We celebrate Luton Town’s promotion to the Premier League and reflect on the rollercoaster ride that got them to his point.
We’ve been speaking to the Supporter Trust and a number of lifelong fans to reflect on the journey from being a Non League club just 9 years ago to playing in the Premier League.
We’ve been speaking to the Supporter Trust and a number of lifelong fans to reflect on the journey from being a Non League club just 9 years ago to playing in the Premier League.
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00:00 Incredible, for 30 to 45 seconds it was just an out of body experience, you didn't know what was going on, it was just absolutely crazy.
00:08 Tears were shed and joy and excitement and the emotions were just brilliant.
00:14 All of a sudden the last 20 years flashed back and it was all worth it. Yeah, brilliant.
00:23 Just the euphoria of winning, seeing that penalty go over the bar and the realisation of the dream of everyone and what we'd achieved was just an absolute incredible, just like walking around on a high permanently.
00:41 I managed to hold it all in but in the weeks since, every time I see a different video it gets me well enough and my wife tells me to pull myself together.
00:48 Oh, unbelievable, mixed emotions, elation, I'm not frightened to say I had a tear in my eye.
00:55 Today we celebrate Luton Town's remarkable promotion to the Premier League all the way up from non-league in just nine years.
01:07 It's been a rollercoaster ride for supporters. We'll be speaking to the Supporters Trust and a number of other fans to reflect on this great journey.
01:16 What was it like to be a part of the Premier League?
01:20 I mean even the build up to it, it was just something I've not experienced.
01:27 I was getting contacted from worldwide media companies for interviews and things and I was like, is this actually serious?
01:34 Just the scale of it was enormous and then going to Wembley, mingling with 36,000 Luton fans, having a brilliant time, a sunny day, fantastic.
01:45 The game itself started brilliantly, couldn't have started any better really.
01:49 Obviously after the lockier injury, the players sort of recovered from that, went 1-0 up, cruising really, should have been 3-4-5, could have been any number by half time.
01:58 And then in true Luton fashion, we have to do things the hard way and obviously the disallowed goal, I went absolutely mental at that.
02:05 I thought that was the moment and then suddenly you're like, someone telling us it's not your day, goes to penalties, we're rubbish at penalties aren't we?
02:13 Apart from that shootout in the JPT semi-final and one by one, you know, we're looking more and more confident and you're kind of like, someone please miss from them.
02:23 Someone please miss and then thankfully I had a perfect view of the one that missed and when it missed, I mean, the emotions were incredible.
02:31 It was like being in those 40,000 Luton fans when Darbo couldn't see a wide.
02:36 Pandemonium, as I say, I had a perfect view of it and as soon as he left his foot, it was nowhere near the goal, it needed to boomerang to go into the goal and it was just like, incredible.
02:46 For 30 to 45 seconds, it was just an out of body experience, you didn't know what was going on, it was just absolutely crazy.
02:54 Tears were shed and joy and excitement and the emotions were just brilliant.
03:00 All of a sudden, the last 20 years kind of flashed back and it was all worth it, you know, and yeah, brilliant.
03:08 Has the sun came as well?
03:10 Starting to, now that we've got the fixtures and we're slowly getting towards that first game at Brighton, yeah, it's starting to sink in and you know, obviously, all the videos that have come out, you've watched it back on television and everything else since then and it's kind of, yeah, this is really happening and yeah, brilliant, brilliant times at the minute and a long way they continue.
03:30 Ah, what, just what incredible day, I just went down with some friends and just experienced the whole day at Wembley.
03:39 Started at 8 o'clock in the morning, breakfast, get the train down and just the whole day was just an incredible experience and just so nervous that what we're on the verge of achieving and what we could be at Premier League side
03:57 and I was just so excited that, I thought, yeah, we could be at Premier League side, the other part, I thought, ah, please, please.
04:04 And, but yeah, the emotions, the emotions of the game and like so dominated the first half and then commentary came back second half but then, then literally, we thought we'd scored in like the end of extra time, us jumping up and down, jumping up to each other for minutes and before we even realised it had been disallowed.
04:26 And luckily we won the toss to A, have the penalties at our end and B, go first but yeah, the penalties was just like, I just like physically felt sick, it's like, can I watch it, can I not watch it and as each penalty went in, you're just thinking, we're that close to achieving the dream to, and like, like I said to you, it's like the history and everything we've been through.
04:52 It wasn't just getting a promotion, it's what it meant to all of us, the journey we've been on and also what it means to the club in terms of the money will help, in terms of getting to new ground and it'll help the community, raise the profile of the loon.
05:10 So literally it was everything and then literally the final penalty and literally you saw it, it's going over, it's going over and then it sailed over the bar and then literally just lost everything, like jumping up and down.
05:24 I was actually in tears and just in tears for what it meant and just trying to take it all in, even after it happened and we're celebrating and obviously what happened to Tom, like obviously we didn't know at the time why he went off but obviously like that and everything else, even on the day, the things that were going against us or so we thought and just the euphoria and the emotion of realising we were a Premier League side.
05:53 And yeah, just the train journey back and even like, yeah, it's just like even weeks afterwards, we're still trying to take it all in that we'd finally achieved the dream and that all the work of everyone in the community, everyone at the club, behind the scenes and what the players had actually achieved.
06:15 It's just trying to take it all in, soak it up, sink it in and for me, I don't, even though we'd achieved it, I kept thinking, is this real, is this real?
06:24 Confident from the fact that we'd finished third in the league and I thought we had a really good chance against Coventry and really if we were ever going to do it, that was a golden opportunity.
06:34 But over the years, there's been so many sort of gutting moments like losing on penalties to Wimbledon to get out of the non-league, just failing there and then the one that really sticks in my mind is blackpool in League Two when we let in an extra time own goal and the whole season is gone but thankfully we bounced back.
06:57 But I remember after that game, walking down the hill at Kenilworth Road with my son who was about nine at the time and he was in floods of tears and I sort of said to him at the time, don't worry, we'll come back stronger from this.
07:10 I didn't necessarily believe it that strongly because at the time we were just League Two and to be now Premier League, I think going into the playoffs last season, we were just so decimated by injuries, it wrecked it somewhat but there was far more confidence this year.
07:29 But obviously I think I felt really nervous before that Sunderland away game, sick to the stomach really but getting them back to Kenilworth Road, I always felt we'd do it with the crowd on our side and then to get to Wembley, well we tried to do it the hard way but eventually we had the first half, we were all on top, should have been clear really but then we had that wobble in the second half and then sort of got back on track but it ended up penalties and we didn't get a penalty.
07:58 It ended up penalties and you just think over the years we've had so many kicks in the teeth, you just hope and pray this time it's our time and thankfully the gods were smiling on us.
08:07 How was Josh with you for the penalty shootout? Was he in tears again this time after Wembley?
08:12 You can see he was well enough a little bit but it was my daughter this time that was sort of an emotional wreck, she was really crying, I managed to hold it all in but in the weeks since, every time I see a different video it gets me well enough and my wife tells me to pull myself together.
08:29 We had the experience of losing the play-offs to Huddersfield the year before, we were just thinking yeah we deserve to be here, what we've achieved, we've finished third in the league and yeah we deserve this and just the euphoria of winning, seeing that penalty go over the bar and the realisation of the dream of everyone and what we'd achieved was just an absolute incredible,
08:57 just like walking around on a high permanently for weeks and weeks afterwards and everyone's going around with a big smile on their face, it was just honestly, it's just a lot of people say no how does it compare because I was at the cup final when we beat Arsenal and it's like how do you compare to that and it's just like,
09:20 and I was at the cup final when we beat Arsenal and it's just like, this was just incredible in terms of what it meant, obviously our first trophy but this was just like, it felt even bigger just in terms of what it means to the club, the community, just everything it means is just absolutely incredible and a day that will live with me forever and I'll never forget it.
09:44 What were some of the toughest times in the season?
09:50 Yeah tough times really because nobody really knew if there was going to be a club to support that season, I mean obviously 2020 had taken over but you woke up and you kind of, you didn't know and then you'd go to a football match, even if you won the football match nothing really changed, you're still bottom of the table whereas in a normal season you win, you know you might jump up two or three places, what a great win that was sort of thing, all it did was just take a bit of the minus away and you know things like that but apart from the JPT,
10:18 apart from the JPT win which was obviously the highlight of that season, there wasn't really much to remember about that season, it was just really, really tough.
10:25 It was also tough getting back into the league, five years and some sort of heartbreaking failures.
10:31 Heartbreaking indeed, yeah I mean the three play-offs, you know 2010 the semi-final defeat to York, I don't think we were ready to go up there and I think we were still a bit of a basket case for the want of a better phrase, 2011 against Wimbledon was my darkest day as a Luton fan, that was the hardest one to take of the lot of them, 2012 the play-off final, I mean obviously the winning goal so far offside, that still ran goals but obviously not as much now that we've achieved what we've achieved.
10:54 2013 apart from the cup win at Norwich, that was a write-off and then thankfully 2014 was the year that it all turned and this upward curve started.
11:05 And that was with John still in charge and how important was he to that?
11:09 Absolutely massive, I mean the club, we were losing our way on the pitch, we were losing our way off the pitch, the kind of faith that had gone really, it needed galvanising on and off the pitch, I mean obviously he was the perfect man to do it on the pitch.
11:23 He was the first manager really that embraced the fact that we were a non-league club in non-league, the rest of them I think were thinking they were managing a football league club in non-league and I think that was their downfall.
11:35 And then off the pitch, what John still did to the fans, with the fans was just a masterstroke really and without him none of this would have happened.
11:43 Then there he was, spotted at Wembley.
11:45 Absolutely and I'm so glad that the club have recognised that because he really was the catalyst to all of this starting, yeah they've been managers since then but without him who knows where we'd be.
12:02 I think it would have been quite quick because we came up on the crest of a wave, we were very positive, we had that momentum going forward. Plus as well we're a bigger club and more resources than a lot of those clubs in League 2 so I wasn't surprised that we took to it quite well and we were well equipped.
12:28 Obviously John still got us back but then he departed and Nathan Jones.
12:32 Yeah unfortunately I think John despite being a great manager for us and being a wonderful guy I think he'd taken us as far as he could and it was time for somebody else to come in and take us that next level.
12:48 Yeah and League 2, what are your memories of League 2?
12:52 Unfortunately the Blackpool play-off, losing to an own goal in the last minute is not great but there's some other great memories of the promotion season, the 8-2 against Yeovil and putting seven past Cambridge and Stevenage was very nice to put them in their place.
13:12 There was a goal from inside his own half as well that got quite a lot of passion.
13:16 Yeah the goal from a different postcode, yeah, a cracking goal that. If that had been in a Premier League match I'd have been raving about it but because it was League 2 no.
13:28 And then we kicked on in League 1 straight away with the right ear.
13:32 Oh that was a fantastic year. I think the club had recruited for League 1 when they got into League 2 and it was a great season. I mean right from the first match we looked like we could cope with it.
13:49 I was at that game in Portsmouth where we lost 1-0 and even the Portsmouth supporters after the game were saying they couldn't believe that they'd won the game. But we pressed on and in the latter half of the season we just cruised it.
14:05 And that second half of the season obviously Nathan disappeared to Stoke and Mick took over.
14:10 Which was disappointing but the team were on a mission. They were all heading in the same direction so Mick came in, carried on. I don't think he had to tweak the side that much.
14:23 And it was fantastic because not only did we win the title and get back-to-back promotions, it also gave Mick Harford redemption.
14:39 So back in the Championship, the first season was a battle for survival and obviously a Covid in the middle of it too. Do you remember that?
14:46 I remember it being nerve-wracking. I knew that the Championship would be tough as it turned out to be. It was a great start to the season with that draw against Middlesbrough and Sonny's fantastic goal.
15:05 But I think it was the correct decision to bring Nathan back because we all know that Nathan can motivate a side and that's what was needed.
15:14 It was a fantastic last part of the season. Lucky for Nathan that it was behind closed doors because of Covid so he didn't have to endure the wrath of the home fans. But it worked out well in the end.
15:29 Surviving that season is crucial to where we find ourselves isn't it?
15:35 Yes, we've moved on and every season we've improved. That's what 2020 do. We do it the correct way, we don't overspend and risk the future of the club.
15:50 Every year we build, we strengthen and we build.
15:55 In the season before last we got to the playoffs and played Huddersfield but we were hit by injuries didn't we?
16:07 No, unfortunately we were really hit with injuries which meant we didn't have the in-depth squad that we should have. But we still made a good fight of it. We gave Huddersfield two games and to be honest with you I think Huddersfield can count themselves fortunate that they got to Wembley.
16:25 This season we got to the playoffs again and you're a bit more confident in a stronger squad?
16:31 Yes, the squad has been made stronger, more athletic. I was expecting an improvement on last season in terms of league position which is what we got. We finished third, we looked really good value for it and consequently the previous season's experience in the playoffs served us well this year.
16:55 Two games against Sunderland then. The first game we started off well but it didn't quite go to plan but we pulled it back in the second leg?
17:02 Yes we did. That second leg was fantastic. The atmosphere in the ground was unbelievable which is what we're going to have to have for every game this coming season. But over the course of the two legs we were the better side. I think Sunderland were only really ahead of us in the second half up at their place but we were well deserved winners at the end.
17:29 On to Wembley, we got a bit of Coventry in the end but again you didn't do it the easy way?
17:35 No, we never do. It's not the looting way to do it the easy way. I thought it was a good game of football against two good sides. I think overall we were the better side for most of it, certainly for the first half. Coventry were only on top for about half an hour in the second half and in the extra time it only looked like there would be one winner and then of course we couldn't get that winner. We almost did but unfortunately we ruled out.
18:04 I thought it was a VAR wasn't it?
18:06 Yeah, it was. The way the rules are at the moment I don't know. If he'd have passed it square to Morris and Morris put it in it probably would have been allowed then but because Taylor got an advantage from the handball. It was an unintentional handball. It went to penalties and nerve-wracking time.
18:27 Can you remember how you felt when that penalty was over the bar with one?
18:30 Oh, unbelievable. Mixed emotions, elation. I'm not frightened to say I had a tear in my eye. The fact that we'd done it in a club like Luton and the restricted budget we've got and everything else. The fact that we're now in with the big boys is unbelievable.
18:51 The penalties were, well there were 11 fantastic penalties. All our guys looked confident when they went up to take it and we know now that they've been practising it and it's been drilled in them. Even how to breathe, even where to stand and everything. That just shows you the level of detail that Rob Edwards puts in.
19:13 Most of the Coventry penalties, their players look confident and everything. It's just that when the unfortunate guy missed when he went up he didn't look like he was up for it at all. As much as it's unfortunate for him I'm glad he missed.
19:36 You've done some great cycling feats for the club. Talk us through what you've been doing and who you've been raising money for as well.
19:44 Two seasons ago, 21/22, I cycled to every away game when we were in the Championship and I raised £16,000 for Keats Hospice, for mental health and also for prostate cancer.
20:02 Just this season I finished a challenge to cycle to every football ground in all five leagues, which finish in at Kenworth Road, the only place to finish. That raised another £10,000.
20:17 With my football cycling challenges so far I've raised £27,000, which is just a staggering amount for the generosity that everyone so much supported it. It's great to do these challenges to raise awareness for such brilliant courses.
20:37 Are you hanging up the cycle helmet that you're going to be carrying on this year as well?
20:41 No, I've been persuaded to do more of a celebration of Luton being in the Premier League and trying to support some amazing charities that do fantastic work in the Luton community.
20:56 So yes, an exclusive I will be getting to every away game in the Premier League on two wheels.
21:07 A lot of it is for the prostate cancer, Mick Halford, how big a role has he had for yourself and in the club? He is a proper Luton legend isn't he?
21:18 He is just Mr Luton, he's a legend. I'm old enough that I was watching Luton when he signed for us in '83/'84 and he's just an absolute legend. He's done everything from player, coach, manager.
21:38 He's so humble and obviously his struggles with prostate cancer, everyone just wanted to support him. What he did was so brave, just telling everyone about it to try and raise awareness.
21:55 Through my challenges I've had the absolute pleasure to get to speak to him and what a decent guy but also what an absolute Luton legend he is. I know there's going to be a statue of Mick at Tower Court when we get there.
22:12 He's just an absolute legend and just to see us get promoted to the Premier League, as Mick was in the Old First Division when he played. For us to be back there with Mick at the club, it's just a fantastic experience and a fantastic time for the club and for Mick as well.
22:40 So just how important a role has the Trust played as well, especially when the club were in non-league?
22:45 I like to think we played a vital role in providing support from the club and being a bridge between 2020 and the supporters. Especially with Solid as the club being relegated out of the Football League, all funding stopped from the FA and that had to be replaced.
23:07 Solid came in and did a great job. It's now under the wings of the Trust and it continues to do a great job. Its role may change slightly going forward because they've now got full funding from the FA and the EPL but we'll still be there supporting the club and doing those extra things that I'm not budgeted for.
23:32 The club was going out of business though, did it play a crucial role in keeping it afloat?
23:38 Yes it did. Going right back to the formation of the Trust, it was instrumental in getting a previous bad owner out and fighting the fights against J10 and against Mr Pinkney and helping the club to survive and prosper.
24:03 We'll always be there. We're looking to improve our presence and professionalise. We're always looking to improve and do more. We're only as strong as our membership so the more people that join, the more people that are members of the Trust, the more we're able to do and the more influence we have with 2020.
24:23 Especially with things like ground protection, we've got the image rights to the club as well. I appeal to people out there, supporters who aren't members of the Trust, it's a bit of investment in your club, it's a bit closer to your club, come and have a say and we'll continue to work with 2020 going forward.
24:48 So here's Phil, the author of They Played for David Plate at Luton Town. Two volumes out the way and a third coming soon. Of course David was the manager last time we got Roach to the top flight. Do you remember that?
25:01 Yeah, absolutely. It's amazing. I was just coming up to my teenage years, having followed the town from a kid in the 70s and to see that trajectory of the club under David when he took over from Harry, who already had a very good side and David just took it to the next level.
25:21 People forget how young he was when he came in, in January '78, he was only 34. He had some really bright ideas and different training regimes and it wasn't for some of the older players and they were moved on quite quickly.
25:36 David had some very clear thoughts of what he wanted to play. The two or three years before he took the first team job, he was bringing in Brian Steen, scouting and bringing them in and Ricky Hill. He already knew of Mount Donaghy and Kirk Stevens from his time at Nuneaton.
25:53 He was very clear of what his vision of the side would be and it was fantastic to see those couple of years when we got closer and closer and it was building. In '81 when he brought Brian Horton in, he wasn't a better player than Tony Grealish but he just had that leadership.
26:13 Paddy Grealish was a great player but letting him go to Brighton and bring Brian in was the masterstroke. To be that kid with my head through the bars at the Oak Road end and to see them promoted and then to win the championship as well was just brilliant.
26:29 For me, it was always an era that I wanted to try and document. My wife has been going to Luton games longer than I have and it's three or four generations with her family. My family is from Ireland so I was first generation Lutonian.
26:49 It was just wonderful and my son is now 24, he's not seen Luton in the First Division. He's been coming since he was four in the early 2000s so it's just fantastic for him to see that and to document these players.
27:10 I also get a seal of approval from David as well where he wrote the foreword for the second book and he's been very complimentary and very happy with the output and what the players have put into their interviews and how we've actually put that over in the volumes as well.
27:27 We've been on radio shows together and interviews and book signings and it's just been quite amazing. I keep becoming that 10 year old boy again and I'm sitting there with David Pleat on a radio show or I'm sitting next to Mick Harford, Mitchell Thomas, Alan West at a book signing.
27:44 It's quite surreal but it's just fantastic that the youngsters are now going to get to see, hopefully, beat that 10 years that Luton were up from 82 to 92. It would be fantastic for the club to secure themselves as a Premier League club.
28:05 What prompted you to write these books? Did you do any writing before?
28:11 Yeah, I'd done some fanzines and bits and pieces, music fanzines in the 90s and I'd written some magazine articles for Back Pass and retro football magazines.
28:23 The idea for this was going to be a magazine article. I was working in football in the National League with Oxford City and my gaffer was David Oldfield.
28:34 We were chatting and talking about what a good story the FA Youth Cup run was in '83 and I lived up on Farnley Hill. I was a kid up on Farnley Hill so we always used to look to see when the floodlights were on.
28:46 If the floodlights were on during the week, we would just gather a load of us ragamuffin kids from Farnley Hill in the 70s and we'd all just head down the hill and watch whatever reserve or youth game was on.
28:56 We got to know all of those players that didn't quite make the first team but to us they were heroes in the youth team because they got to the semi-finals in '83 and the reserve sides were so good as well.
29:08 Obviously they were coming through with that ethos and they were all playing the same way that David Pleat wanted his sides to play throughout the club so it was a really interesting time.
29:18 That's where the idea came from because I was working in football so I knew Alan Judge and David Oldfield and then we started talking to a few of the other players like Kyle McConville who was part of that.
29:31 When you look at that youth team side, it was an amazing side. They had Tim Breaker, Mitchell Thomas, Stacey and Mark North, Ray Daniel, Mark Steen, Gary Parker.
29:41 Just an absolute wealth of talent in that youth team side. So that was the idea. This was in 2000, April 2000, just on the cusp of COVID.
29:53 So we spoke to three or four players and then you gain that trust. I enjoyed that process. You've asked me things I haven't thought about in 30 years.
30:04 My wife doesn't even know about it because that's what we did. We did the interview, wrote it up and then we sent it to the players before any proofreader or editor looked at it.
30:12 So they were happy. That was a big part for me was that the players were happy with what we were putting into the books.
30:18 From that it garnered the trust. So then all of a sudden you're getting the phone number for Paul Walsh and Paul Elliott and Frankie Barn.
30:27 It's just like this could be more than just a magazine article. We ended up with over 70 interviews with staff as well.
30:37 We spoke to John Sheridan and Trevor Hartley. It was just incredible. So we stuck to our guns.
30:44 We went to some of the big publishers and they loved it. They were like, "You've written too much. We're going to have to edit it.
30:50 You've interviewed too many players. You're going to have to decide who you're going to cut."
30:53 I was like, "No, the players have given us too much to cut the book."
30:59 So I stuck and I found through Gary Thompson, the former Coventry and Aston Villa player.
31:04 I befriended him about 10 years ago at a Luton Legends game. He was managing the Aston Villa Legends.
31:10 So I had a chat with him and we stayed friends. He told me about a publisher, Curtis Sport Publishing, that he'd put his book out.
31:19 Within five minutes of speaking to these guys, I was like, "This is the place to put the book."
31:26 Then we ended up thinking, "Well, it's got so big it's going to be a niche coffee table book and we're going to have to charge £45 for it."
31:36 It'd be such a shame because I tried to write it not as of the era.
31:42 It would be interesting to fans of the era rather than just looking inwardly at Luton Town.
31:50 Obviously, that is the subject matter.
31:53 If we'd have done it in one huge volume, it would have, unfortunately, narrowed the market.
31:58 The publishers were great and they said, "Look, we'll do it over six months. We'll do two volumes.
32:03 That then let me tweak it a little bit more.
32:07 I got a couple of more interviews, Colin Todd, Bob Hatton, which for me was personally a brilliant one, getting Bob Hatton.
32:14 Again, I was that eight-year-old kid on the Oak Road watching Bob when he came in in '78.
32:20 So, fantastic. Just an unbelievable process. Right place, right time.
32:26 I've gone the right way about it because it's just snowballed where players gain their trust.
32:34 Then they speak to two or three other players and they say, "Yeah, this guy's okay.
32:39 He enjoyed the process. I'll give you his number." That's how it's happened.
32:43 I presume there's going to be quite a few recollections in there of the last time Luton were in the top flight.
32:49 Absolutely. There's recollections of the building up to getting promotion
32:55 and the disappointment of the two previous seasons where they went so close.
33:00 But they were all still confident in the process under David Pleat, still a very young manager.
33:07 Then obviously there's a lot of talk of the famous game in '83 that kept us up at Manchester City.
33:16 Then it turned out that that game didn't put Manchester City down.
33:20 The 42 games over the season put them down and Luton actually did the double over them that year as well.
33:25 People forget that Luton actually beat Man City in December '82, 3-1.
33:30 So, Luton actually took six points off Man City that season.
33:34 Luton have played Man City many times in the league since then,
33:39 but I'm sure Man City would enjoy trying to exercise that ghost, so to speak,
33:45 by handing out a big score against Luton this season.
33:50 You've spoken to quite a few players. What have they been making of the team currently, their success?
33:56 They really enjoy it. A lot of the players have thankfully been down here for book signings,
34:02 been to the Brewery Tap, been to the Bricklayers and the Club Shop.
34:07 They've been coming down for matches, so we've been doing book signings before the games.
34:11 Then we go to the game and they really enjoy it, and then we do a book signing at the Club Shop at the ground afterwards.
34:17 A lot of them actually liken the players that are there now to that side.
34:23 They can see comparisons with Lochia and Maldonaghy.
34:27 Not the biggest centre-half, but his timing in the air with his jumping, with his tackling,
34:34 and his reading of the game is very Maldonaghy-esque.
34:38 With Elijah and Colt, you've got that power up front where you had with Steen,
34:43 and obviously Walsh not in stature, but that quickness of mind and that skill, it runs through the side.
34:53 So, Jason, you're responsible for a lot of the artwork down the side of the pub.
35:03 Can you talk us through how it came about?
35:06 It all started by hand-engraving mirrors.
35:12 I used a Dremel and stuff, I used to hand-engrave mirrors.
35:15 Helena asked, because I play for the pool team here, if I could do two mirrors.
35:20 One was the Luton Town badge with the wheel rights underneath it, and then I did the pub logo and stuff.
35:26 Carried on life as normal, I suppose.
35:29 During lockdown, she gave me a call and said,
35:31 "Do you know anyone that could paint the Luton Town badge on the wall outside?"
35:34 Because obviously she was doing the pub up for the new season and stuff.
35:39 She asked me if I could do it, or if I knew someone could do it, I said,
35:42 "Look, I'll give it a go if you want."
35:44 I've never done anything that big before, I was always drawing on paper,
35:46 or hand-engraving mirrors and stuff.
35:50 She asked about a player, and we were having conversations about a player,
35:54 and she wanted a current player, but I said, "Look, they could leave at any time."
35:57 So if you have that player on the wall, and they leave by the time the season starts,
36:00 then you're stuck, so I think, "We'll have to do something different."
36:03 So I said, "You think of somebody, you think Luton Town, and who do you think of?"
36:07 Or, "You think of that person, you think Luton Town."
36:09 So obviously the number one choice was Mick Harford.
36:12 So I put her design on paper, and the rest is history.
36:14 I got it done in a weekend before she reopened after lockdown, and that was it.
36:18 It just blew up from there, really.
36:20 And it sort of snowballed since then, haven't it? You've done a few other pubs.
36:23 Yeah, I mean, I put it on social media, the video and stuff.
36:25 I sent it to Helena, put it on social media and stuff.
36:29 I didn't expect the reaction it got, the amount of views it got,
36:32 the amount of likes and comments and stuff.
36:35 I was driving the car that very evening, and my phone sits on the dashboard,
36:40 on like a wireless charger, and out of nowhere it just flashed up,
36:43 "Oh, Mick Harford has sent you a message on Twitter."
36:45 So I nearly crashed the car, so I sort of pulled over as quickly as I could and read it.
36:48 And he said, "Look, thank you so much. No one's ever done anything like that before.
36:52 "I'm really touched. It's amazing. I'll meet you down there. We'll have photos taken and stuff."
36:57 Yeah, and it just went from there.
36:59 And then another pub asked, and then another pub asked,
37:01 and then people were asking for children's bedrooms and things like that.
37:03 So, yeah, it's just got a bit mad, yeah.
37:05 And as well as the walls of the pub, you do some drawings like you see here.
37:09 Yeah, yeah.
37:11 That started, people just started sending me pictures of their favourite players and things,
37:14 and "Could you draw this picture? Could you draw that picture?"
37:18 So I started doing it.
37:21 And then it got sort of public on social media, again on the Lewin Town page.
37:25 I was doing the mural in the brewery tap just before the Watford game.
37:31 And I'd literally just finished, and someone checked my phone,
37:34 somebody tagged me in a picture, and it's a picture of them celebrating,
37:38 where they all ran towards the fans in a line at the end of the game.
37:41 One person tagged me in it. His name's Brian.
37:44 And before I knew it, my phone was just ping, ping, ping, ping, ping.
37:48 People were going, "Yeah, if you draw this, I'll buy it. If you draw this, I'll buy it."
37:50 I hadn't even put pen to paper, and people were asking me how much and telling me they wanted to buy it.
37:54 So, like I say, the support has been amazing.
37:57 And since then, again, it's just snowballed.
37:59 People sending me pictures and stuff, asking me to do personal stuff,
38:02 favourite players, past and present and that.
38:04 Bigger players. There's Pelly there on one of your drawings.
38:07 Most fans will know, but what's the significance of that?
38:10 Obviously, him being at the club for such a long time,
38:14 the only player in football history to go from non-league to Premier League,
38:18 staying as grounded as he is.
38:20 It's rarity these days, you get these players that are all about the club and stuff.
38:26 The way the money goes now, it's just...
38:29 But he's obviously stuck with the club through the times they've had.
38:33 He's now getting the rewards, so fair play to him.
38:36 He's one of the fan favourites.
38:37 You're Luton-born, so you follow their fortunes.
38:40 What do you make of how they've risen from non-league to where we find ourselves now?
38:43 It's bonkers. It's bonkers.
38:46 You just expect, obviously, going back to the bad times they had,
38:49 and then they had the day out at Wembley,
38:51 which was like a silver lining on a very dark cloud for the club.
38:56 But it's fully deserved. It's fully deserved.
38:59 I think with the fans they've got, the owners they've got.
39:01 I touched upon this in a podcast I did recently.
39:04 It's very rare to see owners of clubs now that are the club through and through.
39:09 Obviously, a lot of them are in there businessmen to make money.
39:14 But like I say, Gary Sweet, Wilkinson and stuff, they are Luton Town.
39:18 So it's just fully deserved because they saved the club.
39:20 They've put their own money, their hands in their own pockets to get the club to where they are.
39:24 Everybody at the club gives 110%.
39:26 You can see that by the way they play, by the way they run, the things they do in the community.
39:30 So it's fully deserved, I think.
39:32 With £20,000 coming out for the Open Top Bus as well,
39:41 just how big has it been at Premier League Club for the town as well do you think?
39:45 And what can it do for the town too?
39:47 Oh, it just raises the profile.
39:50 I mean a lot of my charity work I do is just to recognise a lot of the efforts that go into the community.
39:59 And just the money, the profile, even like Sky Cameras
40:06 and even people wanting to know about the story and about the Luton community.
40:12 I think the money will help obviously and I know the money will be spent wisely.
40:18 I know we're having the ground rebuilt for the season.
40:20 But there's so much it will do for the community,
40:23 the amount of people that will be coming to Luton as a result of us being in the Premier League.
40:29 It's just, there's just like a feel-good factor.
40:32 Everywhere you go around Luton, everyone's got massive smiles on their faces.
40:36 And I do think when the football club's doing well,
40:39 it just has a positive impact on the whole community.
40:43 That it will be such positivity around the town and everything.
40:50 It's just a feel-good story.
40:53 Everyone outside wants to know about Luton now
40:56 and it can only be good for the community
40:59 and bringing people in that will help businesses as well.
41:03 It's really key that it help businesses in and around the area
41:07 just to make Luton a thriving place.
41:10 And how do you think they can do as well in the Premier League?
41:13 Do you think they can stay up?
41:15 It's going to be tough.
41:17 We're under no illusions.
41:19 Every level we've gone up, we're competing on a higher level
41:24 both financially and with the teams we're playing.
41:27 You look down the fixtures and you sort of think,
41:31 "Oh, that's going to be hard when we've got so and so.
41:33 That's going to be hard."
41:34 And it's like every week is really hard.
41:37 And us staying up will depend on the teams around us.
41:42 Our season won't be purely based on how we do against the big six,
41:50 but I know that we're going to surprise a lot of teams.
41:53 Teams are going to look forward to coming to Kenilworth Road.
41:56 There's nothing like they'll have experienced before.
41:59 Changing rooms, the atmosphere, the crowd being on top of you.
42:04 If you look at a lot of stadiums, they're like massive stadiums
42:07 where you're so far away from the pitch,
42:09 and you're going to have players where the fans are right on top of you.
42:13 We've got to make our home form key.
42:17 Our home games, we've got to make them a fortress,
42:19 teams that like coming.
42:21 And I know Mick said we need 10 wins
42:23 and pick up half a dozen draws to stay up.
42:26 So our home form is really going to be key.
42:29 But I'm positive that we can achieve it.
42:32 We're already written off, which is probably the norm
42:35 for everyone that comes up through the playoffs.
42:37 But we've been written off, but we've been written off so many times
42:41 over the last 10 years through all the adversity.
42:45 And we always overcome adversity.
42:48 Total faith and backing in Rob and the board and Mick,
42:53 the calibre of players that we've already signed.
42:56 They're real, true, great players, but also really good people
43:03 that will just buy into the culture that they build at Luton.
43:08 It's not just about the players, it's about the person as well.
43:11 And just the type of players that we're signing,
43:14 I've got total faith that we're going to surprise a lot of people.
43:18 And it's just going to be an incredible journey.
43:21 We're going to enjoy the ride.
43:24 There will be ups and downs during the season,
43:27 but just going to literally enjoy the ride.
43:30 I'll enjoy the ride literally.
43:33 So it's going to be a great experience.
43:36 And we've just got to embrace it, enjoy the challenge
43:39 and see where the journey takes us.
43:42 How does it feel now to be back in the Premier League?
43:50 We had 10 years before I followed them home and away.
43:54 So it's going to be interesting to see how we cope this time around.
43:59 Obviously, there's far more money floating around
44:01 and we haven't got much of it.
44:03 But hopes are high and I think especially we've got quite a strong defence.
44:06 So hopefully we can keep a few sides at bay.
44:09 And Kenilworth Road will play a big part
44:13 if we can get the crowd going on top of the visiting players.
44:17 I think we've got a decent chance of putting off a few good results.
44:21 Can you say that?
44:23 Yeah, I think we've finished 12th or 13th, I reckon.
44:29 And ask me again a month into the season, I might have changed my mind.
44:33 What can you achieve this season?
44:35 I think looking at the fixtures, I think there's enough points there.
44:38 I don't think it'll be the last game.
44:41 People are saying they're going to go down with the lowest points score,
44:45 but that's people that haven't watched Luton.
44:47 They haven't seen how this team has gelled
44:49 and how Rob Edwards has taken it on that next level.
44:53 We were all with Nathan, but you can just see that since Rob's come in,
44:58 he's just taken that to the next level.
45:01 There's that real know-how, how to go and win so many games
45:07 1-0 is very un-Luton-esque.
45:10 Going back to the first season under David Pleat,
45:13 you had that month in September where it was 3-0 at Liverpool,
45:18 beat Brighton 5-0, 4-0 at Stoke, 5-3 at Hounter Knotts County.
45:24 We lost 4-1 at Villa, of course.
45:27 But it was just goals, goals, goals.
45:29 I think that's why Luton Town became quite the media darling of the time.
45:33 The cameras were almost always there,
45:35 whether it was a match of the week or the big match or match of the day,
45:38 because there was always those goals going in either end.
45:42 So I think Luton Town at the time became a lot of people's second teams,
45:46 and we're seeing that in the book sales.
45:49 With the year that we've covered, David's first spell at the club, '78 to '86,
45:55 they're still very well thought of at that time.
45:58 I think they'll stay up.
46:00 I'm not just saying that because I was born and bred in the town and stuff,
46:03 but if you follow them, I think they'll stay up.
46:06 The football they were playing last season was phenomenal
46:09 for the budget they've got and the size of the club.
46:11 They were outclassing teams that have been in the Premier League,
46:14 that probably should be Premier League teams.
46:16 They're a little bit too big for the Championship,
46:19 and I think they outclassed them on a few occasions.
46:21 They put a few wrongs to right with teams that they were losing to
46:24 in the seasons leading up to last season.
46:26 So everyone was a bit pessimistic when it came to that result,
46:30 but there were a few games that they beat people they weren't expecting to beat.
46:33 I think they'll make some headlines along the way next season,
46:36 especially at the Kenny, because teams find it hard there.
46:39 I genuinely believe they'll stay up.
46:41 What about when they come up against the champions, Man City?
46:43 I think you've got a foot in both camps here, haven't you?
46:45 I have, yes. I got family ties to Man City.
46:48 What I've said to everybody is I'll probably stay well away, to be fair.
46:52 It's head versus heart for me.
46:54 I could put an optimistic spin on it and say it's win-win.
46:57 Man City, what they've just done at the Treble,
47:01 the next thing everyone says to me is, "What do you want Man City to do?"
47:04 I'd like them to go invincible, but at the same time,
47:07 if they're going to drop points to one team next season, it'll have to be Luton for me.
47:10 So I'd be happy about that. It's win-win.
47:12 I love an underdog story, so if Luton beat Man City, fair play to them,
47:14 and I'd be happy for them.
47:16 But I suppose I definitely wanted to beat Man United for that way.
47:22 Thanks for watching Hatter's Fans.
47:24 We can all agree that life as a Luton Town supporter is certainly never dull.
47:27 See you in the Premier League in August for our opening match away to Brighton,
47:30 and hopefully at Power Court in a few years' time.
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