Luton Town celebrated their historic Premier League promotion on Monday - while it has emerged the club will be allowed to begin the new season with three straight away games if work on their stadium is not completed in time.
The Hatters won promotion to the top-flight for the first time since suffering relegation in 1992, thanks to a penalty shoot-out victory over Coventry City in the Championship play-off final. Fans turned out in force on Monday to celebrate the historic moment, with thousands of supporters packing the streets of Luton while the players took part in a victory parade on an open top bus.
However, away from the celebrations, it has emerged that the club will be forced to knock down and rebuild their Bobbers stand to bring it up to Premier League standards. They insist the work can be carried out successfully over the course of a single summer, with plans having already been submitted. If the work overruns, though, they will be granted permission to start with three away games but no more than that.
Luton wouldn't be the first team to kick off a Premier League season with a run of away games. Back in 2016-17, Liverpool travelled to Arsenal, Burnley and Tottenham as work on Anfield took place, with the Burnley game having initially been scheduled to take place at the Reds' home ground.
As reported by The Mail, Luton are 'confident' of completing their rebuilding work over the course of the summer. The efforts are expected to cost around £10m, with demolition work expected to begin at the start of June.
The 2023-24 Premier League season is due to get underway on August 12. The fixture list will be released on June 15, at which point Luton will know whether their first ever Premier League campaign is scheduled to begin at home - pending the rebuild - or on the road.
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Luton's players launched into wild celebrations after sealing promotion when Coventry's Fankaty Dabo missed from the spot in the penalty shoot-out. However, there was also concern for captain Tom Lockyer, who was taken to hospital for tests after going to ground in concerning circumstances at Wembley.
"I've got to be honest, the only thing I'm thinking about right now is Tom Lockyer," manager Rob Edwards told Sky Sports after the victory. "He's been immense for us this season.
"Health is the most important thing, family's the most important thing. More important than football, more important than this, and all of those things you're talking about are great but I don't care right now until he's alright.
"I know he's alright, I think a few of the guys have spoken to him in hospital - he's getting well looked after. Carlton [Morris] is really close with Locks and the two of them were talking, which is really good, obviously.
"So that's just where my head's at at the moment, and I don't know. It just felt a little bit wrong to celebrate at the time."
