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Luton Town
- Thread starter Questions
- Start date
7:18
Brighton & Hove Albion
no I want them to stay up...only a few season ago they were in the Championship and how they have fallen...and still playing at that DUMP too...having lived in Luton for a year I feel well sorry for them!
pornomagboy
wake me up before you gogo who needs potter when
they will not stay up lets face it they have got to win 10 games and hope the bottom 6 all slip up,
cant see that happening leeds done it last year but they hade a very good squad
cant see that happening leeds done it last year but they hade a very good squad
vegster
Sanity Clause
- May 5, 2008
- 28,507
Leeds - Ken Bates
Luton - Eric Morecambe
Lets face it, its no contest, we all love the zany goings on produced by the mischevious ghost of Eric stalking the boardroom....
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
Is this not a question of the previous board ? What they did,what were the F/A doing ?
bhaexpress
New member
northampton_seagull
New member
did the luton owner try to buy his own club with another of his own businesses after they went into admin?
seagullsovergrimsby
#cpfctinpotclub
They have had a 10 point deduction for irregularities involving agents , I believe that were connected to a previous regime. Chesterfield did something similar with brown envelopes and had a 9 point deduction the season we went up as League 3 champions. A further 20 points deduction has been imposed connected to their time in administration and how the CVA is put into place. There is now a further stumbling block for those clubs in League 2 who go into administration and end up relegated (as in the case of Boston), with the Conference only allowing them to compete in Blue Square North/South rather than taking a place in the Premier.
Luton could find themselves finishing bottom of League 2 and then face a double relegation.
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,550
maybe because they didnt try to cynically manipulate the rules to suit them, playing hide the lady with company ownership and player registration, then claiming it was everyone elses fault before sueing the FL because they dared to offer a less then desirable compromise and followed through on the decision of the other members.
In fact it is because of Leeds that the FL have been left in the postion of docking Luton addtional point imo.
seagullsovergrimsby
#cpfctinpotclub
Also no right to an appeal.
1234andcounting
Well-known member
- Mar 31, 2008
- 1,609
I think it comes down to the fanbase; it is relatively easy to sympathise with the fans of a club like Luton, whose experience over the past twenty years or so has not been that dissimilar to ours, up and down the leagues. It is not easy to sympathise with (many of) the fans of Leeds who were triumphalist when they reached the Champions League semi-final in 2000 and self-pitying six or seven years later when the club was in trouble. Throw in Master Bates and that explains the lack of sympathy and support for Leeds over the past twelve months.
Re the penalties; this has always been a difficult one and I think the footballing authorities are no nearer to sorting it out. How to punish clubs and the officials of those clubs, without penalising the fans. I doubt if this will ever be sorted because, in spite of over 100 years evidence to the contrary, none of the footballing authorities recognise fans as legitimate stakeholders (in my view the primary stakeholder in the club as we are there for the duration - the odd glory seeker notwithstanding). I don't have any answers other than to strengthen the fit and proper person test and stick with it. Oh, and more fan control of clubs.
Re the penalties; this has always been a difficult one and I think the footballing authorities are no nearer to sorting it out. How to punish clubs and the officials of those clubs, without penalising the fans. I doubt if this will ever be sorted because, in spite of over 100 years evidence to the contrary, none of the footballing authorities recognise fans as legitimate stakeholders (in my view the primary stakeholder in the club as we are there for the duration - the odd glory seeker notwithstanding). I don't have any answers other than to strengthen the fit and proper person test and stick with it. Oh, and more fan control of clubs.
cjd
Well-known member
Yes, they were cheats................just like Leeds. Now they,ve been punished................and rightly so in my opinion.
Do I want them to plummet into non-league....? NO.
The difference between Luton and Leeds are many.....
1) So far, their supporters have not come onto our board whinging "it,s not fair"
2) So far, their supporters have not come onto our board asking to sign petitions blah, blah, blah............
3) I,m not aware that their new chairman is a **** like Ken Bates
4) I,m not aware that their club was bought by dubious financial con-men with off-shore companies.
5) I,m not aware that they bullied and threatened their shareholders to do as they,re told......or else...!
6) I think it,s highly unlikely, they will persue a spurious legal action against the Football League at the arse-end of the season , throwing confusion and anger to all other clubs involved in their league.
7) They had the balls to accept that what they did was wrong.
8) They have not blamed ALL the clubs in the Foootball League for their situation.
9) To the best of my knowlegde, they are better supporters than the arrogant lot at Leeds.
Apart from the above.................and maybe 100 other reasons............I suppose they are the same as Leeds.
Storer68
New member
one's is in league one and plays us twice - so we are directly affected
the other is in League Two and finds itself at he bottom of the football league due to the actions of a discredited board of directors - sound familiar?
No venom from me for the supporters trying to resurrect what remains of LTFC.
Plenty of bile for LUFC as not only did they cheat but then tried to cheat out of taking the punishment for cheating.
Gritt23
New member
But then again, Leeds signed away their right to an appeal, but it didn't stop them.
I think cjd put it very well. They have done wrong, they have been punished, but I think it's an excessively harsh punishment, and I desperately want them to stay up.
Theatre of Trees
Well-known member
Their position may also depend on what happens at Rotherham and Bournemouth who may also face points deductions. If those two start at -10 then Luton will at least have a little less ground to make up.
eastlondonseagull
Well-known member
No venom from me, either.
Here's a QPR perspective of it all:
So we started to walk. There were about 1500 of us, all frozen and miserable. Hardy souls who just wanted to get home after another devastating night of suffering at the hands of our team. Despite battering Luton for a full 96 minutes we’d contrived to crash out of the FA Cup thanks to a late volleyed own goal from Zesh Rehman and now, after descending the rickety old stair case and exiting the away end via an Indian family’s front room, we had emerged into the cold night air and the darkness of the street to be greeted by a line of police officers and a ‘thou shalt not pass’ message.
We stood for what seemed like an eternity and then we very slowly started to move. With police front and back, left and right our convoy made snail’s pace progress down the back streets of Luton towards the main Dunstable High Road. “Where are we going?” I asked a copper. “Train station,” he replied. “That’s no good to me I drove here, I live in Sheffield, I’m parked in the opposite direction,” I pleaded. “Tough”.
And it was tough. Bedfordshire’s finest genuinely did intend to march 1500 QPR fans through Luton town centre in the middle of the night to the train station and then force them to board trains to London regardless of where they lived, how they’d got to the match or if their car was parked somewhere in that hell hole hoping that its owner would return before its alloys were replaced with house bricks. As the road opened out I made a break for it, and I wasn’t alone. QPR fans scattered everywhere and were immediately pelted with coins and abuse from all sides. The police made attempts to grab us as we legged it and some Rangers fans fell to the ground but eventually we made our escape, into the disgusting alley ways and side streets that surround Luton’s poxy, horrible, fire trap of a stadium.
Most of us were perfectly law abiding citizens, certainly I’ve never been involved in any trouble at football or anywhere else and the only crime I’ve committed to date was a speeding offence, but we’d been penned into a clearly unsafe stand for 90 minutes at a cost of 20 pounds and then we’d been falsely imprisoned on the street by a police force that planned to tell us where we were going and how we were getting there. As I eventually made my way back to the car, a full hour after the final whistle, I said a silent prayer. No more. After three visits to Luton in three months, one for a rained off fixture, and several other trips to this cesspit in recent years I prayed for no more.
There is no pleasure in watching football at Kenilworth Road. There is nowhere nice, or safe, to drink or eat before the match, anybody more than three feet tall struggles to get into the seats in the away end, the stewards are rude and obnoxious, the stand would claim the lives of everybody in it were it to ever catch fire with two three foot wide exits at the back and a four foot concrete wall at the front and the home fans hate us with a passion I’ve rarely seen and express this with loose change and bodily fluids. You can’t see the match, you’re treated like a prisoner of war by the police afterwards and all in all it’s everything a trip to the football should not be and if I could have had one wish that night as Zesh drew his foot back from 15 yards out it would have been that that was my last ever trip to Luton bastard Town.
It’s been granted with bells on. Not only were they relegated that year but a last minute diving header at the Loft End from Paul Furlong hammered the final nail in. I’ve had sexual intercourse less satisfying than that moment. Then, just in case they tried to return, Luton’s finances collapsed and they suffered a ten point deduction that helped to relegate them again last season. That meant there were two divisions between us. The faces of the scum bags that sit to the right of the away end and spend the whole game looking and screaming at the travelling fans rather than the football flashed before my eyes and I smiled. Enjoy Accrington Stanley lads.
Then, just in case they had any heart left in them and tried to climb back up the ladder again, it was discovered that the Hatters had made illegal payments to agents. Their exit from their creditors agreement wasn’t exactly kosher either. Another ten points off, then 15, then 20, and now 30 points making it 40 in total in six months. Everyday I woke up to the news that Luton had been deducted yet more points. The Conference beckons. Have fun at Lewes on a Tuesday night lads. To think they moaned about going to the Withdean - soon they won’t even be playing the best team in Brighton. Brilliant eh?
No, actually. You see my hatred of Luton burns brighter than most. I hate their fans, their ground, the town, Mike Newell, Steve Howard, Mark bloody Pembridge, David Pleat dancing across the pitch, the bright orange shirts, the stand that isn't a stand at all, their police force, big fat Joe, the fact that they blamed and targetted QPR fans for our club's decision to sign Tony Thorpe, the fact you have to leave the game ten minutes early or face two hours being slowly marched through the town, the coins you get pelted with, the spit you get drenched with. Everything. I hate them. I never thought anything could happen to them bad enough for me to do anything other than point and laugh at them. But even I have looked on with increasing concern and, in recent weeks, outrage at their treatment at the hands of the authorities.
The ten points off for administration last year I can accept, and probably to my discredit, revel in. Luton certainly aren’t the first club to lose points that way and although some may see it as distasteful that Michael Ballack could have paid their creditors off with his wages and sponsorship money alone inside three months clubs in the lower leagues can’t moan and complain about how money doesn’t filter through from the top enough. It doesn’t, we know it doesn’t, it’s out of order but you can’t stand up in court and stamp your feet and say it’s really unfair, cloth has to be cut accordingly.
Their first points deduction for this coming season by the Football League I can also accept. After all Leeds United were deducted 15 points for the same thing last year and we all thought, and still think, that was a terrific laugh. But why have Luton been deducted five more points than Leeds for the same offence? Leeds were deducted 15 points, Luton 20. Why?
It’s now getting a bit silly. Another ten points have been taken off by the FA for the agent offences which means Luton have to win ten games just to break even this season. They’re going to have to display championship form throughout the campaign just to stay up. Essentially they’re now faced with nine months of meaningless football before dropping to the Conference. Some still may find this funny, to be honest I don’t blame you much for that after our experiences there over the years, but perhaps the thought that we could so easily have gone into administration this time last year may temper the laughter. Imagine us dropping through the leagues with one points deduction after another. I’ve often said never feel sorry for anybody in football because they won’t feel sorry for you but it’s hard not to sympathise with Luton at the moment.
Especially when West Ham, who also got involved with some dodgy conduct with agents and player registrations, were let off without a points deduction that would have relegated them one division because the offences were committed by a previous regime and the punishment would upset their fans. Both of those things apply to Luton. In fact the FA even admitted yesterday in their statement that it's unfortunate for the loyal Luton fans. So if it's unfortunate why haven't they been let off like West Ham were? The legal system works on precedence, it makes it fair. How can the authorities justify docking more points from Luton than Leeds? And punishing them harshly while letting West Ham off? They can't. There is no justification.
Some would say that West Ham were fined an seven figure sum and if the same fate were to befall Luton the club would go out of existence altogether. However I’d say to them that fining a club with billionaire owners £5.5m is essentially like trying to slap them on the wrist but missing altogether. Not only is it not a punishment but it makes the governing body look ridiculous.
Of course the leniency shown towards West Ham may have had something to do with their status as a famous name and cash rich presence in the “best league in the world” (copyright Richard Keys) while Luton are the footballing equivalent of the dog shit you tread into your living room carpet by accident. Still it’s hard to see how those running the Football League and the Football Association can sleep at night while the name of Luton Town stands out at the bottom of their league tables on -30 points with 24 days until the season kicks off and no means to do anything about it. A grossly unfair punishment that goes against very recent precedent. Everyday something happens that makes me love our great sport a little bit less.
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