Luton Town: from the English D5 to the Premier League

After 31 years of waiting, Luton Town are closer than ever to returning to the elite of English football. "Hatters" from Sunderland in the semifinals of the Championship playoffs (on the aggregate of two matches) challenge Coventry City this Saturday at Wembley Stadium, where tens of thousands of fans are expected. For Rob Edwards, Luton coach, being just one match away from the Premier League is "surreal" . And on this point it is difficult to contradict the former Wolverhampton player, who has the opportunity to put an end to more than a decade of doubts, joys and disappointments. An issue that fans understand better than anyone, as they have witnessed their club's descent into hell since 2007. Because while Luton had previously moved quietly between the various divisions of the Football League , the 2006-07 season marked the beginning of a particularly tumultuous period for the club.

A fall into the semi-professional world of football and a slow ascent

Having eventually finished 23rd in the Championship, the Hatterboys finished next in 24th place in League One (D3), sanctioned - by the Football Association and the Football League - with a recall of 10 points due to financial problems. Already relegated to League Two (D4), Mick Harford's side were again penalized, this time by 30 points, due to persistent infringements. A heavy blow for Luton, who in 2009 left the professional world for the first time in their history and were relegated to the National Conference , the fifth English division. You can find statistics and sports news on the Azscore https://azscore.com/rating/sportingbet/registration website. For five seasons the club struggled to regain its status, making the playoffs three times (2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12) and finally winning the championship at the end of the 2013-14 season, driven in particular by Andre Gray, the top scorer of the year with 30 goals. At the behest of John Still, Luton finished in 8th place in League Two (D4) at the end of the 2014-15 season. But poor results at the end of 2015 (17th place after 21 days) took their toll on the Englishman, who was sacked by the management in December.

Promotion to the Championship and Premier League dreams from Luton Town club

To try and compensate for this departure, Mick Harford is appointed interim coach until the end of the season. Whether by instinct or star placement, Luton continue their extraordinary rise to the elite, winning the Third Division title while securing their second consecutive promotion. Having been put in charge of the team, Graham Jones quickly realizes that sustaining the club at the highest level will not be easy. On the verge of the red zone (19th place ) in April 2020, he also paid the price for his poor results and left the club by mutual agreement with its managers. The fate is similar to that of Nathan Jones, sacked from Stoke in November 2019 after his side won only 2 of their first 14 league games. Although he had left Luton almost a year and a half earlier, Nathan Jones returned to the Hatters bench and helped his former club stay in the Championship (19th in 2020, 12th in 2021, 6th in 2022) and progress there. Once again orphaned of their savior, the Lutonian board appointed Rob Edwards, former coach of rival Watford, as head of the team. A new stroke of genius: six months later, only 90 minutes separate the Hatters from the elite of English football.

Nathan Jones has been handed the reins of the team

In a delicate situation, the latter decided to entrust the reins of the team to Nathan Jones, a former defender with an almost empty coaching resume (2 games on the Brighton bench). A risky choice, but one that will pay off. After being 11th and retaining it through the first six months, he managed to finish 4th at the end of the 2016-17 season. After making the playoffs , Luton finally met Blackpool in the semifinals (2-3; 3-3). The problem was quickly solved as the club finished second the following season and gained promotion to League One (D3). But there seems to be no longevity among the Hatters, as evidenced by Nathan Jones' departure to Stoke City in the winter of 2019.