GLAD HATTERS
When Luton Town won the playoff final at Wembley last season to win promotion to the Premier League, they were immediately installed as white-hot favourites to go straight back down. The plucky Hatters hadn’t played in the top flight since 1992, when they were relegated just a few months before Sky Sports invented football in England and records officially began, but on that fateful day at Wembley they became the first team in history to return to the top tier of English football after suffering multiple relegations into what these days is known as the National League. Indeed, on Football Daily’s only ever trip to Kenilworth Road a little more than 13 years ago, we saw them play Forest Green on a freezing night in a match partly soundtracked by the chattering of our own teeth and the defiant chants of 14 (yes, we counted them) travelling fans.
Having witnessed Luton at their lowest ebb in the non-league wilderness, it was heartwarming to see them at one of their highest, delivering their standout performance of the season as they spanked four goals without reply past a Brighton side with no answers for the ferocious intensity of hosts seemingly inspired by the pre-match appearance of tearful skipper Tom Lockyer, making his first visit to the ground since a cardiac arrest during a game at Bournemouth six weeks ago. “It’s been a really great night and I think we’ve been building this momentum for a really long time,” purred Luton’s preposterously handsome manager, Rob Edwards. “We know we’re still going to have difficult moments and difficult periods but we’re giving ourselves a chance.”
Being outside the relegation zone and in with a half-decent chance of staying up is more than many Luton fans would have settled for before the season started, when much of the outside noise focused on the fact that travelling fans have to enter the Kenilworth Road away end by climbing through the bathroom window of an adjacent house, and assorted experts were predicting they’d struggle to get near Derby County’s record low top-flight points tally of 11 in 2007-08. With 19 to their name already and the same number of games left to play, this steadily improving rag-bag assortment of might-bes and coulda-beens look on course to hit the magic 40-point mark, not least when one considers some of their finest performances this season have come in games against elite sides, from which they’ve taken nothing. While Brighton don’t quite fit into that bracket, their manager Roberto De Zerbi has, in recent days, been named as a potential successor to Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool or Xavi at Barcelona. On the evidence of his team’s display here, he’ll struggle to make the Luton shortlist when Edwards takes over at Anfield or the Camp Nou.
And finally, a word for Elijah Adebayo, who last night became the first Luton Town player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League – and the first one since their Danish cult hero Lars Elstrup filled his boots against Norwich City in 1990 to do so in a top-flight game. In what could be a portent of things to come, Luton ended that particular season one spot above the relegation zone, while further up the table Arsenal finished top of the league.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The coach’s exit is completely unacceptable, and we will discuss with him why this happened. He has the right to explain his point of view, and then we will decide the appropriate action” – it was an early Asian Cup exit for Saudi Arabia’s coach Roberto Mancini in more ways than one, prompting this less-than-delighted response from Football Federation chief suit Yasser al-Misehal.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Your lead story about the Conti Cup farce (yesterday’s Football Daily) brought me out in a cold sweat, as the previously buried memory of this Aston Villa v West Ham debacle came shuddering into my mind. Having sat through the freezing cold and incredibly tense packed-out quarter-final at Upton Park, finally winning on penalties after extra time, you can imagine the little bit of sick that involuntarily filled my mouth the next day when reading that the youth player brought on in the 113th minute had already played on loan for Gillingham in the competition. Obviously I don’t need to tell you the result of the replayed tie” – Michael Johns.
Re: players finding a safe way to pay tribute (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). When my cousin, Sean (Clare) scored for Hearts, he did an A/W sign with his hands as a tribute to his Auntie Wendy (my ma). She used to drive him to training every week with Charlton when he was age eight and long after. Without fail. I readily admit tearing up when he did that. Football can be, and often is, brilliant” – David Johnson.
As your News, Bits and Bobs section (full email edition) pointed me towards the rebranding of the Yeovil club badge, I thought I’d check out what it was replacing before casting judgment on the handiwork of the graphic designer. And what an acid trip of a badge they are losing. John the Baptist, a medallion as a symbol of his martyrdom, the crown of Empress Matilda, pastoral staffs from 15th and 16th century religious institutions, and the Rampant Lions who to my untutored eye appear to be doing dad/pointy-dancing. All done away with in favour of a ball and some gloves, and some guff about a ‘consistent brand identity’. I know I am getting old but is this really progress?” – Colin Reed.
While agreeing with Steve Allen that the Football League structure does not resemble a pyramid, neither is it a ladder, nor indeed a pole … greasy or otherwise (yesterday’s letters). The top five divisions do resemble a ladder, but below that it flares out on a regional basis. I would say that the most appropriate shape would be the Eiffel Tower, except that it has those large semi-circular holes at the bottom. Perhaps bell-bottomed trousers would be a better analogy (this season’s most wearable jeans, according to Big Website’s fashion gurus)” – John Caley.
Pyramids don’t have to be physically like a pyramid. A pyramid is also something that diminishes in people or quantity as you go higher up the levels. Like a pyramid scheme, or like common sense in the Manchester United hierarchy” – Jimmy O’Brien.
Re: yesterday’s Memory Lane (full email edition). Having turned up in my youth of a Sunday morning at the Marshes after a heavy Saturday night, let me say the position of the centre-circle lines was the least of the worries and just another flashing white light to be avoided. Groundstaff, you can sign your name, no one will notice, but thanks for doing the important bits” – Jeremy Foxon.
A member of the Hackney Marshes groundstaff walks into a pub and the bartender says … why the long face?” – Declan Houton.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Michael Johns.
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