Sat down the local ale house last night, an interesting discussion evolved relating to the love of our lives, Luton Town Football Club.
I happened to mention that I’d noticed Vital Luton Town, via its comment facility, was starting to receive comments relating to the Hatters hierarchy.
We’re receiving posts implying that, perhaps, more of the financial windfall we received, upon getting promoted, and then the parachute payment received, after getting relegated, should have been spent on the team.
Instead, the insinuation being made is that most of the money appears to have been put aside for the Power Court development.
Several posters have, in the past few days, felt Rob Edwards was short-changed during the summer transfer window, forced to look in the bargain buckets to replace those that had left in the summer.
Now, I must stress that we have no proof that was the case, it is only a suggestion from the readership, indeed, for all we know the lack of significant signings may well hae been due to outrageous fees being asked.
But, as our performances are showing, we’re suffering from not maintaining the squad at a level shown last season.
With regards to last season, that also provided a subject that was discussed with some of our group bemoaning the fact that we should have spent bigger, an argument that was quickly shot down when it was pointed out Ipswich Town’s spending, this summer, far exceeded ours of the summer before and the Tractor Boys have yet to win a Premier League game this season.
Excessive spending doesn’t guarantee survival and can be a hindrance to the long term survival of a club, which brings us nicely around to our new stadium.
It has been stated before that the new stadium is essential for the development of the club, it has outgrown Kenilworth Road and its somewhat primitive features, for Luton Town to prosper, Power Court has to be built, it has to come to fruition.
It should also be noted that the Premier League windfall has allowed the club to build the dream stadium they want in a single stage rather than a staged build over the coming years, which was, I believe the original plan.
It’s unfortunate that progress hasn’t been as swift as we’d all hoped, but the Hatters hierarchy have had numerous major problems to overcome and, like it or not, they’ve needed to be prudent on the financial side, making sure any rise in costs are adequately covered.
Yes, if we are to leave Kenilworth Road, it’ll be the end of an era and we’d all like the new era to come as quickly as possible, but patience is the key, Power Court, like Rome, will not be built in a day.
Terrace banter is part of our lives but does it really help anyone when comments such as ‘we’ll have the best ground in League 1’ are bandied about?
I think not!
Football, as we all know, is an unpredictable sport, on the pitch teams rise and teams fall, but with the Hatters, on the playing side, struggling, is this not the time when we should be getting 100% behind all those who took up the challenge of resurrecting our fine club when it looked destined to remain a non-league club, a club that had seen its best days?
All clubs suffer fluctuations on the playing field, it is part and parcel of the game, but very few can, with hand on heart, say they’ll be operating in circumstances where, like Luton Town will be with Power Court, their long term future is secure.
COYH
Luton Town v West Bromwich Albion?
Luton Town to Win!
West Brom to Win!
A Draw!
Previous article by Mad Hatter
Luton Town – Deadball Specialist Dilemma Looms Large On The Horizon
Morning MH, I seem to remember Mr sweet said at the beginning of the season that the euros and ridiculous fees begin quoted had serverly disrupted their transfer policy this year and I do believe that to be true we barely signed anyone before the season started. I would suggest that certain players who we payed what for us is a big fee have not had the impact they should be having and I include some that weren’t signed this year either also as many have said to many players have been signed who struggled with injuries before signing and are now still sidelined showing the flaw in taking chances on a policy we seem to have. This is more the problem than keeping money back for power court. Look how many players this season alone have been linked with us for reasonable price in the past have punished us o nien Sund rudoni sheaf Coventry the list goes on if only we had signed them instead of crocks also our failure to sign a promising young premier player on loan we lost one because of a poor start an he destroyed us for sheff utd. It is a miserable situation.
I am 80 yrs old and have been a supporter of LTFC since my father took me to a match at the age of 5. I have lived with the good times and not so good times with the Hatters. It has been uplifting to see our journey over the past few years and although I was delighted to see us reach the Premiership last season if we are honest with ourselves it probably happened too early in our development.
Gary Sweet and the Board are running things with a sensible approach to sound financial management and although the supporters can feel frustrated with progress we must have the new stadium to secure income streams going forward. It would be nice to think that my new great grandson will have a club to support in the years ahead rather than reading about a club who were forced into bankruptcy through impatient spending beyond our means
good to see common sense come back to the comments. refreshing to see carlton morris comment on the players have to start playing like they know they can play. also saying RE should’nt be taking the blame. just look at the horror on his face when simple mistakes are being made. the players have got to step up a level or two. the new stadium will take our club to a new level, out of the old ramshackle place, entered through peoples back gardens. looking forward to making new great memories in a brand new stadium we can be proud of. COYH.
I’ve never posted before – but felt I must congratulate you on such a well-balanced and sensible article. I hope people take on board the points you make.
Thanks
Great article. My thoughts are that the Prem came a bit early for us, but wasn’t it fun? That said, I feel the new stadium should now be the priority, not a return to the Prem. We have 3 years of parachute money, that should keep us where we are league wise. I feel confident we will not be down the bottom end come the spring, but I really do not care if we are in the top 6. Would be nice, but is not the be all and end all.
I would say anyone thinking we should spend big on players needs to think back 10 to 15 years. Stadium first, avoid League 1 second, Prem league when we have a worthy ground. (I must admit, it hurts to say that with all the great memories I have from the Kenny!)