Continuing with our ongoing series which focuses on the plethora of decent players the Hatters scouting regime brought to the club, players that could quite aptly fall under the terrace chant of:
“He’s One of Our Own”
I’ve selected Emerson Orlando Boyce as the fifth player to be featured.
Born in Aylesbury, on 24-September-1979, Emerson Boyce can certainly be labeled as one of our own, after signing as an apprentice, at Kenilworth Road, when he was just 16-years-of-age.
His career, before joining the Hatters, had seen him play for Aylesbury United where his coach converted him from a centre-forward to a versatile defender who could play as a centre-back or as a right wing-back.
Boyce, after joining Luton, played for three seasons in the youth side in a team that also included others who were to carve out decent professional careers, namely Matthew Upson and Gary Doherty.
The highlight of his youth career was reaching the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup in 1997.
The following year Emerson signed professional terms with the Hatters and was to make his debut on 05-January-1999 in an Auto Windscreens Shield fixture Luton were to lose 3-0.
His league debut came in April 1999 and once again he was on the losing side, this time with the Hatters being beaten 1-0 by Lincoln City.
On Boxing Day 1999 Emerson got his first-team breakthrough when he was chosen ahead of Stuart Fraser and went on to secure the right-back position as his own, playing 30 times.
Now a mainstay of the Hatters side, Emerson started as a centre-back, under Ricky Hill’s management, going on to make 42 appearances, unfortunately, it wasn’t the best of seasons for Luton as they were relegated to the third tier of English football.
The following season Boyce was a significant part of the Hatters side that bounced straight back with promotion to the second tier, his performances were such he was given a new two-year contract.
Boyce was a regular in the side in the 2002 / 2003 season notching up 34 appearances and in 2003 / 2004 his performances were such that he received the following accolades:
• Players’ Player of the Season
• Supporters Player of the Season
• Internet Player of the Season.
However, his time at Kenilworth Road was coming to an end an in the summer of 2004 and out of contract, Boyce left Luton.
After leaving Luton, Emerson went on to play for Crystal Palace and Wigan.
Whilst with Wigan he captained the side to an unlikely FA Cup Final win, against Manchester City, in 2013.
After his spell at Wigan came to an end, Boyce enjoyed one season with Blackpool before retiring having made in excess of 500 league appearances in his career.
As for action of the man in action, we’ve unearthed two video clips.
The first shows him scoring on Boxing Day 2000, although how much he knows about the goal remains to be told:
The second, from February 2001, shows Boyce scoring with an emphatic header:
Here at Vital Luton Town, we salute Emerson Boyce as one of our own.
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