[themaclad]

Luton Town Football Club (/ˈluːtən/) is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknamed 'the Hatters' and affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association. The team plays its home matches at Kenilworth Road, where it has been based since 1905. The club's history includes one major trophy win, several financial crises, numerous promotions and relegations, and some spells of sustained success. It was perhaps most prominent between 1982 and 1992, when it was a member of English football's top division, at that time the First Division; the team won its first major honour, the Football League Cup, in 1988. Luton Town have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Watford.

The club was the first in southern England to turn professional, making payments to players as early as 1890 and turning fully professional a year later. It joined the Football League before the 1897–98 season, left in 1900 because of financial problems, and rejoined in 1920. Luton reached the First Division in 1955–56 and contested a major final for the first time when playing Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final. The team was then relegated from the top division in 1959–60, and demoted twice more in the following five years, playing in the Fourth Division from the 1965–66 season. However, it was promoted back to the top level by 1974–75.

Luton Town's most recent successful period began in 1981–82, when the club won the Second Division, and thereby gained promotion to the First. Luton defeated Arsenal 3–2 in the 1988 Football League Cup Final and remained in the First Division until relegation at the end of the 1991–92 season. Between 2007 and 2009, financial difficulties caused the club to fall from the second tier of English football to the fifth in successive seasons. The last of these relegations came during the 2008–09 season, when 30 points were docked from Luton's record for various financial irregularities. Luton thereafter spent five seasons in non-League football before winning the Conference Premier in 2013–14, securing promotion back into the Football League. More success soon followed, with Luton being promoted from League Two and One in successive seasons in 2017–18 and 2018–19, meaning Luton now play in the Championship, for the first time since 2006–07. Moreover, in 2021–2022, Luton finished 6th in the Championship and earned a spot in the play-offs for promotion to the Premier League, but were eliminated in the semifinals by Huddersfield Town.

https://www.lutontown.co.uk/

LAST TIME OUT



INS AND OUTS

http://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=11472

http://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=11359

http://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=10473

LUTON MUSIC

MICK ABRAHAMS

Jethro Tull
Abrahams was born in Luton, Bedfordshire.[1] He played on the album This Was recorded by Jethro Tull in 1968, but conflicts between Abrahams and Ian Anderson over the musical direction of the band led Abrahams to leave shortly after the album was finished, but not before contributing guitar to one further non-LP single. Abrahams wanted to pursue a more blues/rock direction, while Anderson wanted to incorporate more overt folk and jazz influences.[2]

Blodwyn Pig and later career
Abrahams went on to found Blodwyn Pig and the group recorded two albums, Ahead Rings Out (1969) and Getting to This (1970) before breaking up in 1970. Abrahams soldiered on with the short-lived Wommett, then the Mick Abrahams Band and has continued to release albums by himself and with reunited versions of Blodwyn Pig. He has worked as a driver, lifeguard and financial consultant, occasionally playing gigs, especially to support causes in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.[3]

According to his website, Abrahams suffered a heart attack in November 2009 and would have to recuperate before resuming work. In April 2010 his website revealed that he had Ménière's disease, which would hold him back from performing at least for another year. In December 2013, he posted an update referring to his continuing health problems and mentioning that he hoped to release an album in 2014.

In 2015, Abrahams announced a new studio album called Revived!, with several guests – among them, his replacement in Jethro Tull, Martin Barre.[4]

[themaclad]

Preston North End will play their third game of the Championship season on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Bedfordshire to face Luton Town.

In The Dressing Room

After being forced off at half-time midweek with an ankle injury, Álvaro Fernández will be assessed ahead of the weekend, with manager Ryan Lowe saying “he’s alright” but Saturday may come too soon.

The trip to Luton will definitely come too soon for Bambo Diaby and Sean Maguire, with both continuing their recovery, and the former is expected to return to action next week.

Ched Evans will serve the final game of his three-match ban before returning to contention for the home fixture against Rotherham United.

A Look At Our Hosts

Luton Town came in to the new season looking to replicate last year's exploits and hopefully go one better, having reached the Play-Off places but falling just short at the semi-final stage.

They strengthened over the summer, retaining the majority of the squad which finished sixth in 2021/22, as well as adding Championship experience in the likes of Cauley Woodrow, Carlton Morris and Luke Freeman.

Like North End, they’ve drawn the opening two games of their league campaign – against Birmingham City and Burnley – while going on to be knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Newport County during the week.

Going Head To Head


Games played: 50
PNE wins: 26
Draws: 10
Luton Town wins: 14
Last victory: PNE 2-0 Luton Town, 30th October 2021

One To Watch

Despite Barnsley duo Carlton Morris and Cauley Woodrow being added to the ranks at Kenilworth Road, Elijah Adebayo has been given the nod up top in both Championship fixtures so far this season.

The former Walsall forward – who joined the Hatters in February 2021 – was crucial to his side’s success last term, netting 17 goals in all competitions.

He’s been a wanted man so far this summer, with reported interest coming from MLS side DC United, but manager Nathan Jones recently told the local press that he would not be going anywhere unless a “substantial Premier League offer” is put on the table.

Match Officials

Dean Whitestone will be the man in charge of this fixture, and incidentally his last time refereeing PNE was at Deepdale last October when Luton Town were the visitors.

Whitestone tends to be lenient when it comes to cards, having shown a combined total of four yellow cards in the three North End fixtures he took charge of last season, while he’s only produced three in two games so far this campaign.

The referee will be assisted by Robert Hyde and Adrian Waters, with Chris Pollard on fourth official duties.

MACS VIEW

Our last two visits have led to abysmal performances at Kenilworth Road, this is a tough match much harder than the breeze on Tuesday night.
Interesting team selection for Mr Lowe also given the heat the game will be played in the substitutions will be vital. To be honest do not expect anything from this game Jones has built a useful squad and the two forwards from Barnsley are shrewd pieces of business.

[themaclad]

Luton Town 0 Preston North End 1 Potts

Luton Town line-up: Horvath; Burke, Bradley, Potts (Thorpe, 63); Bree, Campbell (Jerome, 90), Clark, Freeman (Woodrow, 63), Bell; Morris, Adebayo. Subs not used: Macey, Lockyer, Watson, Osho.

PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Whiteman, Ledson, Brady (Johnson, 79); McCann (Riis, 69), Browne (Woodburn, 79); Parrott (Bauer, 90+2). Subs not used: Cornell, Cunningham, Slater.

Attendance: 9,740 (895 PNE fans).

Referee: Mr D Whitestone.

A wonder-strike from Brad Potts was enough to earn Preston North End a first league victory of the season, away to Luton Town.

It was a stunning volley from Potts – his 50th career goal – which put the visitors ahead at Kenilworth Road, and they continued to be the side on top as they took three points back to Lancashire.

Ryan Lowe made two changes from his side’s last Championship outing, with Ali McCann and Ryan Ledson coming in to replace Daniel Johnson and Emil Riis.

Luton had the first half-chances of the game through headers from Luke Freeman and Carlton Morris, but they were both easy enough for goalkeeper Freddie Woodman to gather.

It was North End who took the lead, though, and in some style too, with Brady sending a fantastic cross into the box, and there came Potts to jump into the air and fire home a superb volley to make it two goals in his last two games.

At the other end, PNE were winning all the headers in the box and blocking anything that came their way, and Woodman also did well when called into action to keep out Allan Campbell’s flick from close range.

Just a few minutes before half-time, provider for the opener Brady came close to getting on the scoresheet himself, as he fired a low, right-footed effort towards goal, where Ethan Horvath dived low to his right to keep it out.

The opening to the second half saw North End in charge, passing the ball about nicely, and it was a good move which opened up space for Jordan Storey to take aim from distance on 53 minutes, but his effort flew over the bar.

Hughes then came close on the hour mark, heading down on the end of a Potts cross and seeing his shot blocked to divert it behind for a corner.

The hosts had a big chance seven minutes from time, as substitute Woodrow got on the end of a ball over the top and volleyed the ball over Woodman, but only on to the roof of the net.

Fellow forward Adebayo was then next to come close on 87 minutes, turning Storey and making his way in to the box, before firing over the bar.

North End then nearly scored themselves in the 89th minute through Parrott, but Horvath saved and PNE left Kenilworth Road with a deserved 1-0 victory.

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Luton Town manager Nathan Jones told BBC Radio Three Counties:

"It's frustrating in a number of ways really. They probably had two opportunities really, one was a great header and one was shot from the edge of the box, but apart from that we limited them to very little.

"We've had enough of the game to have won it, so it's just a little bit frustrating.

"It's very difficult to chase a game now in the Championship, with the heat and everything. There was very little flow really.

"We tried to create a tempo in the game, but it just gets killed, and then a water break - we might as well not play in the heat. Why play? Just wait 'til it's cool, wait 'til it's cold. It's crazy because there's no flow."

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I thought the performance was OK. We could have done better in certain situations.

"We scored a fantastic goal, I thought we defended very well and manged the game well.

"You can't come to Luton and go toe-to-toe with them. We knew that the game plan was a little bit different than what it normally is because we have to respect a good Luton team that have just missed out in getting to the Premier League last season.

"We found a way today and we found a way to take three points off a very good team."

[Lord Snooty]

Nathan Jones. Worra prick.

[themaclad]

Harsh but fair LS

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