Yesterday, to keep the pages of Vital Luton Town active, we introduced the first of an ongoing, new series.
It aims to focus 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”
The first player chosen for this feature was Mitchell Thomas.
Today, after mulling over the subject during a sleepless spell in the middle of the night, I’ve opted to choose Marvin Anthony Johnson as the next to be featured.
Marvin Johnson, nicknamed ‘Marvellous’ by the Hatters support, would be considered a rarity on the game today, a player that spent his whole career at one club, in this instance Luton Town.
Marvin, born on 29 October 1968, was born in Wembley and put pen-to-paper on his first contract with Luton Town on 12-November-1986, he was just 18-years-of-age and was quite adept at playing as a centre-back, a full-back or a midfielder.
Little did we know that after making his debut in 2-0 loss, against Wimbledon on 05-March-1988, Marvin would be part of the Hatters squad for the next 16-years, a period in which he would make 440 appearances, 373 of which were in the league.
Johnson’s time with the club was a mixed one as he was part of a Hatters side the suffered relegation not once, not twice but on three occasions, although we should point out Marvin was also part of a promotion-winning side.
Once Johnson passed the wrong side of 30, his fitness was plagued by injuries and he was forced into retirement in 2003.
But his affiliation with the Hatters was not to end there.
Back in 2002, Marvin was appointed as the assistant to the youth team coach John Moore and when was to succeed Moore in that position taking the helm until his association with the Hatters finally ended in 2007.
Whilst in charge of the youth team, Johnson assisted in the development of Curtis Davies, Leon Barnett and Kevin Foley all of whom went on to grace the Premier League.
When it comes to video footage of Marvin in action there is very little about, but we have uncovered a rare piece of action that actually sees Marvin netting for the Hatters, now that was a rarity, although we’ll perhaps gloss over the final result:
If you have a memory of Marvin ‘Marvellous’ Johnson gracing a Luton shirt please feel free to share it in the comment facility beneath this article.
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