity throughout the club’s history. The upshot of this was to transfer half-back Archie Clark to Everton for £1,250. Clark had been the Town’s record signing in 1928 but this counted for nothing as he became yet another of the ‘family jewels’ sold to keep the club afloat.

Although the thoughts of manager Kay are not recorded he was no doubt miffed at the transfer and only a few days after the transaction was signing a new contract himself when Southampton of Division Two stepped in to offer him the trappings of a buying club rather than a selling one.

The Town’s directors acted very quickly and only two weeks after Kay’s departure had appointed Harold Wightman to the hot seat at a salary of £300 per annum plus the free use of the club owned house at 24 Kenilworth Road. Wightman, who had been assistant manager at promoted Notts County the previous season, had built a reputation as one of the games new breed of ‘thinkers’.

Whether he questioned the Board’s ambitions is not known but only two months after pleading abject poverty they splashed out an amazing £1,800 on two Bolton Wanderers players, Fred Kean and Tom Tait. Ex-England international half-back Kean and highly regarded goalscorer Tait were seen as a major coup by football commentators and perhaps an indication of the new progressive attitude of the Board.

Behind the scenes, though, it soon became obvious that the Town could not afford such an outlay and when the team failed to make a meaningful impact in the new season and it was realised that the bold bid to ‘chase the dream’ was not going to reap fruit, costs had to be cut and player sales became inevitable. In March 1932 centre-forward Jimmy Yardley was sold to Charlton for £850 and young winger George Turner, who had made only 16 appearances in the first team since signing the previous summer, went to Everton for £1,000.

On the face of it, the books had been balanced but the Town took a further 18 months to finally pay off Bolton for Tait and Kean despite many threats of reporting the matter to the footballing authorities.

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With all the off field money problems facing the club, a good run in the F.A.Cup was vital and after an amazing 5-0 win at Swindon and a 4-1 replay victory over Lincoln the reward was a tie with Division Two leaders Wolves at Kenilworth Road.

A decent crowd of 16,945 turned up to see Wolves take an early lead when Wilf Lowton scored from the spot after Hugh McGinnigle handled a goalbound shot. This fifth minute upset did not upset the Town unduly and if they had taken their chances they would have been ahead at the interval.

Presumably something was said to the Wolves players at half-time, as during the second period they were all over the Town and pulled the defence all over the place before Charlie Phillips doubled the lead after showing clever anticipation to get on the end of a cross.

The game was not without its twists and turns though as, with Wolves relaxing in the final quarter, the Town put on a grandstand finish with Jimmy Yardley volleying in Andy Rennie’s cross with five minutes to go and then seeing a shot hit a defender on the line, then a post before going behind in the closing seconds.

Luton Town: Imrie, Kingham, Hodgson, Kean, McGinnigle, Fraser, McNestry, Tait, Yardley, Rennie, Slicer.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Whittaker, Lowton, Lumberg, Rhodes, Hollingsworth, Richards, Phillips, Bottrill, Hartill, Deacon, Barraclough.

Below: A packed crowd for the visit of Wolves.

During the summer of 1932, boxing and wrestling tournaments were put on at Kenilworth Road in a bid to raise funds to pay the players wages over the close season as well as try to make some inroads into the debt owed to Bolton. Any money raised, though, was spent on bringing Tom Mackey and Davie Hutchison from Sheffield Wednesday and Carlisle respectively.

It can be seen that the Board were desperate for promotion but their handling of the financial side of the club was bizarre and surely not something they would have subjected their own companies to.

The next bombshell to hit the club was the possibility of allowing greyhound racing at Kenilworth Road. In October 1932 a request was made from a Mr Lewis Cooper to use the ground for greyhound racing. Having checked out Mr Cooper with the National Greyhound Association, a deputation of directors paid a visit to Watford, who then had a greyhound track at Vicarage Road, and Bristol Rovers, who then played at Eastville, another elliptical ground with plenty of room for greyhound racing.

A proposition was then put forward that a lease be granted for 7, 14 or 21 years on the basis of £4,000 up front and then £500 per annum rent for the first seven years, £650 per annum for the second seven years and £750 per annum for the third. Also any damage to the pitch to be made good at their expense.

The greyhound consortium came back with a counter bid of £20,000 for the ground lock, stock and barrel which was accepted by the Board subject to approval and licence by the National Greyhound Association. The approval was not forthcoming presumably because it became blindingly obvious that Kenilworth Road was not suited for anything that involved a track being laid unless, of course, the club had decided to seek an alternative home.

Fortune then smiled on Luton Town Football Club in the shape of a magnificent run in the F.A.Cup which took the Hatters through to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

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It would be fair to say that the Town’s F.A.Cup first round pairing with Kingstonian of the Isthmian League hardly caused a ripple of excitement in the environs of Kenilworth Road given the fact that the Town had never got anywhere near the ‘twin-towers’ of Wembley in the past.

Kingstonian were just about the strongest non-league outfit around at the time as proved by their lifting of the Amateur Cup at the season’s end and the championship the following year. A crowd of 7,701 gathered at Kenilworth Road to see the Town lucky to escape with a 2-2 draw and the replay was no easier, watched by a then record crowd at Richmond Road, but this time the Hatters scraped through 3-2.

It was off to uncharted territory in the next round with the club’s first ever meeting with Stockport County of Division Three (North). Although the final scoreline of 3-2 in the Town’s favour looked close, a 3-1 lead had been built up only for the home side to net a consolation in the final minute. Stockport goalkeeper, Thomas Gale, was blamed for two of the goals including one from the Town’s Fred Kean which he thought was drifting wide and therefore made no attempt at saving.

A hard fought 0-0 draw at Barnsley, again of Division Three (North), brought the Tykes back to Luton and following a 2-0 win in the replay, with prolific marksman Andy Rennie bagging both goals, F.A.Cup euphoria at last swept through the streets of the town.

The reason for the euphoria was plain to see as the mighty Tottenham were to be the visitors to Kenilworth Road for the fourth round tie.

Although ‘only’ a Division Two side, Spurs were on their way to promotion at the season’s end and boasted a proud F.A.Cup pedigree having won the trophy in both 1901 and 1921.

Tottenham supporters, confident after their teams 6-0 win at Oldham in the previous round, started arriving at Luton very early on the day of the game having caught the first available trains out of London and by 7.30am were staging an impromptu kickabout on the Moor.

By mid-day queues stretched all the way down Hazelbury Crescent and two hours later the gates were closed with 17,213 in the ground. Some 21 coaches from London were parked along Dunstable Road and the site of the old Town ground was used as an overspill car park.

The pitch was hard and icy and would doubtless be regarded as unplayable today but the Town’s groundstaff had used a steamroller on the morning of the game to iron out the ruts and at least make the playing area flat.

With the gates closed, various supporters walked around the pitch in fancy dress including one using two frying pans as cymbals. Such was the crush that younger supporters were allowed to sit in front of the perimeter walls and fences.

The Luton players were definitely up for the game and adapted far better to the conditions for within 20 minutes they were two goals to the good courtesy of strikes from Tom Alderson and Tommy Tait with both efforts being set up by Arthur Mills, deputising for the injured Rennie.

Spurs huffed and puffed in an effort to get back into the game but Taffy O’Callaghan’s shot that hit the bar was the closest they came to scoring. During the last ten minutes the roars from the crowd reached a crescendo and on the final whistle thousands of supporters rushed on to the pitch to chair off their heroes. This match represents the earliest known film footage of a game at Kenilworth Road.

Enthusiasm waned slightly when it was learned that the Town’s reward was a trip to Halifax but by the time of the game over 2,000 supporters had travelled the Shay to swell the crowd to a record 29,235.

Halifax, another team the Town had never met before, had seen off Darwen, Workington, Doncaster and Chester in the earlier rounds and were supremely confident of progressing to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history also.

The team travelled to Halifax on the day of the game leaving Luton on the 9.02am train which was due to arrive at 2.00pm.only an hour before kick-off. The Town had written beforehand to the London, Midland and Scottish railway informing them of the importance of the engagement and that the party must arrive at Halifax at the time stated.

As the team arrived, snow fell heavily and the lines had to be swept before the game finally started with again the Town the quicker to adapt to the treacherous conditions. With the snow beginning to fall once more Tait fired the Town into the lead after 20 minutes and soon after the referee called the players off as the blizzard obscured the touchlines.

The players were off the pitch for 30 minutes while the storm passed and as floodlights were not around in those days there was a danger the game would not finish. As such, the referee made the players change round at half-time without leaving the field and as the snow began to fall once more Alan Nelson made the game safe by tapping in after a shot from Rennie was parried by the goalkeeper.

By now, all Luton supporters felt that the Town could go all the way and even when it was announced that Everton at Goodison Park were to be the opponents in the quarter-final it was seen as merely a stepping stone on the inevitable march to Wembley.

Three special trains, one of which had a huge boater mounted on the front of the engine, and countless coaches carried several thousand Luton supporters to Liverpool on the big day and when the turnstiles stopped clicking 55,431 spectators were present generating receipts of £4143-6-4 (£4,143.32) which was a huge amount of money at the time. This time the team travelled up on the Thursday prior to the game and stayed at Southport.

With Alderson failing to recover from an injured shoulder, Mills returned to the side but commentators did not feel that this would affect the shape of the team over much. The choice of Rennie to play at inside-forward rather than central striker did, however, cause a few eyebrows to be raised but everyone assumed that the manager, Harold Wightman, knew what he was doing.

As it turned out Rennie was clattered early on and spent the majority of the game as a limping passenger on the wing in those far off days before substitutes. By the time Rennie was injured, Everton were already one goal to the good as the Town found difficulty in adapting to the wide open spaces of Goodison. If the game had been staged at Kenilworth Road, doubtless Everton would have struggled within its cramped confines as did Tottenham earlier.

Although Kean, who wished to add to the F.A.Cup winners medal he earned with Bolton in 1929, was everywhere trying to bolster up his overworked defence, the clever Everton forwards seemed to find the back of the net with increasing regularity. When the score reached 0-3 the game became a virtual walkover and finished in a disappointing 0-6 defeat.

It was scant consolation to the Town that they received a large share of the massive gate, that they restricted the great Dixie Dean to only one goal and that their cup exploits would mean exemption to the third round in the following year’s competition. They truly felt that they would win it.

Everton, of course, did go on to lift the trophy, overcoming Manchester City 3-0 in the final.

Luton Town: Harford, Kingham, Mackey, Kean, McGinnigle, Fraser, Mills, Nelson, Tait, Alderson, Roberts.

Tottenham Hotspur: Nicholls, Felton, Whatley, Colquhoun, Levene, Meads, Howe, O’Callaghan, Hunt, Hall, Evans.

Below: Hats off to Luton as Tottenham are beaten 

To help the club on the road to the ‘Twin Towers’ of Wembley a new ditty was written.

“O, Play up the Town!” let spectators all shout,

And let the team know there’s Strawhatters about;

Let everything go with a cheer and a swing,

Encourage your forwards, and goals it will bring.

Let your shouting back up every movement to score,

Cheer up your defenders with many a roar.

Don’t let the team think you don’t care if they lose,

For this thing is certain, “they” will win if “you” choose.

So, “Play up the Town!” let your shouts reach the sky,

If you back up your team, they’ll never say die;

Don’t grumble and grouse, meet reverse with a grin.

To boo your own team is a shame and a sin.

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Only four days after the historic F.A.Cup victory over Tottenham it was back to the bread and butter of league football once more and a re-arranged game against the Bees.

As there were no floodlights, the game had to be played in the afternoon and, coupled with this, many supporters felt sure that the match would be postponed as the previous Saturday’s ice had turned to mud as a thaw set in. These factors resulted in a crowd of only 3,044 turning up.

The contest did go ahead despite the conditions and all the Hatters supporters were pleased that it did as a hat-trick from Tommy Tait helped the Town into a 4-1 interval lead.

Eventual champions Brentford fought back with a vengeance though, and in the end the Town were lucky to hang on at 5-5. Jack Holliday scored all five for Brentford, a club record standing to this day while the scoreline represents the only 5-5 league draw for the Hatters in their history.

Luton: Harford, Kingham, Mackey, Kean, McGinnigle, Fraser, Mills, Nelson, Tait, Alderson, Roberts.

Brentford: Baker, Stevenson, Hodge, Ware, Bain, Burns, Hopkins, Walsh, Holliday, Scott, Crompton.  

Below: The 1932/33 FA Cup heroes - (l to r) Harford, Mackey, Kean, McGinnigle, Fraser, Mills, Nelson, Tait, Brown, Alderson, Roberts

Since the erection of the new stand in 1922 nothing had been done to the ground and by 1933 it was beginning to look tired. Behind the Kenilworth Road goal was a cinder bank, while along the Beech Hill Path side and behind the Oak Road goal was wooden plank terracing. All this was open to the elements as was the Maple Road end of the main stand which was another cinder bank known locally as ‘Scotch Corner’ in view of its proximity to the ‘Scotch colony’ in the streets off Dallow Road which had migrated to Luton from Falkirk with the Davis Gas Stove company.

The ground, though, was still not yet owned by the club and one of the first things organised by new chairman Charles Jeyes, who replaced the long serving Ernest Gibbs in April 1933, was to enter into negotiations with the landlords for its full and final purchase.

The £8,037 originally agreed with the landlords in 1923 had been slowly whittled down to £5,000 by successive small lump sum payments by the club over the years and an overdraft was arranged with Westminster Bank to finally complete the transaction. The football club now owned the ground subject, of course, to a bank charge.

Heartened by this news, the Supporters Club now re-doubled its efforts to improve the facilities at the ground and raised the not insignificant sum of £690 needed to cover the Beech Hill Path side as far as Ivy Road and concrete the terracing. This was carried out during November and December 1933 and was christened the “Bob Stand’ later changed to ‘Bobbers” as it cost a bob (one shilling - 5p) to stand there.

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During the summer of 1933 new chairman Charles Jeyes made his ambitions quite clear when he warned manager Harold Wightman that another poor league showing to match the previous season’s 14th position would not be tolerated.

Wightman took on board this threat to his position and decided on a major cull of his playing staff retaining only ten from the previous campaign. He then decided that the new recruits on the playing side should be experienced, with the majority of his new signings having played in the top flight at some time in their career.

George Martin, who had played alongside Dixie Dean at Everton, and who was later to manage the Hatters on two occasions was the most famous of the new signings, but Bill Pease from Middlesbrough had played for England a few seasons before.

The new season kicked off with a game at near neighbours Northampton, with the Town running out victors away from home for the first time since the previous Boxing Day. The 3-2 win was a personal triumph for centre-forward Tom Tait, who bagged all three Luton goals to add to the 43 he had already scored in the club’s colours in only 69 starts since signing from Bolton two years previously.

The first home game came two days later, on Bank Holiday Monday, with relegated Charlton the visitors. A crowd of 11,904 turned out to see Tait on target again in a 2-1 victory, with that other prolific marksman, Andy Rennie, netting the other. This game marked the return to the side of full-back Tom Mackey who, after reporting for pre-season training, returned home to apparently join the Police Force! The supposed internal dispute was eventually sorted out, with the Town at one stage writing to the Chief Constable of Durham pointing out that Mackey was under contract, thus enabling the no nonsense defender to resume his illustrious Town career which continued in a coaching capacity once his playing days were over.

The second home game of the season, played on the following Saturday, was to prove an attendance barometer as far as the directors were concerned. They were more than pleased when 10,745 filed through the turnstiles to see if the good start could be maintained at the expense of Torquay United.

The supporters were disappointed to hear that Tait had suffered a leg injury during training and was unable to play. His place was taken by Tom Bell, whose first professional club was Torquay. Coincidentally, Torquay included Albert Hutchinson who started his career with the Hatters.

The game began very evenly with both sides having difficulty in controlling the bouncing ball, but gradually the Town got on top and it came as no real surprise when Rennie opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a tap-in, following unselfish play by Bell.

The Hatters were denied a penalty ten minutes later when Torquay’s Don Welsh blatantly handled a shot from Martin but soon after Rennie was on the spot to hit home number two after a strike from Bell rebounded off the bar.

The rest of the half was all Luton, with the unlucky Bell heading against a post and shots from Rennie and skipper Fred Kean being brilliantly saved by Percy Maggs in the Torquay goal.

The Torquay players came out for the second half determined to attack with a vengeance, having received a good talking to during the interval. They soon reduced the arrears when Welsh scored direct from a free-kick after Martin had up-ended George Stabb on the edge of the box.

For a time, Torquay had the upper hand but when Welsh punched away a cross from Martin in the area the referee was alive to the offence this time and Kean made no mistake from the resultant penalty.

It was now the Town’s turn to force the issue and, soon after, Bell got the goal his unselfish play deserved, when he headed home a cross from Pease. Two minutes later, George Pearson set up a simple chance for Rennie and, straight from the restart, Bell took the ball past two defenders and the goalkeeper to literally walk it into the net. This devastating spell of play had therefore resulted in four goals in five minutes.

The Hatters were now rampant and five minutes later Martin, despite being fouled by Torquay’s Lew Tapp, managed to get his shot in as Maggs advanced for goal number seven and the same player cleverly backheeled number eight after a hard cross from Pearson had rebounded off a defender.

Despite all the heavy pressure, Torquay still tried to make a game of it and managed to break upfield and, with the Luton defence scattered, Hutchinson headed home a long cross to reduce the deficit a shade. The Hatters were soon back on top, however, and with the final minutes ticking away Pease netted before Rennie knocked in his fourth and the Town’s tenth.

This amazing 10-2 win was obviously a record for the Town at the time and everyone thought it would stand forever, but the exploits of a certain Joe Payne, a couple of years later, knocked that on the head.

Luton Town: Mittell, Kingham, Mackey, Kean, McGinnigle, Fraser, Pease, Martin, Bell, Rennie, Pearson.

Torquay United: Maggs, Fowler, Tapp, Lievesley, Welsh, Pickersgill, Steele, Harker, Stabb, Hutchinson, Ryder.

Below: The crowd is in place to see Town score 10 past an unfortunate Torquay.

Unfortunately, the good start to the 1933/34 season could not be maintained and frustratingly inconsistent form saw crowds drop back. Although the Town were always on the fringes of the promotion chase it was all too much. What was needed was another extended run in the F.A.Cup competition.

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In view of their cup exploits of the previous season, the Town were granted exemption to the third round for the 1933/34 competition and, as a further reward, were drawn out of the hat to play mighty Arsenal, the team of the 1930’s. It was immediately announced that admission prices for the game would be around three times the charge for normal league games but this seems to have been grudgingly accepted by the supporters such was the drawing power of the Gunners at the time.

In scenes reminiscent of the game against Tottenham twelve months earlier, supporters started arriving from London on the milk trains waking up the good folk of Luton with their rattles and bells.

The gates were closed before kick-off with a record crowd of 18,641 present and every vantage point, including the roof of the new Bobbers Stand, taken. Quite wisely those on the roof were quickly moved both for their own safety and also for that of the spectators below them.

In the shock of the decade, Arsenal had lost at Walsall of Division Three (North) at the same stage of the previous season’s competition and were determined not to become headline news for all the wrong reasons once more.

Understandably, the game was very tense and edgy with the Town bridging the skills gap with effort and determination.

With very few chances created by either side the game seemed to be petering out for a replay when, with 15 minutes left, Luton half-back Charlie Fraser was hurt in a tackle. A huge gap then appeared on the right where Fraser would normally have been stationed and England winger Cliff Bastin took full advantage and skipped down the wing before putting over a superb cross that was headed home by Jimmy Dunne.

The Town could not fight back from this bodyblow and had to be content with their share of the £3,000 gate.

Luton Town: Harford, Kingham, Mackey, Kean, McGinnigle, Fraser, Pease, Martin, Bell, Rennie, Hutchison.

Arsenal: Moss, Male, Hapgood, Jones, Roberts, John, Coleman, Bowden, Dunne, Bastin, Beasley.

Below: A panoramic view of the action.

With the growth in population in the town and surrounding area, the club’s board was determined to provide Division Two football as they felt that the support would be forthcoming. Although crowds had dropped off with the slump in form, the average attendance was still 2,500 higher than in 1932/33 which gave them the necessary confidence to ‘go for broke’ once more.

Over the course of the 1934/35 season the first seeds were laid for a side that would eventually produce one of the club’s finest teams. George Stephenson was signed from Aston Villa, Fred Roberts from Birmingham, goalkeeper Joe Coen from Bournemouth and a promising wing-half from Bolsover Colliery by the name of Joe Payne.

Long time servant and record goalscorer Andy Rennie had now reached the veteran stage and was replaced by prolific marksman Jack Ball in October 1934 but even his 30 goals could not fire the Town to promotion.

As the season was approaching its climax a double bombshell hit the streets of the town. Billy ‘Buster’ Brown who had finally come good after several seasons at Kenilworth Road and top scorer Sam Bell who had arrived at Luton from Norwich for £100 at the end of the previous season were sold to Huddersfield and Tottenham respectively. Both transfer fees were over £2,000 and represented a record for the club.

Supporters were naturally up in arms over the decision to sell these major assets at such a crucial time and threats were made in the local press to boycott the club. The directors had, however, been very canny as it can now be seen that even if the Town had achieved maximum points from their remaining games they still would not have won promotion and around £5,000 had been added to the war chest ready for a fresh tilt at the title the following year. It gives no great pleasure to also report that neither player set the world alight after leaving the Hatters.

The one sad loss that particular season, for which the board could not be blamed, was that of wing-half Charlie Fraser then at the peak of his powers. His leg fracture during the Aldershot home game at Kenilworth Road became folklore in Luton as the break ‘like a gunshot’ could be heard all around the ground. Unfortunately Fraser would not play again which made it three players in five years, the others being Sid Reid and Tommy Hodgson, who were forced into early retirement from the game following injury.

In an amazing game at Southend in December 1934 the home side were awarded a second penalty for handball shortly after the break. Luton skipper Tom Mackey disputed the decision to such an extent that he was firstly booked and then sent off.

Southend scored from the spot to put them three goals up, but so aggrieved were the ten men that they fought back to level the score before the end.

Sendings-off before the war were extremely rare and the Town suffered only seven dismissals during the period 1920-1939 in first team games. Most were for outright thuggery right in front of the referee!

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In 1934/35 the Town received another exemption to the third round of the F.A.Cup competition and drew another plum tie in the shape of Division One side Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Town were going through one of their wonderfully inconsistent periods where they would win by four goals one week then lose by the same scoreline the next. Chelsea were in a comfortable mid-table position in the top flight.

A crowd of 46,492 gathered to see the Town put in one of their better performances against strangely lacklustre opponents and it was no real surprise when Sam Bell forced the ball home, following a corner, five minutes before the interval. The goal was hotly disputed, as many in the ground felt that the ball had not crossed the line and the London press had a field day trying to prove the impossible by hanging a ball from the crossbar to show how photographs can be deceiving, especially when taken from anywhere apart from along the goal line.

Despite all the protests the goal stood and it was not until the last ten minutes that Chelsea decided to make a game of it and push everyone forward in an effort to score an undeserved equaliser. This they did when James Argue shot through a crowd of players to take the tie back to Luton.

In the days before floodlights cup tie replays had to be fought out in mid-week afternoons which in turn would normally affect the attendance. To say that there was unprecedented interest in the game is an understatement as realised by the town’s major employers who faced a major display of downing tools on the afternoon of the match.

Skefco, George Kent, Vauxhall, Electrolux, Davis Gas Stove Co and all the hat factories saw sense and decided to close from mid-day, with only the first two asking employees to go back after the match to make up for lost time.

The gates were closed thirty minutes from kick-off but such was the weight of numbers outside anxious to see the game that the Kenilworth Road end gates were forced open and many hundreds gained admission without paying, which added to the crush inside.

A deputation of police officers had to force a way through the throng to allow the Chelsea players and directors in, while hundreds of spectators lined the roof of the Bobbers Stand. This time the police were unable or unwilling to remove them nor the hardy individual who had climbed to the top of a telegraph pole.

The official attendance was 23,041 which smashed the previous record by over 4,000 but this figure did not account for the non-payers. The ground was dangerously overcrowded and it is a minor miracle that no-one was badly injured or even killed.

The game kicked off with a double line of spectators on the running track and rather more on the Bobbers Stand/Kenilworth Road corner where there had to be a major re-shuffle every time there was a flag kick.

The Town were forced into a couple of changes from the first game with Tom Mackey suspended and Billy Thayne injured. Harry Reece and Hugh McGinnigle took their places.

Again Chelsea did not seem to have much stomach for a fight and their attempts to play ‘first division football’ were doomed to failure against a fired up Luton side that fought for every ball as if their lives depended on it.

The game remained scoreless until 25 minutes from the end when a throw-in from Charlie Fraser to Fred Roberts saw the latter hook the ball into the goalmouth where Chelsea goalkeeper Jackson could only parry the ball to Jack Ball who shot into an empty net.

The second goal came soon after when Bob MacAuley was dispossessed by Jack Ball who played the ball inside to Fred Roberts who smashed it home.

With 20 minutes left the injured Reece became a passenger on the wing but even then Chelsea could not raise themselves from their torpor and at the final whistle Luton supporters raced on to the pitch to chair off their heroes.

Sadly, the story does not have a happy end as the Town went out at Burnley in the next round, but the cup run had put a few more pennies into the pot which was added to when several honest supporters sent in postal orders to pay for their illegal entry to the Chelsea tie.

Luton Town: Coen, Smith, Reece, Brown, McGinnigle, Fraser, Crompton, Bell, Ball, Roberts, Stephenson.

Chelsea: Jackson, Barber, MacAuley, Russell, Craig, Miller, Spence, Argue, Bambrick, Gibson, Horton.

Below: Spectators line the roof of the Bobbers Stand.

After the new terracing was erected on the Bobbers side of the ground at the end of 1933, three members of the supporters club banded together to see whether the space underneath could be utilised. One Saturday morning the intrepid trio dug their way in with borrowed implements to start a project that would then occupy every weekend for the best part of 18 months and which involved the removal of many tons of soil.

On 5th July 1935 the new club rooms were opened which extended virtually the length of the pitch. For their time the facilities were superb and consisted of a games room and bar, a dining room as well as a snack bar which were open every day of the week with all profits being ploughed back into the football club.

The annual membership was 1/2d (7p), with life membership of 21/- (£1.05) which were to remain unchanged for many years. The local population also caught on to the bar facilities at the Bobbers Club as most of Bury Park had been built on Quaker owned land which meant no pubs in the area due to conditions imposed with the original sale!

The final position of fourth was not good enough for Luton Town chairman Charles Jeyes who demanded promotion. He made money available to Harold Wightman who went out to buy Jock Finlayson and Billy Fellowes from Clapton Orient and Jack Nelson from Wolves with all three set to become firm favourites at Kenilworth Road.

Everyone at Kenilworth Road was full of confidence as the new season started, perhaps more so than in any previous season but unfortunately no-one told the players who got off to the worst start for a decade losing the first three matches and then drawing the next two.

The resignation of manager Harold Wightman on 10th October 1935 was not totally unexpected, but whether he was pushed has never been revealed, ‘mutual agreement’ being put out by the club to the local press. Wightman maintained that he did not need to resign but felt he ought to for the good of the club.

Wightman had put together the nucleus of a side that was to go on to bigger and better things, but patience was not a virtue of the Board and most particularly Jeyes who now had the opportunity to take a more hands on approach to the management of the team. Wightman,the ex-Notts County man, who had turned down overtures from his old club during the summer, eventually became manager of Mansfield before taking on Nottingham Forest up to the outbreak of the war. Wightman died in 1945 aged only 50.

Whatever was said behind the scenes after the removal of Wightman seemed to work as the team went on a run of twelve wins and a draw from the next thirteen games. The league game attendance record was also broken during this run, when 18,100 turned up to see the 1-0 victory over Notts County on Boxing Day, as the team pushed themselves up from the bottom of the table right into the promotion fight. Many supporters felt that the new players would have found their feet eventually anyway and that the early season form was just a bedding down period.

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For the third year running the Town were granted exemption in the F. A.Cup competition until the third round and the pairing with West Ham from Division Two at Upton Park created a great deal of interest given that both sides were on good runs of form at the time. Over 9,000 Luton supporters made the trip, paying a return train fare of 3/- (15p), and swelling the crowd to 42,000 which was close to the ground record.

The Hammers took an early lead through Dave Mangnall but with everyone expecting the floodgates to open, Jack Ball levelled. In the second period the Town surprised their opponents by taking the game to them and it was no more than they deserved when Fred Roberts fired in goal number two with 20 minutes to go. The game was not yet over, though, with Jimmy Ruffell earning the Hammers a replay with a late, fortunate equaliser.

The replay was scheduled for the following Wednesday afternoon and a crowd of 17,527, paying receipts of £2,099, turned up to see if the Town could finish the job and extend their unbeaten run which stretched back to September 28th.

The game was equally as close as the first tie, with the scoreline goalless at the interval but once Jack Ball bagged the opener after 51 minutes there was only going to be one winner. On a frosty pitch, the Luton players adapted much better and with winger George Stephenson running riot, further goals arrived at regular intervals.

First Wilf Crompton and then Roberts took full advantage of the trickery of Stephenson to increase the Town’s lead before the winger capped a marvellous performance by scoring the final goal to make it 4-0 and send the supporters into raptures and the West Ham team back to London (along with the disappointed Fleet Street corps) with their tails between their legs.

Unfortunately, the newspapers the next day glossed over the Luton performance to concentrate on the shortcomings of the West Ham forward line as well as the state of the pitch. But the Luton fans did not mind, next stop Manchester and a clash with the City.

Sadly, Wembley dreams ended abruptly as the Town lost 1-2 at Maine Road, but some consolation was gained by the gate receipts generated by a massive crowd of 65,978, the largest to watch the Hatters in this country outside Wembley.

Luton Town: Coen, Mackey, Smith, Finlayson, Nelson, Fellowes, Crompton, Martin, Ball, Roberts, Stephenson.

West Ham United: Conway, Chalkley, Walker, Fenton, Barrett, Cockcroft, Simpson, Marshall, Mangnall, Goulden, Ruffell.

Below: The Kenilworth Road end is packed for the visit of West Ham.

Having fought their way to the top of the league by Christmas, form in the new year was a little more patchy and as Easter approached the Town were clinging on to pole position by their finger tips. Draws away at Bristol Rovers on Good Friday and at home to Millwall the following day finally meant that the top spot had to be relinquished.

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In the lead up to the return game with Bristol Rovers on Easter Monday the Town had a centre-forward crisis with Jack Ball and now Bill Boyd on the injured list.

Without a manager since the previous October, following the departure of Harold Wightman, a deputation of directors and coaches were left to pick the team and someone, and to this day no-one is sure who, suggested that 22 year old reserve half-back Joe Payne be given a chance up front.

Bolsover born Payne, who had seen time as a coalminer as a teenager, had been recommended to the Town by an exiled Lutonian two years before, but his few league opportunities had either been at full-back or wing-half.

In everyone’s eyes it looked as if Payne would not make the grade and he had recently been loaned out to the club’s nursery side Biggleswade Town, where he did not exactly pull up trees.

Reporting for duty at Kenilworth Road for the Easter Monday clash with the Pirates, Payne was as surprised as anyone to be thrown the number nine shirt and he immediately regarded it as a make or break game, especially as the retained list was shortly to be announced.

A respectable crowd of 14,296 (although ten times this figure professed to have been there!) turned out on an unseasonably icy cold day, and with sleet lashing into their faces the fans probably had difficulty in recognising the ‘new’ centre-forward with Boyd being named in the programme.

Rovers were not going particularly well at the time, and the Town were expected to win comfortably, but in the first 20 minutes the two sides were evenly matched, although Payne showed willingness to get stuck in, as to be expected, but nothing more.

The breakthrough came on 23 minutes when Payne latched on to a long ball and gave John Ellis in the Rovers goal no chance, and it was followed up with number two shortly afterwards when Fred Roberts was quickest to react to a parry from Ellis to a George Stephenson shot. Payne was now beginning to enjoy himself and scored twice more before half-time, taking advantage of further clever play from Roberts and Stephenson.

The interval dressing room chat was centred around Payne and it was jokingly suggested that he could beat the record of Tranmere’s Bunny Bell who had scored nine goals in a 13-4 thrashing of Oldham the previous year.

Sensing that Payne was having one of those afternoons where nothing could go wrong, the experienced Stephenson, Roberts and George Martin decided to make sure he saw plenty of the ball in the second half.

The ploy certainly worked with Payne scoring from a Stephenson centre after 49 minutes, a Rich centre after 55 minutes and then a disputed effort two minutes later. Payne had headed towards goal and Martin bundled the ball and the goalkeeper into the net. The referee had, however, ruled that the ball had already crossed the line and awarded the goal to Payne. (The writers grandfather always maintained that Martin scored the goal but, there again, referees are always right!).

Stephenson then set up further goals for Payne in 65, 76 and 84 minutes before the new number nine, with the crowd baying for more, took his personal tally to ten when he took a wild swing at the ball whilst sitting in the area and succeeded in deflecting it past a wrong footed Ellis.

Martin completed the scoring in the final minute to make it an incredible 12-0 win for the Town, a scoreline which surely will never be beaten.

Many years later, Payne recalled the game with difficulty. “They told me to go out and get two or three goals if I could, but did not tell me what to do afterwards so I just carried on,” he said. “Time blurs the memory but I recall the Rovers goalkeeper making as many good saves as the goals he let in.”

“The chances kept on coming my way and after the first five, I had that much confidence I was beginning to think I could do it with my eyes shut, especially after that freak of them all when I fell over on my backside to fool everybody - but the ball still went in.”

As a sign of the times, Payne picked up a win bonus of £2 to add to his £4 weekly pay, and in the days of a strict maximum wage the club had to apply to the Football League for a special dispensation to give him the match ball as a souvenir.

Only one representative from the London press was there that afternoon but news of the amazing scoreline soon filtered through to the football world and one of the first of many telegrams of congratulation received by Payne was from Bunny Bell.

Finally, spare a thought for poor John Ellis who must have cursed the name of the Hatters. Not only had he conceded 12 goals that fateful day but he had broken his collar bone in the 2-6 defeat at Kenilworth Road the previous season.

Luton Town: Dolman, Mackey, Smith, Finlayson, Nelson, Godfrey, Rich, Martin, Payne, Roberts, Stephenson.

Bristol Rovers: Ellis, Pickering, Preece, Wallington, Murray, Young, Barley, Hartill, Harris, Houghton, Crisp.

Below: Joe Payne on the attack 

Quite naturally, Payne became an overnight sensation. Of more importance to Luton Town supporters, though, was the fact that the win over Bristol Rovers had pushed the team back into second spot in the days when only the champions won promotion from Division Three.

In top spot were Coventry City and the fixture list had decreed that two of the Town’s final four games would be against the Bantams, as they were then called. The Hatters warmed up for the first clash with Coventry with a 2-0 win at Newport where the crowd had doubled, and inevitably a certain Mr Payne netted both goals.

On 25th April 1936 the Kenilworth Road ground record was smashed once more when 23,559 squeezed in to partly watch Payne and partly to see if the Town could overhaul Coventry at the top.

The game itself was a major anti-climax with an early Payne goal cancelled out by City’s Clarrie Bourton in the second half from an opening created by ex-Hatter George McNestry. The fans were obviously anxious for more though as two days later 42,809, a record for Division Three (South) and Coventry City at the time, were shoe-horned into Highfield Road for the re-match.

This one ended 0-0 and with Coventry set to play Torquay at home in their final game and the Town matched against QPR away, City were obvious favourites.

McNestry tried to help his old pals by missing a penalty against Torquay but two late goals saw City up as the Town could only manage a scoreless draw at Loftus Road. Despite Payne’s fantastic late season efforts Coventry still had a far superior goal average and a final day victory would still not have been enough to dislodge the Bantams.

After making do without a manager for most of the season the Luton Town board decided to advertise the position and from over fifty applicants decided on West Ham United scout Ned Liddell. The new man was a bit of a strange choice as, although his scouting abilities were unquestioned, he had not managed for four years and was also 59 years old.

Liddell had, though, inherited the nucleus of a good side to play with and as promotion had been missed the previous season due to the dropping of some silly home points supporters were hoping that this aspect could be tightened up and the championship won. No play-offs in those days!

A crowd of 14,461 gathered in anticipation at Kenilworth Road for the first game of the 1936/37 season against Southend and were forced to witness a dull 1-0 win with the lone goal coming from Joe Payne.

Liddell was not satisfied with the performance and immediately dropped both Wilf Crompton and Bill Godfrey - and they were never to play for the Town again. The re-shuffled team played rather better in winning 1-0 at Walsall, courtesy of a George Stephenson goal, before a dismal 0-3 reverse at Cardiff forced Liddell into more team changes.

This time old favourite George Martin was left out, together with Hugh Mills, a player Liddell had brought with him from West Ham.

The team now began to put together some much better results as firstly Walsall were seen of 2-0 at Kenilworth Road, followed by Crystal Palace 5-2 and then Reading by a thumping 4-0.

The week before the Reading win the Town travelled to Exeter and soon found themselves 0-2 down. The fightback was, however, relentless with the Hatters eventually winning 4-2, including a pair of goals from Payne.

Payne was now reaching the attention of the national press once more through his goalscoring exploits. Those who thought his previous season feat of scoring ten in the 12-0 win over Bristol Rovers was merely ‘just one of those days’ were being proved wrong as he had now scored 11 goals in only six games.

He scored again the following week in a 1-2 defeat at Q.P.R. but surprisingly did not find the net in the next game as Bristol City were hammered at home 4-0.

He was back, however, with a vengeance in the next game at Kenilworth Road, scoring a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over near neighbours Watford. The Brewers, as they were then known, opened the scoring early on before Jack Ball equalised. Tempers became frayed and the Watford goalkeeper was spoken to by the referee for ‘pushing Payne’s face into the ground’ and Luton skipper Jack Nelson received a blow on the head which prevented him from re-appearing in the second half in those days before substitutes.

A groggy Nelson did eventually stagger back on to the pitch and somehow set up Payne to put the Town ahead.

The Luton forwards were now rampant and Payne put the Hatters further ahead from a pass by John Hodge before Stephenson hit a post. Payne duly completed his hat-trick having been set up by Ball to send the 20,569 crowd into raptures.

This game provided the high spot for a few weeks as a couple of away defeats - at Brighton and Northampton - brought the team back to earth but with home wins still the norm the Town were nevertheless bubbling around at the top of the table.

Away form was giving cause for concern and the omens were not good as the Town set off to travel to fellow promotion contenders Millwall in late November.

A partisan crowd of almost 33,000 was present to see a surprisingly easy 2-0 victory for the Hatters, but the game was overshadowed by an incident between Nelson and Millwall’s Dave Mangnall.

The pair had a stand up fight not properly seen by the referee, who decided to book them in any case. The match had, however, been watched by Stanley Rous, who had recently been appointed to the F.A.Council and his report of the incident was instrumental in Nelson receiving a suspension.

The arguments raged for weeks as to whether a ‘spectator’ should have the power to influence the authorities in situations where the referee had missed the offence.

Despite all this, Nelson had to face a suspension and the game he missed was at home to Cardiff on 2nd January 1937 with the Town winning 8-1 to avenge their early season defeat at Ninian Park. Veteran Hugh McGinnigle was called out of semi-retirement in the reserves to take Nelson’s place and must have enjoyed himself in what was to be his last first team game in a Luton career stretching back to 1930.

This win put the Town top of the table after a poor Christmas that had started so well with a home win over fellow challengers Notts County, but finished with defeats at Southend and in the return with the Magpies in Nottingham.

At this time manager Liddell realised that Joe Payne was best suited to the centre-forward position and that, despite his clever promptings, Jack Ball needed replacing.

The Crystal Palace top scorer, Albert Dawes, was recruited and he responded by scoring in the big win over Cardiff and again the following week in the 4-0 victory at, ironically, Crystal Palace. In that game Payne scored another two but missed a penalty in a contest made one sided by an early injury to a Palace forward who eventually had to hobble off with half an hour left.

The crowds were now flocking to watch Luton, and more especially Payne, with 17,193 seeing the away win at Bristol City and then a ground record of 27,632 witnessing the 3-1 victory at Watford - Payne, inevitably, scoring in both games.

The next home match saw the visit of yet another challenger, in the shape of Brighton, and with the home crowd swelled to 19,488 by three trainloads from the south coast a classic was anticipated.

Although the contest was played out on a quagmire, it was thrilling end to end stuff and the Town took a first-half lead from a header by Payne which was cancelled out immediately after the interval. Payne then went off injured for 20 minutes, returned to inspire the forward line again and saw Stephenson score with two minutes to go.

The thrills were not over, though, as Brighton had the ball in the net from the restart but the ‘goal’ was disallowed for offside. From the resultant free-kick Dawes was put through and slammed a shot against a post - all this happening in the space of 90 seconds. The Luton faithful were now beginning to believe that it was going to be their year and despite a disappointing 1-2 defeat at Bournemouth the crowd figure reached 19,579 for the visit of Northampton in the next home game.

This match had the crowd shouting for different reasons as it developed into a brawl after the Town took an early 2-0 lead through Payne and Fred Roberts. Luton full-back Tom Mackey was left a limping passenger on the wing after one particularly bad tackle and the referee had to continually talk to players of both sides for ‘persistent rough play’.

Disaster struck a minute from the interval when Billy Fellowes put through his own goal, followed six minutes after the break by Donal Tolland levelling for the Cobblers.

The game continued to swing from end to end and the Town regained the lead when John Parris was upended in the box with Payne netting from the spot. The kick took several minutes to convert as the Northampton players argued so vehemently, but the boot was soon on the other foot as, shortly after, Nelson fouled Cobblers forward John Lauderdale in the area but this time the penalty was sent yards wide.

The referee then called all the players to the centre circle to hand out a stern lecture, but when Roberts was fouled by ex-Town player and ex-boxer Billy Thayne soon after it was one offence too many and the big centre-half was sent off.

The scene was now set for the run-in with both the Town and Notts County neck and neck at the top of the table. A 0-4 defeat at Bristol Rovers did the Hatters’ chances no good at all, but in the players’ defence, goalkeeper Humphrey Dolman had been injured early on which limited his movements and left him unable to stop shots he would normally have saved easily.

With eleven fit men the Town won 2-0 at Clapton Orient the next week and followed this with a 5-0 thumping of Millwall on Easter Saturday before beating Clapton 2-0 in the return on Easter Monday. Home victories over Gillingham and Aldershot, both 5-2, came within three days in early April, with Payne scoring six, but County could not be shaken off and when the Town lost 0-1 at Gillingham with County winning on the same day it looked likely that the Hatters would be pipped at the post again.

Both teams had three relatively easy games to play but the Magpies were two points ahead albeit with an inferior goal average. Swindon were easily seen off 5-1 at Luton with Payne scoring another hat-trick but County also won on the same day.

Newport were thrashed 5-0 seven days later but this time the news went around Kenilworth Road that the Magpies had been beaten at home by Brighton. Fans quickly realised that a Town win in their final home match against Torquay would bring the title and promotion.

The players were a bag of nerves on 1st May 1937 and the 20,755 crowd suffered many scares before Payne scored twice to calm everyone down.

At the final whistle the spectators refused to go home until the players had re-appeared and the biggest cheer was reserved for Payne, who had managed to score an amazing 55 league goals over the season, a Town record never likely to be broken.

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With all the excitement in the league programme during the 1936/37 season it is surprising to note that the Hatters also had a fair amount to shout about in the F.A.Cup.

Paired with eventual Division Two promotion winners Blackpool at Kenilworth Road in Round Three an interested crowd of 13,892 turned up to see Ted Hancock injured in the first few minutes and become a limping passenger for most of the game before retiring early. It was therefore no surprise when Bobby Finan scored on the rebound after Hatters goalkeeper Humphrey Dolman had saved a fierce shot from Dickie Watmough.

Five minutes later Joe Payne equalised following a free-kick, but before the interval Blackpool went ahead again with Jack Nelson, who had a nightmare game, nearly putting through his own goal and John Middleton sending himself and the ball hurtling into the net.

When Watmough cut in from the wing to give the Seasiders a 3-1 lead it looked all over but the ten man underdogs refused to give in. Firstly Payne got another from a pass by George Martin, who had been unmarked, then in a frantic finale George Stephenson sliced the ball in following a rebound from a bullet shot from Martin.

The replay took place four days later and around 100 Luton supporters made the long trip, leaving the town by train at 6.00 in the morning. The players meanwhile enjoyed a couple of days at Cleveleys Hydro and on the night before the game went to the theatre and then listened to the Lynch - Montana fight on the radio.

An early defensive lapse by the Town allowed Finan to fire Blackpool into the lead but Frank Sloan, who had been forced off the field to have head wound repaired, came back to slot in the equaliser after intricate play from Payne and Stephenson.

From that point on the Town were the better side and it came as no surprise when Fred Roberts latched on to a lobbed centre from Jack Hodge before drawing the goalkeeper and netting with ease.

Although the Hatters were playing with the confidence of winners the defence still had some work to do but came through unscathed for a magnificent and unexpected victory.

The reward was a home tie against league champions Sunderland and by now Luton supporters were getting rather blasé regarding the procession of top flight sides arriving at Kenilworth Road. Even so, a healthy crowd of 20,134 gathered on a very misty day to see Roberts hammer in two goals in five minutes mid-way through the first half to completely bamboozle their illustrious opponents.

Sunderland refused to lie down, however, and attacked with a purpose but could not find a way past Jack Nelson, now back to his best, and the Luton defence. As the second half wore on some supporters began to think that it was going to be the Town’s day but Jimmy Connor reduced the deficit on the hour with a low shot.

Sunderland re-doubled their efforts and finally gained an equaliser which came from Len Duns after Dolman pushed out a cross rather than catch or punch it. It was then backs to the wall and the Hatters just managed to hold off their opponents before the final whistle sounded.

A crowd of 53,235 filled Roker Park for the replay , which was marvellous for a mid-week afternoon kick-off, with the majority of the spectators happy when Duns opened the scoring after only four minutes when Dolman once more flapped at the ball.

They were not so pleased two minutes later when Payne netted from close range but the home side were soon in the ascendancy once more and Connor slammed in goal number two on 17 minutes despite the close attentions of Dolman and Tom Mackey.

The game then ebbed and flowed but Sunderland always looked the more likely to score but their forwards were well marshalled by a resolute Luton defence. The clinching goal came from Sunderland skipper Raich Carter with two minutes to go when he fired home an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area.

Apart from their share of the gate money the Town were also heartened to know that they had gone out to the eventual cup winners.

Luton Town: Dolman, Mackey, Smith, Finlayson, Nelson, Fellowes, Hodge, Sloan, Payne, Roberts, Stephenson.

Sunderland: Mapson, Gorman, Hall, Thompson, Johnson, McNab, Duns, Carter, Gurney, Gallacher, Connor.

The only change for the second game was Rich for Hodge.

Below: The captains Jack Nelson and Raich Carter shake hands before the game, watched by referee Mr Whittle.

The club celebrated promotion with a dinner at the George Hotel where one of the guests of honour was Stanley Rous, presumably forgiven for the Millwall saga of earlier in the season. Also present were the members of that redoubtable half back line from the turn of the century, Fred and Bob Hawkes plus Fred White.

Sweetbreads were on the menu and the gathered throng was treated to Fred Yule (Baritone) together with Haydn and his Novelty Quintette with the ‘entertainment’ costing the club seven guineas (£7.35).

Everyone there congratulated Joe Payne on winning an England call-up against Finland, the first Luton player to be capped while at the club since the days of Simms, Bookman and Mathieson in 1921.

The cost of promotion was an increase in the club’s overdraft to £12,613 but Chairman Charles Jeyes was prepared to at least double this figure in his attempt to achieve top flight football for the town.

Before spending money on ground improvements at Kenilworth Road, the board thought long and hard at relocation, with the Wardown Park Sports Ground being seriously considered. The area was obviously not as built up as it is now and adequate car parking was nearby at the new swimming pool in Bath Road. Local disapproval and poor traffic access won the day though.

In the event some £30,000 was spent over the summer preparing the Kenilworth Road ground for Division Two football and the crowds it was hoped it would bring. Houses were bought up in Kenilworth Road in order that part of their gardens could be utilised in extending the terrace behind the goal while some of the dwellings were re-furbished as the club’s new offices. The new Kenilworth Road terrace was regarded locally as one of the wonders of the modern world as it was higher than the Clock end at Highbury.

It was proudly announced that the Town’s 75 steps with a four inch rise dwarfed Arsenal’s 72 steps with a 3.5 inch rise!

The main stand was also extended over the Maple Road corner which meant the end of the standing terrace called Scotch Corner. The only part of the ground not developed was therefore the Oak Road end but houses adjacent were also bought up in anticipation of a further extension. The board also attempted to buy up 12 houses in Oak, Beech, Ivy and Kenilworth Roads with the intention of knocking them down, diverting the Beech Hill Path and thus allowing space for an extension to the Bobbers stand. This latter idea did not, however, come to fruition.

It was touch and go as to whether the stand extension would be finished before the start of the new season because of a world-wide steel shortage but, despite having to wait until the end of July for the necessary girders, much sweat and toil meant that the ground was just about ready for the big-kick off.

On the field, manager Liddell initially persevered with his promotion winning side but with Payne not firing on all cylinders because of illness and injury, Bill Redfern and Jack Vinall were signed from Newry and Norwich respectively.

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The visit to Luton of sides such as Aston Villa truly brought home what promotion was all about and throughout the summer supporters had been ticking off the days since the fixture list had been published.

At the time they did not come much bigger than Aston Villa, especially at Division Two level and for this, the first home game of the season, supporters started arriving in the early afternoon for a 6.30 evening kick-off.

The gates were closed half an hour before the start with some 5,000 unable to gain entrance. All roads leading to the ground were double parked with cars, and even as far away as Biscot Road vehicles were causing an obstruction should a fire engine or ambulance need to get through. As had happened a few times in the past, the site of the old Town Ground in Dunstable Road, and still derelict because of planning objections, was used as an overflow car-park.

The ground was now reckoned to hold 34,000 with the new terrace accounting for almost half of this number and so commentators thought that the previous attendance record had been smashed to smithereens. When the turnstiles had stopped clicking, however, the crowd was recorded at a surprising 25,349, albeit a record, although many record books including that of Villa showed it as 29,372.

The game got off to a sensational start with the Town scoring almost directly from the kick-off, Albert Dawes smashing home a poor Villa clearance.

Villa did not let this early disappointment upset them though and, looking quicker to the ball, soon fought back and levelled when Jack Maund netted at the end of a swift breakaway.

Payne was giving all sorts of problems to the Villa defence and put the Town back into the lead just before the interval when he held off two defenders before firing home.

In the second period Ted Hancock made it 3-1 when he smashed home a loose ball from 25 yards but the Town could not shake off Villa and when Alex Massie reduced the deficit with a similar long range effort it was all hands the pumps in the Luton defence which came under massive pressure. The final whistle sounded with every player, apart from Fred Biddlestone the Villa goalkeeper, in the Luton penalty area.

Luton Town: Coen, King, Smith, Finlayson, Nelson, Fellowes, Hancock, Dawes, Payne, Roberts, Stephenson.

Aston Villa: Biddlestone, Callaghan, Cummings, Massie, Allen, Iverson, Phillips, Haycock, Broome, Starling, Maund.

Below: Jack Nelson leads the teams out

The Town were exempted to the third round of the F.A.Cup competition by right rather than invitation following their promotion, but the draw pitted them away to non-league Scarborough which was a no-win contest as far as the Hatters were concerned.

For once the boot was on the other foot and the Town were strong favourites to go through, while the home side had nothing to lose.

A record crowd of 11,162 were somehow squeezed into the Seamer Road ground and while the Town enjoyed most of the play a Charlie Ferguson opener was levelled before the interval. The Hatters were probably pleased to take the tie back to Luton while Scarborough looked forward to another pay-day in this their tenth F.A.cup tie of the season.

This time the Town were far too strong for their opponents and with thick mud hindering play down the middle the home side made full use of the wings and scored at regular intervals to bring about a final 5-1 scoreline against brave opponents.

Next up were Swindon Town, old friends from the division the Town had just left. A great deal of interest was generated in this fixture and a record crowd of 25,746 turned up at Kenilworth Road to see the Robins give the Luton defence an early chasing and go close on a number of occasions.

Gradually the Town fought back and took the lead, against the run of play, two minutes from the interval through Ferguson who saw his shot deflected past the Swindon goalkeeper.

Swindon levelled early in the second half but George Stephenson scored the Town’s all-important second goal 13 minutes from time. Even then the Robins refused to lie down and the Luton defence wobbled on several occasions before the referee finally put the crowd out of its misery.

The Town’s reward was a plum home tie against reigning Division One champions and 1934 F. A. Cup winners Manchester City. The board, in its wisdom, decided to hike up the prices for this glamour tie and brought on themselves many complaints and much bad feeling with the result that only 21,290 paid for admission.

This time it was the Town who were a shade unfortunate as full-back Tom King had to be carried off injured in the days before substitutes. City’s first goal was deemed to have been offside to everyone in the ground apart from the men who mattered while their third was a gentle pass back by Jack Nelson to his goalkeeper Joe Coen who slipped and saw the ball roll gently over the line.

The Hatters would not give in though and battled away bravely but Joe Payne’s last minute header was too little too late.

Luton Town: Coen, King, Smith, Finlayson, Nelson, Fellowes, Ferguson, Vinall, Payne, Roberts, Stephenson.

Manchester City: Swift, Dale, Barkas, Percival, Marshall, Rogers, Toseland, Herd, Heale, Doherty, Brook.

Below: George Stephenson rises highest

By February 1938 the Town were on a steady course in mid-table as they prepared to wind down the season and look back on it as a period of consolidation. As has so often happened with Luton Town Football Club over the years the word consolidation is not in their dictionary. After the home match with Bradford P.A. on 26th February it was announced that Ned Liddell would be leaving the club.

Chairman Charles Jeyes presented Liddell with a silver tea service and inscribed tray and spoke of the ex-manager’s integrity and loyalty but then ominously added that they had not always seen eye to eye and that there were eight ‘live’ directors on the board which he knew when he took on the job. Liddell in turn admitted that he could never hope to please all the directors, stopping short of blasting his employers for overwhelming interference, and said that he did not know where he was going next. Within days he had been appointed as chief scout at Chelsea.

On the day that Liddell’s departure was announced, Joe Payne had been made captain for the day following his morning marriage at Luton Registry Office. His ‘secret’ wedding was attended by several hundred well-wishers as well as best man, and provider of so many of his goals, George Stephenson but despite the adoration of the Luton fans, less than two weeks later he was on his way.....to Chelsea!

Whether Liddell had anything to do with the transfer has never been revealed but the fee of £2000, one fifth of the amount being touted the previous summer, reflected Paynes’s tendency to ill health and doubts as to his ability to withstand the rigours of top class football.

Tough full-back Tom Mackey played over 200 games for the Town without scoring. In one of his final outings, against Burnley at Kenilworth Road in February 1938, he broke this duck with a bang when he scored not once but twice in the 3-1 win. Having been injured, Mackey was told to limp around on the wing for nuisance value and ‘blinded’ at two passes which flew into the net.

In March 1938, the ex-Watford manager, Neil McBain was appointed as chief scout for the club and he was immediately instrumental in bringing Newcastle’s Eddie Connelly to Kenilworth Road. This signing proved the spark the side needed as it drifted down the table following the Payne departure and Connelly was instrumental as the Town won their last three games of the season to finish a respectable 12th but only four points from the relegation positions.

As McBain became more and more involved behind the scenes the directors thought that he may as well be given the manager’s job and he was officially appointed on 1st June 1938. McBain was a strong believer in youth and immediately brought in youngsters such as Doug Gardiner, Horace Gager and most importantly Waterlows’ marksman, Ampthill born Hugh Billington who would all become major assets for the Hatters. Also coming in, this time for fees, were Tom Dunsmore from Hibernian and James Carroll from Leicester. Despite the massive overdraft the board were still chasing top flight football at all costs.

One item the board did not have to find money for was ground improvements as, due to the generosity of the newly named Bobbers Stand and Supporters Club, cash was raised to put a roof over the Oak Road end and also replace the wooded terracing with concrete.

The 1938/39 season, despite all the hype, did not get off to a particularly good start when a shirt-sleeved crowd of 24,377 watched the Town go down 0-3 at West Bromwich on the opening day. As matters had not materially improved by the end of October out went goalkeeper Humphrey Dolman, defenders Tom Smith and Joe Loughran together with striker Jack Vinall to be replaced by Joe Coen, Tom King, Fred Roberts, who was moved from the forward line, Bill Redfern and most controversially Hugh Billington.

Billington had netted 14 goals in 15 reserve team appearances and manager McBain felt he was ready for the step up. He did not disappoint, scoring twice on his debut in a 3-2 win at Tranmere and following it up with another pair at Bury two weeks later. In that particular game the Town were two goals down at half-time but equalised within two minutes of the restart. The Town delegation missed these goals but as Luton scored a further three times they at least went into the boardroom at the end of the game happy. Apparently it was not until later in the evening that they knew the correct score!

With Billington continuing to find the back of the net regularly, including four in the 5-0 home thrashing of Chesterfield, the Hatters were beginning to climb the table. Unfortunately, the week after this fine win skipper and centre-half Jack Nelson badly injured his nose in the game at Millwall and such was the subsequent form of his young replacement Gordon Dreyer he was never to play first team football for the Town again.

With the Town climbing the table, scoring plenty of goals and playing particularly well away from home bigger clubs started to take note and large offers totalling £18,000 were made for Dunsmore, Billington and ‘the cleverest inside-forwards in the land’ Redfern and Connelly.

The club could have made a huge dent in its overdraft but resisted the bids in the hope of promotion which began to look distinctly promising as Easter approached. For once the holiday period proved highly successful with home wins over Southampton and Fulham 6-2 and 2-1 respectively and a 4-0 victory at the Dell in the return with the Saints. Excitement now reached fever pitch and when the Town won 2-1 at fellow promotion aspirants Chesterfield the following week a tremendous end to the season was in prospect.

With three games to go five points would have seen the Town up but promotion nerves set in and the 20,109 who witnessed a frustrating 0-0 home draw with Millwall when the team did everything but score perhaps feared the worst. A 0-2 defeat at Newcastle watched by only 10,341, meant the end of promotion hopes and to cap a disappointing finish to the season, Coventry completed a double by winning 3-1 at Kenilworth Road on the final day.

On a plus point Billington finished with 28 goals from only 27 starts to finish top scorer in Division Two and then only scored in half the games he appeared in. A remarkable record.

At the end of the final game of the season, at home to Coventry, police had to draw truncheons to clear the pitch of over 1,000 supporters many of whom were brawling with each other. The spectators had not been happy from the start of the game when they learnt that three players would be ‘rested’ and reserves picked in their place and the rumours went round that it was to prevent the board from paying out bonuses.

When a young lad was hauled from the Oak Road end by heavy handed police for throwing a screwed up piece of paper on to the pitch it was if the blue touch paper was lit and signalled the start of terrace anarchy which was most unusual for the time.

The major football talking point of the close season of 1939 centred around the resignation of Neil McBain after only a year in charge. The reason given was a difference of opinion with the board on policy although it was known that his wife had been ill and was anxious to return to Scotland. Again the parting of the ways was mutually agreed with no bad words bandied about by either party.

The Luton Town board was in no great hurry to appoint a successor and left the team under the control of coach, and former Luton inside-forward, George Martin.

Martin and the board arranged the transfer of clever forward Bill Redfern to Derby in exchange for Reg Stockhill plus cash and also engineered a move for Tom Smith and Joe Loughran to Burnley.

Both Smith and Loughran had been dropped the previous November after a poor home performance against Sheffield Wednesday and were desperate for a move. The Town in turn needed to reduce the wage bill and also make room for some promising youngsters coming up through the ranks.

Most promising of all was Hugh Billington who scored twice as the Town started off the new season in emphatic style by beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at Kenilworth Road. All the goals came in the first half and even when the Hatters were reduced to ten fit men after local lad Horace Gager became a limping passenger on the wing the Owls were not able to trouble the Luton defence.

The crowd at Kenilworth Road that day was only 12,357 which was well down on the average for the previous season. Since the players had reported back for pre-season training, war with Germany had looked more and more inevitable as each day passed and, with Hitler massing his troops on the borders of Poland, many people had more important things to think about than football.

The players still had a job to do, however, and a 3-0 win at Bradford ParkAvenue, with Billington again scoring twice, meant that it was a perfect start to the season.

By now the evacuation of children from London had started and the police requested that the Town’s third game of the season, away at Fulham, kick-off at 6.30pm to ease traffic congestion.

With all the other games having finished, the Luton players knew that one point would be sufficient to take them to the top of the table and Billington, inevitably, fired the Town ahead against the Cottagers.

The lead was held until the second half when Fulham’s Ronnie Rooke hit home the equaliser which turned out to be the last competitive goal scored for seven years as, on the following day, war was declared. The Hatters therefore remained top of Division Two throughout the hostilities.

All player contracts were immediately suspended and all competions cancelled. This total ban was soon lifted, though, and some friendly games had been arranged by the end of the month and regional competitions organised in October 1939.

In the First World War football was actively discouraged as the thought of someone enjoying themselves whilst men were dying in the trenches of Northern France and Belgium was abhorrent. This way of thinking had changed by 1939, especially as it was likely to be a different type of war and sport was encouraged as a morale booster.

Certain restrictions applied as to the size of the crowds especially in the more ‘at risk’ areas of the country, but as the war became more prolonged the major problems were a lack of playing kit, footballs and most importantly players.

Every team in the country used ‘guest’ players and the Town were no different and amongst the dozens who turned out in Luton colours were England international Eddie Hapgood as well as future Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. Teams such as Aldershot could take the pick of the local army barracks and for a long time could boast an England international half-back line as well as Tommy Lawton up front.

Many tales were told of people being hauled out of the crowd to make up the numbers, of referees not turning up and games being started with less than eleven on each side. It was important, though, that the sport should continue through what was a miserable time.

Although Kenilworth Road came through the war unscathed, unlike grounds such as Old Trafford, St Andrews and Highfield Road, the Town did have more than their fair share of problems attracting decent players to turn out for them.

Football was regionalised, for safety and travelling reasons, and the Town were in a Midland Division in the 1939/40 season and then in Southern Regional Leagues thereafter. During that first season the Town beat Coventry 7-0 at home but lost 2-10 away and over the rest of the war-time period suffered some horrendous beatings conceding eight goals on six occasions, nine goals four times as well as a ten, two elevens and an awful 3-12 hammering at Southampton. The 7-0 thrashing of Coventry was most certainly a one-off!

Full use was made of the Kenilworth Road ground over the war period with boxing and wrestling contests a regular occurrence and there was even an exhibition baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the St Louis Cardinals staged as the war drew to a close to cater for the many American servicemen in the area who needed entertaining.

Although the war finally ended in 1945 a regional north and south competition was organised by the Football League for the 1945/46 season due to the fact that it would take everyone at least twelve months to get back to something vaguely resembling normality. Four players who would not come back were Joe Coen, Charles Ladd, Charles Clark and James Gillespie, all killed during the hostilities.

The fixture list for 1939/40 was retained for the 1946/47 season so the Town kicked off once more against Sheffield Wednesday with a much healthier crowd of 21,105 in attendance.

Only two players, Hugh Billington and Horace Gager, had appeared in the pre-war game but the new look side which had been put together by manager George Martin looked every bit as good as that of seven years before.

Martin had been up-graded from coach to manager in December 1944 and had lost no time in attempting to assemble a squad ready for the resumption of ‘proper’ league football. Amongst the signings were pre-war favourite Eddie Connelly, who had been at West Bromwich in the meantime, and ex-England international Frank Soo who was picked up from Leicester for a record £5,000.

The big crowd was mightily impressed by the Town performance against the Owls in the 4-1 win. Mel Daniel, another relative newcomer, netted a hat-trick with only one other player, future-Hatter Jesse Pye then of Wolves, doing the same on the opening day.

Martin was not finished with his buying and went to Sheffield Wednesday to bring back Allen Driver, to complement Billington, for another record fee and in a masterstroke of far reaching consequences brought in veteran winger Dally Duncan from Derby as player/coach.

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As the season wore on, lack of consistency, injury problems and dismal away form combined to ensure that the Town struggled to force their way above mid-table.

The home record was the saving grace, however, with only one defeat suffered from the first seven games. In the home match prior to the visit of Newcastle the league attendance record had been broken once more when near neighbours Tottenham visited Kenilworth Road and returned to north London at the end of a 2-3 beating.

Newcastle were a different proposition, though, and sat proudly at the top of the division having suffered only two reversals from the opening 16 matches. They also boasted a forward line which included Jackie Milburn, Roy Bentley, Charlie Wayman and Tom Pearson, all big stars of the day.

As if this was not enough, they had added to this firepower by bringing Len Shackleton from Bradford Park Avenue to Tyneside a few weeks before.

Shackleton, who had netted six goals on his debut as the Magpies demolished poor Newport 13-0, had signed for a post-war record £13,000 or, more precisely, £13,000/0/3d as Bradford wanted to beat the previous record which had been set a couple of months previously when Albert Stubbins went from Newcastle to Liverpool.

Naturally this particular ‘circus’ attracted the crowds wherever it went and Luton was no exception with 25,410 packing the terraces and all turnstiles locked well before the start. As all older Luton Town supporters will confirm, the pitch used to slope slightly towards the Oak Road end of the ground with the result that from about October onwards that particular goalmouth and stretching out to the Bobber Stand was a muddy morass. Whichever side was defending that end was at an immediate disadvantage which was the Town’s lot in the first half.

The conditions meant that defenders had difficulty in turning and when this was added to the slick interpassing of the Newcastle forwards, and far too much respect given, the Hatters were always going to be up against it.

Goals from Bentley after 12 minutes, Wayman after 26 and an absolute cracker from Shackleton on the half-hour put the Town in a seemingly impossible position.

As the Luton players trudged off at half-time, the supporters must have wondered what the final Newcastle tally would be.

Left winger Dally Duncan, when interviewed some years later, shed some light on the half-time team talk given by George Martin. Beside himself with anger, Martin started off by kicking over a full bucket of water on entering the dressing room.

After calming down a little he pointed out that the Town had not played badly in the first-half, Billington had caused some panic in the Newcastle defence as well as hitting a post and they would now be attacking the swamp-like Oak Road end. Also the undue reverence given to the Magpies had to stop forthwith!

Suitably chastised, the players set out in the second-half with a vengeance, feeling that one goal could start an avalanche.

This one goal was not long in coming with Billy Waugh getting on the end of a Duncan cross in the 54th minute and when Mel Daniel headed in an accurate Duncan corner two minutes later the crowd began to believe that a major upset was on the cards.

When Billington ploughed through the mud to thunder home the equaliser on the hour the crowd was in uproar and apart from a brief flurry from the Magpies when a penalty appeal for handball against Horace Gager was turned down, there was only going to be one winner.

The Town left it a bit late for the final goal, as there were only seven minutes remaining when Allen Driver slammed the ball home following further excellent play from Duncan, but Newcastle were dead on their feet by then as they watched the remarkable comeback completed.

Under a headline ‘Town’s most sensational win’, Eric Pugh wrote in the ‘Luton News’ that the second-half rally had to be seen to be believed and if there was one certain thing in an uncertain world this game would be remembered and talked about for years to come.

Luton Town: Bywater, Cooke, Beach, Soo, Gager, Gardiner, Waugh, Daniel, Billington, Driver, Duncan.

Newcastle United: Swinburne, Craig, Graham, Harvey, Smith, Wright, Milburn, Bentley, Wayman, Shackleton, Pearson.

Below: The Newcastle United mascot fails to whip up the crowd!

After a decent run in the F.A.Cup, where the Hatters beat Notts County 6-0 with Billington netting five and Swansea, before going out in a replay to Burnley the season was a little disappointing considering the money that had been spent but the future looked promising with the number of talented youngsters coming up through the ranks.

During the summer of 1947 Newcastle, no doubt remembering the pep-talk given by George Martin to his players the previous November, asked the Scot to be their new manager. The lure of a big city club was too good to turn down and so the Town were left searching for yet another man to take over the hot seat.

Receiving 70 applications which were whittled down to four, the Town in the end plumped for the man on their doorstep, Dally Duncan, who was given the role of player/manager.

Duncan lost no time in strengthening the squad and caused great excitement amongst Town followers when a record £11,000 was paid for Birmingham’s Welsh international full-back Billy Hughes. Considered by many judges to be “the most polished full-back in the country if not the world” it was a tremendous coup for ‘little’ Luton to secure such a player. Not only did the Town beat off the approaches of three first division clubs for the signature of Hughes but they doubled their previous highest fee paid in doing so.

With all the hype, it came as a great disappointment when the Hatters were hammered 1-4 at Coventry on the opening day of the new season but this upset was soon rectified with a 3-0 win at Brentford four days later. Hugh Billington, fast approaching the veteran stage, proved he still had some goals left in him by scoring all three and then following it up with a further hat-trick when the return was played against the ‘Bees’ on 3rd September 1947.

From then on the season became a struggle with goals difficult to come by although the defence had a settled look about it due in no small measure to a tall, gangly wing-half signed from Birmingham, with no fanfare at all, at the time that Duncan became manager. Syd Owen would become one of the bargains of all time at Kenilworth Road.

1-0 defeats and 0-0 draws were commonplace as no fewer than thirteen different players were tried in the forward line in the period leading up to Christmas.

One of those turning out in the forward line was player/manager Dally Duncan who finally decided to hang up his boots following the 0-0 draw with Tottenham at Kenilworth Road on 25th October 1947. It was a fitting finale to what had been a long and illustrious career as a then record crowd of 26,496 was present. At 39 years 11 days, Duncan remained the oldest player to take part in a league game for Luton for fifty years.

It seemed for a time during December that the Town’s fortunes had taken a turn for the better as four wins out of five, including a Christmas double over Leeds, sent the team surging up the table.

This joy was shortlived, however, as the following month saw the Town pointless after three straight defeats. The 1-4 reverse at St James Park against promotion chasing Newcastle was watched by a crowd of 64,931, a record league attendance for any Town match.

Amidst all this, the Town were beginning to put a cup run together which seemed highly unlikely given the league form. The Third Round draw sent the Hatters to Home Park to take on a strong Plymouth side.

With Horace Gager, a local lad who was the kingpin of the side at centre-half injured, Les Hall a promising but untried reserve was drafted in and played a blinder as the Town won in style 4-2.

Such was the form of Hall that when Gager was fit he was unable to regain his place and was subsequently transferred to Nottingham Forest in March 1948 for a sizeable fee.

Two weeks after the Gager transfer, Chelsea approached the Town with a £20,000 bid for the joint signatures of leading scorer Billington and the full-back who had arrived at the start of the season, Billy Hughes.

To the disgust of the Luton supporters the offer, which in truth was too good to turn down for two players the wrong side of thirty, was accepted.

The felony was compounded when, with Easter approaching, relegation was staring the Town in the face as the team adjusted to newcomers in the side. Easter turned out to be a disaster with a 0-3 home defeat by Fulham followed by a 0-2 reverse at Chesterfield leaving the Town directors subject to many vitriolic letters to the ‘Luton News’ because of their refusal to jump into the transfer market and spend some of the money received for Gager, Hughes and Billington.

The directors sat tight, however, and watched as Les Lake, another local lad, gradually settled down in the full-back role and Bobby Brennan, a £2,000 signing from Distillery earlier in the season, assumed a freer position in the forward line to realise his full potential.

A glimmer of light had been seen in the Town’s performance in the 1-1 draw at Fulham on Easter Monday followed up by a battling scoreless home draw with West Ham the next Saturday.

There then followed one of the longest 45 minutes Luton supporters have ever had to live through as a slender 1-0 half-time lead at Tottenham was retained despite a bombardment of siege proportions from the Spurs forward line.

Fortune now started to smile on the Town as the other teams at the bottom of the table, notably Doncaster and Millwall were unable to pick up any points and when Luton managed to rescue a point at Bury after being 0-2 down at one stage, one more win from the final four games was required to ensure safety.

As it turned out the Town managed to win three of these four games which meant the team finished in a comfortable mid-table position which had seemed extremely unlikely only a few short weeks before.

With the board promising to strengthen the squad over the summer they were now ‘flavour of the month’ again but they would probably admit to a few beads of sweat before their gamble finally came off.

The most significant purchase over the summer of 1948 was a 17 acre field at Skimpot Farm, fronting on to Dunstable Road which it was hoped would be the site of a new Luton Town football ground at some time in the future. Initially, though, it would be used for training and youth team games.

On the field it was a season of further transition with youngsters such as Bob Morton beginning to make a name for himself and Bobby Brennan ensuring that the scouts flocked to Kenilworth Road in droves.

A final position of tenth was an improvement on the previous season but was nowhere near good enough for the ultra ambitious chairman Charles Jeyes.

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The F.A.Cup brought some respite in a fairly mundane season and a home draw with fellow Division Two side West Ham in round three certainly raised some interest with 22,229 filing into Kenilworth Road. According to reports, the Town put on a five star performance and won through easily 3-1 to set up a home tie with Walsall of Division Three (South).

The thought of a giant killing brought in the crowds, and 26,422 filled Kenilworth Road but the Town swept aside the opposition and were two goals up inside ten minutes. When Bobby Brennan netted his hat-trick goal, and the Town’s fourth soon after the interval the game was over and everyone was waiting for the fifth round draw which pitted the Hatters at home once more, this time to Leicester of Division Two.

Another near record crowd of 26,280 flocked to Kenilworth Road and paid then record receipts of £4,678 to see a remarkable game that ended 5-5 after extra-time.

Jack Lee scored first for Leicester after six minutes but within another four minutes Peter Small and Brennan had shot the Town into the lead. By half-time, however, Lee had scored a further two goals...but this lead was wiped out when Tommy Kiernan netted from a Billy Waugh cross shortly after the break.

Shots and chances were then, according to the local scribe, far too numerous to mention as this pulsating game entered extra time. When Mal Griffiths scored a soft goal for Leicester early in the first half of extra time, Luton followers expected the worst as teams scoring first in this period normally went on to win but when first Kiernan and then Charlie Watkins with a 20 yard shot, put the Hatters ahead again a famous victory was anticipated.

With only seconds remaining, however, City gained a corner and a tired Griffiths could only muster the strength to send a short lob to the near post but somehow Lee managed to screw the ball home with his head as the referee blew the final whistle.

Although massively disappointed, several thousand Luton supporters made the trip to Filbert Street for the replay the following Saturday swelling the crowd to 38,322. They were heartened when Brennan netted in the first minute but then saddened by a three goal City salvo in the 15 minutes before half-time.

With the Town pushing forward for a second goal, gaps appeared in defence leading to Lee, Griffiths and Ken Chisholm setting up City’s comfortable interval lead.

When Griffiths was brought down by Les Hall in the area just after the restart with Lee blasting home the resultant penalty the Hatter’s cup run looked dead and buried but 18 minutes from the end Billy Arnison reduced the deficit quickly followed by a Brennan piledriver.

City were now panicking and when a Brennan header appeared to cross the line with ten minutes left everyone in the ground was praising another great comeback in a contest that had everything. Unfortunately the referee and linesmen were the only people in Filbert Street not to see the ball cross the line and play was waved on only for Griffiths to sweep down the other end to put the game finally out of the Town’s reach.

Ex-Town manager Ned Liddell who was at the game scouting for Brentford, who were due to take on the winners, said afterwards, “The better team lost.”

Luton Town: Streten, Wilson, Cooke, Morton, Hall, Gardiner, Small, Kiernan, Brennan, Watkins, Waugh.

Leicester City: McGraw, Frame, Scott, Harrison, Plummer, King, Griffiths, Revie, Lee, Chisholm, Adam.

Second game. Luton Town: Streten, Mulvaney, Cooke, Watkins, Hall, Gardiner, Small, Kiernan, Arnison, Brennan, Waugh.

Leicester City: Only change Jelly for Frame.

Below: The famous 'dog on the pitch' photo!

The only thing to excite the fans as the 1948/49 season drew to a close was the announcement that the original part of the main stand was to be re-roofed for the first time since erection in 1922. The directors had finally bowed to the many complaints which had been made about water dripping down the necks of supporters when it rained.

Although supporters realised that this type of improvement did not come cheaply, they did not anticipate that the family jewels were about to be sold to cover the cost. Birmingham came in with a £20,000 bid for Bobby Brennan which the board reluctantly accepted and in a stroke the Town kissed goodbye to any hopes of promotion in the foreseeable future. Brennan was a natural goalscorer and would be sorely missed and when his co-striker Billy Arnison was badly injured early in the following season the goals completely dried up and the team struggled.

Although George Stobbart was signed from Newcastle in an attempt to solve the problem he only managed nine goals and finished top scorer as the Town hit the back of the net only 41 times over the campaign. It was only a late run of draws and narrow wins that allowed the Hatters to avoid relegation at the death but it had been a close run thing once more.

On 22nd October 1949 champions elect Tottenham were in town and drew a record crowd to Kenilworth Road of 27,319. The game finished 1-1.

In October 1949, Bernard Streten became the first Luton player to be picked for England since Joe Payne in 1937. England beat Northern Ireland 9-2 but Streten was not selected again despite having little to do and not being at fault with either goal.

If supporters had breathed a sigh of relief thinking the worst was over, they could think again as the 1950/51 season proved even more depressing.

The new campaign did not get off to a very good start for, after an encouraging opening day 2-0 win over Brentford at Kenilworth Road, it was to be another twelve games before victory was tasted again.

The major problem was still the lack of firepower up front and in a bid to change things around a number of players were tried in the forward positions to accompany old warhorse George Stobbart, with little joy.

Another worrying trend was that the previously watertight defence was now shipping in goals and terrible defeats such as a 1-6 hammering at Barnsley saw crowds plummet like a stone.

Something had to be done and manager Dally Duncan, using his knowledge of Scotland, set his eyes on the free-scoring St Mirren forward Willie Davie and Glasgow Celtic utility player Pat McAuley. Paisley born Davie was attracting scouts from many top flight clubs but Duncan felt he was one step ahead in the chase. McAuley was, however, a different kettle of fish altogether with most clubs seeming to give him a wide berth.

McAuley was effectively on strike at Celtic after holding out for more money or a transfer. Celtic did not wish to break their ‘unofficial’ wage structure nor did they wish the player to leave Parkhead such was his amazing talent.

Hailed as the finest natural footballer to wear a Celtic shirt, the team was effectively being built around him until his disagreements with the board. ‘Snake-hipped, a football artist with delightful footwork and great intelligence and a true craftsman’, were some of the comments made by the Scottish press at the time and Luton supporters felt that Duncan was on a hiding to nothing in his attempts to entice him to Kenilworth Road.

On Wednesday 13th December 1950 Duncan left Luton on the night train for Glasgow and the following morning signed Davie for £7,500, plus Tom Kiernan in part-exchange, and opened negotiations with McAuley. The talks broke down, so back came Duncan on the night train to Luton from where he went straight to Reading with the youth team.

While he was at Elm Park, he learnt that Celtic were prepared to re-open negotiations, so off he went to Glasgow again signing McAuley on the Saturday morning for £4,500 and coming back that evening, hearing on the way that his charges had lost 0-1 at Brentford.

These two signings immediately turned things around with two wins and two draws recorded from the next four games which included a league double against Swansea over Christmas. Suddenly the forthcoming plum F.A.Cup third round home tie with Portsmouth could not come quickly enough.

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Pompey, who had won the league championship over the previous two seasons were at the peak of their powers with a settled side that had played together, virtually unchanged, since the end of the war. They were expected to make short work of the Hatters but, such was the surge of optimism around Kenilworth Road in the short space of one month, the Luton supporters felt that Portsmouth’s perceived over confidence would be punished by the new look side.

As it turned out, over confidence did not come into it as Pompey were completely outplayed in a 0-2 defeat which to everyone, apart from the Luton faithful, was the shock of the day.

With rain falling on an already heavy pitch, the crowd of 21,631 went into raptures as the Town tore into the Portsmouth defence, but had only one goal to show for their efforts at half-time, after Willie Davie hit home a superb through ball from George Stobbart in the 25th minute. It would have been no injustice had the Town, who had adapted to the conditions rather better than Pompey, been three up at the interval but the scoreline took on a more realistic look three minutes into the second period when South African Willie Havenga who, along with full-back Billy Cooke, was playing with a plaster cast to protect a broken wrist, smacked in a cross from Alec Glover.

Portsmouth came more into the game after that but with skipper Syd Owen controlling dangerman Duggie Reid and goalkeeper Bernard Streten pulling off a couple of typically spectacular saves, the Town held on for a place in the next round.

The round four opponents were to be Bristol Rovers of Division Three (South) and this time the Hatters were favourites. 

Another near record crowd rolled up at Kenilworth Road to witness the slaughter but this time the boot was completely on the other foot.

Rovers played the type of football that the Town had displayed in the previous round and although Charlie Watkins gave Luton the lead in the 13th minute, against the run of play, there was only going to be one winner.

Shots from all ranges and angles rained in on Streten, who was eventually beaten in the 30th minute when he could only punch out a fierce shot right to the feet of Vic Lambden, who was left with an empty net to aim at. The inevitable Rovers winner came early in the second half when George Petherbridge dribbled past two Luton defenders and beat Streten as he advanced.

Luton Town: Streten, Cooke, Aherne, Morton, Owen, Watkins, Glover, Shanks, Stobbart, Davie, Havenga.

Portsmouth: Leather, Stephen, Rookes, Scoular, Flewin, Dickinson, Harris, Ryder, Reid, Phillips, Froggatt.

Below: Molly Miles is among the excited supporters for the visit of Portsmouth

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The optimistic air that had spread through the streets of Luton since just before Christmas immediately evaporated as the supporters realised, in the cold light of day. That a relegation struggle was all they could look forward to.

Following the cup defeat the Town players went six games before picking up a win bonus but crucially won three games in succession in late March, two of which were against fellow strugglers at the foot of the table. The Town eventually finished up with 32 points which, in a normal season, would have seen them relegated but fortunately the teams below them had an even more woeful time. It had been close though!

Manager Dally Duncan was fortunate to retain his position at the end of that campaign and only the casting vote of the chairman saved him. It is a good job that he was kept on though as the 1951/52 season saw some of his hard work in bringing on the youngsters come to fruition and some of his cannier buys finally show the form he knew was in them.

For once, the Town were looking at the other end of the table and were in with a shout of promotion throughout the whole exciting campaign. Aided by the signings of South African Roy Davies from Clyde and Bert Mitchell from Northampton the team had a more solid look about it and took the sale of Willie Davie to Huddersfield, for a hard to refuse £23,000 in December 1951, in its stride.

Youngsters such as Jack Taylor, signed from Stockton in 1949, finally came good and future Kenilworth Road legends Bob Morton and Gordon Turner were now starting to make claims for a permanent place in the side.

The season was made even more exciting with the journey to the F.A.Cup quarter-finals for only the second time in the club’s history.

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The F.A.Cup run moved off to an eyebrow raising start when Gordon Turner, in his first cup tie, netted with a scorching shot to see off top flight Charlton at Kenilworth Road.

Brentford were the visitors in the next round and it was Turner again who scored after 18 minutes and then watched as the Bee’s veteran goalkeeper Ted Gaskell performed miracles, keeping out three goalbound efforts from Bert Mitchell, George Stobbart and Jack Taylor.

When Taylor scored the second soon after the interval the game seemed over but Brentford’s Billy Sperrin, whose son was later to play for the Town, turned the tie on its head netting twice to force a replay.

The replay almost did not go ahead on the allotted day of 6^th February due to the death of the King that morning but frantic telephone calls to the F.A. confirmed that the match should take place and in the event 31,143 turned up at Griffin Park in sombre mood but were soon roaring their approval as the contest swung from end to end.

The Town started the brighter but the Bees came into the game as the interval approached with Billy Dare hitting the woodwork twice. The Luton defence stood firm and were then able to set up attacks with Taylor proving a major threat to the home side.

Extra-time could not separate the teams who were still going at it hammer and tongs as the referee blew the final whistle with the ball bouncing around in the Bee’s penalty box.

No penalty competitions in those days and a second replay was quickly arranged with the teams travelling to Highbury to resume this marathon contest. This time an intrigued crowd of 37,269 was present to see the Town take the lead after only 30 seconds when Taylor’s shot was deflected past Gaskell by full-back Kenny Horne.

Dare levelled on the half hour but within five minutes Bernard Moore put the Hatters back into the lead. With seven minutes remaining Dare levelled the tie once more and again the punch drunk supporters were about to witness another period of extra-time.

Finally, the pace of the game began to slacken off and the battle was confined to the midfield area. With only seven minutes left of extra-time, Bob Morton picked up the ball on the half-way line and with no-one challenging him advanced to the edge of the area before unleashing an unstoppable left foot shot which deserved to win any game.

The reward was yet another home tie, this time against Swindon. The Robins had held the Kenilworth Road attendance record since 1938 when 27,546 were present for a fourth round F.A.Cup tie but managed to beat it by seven in 1952.

Swindon shocked the Hatters when they scored after only six minutes but after Taylor levelled just before the interval there was only going to be one winner and the Town ran out fairly comfortable 3-1 victors by the end.

The quarter-final draw pitched the Town against a team in red for the fourth time in the cup run with mighty Arsenal the visitors to Kenilworth Road for an all-ticket tie. The ground record was smashed with 28,433 paying £6,159, another record, managing to squeeze in and the majority went wild when Moore spectacularly headed in Mitchell’s centre after nine minutes.

The Gunners could not get into the game and made no headway against the Luton defence which was being superbly marshalled by Syd Owen, that is, until just before the interval when a crude challenge by Peter Goring left the Luton centre-half a limping passenger with a badly damaged ankle.

With Owen unable to kick with his right foot and unable to turn, Arsenal smelt blood and finally Freddie Cox levelled when the game was an hour old. The Town were then reduced to nine fit men when Roy Davies was carried off with a broken ankle following a clash with Lionel Smith and further goals from Cox and Milton seemed to put the game out of the Hatter’s reach.

The Town received a lifeline with 15 minutes left when Arsenal’s Welsh international centr-half Ray Daniel handled in the area leaving Mitchell to net from the spot and bring about a frantic finale to a game that left a sour taste in the mouth as witnessed by the hostile reception accorded the victors at the end.

Luton Town: Streten, Cooke, Aherne, Morton, Owen, Watkins, Davies, Taylor, Moore, Stobbart, Mitchell.

Arsenal: Swindin, Barnes, Smith, Shaw, Daniel, Mercer, Cox, Milton, Goring, Lishman, Roper.

Below: Bernard Moore heads in the Town's first goal

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In November 1951 the Town began the first investigations into the installation of floodlights at Kenilworth Road as, by then, quite a few clubs were taking advantage of the new technology and inviting foreign clubs over for lucrative ‘floodlight friendlies’.

Unfortunately, the club’s board was informed that they would have to commission an electricity sub-station on site in order to provide sufficient power. It would be almost two years before a suitable site was found, in the back garden of one of the club owned houses in Oak Road, and the big ‘switch-on’ could take place.

In the close season of 1952 two significant transfers took place at Kenilworth Road. The supporters bowed to the inevitable when ace striker Jack Taylor was transferred to Wolves, then one of the biggest sides in the land, for a massive £16,000.

The sadness did not last long as, a couple of weeks later, Jesse Pye made the reverse move for £8,000. Pye, an ex-England international and a consistent goalscorer in the top flight, was only 32 so nowhere near being classed as over the hill and his signing was seen as a masterstroke by Dally Duncan as it immediately gave Luton supporters a spring in their step as they looked forward to the new campaign.

After a slow start, the Town got into their stride and were challenging leaders Sheffield United and Huddersfield throughout the season but were tantalisingly unable to consistently close the gap and finished a disappointing third, albeit the highest position in the club’s history.

Although disappointed, the club’s followers could not complain at the entertainment served up. Pye was a revelation, showing silky skills for such a big man and netting 24 goals as well as acting as mentor to Gordon Turner and teaching him the tricks of the trade much as Bob Hatton did with a young Brian Stein almost forty years later.

Young goalkeeper Ron Baynham, signed from Worcester City in November 1951, replaced the out of sorts Bernard Streten halfway through the season and the ex-England international could not get his place back. With an embarrassment of riches in the goalkeeping department and in a bid to prevent a mutiny the directors decided to pay each goalkeeper the maximum £15 per week which was normally reserved for those that played. A dangerous precedent had been set!

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The F.A.Cup run had got off to a sensational start with young Irishman Arthur Taylor, on his debut, netting in the first minute in the third round tie against Blackburn Rovers at Kenilworth Road. Even more sensational was the fact that the Town were three goals to the good after 17 minutes with Jesse Pye and Taylor again on the scoresheet, but until another scoring burst of three in nine minutes, with two from Pye, towards the end of the game Rovers probably had more of the play but did not have their shooting boots on.

The final scoreline of 6-1 in the Town’s favour was therefore rather flattering leaving Rovers with less than fond thoughts of Kenilworth Road having lost 0-6 in a league match two months earlier. Pye was not likely to be on their Christmas card list either, having netted a hat-trick in each game.

The reward was a trip to first division Manchester City and over 5,000 Luton supporters made the trip to Maine Road to swell the crowd to 38,411.

On a blustery day, the Town played with the wind in the first half and were disappointed to concede a goal after 20 minutes when Ivor Broadis fired in a left foot shot after Bob Morton could only half-clear a Don Revie free-kick. City went close a couple of times after that but just before the interval Pye was sent sprawling just outside the box and he hammered home the free-kick after Bernard Moore had dummied to take it.

The Town were expecting a City onslaught in the second half but it never really came and the Luton defence with Les Hall, deputising for the injured Syd Owen, in commanding form was able to take care of the City attacks with relative ease.

The replay took place at Kenilworth Road the following Wednesday afternoon and 21,991 reported sick for work and watched as the Town used the same blitz tactics that they had employed against Blackburn in the opening minutes. This time Pye set up Gordon Turner, back in the re-shuffled side following a bad injury sustained by Wally Shanks at Maine Road, who blazed the ball home in the second minute and then played a clever pass to Bert Mitchell whose cross was turned into his own goal by Roy Little shortly afterwards.

City pulled a goal back through Billy Spurdle after 11 minutes and threatened the Luton defence for a time but again Hall was in commanding form.

The next goal was always going to be important and it fell to the Town when Pye set up Turner again, a minute from the interval, who scored from close range.

The result was put beyond doubt four minutes after the break when Mitchell took another pass from Pye in his stride and steered the ball past Bert Trautmann in the City goal.

With the pressure off, the Town attacked at will and it was only the brilliance of the ex-German prisoner-of-war Trautmann that prevented a cricket score as his demoralised team mates threw in the towel. The Hatters did net a fifth just before the end when, for once, Pye was not involved leaving Bob Morton to set up Turner for his hat-trick goal.

Jesse Pye was at his imperious best that afternoon with the City players unable to get anywhere near him but it was reported afterwards that he had not felt well before the game and was packed off to bed with suspected ‘flu straight after. City were probably relieved that they did not have to face a fit Pye!

Unfortunately, the cup run ended at the next stage with Bolton winning 1-0 in a tough contest at Kenilworth Road played on a terrible surface of slush and mud. The Trotters were to go on to the final that year where they lost to Stanley Matthews’ Blackpool.

Luton Town: Baynham, Jones, Aherne, Morton, Hall, Watkins, Cullen, Moore, Pye, Turner, Mitchell.

Manchester City: Trautmann, Branagan, Little, Revie, Ewing, Paul, Meadows, Spurdle, Williamson, Broadis, Cunliffe.

Below: Town players celebrate one of Gordon Turner's hat-trick goals. 
       

At the end of the season the players and management, together with the directors and their wives set off on the club’s first major foreign tour. The trip to Turkey and Greece took in eight games including Galatasaray, Olympiakos amd Panathinaikos and although the results were nothing to shout about, the exercise was judged a success and paved the way for more long distance tours over the decade. The players were magnanimously allowed £1 per day pocket money!

Back home, money was spent on a general tidying up of the ground with £400 being allocated to a re-enforced concrete wall along the Bobbers Stand side of the pitch which replaced a fence that had been there since 1905. Also for the first time a ten foot wire mesh fence was installed above the Bobbers Stand to help catch stray balls.

On the playing side the Town splashed out £9,500 on Johnny Downie from Manchester United and paid £12,000 to Everton for George Cummins. Both were inside forwards and on the face of it similar players but it was Downie who was the first to impress, scoring a hat-trick in the opening day 4-4 draw with Oldham at Kenilworth Road, although Cummins was to make the greater long term impact.

The season got off to the, by now typical, slow start but with the Town on a ten game unbeaten run as Christmas approached, Pye broke an ankle at Oldham which kept him out for the rest of the season. This paved the way for Turner to show that he had learnt from the maestro but it was too much to expect him to do it all on his own and the season petered out to an ultimately unsuccessful, but respectable, position of sixth.

The Town finally switched on their £2,160 floodlights on 7^th October 1953 for a game against Fenerbahce of Turkey which was won 7-4 (the club had originally asked Arsenal and Chelsea to do them the honour but both refused).

Due to the cramped environment around the ground the Hatters could not have traditional floodlight pylons in each corner but had to make do with a row of lights along the Bobbers and Main stands supplemented by some ugly concrete posts at the Kenilworth Road end of the enclosure.

The summer of 1954 proved to be an awkward time for the club with the resignation of Chairman Charles Jeyes. It all started with the retirement of long serving E. Hugh Woods from the board followed by the proposal that rather than replace him, the number of directors should be reduced to six.

Jeyes felt that a change of this nature should be voted on by the shareholders, but some of the other directors did not agree as they knew they could push it through on a poll vote in any case. This smacked of a dictatorship, according to Jeyes who wanted none of it and resigned from his position on the board, which he had held since 1927, and from the chair.

The Town’s progressive board had always previously shown a united front to the supporters, who regarded them as rock solid. This washing of dirty linen in public shocked the fans who were looking forward to another successful season in the knowledge that their club was in safe hands. At that moment they were not so sure!

As was to be expected the matter was soon smoothed over and the supporters were heartened to hear that old playing favourite, and now mine host at the Warden Tavern in New Bedford Road, Tom Hodgson, was invited on to the board. Percy Mitchell stepped up to the chair.

One of the first tasks facing Hodgson was to sort out the Johnny Downie housing saga.

The club had apparently promised Downie a brand new house to rent as part of the deal when he came to Kenilworth Road twelve months earlier, but then tried to foist him off with one of the established club houses dotted around the town. Downie stood his ground and demanded that the club honour their promise while the directors were not keen to spend any more money and, in fact, were looking to sell some of their properties as they became vacant. The Mexican stand-off ended with an unhappy Downie being transferred to Hull for £5,000 which represented a loss to the Hatters of £4,500 or two new houses!

At the time, houses were a major concern as it seems that on marriage the players looked to the board for a club house to rent as a right. Trying to keep certain players happy was not easy nor was making sure that players transferred out, vacated as quickly as possible.

As well as the aforementioned properties, the club also owned the houses in Kenilworth Road backing on to the ground as well as the ones on Oak Road. Entrances to each end of the ground had been drilled through the terraced houses and while the club used the, by now, oddly shaped 70-72 Kenilworth Road as offices they had problems letting the butchered properties in Oak Road especially as electricity seemed to have passed by most of that row of houses even as late as 1954.

The Town opened the new season adopting a ‘continental’ style of strip (round neck collar and tight fitting) not previously seen worn by a British club, and also pinching an idea used successfully by the Hungarians – that of using a deep lying centre-forward.

With the now fit again Jesse Pye filling the role, the Hatters, after another stuttering start, won six games in a row and promotion talk soon filled the pubs and clubs of the town. But the first bombshell of the new season was about to be dropped when Pye asked for a transfer and moved to Derby in early October 1954. Although citing the health of his wife as the reason for the move there was also a worry over pay. In common with most clubs the Town paid a summer weekly wage, a higher one for the playing season plus an extra amount for playing in the first team. Pye, having been on the middle wage for most of the previous season due to his broken ankle, had found it difficult to cope and needed the absolute guarantee of first team football which the Town were not able to give but Derby, presumably, were. The Hatters were now playing a deep lying centre-forward system with no deep lying centre-forward.

With no ready made replacement, a variety of permutations were used including Terry Kelly and Peter MacEwan but after what was to be the only home defeat of the season, against Swansea on 30^th October, the drastic decision was taken to switch wing-half Bob Morton to centre-forward.

Morton – relishing his new position – scored twice in his first game in the new role in a 3-3 draw at Notts County and the team began to fire on all cylinders again with ace goalscorer Gordon Turner now given more freedom.

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The biggest test of the new look Town side was to come with the visit of runaway leaders Blackburn to Kenilworth Road. Rovers were probably fearful of coming to Luton, having suffered some fearful thumpings in the past, and were not to be disappointed when the Town went three up in the first ten minutes.

Gordon Turner opened the scoring on four minutes when he was first to react to a shot from Bob Morton, that the Blackburn goalkeeper could not hold, and was on the spot again three minutes later rounding off a sweeping move.

Roy Davies then bagged number three in the tenth minute before Tommy Briggs, in a rare breakaway, surprised the crowd when pulling one back for the visitors.

It was soon back to business as normal with Jim Adam and Davies scoring again to make it 5-1 to the Town with less than half an hour played.

The Blackburn defenders were having difficulty in turning in the thick mud and found it impossible to put a curb on the Hatters forwards, who combined speed and accuracy of movement to the full. The Town meanwhile spurned several opportunities with Adam and Morton guilty of misses that would have seen the Luton score into double figures before the interval.

It was not going to be long before the Town were back on the scoring trail, and Turner bagged his hat-trick goal four minutes into the second half before Jim Pemberton’s long range effort on 70 minutes was enough to beat the Town’s previous scoring record in Division Two.

Blackburn did manage to pull a couple of goals back before the end to make the scoreline semi-respectable but they had to acknowledge that the Town were pretty much unstoppable on the day and were a team in the best sense of the word with no weak links apparent.

Luton Town: Baynham, Dunne, Aherne, Pemberton, Owen, Shanks, Davies, Turner, Morton, Cummins, Adam.

Blackburn Rovers: Elvy, Suart, Eckersley, Clayton, Kelly, Bell, Mooney, Crossan, Briggs, Quigley, Langton.

Below: Jimmy Adam is about to score Town's fourth goal

Taking much confidence from the Blackburn performance, the Town embarked on a spell of ten games undefeated which saw them take over top spot and earn rave reviews with their wins at Nottingham Forest 5-1, Hull 4-0 and Rotherham in the F.A.Cup 5-1.

As the season neared its end it could be seen that the Hatters had to face several of their chief rivals and they effectively pegged back Notts County, who had begun to appear a real threat, 3-1 at Kenilworth Road before earning a point at Anfield in an amazing 4-4 draw against Liverpool, after being 1-3 down at one stage.

Easter came, as did a crowd of 25,775 to Kenilworth Road on Good Friday who witnessed a disappointing 0-0 draw with Leeds. Undeterred, a best of the season 27,148 turned up the following day to see West Ham beaten 2-0.

It was following this game that the season started to turn sour as in the return with Leeds on Easter Monday the Town were thrashed 0-4 with big John Charles hammering two from the penalty spot.

The Hatters were now in the middle of an epidemic of penalty kicks awarded against them, but in the next game Blackburn’s Bobby Langton shot wide as Luton luckily hung on to a point in a 0-0 draw at Ewood Park.

The crunch game followed at Birmingham where a crowd of 34,612 saw the Blues win 2-1 with the clinching goal coming after a dubious penalty award.

This defeat left the Town with three games to play and needing to win them all to stand a realistic chance of promotion. At a round table conference the players agreed that experience was needed for the run-in with the result that Charlie Watkins, who was due to emigrate to South Africa at the season’s end, was recalled to form a left wing partnership with Jim Pemberton who had been moved from the half-back line leaving the way clear for Morton to return to probably his best position.

These unorthodox moves had ‘gamble’ written all over them but they paid off as Port Vale were hammered 4-2 at Kenilworth Road followed by Bristol Rovers beaten 2-0 in a game that saw Watkins score both in a fairytale end to his Luton career.

The final game of the campaign took the Town to Doncaster where only a victory would do. A 3-0 win was the reward for a devastating team performance and it was then a case of hearing how their rivals had fared.

Rotherham were the main danger and if they had won their final match then a promotion spot would have been theirs. With the score 1-1 in their away game at Port Vale, the Millers were awarded a penalty which was saved by Vale’s Ray King, later to become a Hatters coach. The Town were up on goal average.

This turn of events actually put the Town in top spot but they were pipped for the championship, again on goal average, by Birmingham who won their final game the following week. This incidentally was the only time the Blues had led the table all season.

The Town were now in the top flight for the first time in their history. An exciting but, at the same time, frightening prospect.

Part Four Coming Soon!