Premier League: Entering the pitch through the house – the crazy story of a rookie Luton

This spring, fairy tale football has been about the Welsh Club Wrexham and its Hollywood investor Ryan Reynolds And Rob McIlhenny hit the headlines, writing traditional club Luton Town from the northern London city limits bigger – and nicer? – success story. One of the oldest clubs of all time (founded in 1885), Luton have risen from amateur football to the top football league in the world over the past nine years. 20 minutes to introduce Hatters.

Football fans because of 30 penalty points

2008. Great Manchester United with Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs just won their 16th championship when Third Division side Luton Town were penalized 10 points for mismanagement and relegated to Division Four (League Two). Even worse, more economic atrocities were exposed and the exhausted club awarded another 20 penalty points. At the end of the following season they were relegated to the Amateur Football League and it became quiet around the Orangemen. That was until Luton’s return to professional football in 2014 – and they’ve progressed to the almost elusive Premier League over the past nine years. By the way: Luton won the League Cup in 1988 – the only trophy at the highest level to date.

Billy-Rudock Mpanzu Fairy Tales

Before Luton returned to professional football in 2014, 19-year-old Billy Ruddock Mpanzu joined the team. The defensive midfielder came from the offspring of West Ham, and the transition to League Two also means something like: “It probably won’t happen with a career in the Premier League.” But Mpanzu bites – and nine years later he rose to the first division as a regular player with the same club. This makes him the first player to move from the fifth highest group into the Premier League with the same club. Mpanzu is now a national team player for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where his parents are from. The 29-year-old grew up in London – and made 367 appearances for Luton (23 goals, 34 assists) – in three different leagues and cup competitions.

The entrance to the stadium is through a residential building

The London suburb – also known as one of London’s four airports – has a population of around 200,000. About 10,000 of them could be seated at the stadium on Kenilworth Road. The venerable stadium was built in 1905 and is likely to become the top destination for football fans next season: while the stands still consist of old wooden benches, the far sector can only be accessed through a notorious entrance that leads directly through a residential building. . You can only access other parts of the stadium through the smallest alleyways and front gardens – and through rusty revolving doors. Much still needs to be renewed before the start of the season on August 12 in order to meet league regulations. According to RMC, this amount would cost about ten million francs.

The captain collapsed after eight minutes

A no-brainer, given the more than CHF200m poured into the club’s previously tiny coffers. For reference, the club’s record transfer last summer was striker Carlton Morris, who came from Barnsley for about two million. Luton made it clear in the final against Coventry. At a sold-out English temple at Wembley, a strong opponent can only be defeated on penalties. Then the de facto captain of the team, Tom Lockyer, was no longer on the field. The Welshman collapsed just eight minutes into the game – and followed the great victory from his hospital bed.

View comments