This is an Epilogue to the posting I did in January 2008 about the slow demise of Luton Town FC which as we saw last Saturday, after 98 years finally losing their league status.

If I may take a quote from one of my favourite films: “Lads! Let us not be down-hearted. One total catastrophe like this is just the beginning !”

There have been other clubs that have spent time in the abyss and have come back. Carlisle are probably the best example of that. Aldershot had it even worse. They went out of existence and look at them now.

There are some who haven’t… Oxford right now are not showing many signs of a revival, but I know and I’m sure that with the new structure at the club (with the famous jumper wearer Nick Owen in there too) they will return better and stronger.

As long as Mick Harford, who was in that League Cup winning team on April 24th, 1988, sticks with them too. As well as some of the players too.

Wondering out loud here – Are they the biggest club (as in won a major trophy or league title) to ever go down ? If there are any footie statto’s out there who do know, leave a comment.

Talking of trophy’s – It was only a few weeks ago (April 5th, 2009) that Luton won the Football League Trophy. They went into that final knowing that they were probably doomed even if they won every remaining league match, but they still went and played and won (in extra time) what was described as one of the best cup finals in years.

The numbers were too insurmountable. Bournemouth had 15 points deducted, so they had better odds of pulling themselves out of it. But for Luton again they must have had the thought in the back of their minds even at the beginning of the season that it was an impossible ask. Bravo to everyone for not giving up though.

- There is a loyal (and musical) fan who also got involved and did everything she could to raise money to help the club.

Back in August of last year (2008) the singer and actress Jane Ledsom recorded a song 30 Down To Zero (Here Come The Hatters) which was released in September:

“Luton fans reacted to this season’s 30-point deduction in a variety of ways, some got angry, some depressed and some became defiant, however one fan reacted in a completely unique way. Singer and life-long Hatters fan Jane Ledsom, along with her backing group “The Shouty Boys”, have recorded the song “30 Down to Zero (Here Come The Hatters)” which calls upon the team and it’s fans to unite and fight to claw back the 30 point loss. The song will be played before every game until the 30 point deduction is over turned, and it has already become a bit of an anthem amongst the Hatters’ faithful.”

Jane Ledsom - 30 Down to Zero: [See post to listen to audio] (stream only, the high bitrate version can still be purchased and downloaded via ITunes.)

» There’s a video too.

Additional: When the team reached the Johnstone’s Paint final Jane re-wrote the song for the occasion and called it: “30 Miles from Wembley”. – You can hear it on her MySpace page and again, it can be downloaded via ITunes.

This is the third time since 1990 that Luton have gone into administration. Hopefully everything will be sorted in time and they will be still in existence come the replay.

After reading about their current troubles I looked at the Wikipedia entry for Luton Town FC and was reminded of their troubled past – especially in the 80′s when their then chairman banned all away fans from visiting. (The decision to do this was made after Millwall fans invaded the plastic pitch.)

This action got them thrown out of the League Cup and ironically a few seasons later then went on to win it.

Further back in their history – back to into the 1970′s and for some reason it was all comedy back then. The late great Eric Morecambe was on the board of directors from 1970-1979 and before the above silly actions a decade later, people fondly remembered Luton because of big Eric’s occasional mentions *cough* Luton! *cough* in some of their sketches.

Whilst researching their past I also stumbled across a bit of undocumented information in relation to a footie/musical moment at the club. Nothing to do with their League Cup Final appearance. So far still no luck with that. But with a single released in 1974.

Why 1974 ? I have no idea. Nothing of note happened to them. They were promoted from the old Division 2, but usually this is not something you would go and sing about.

The song they released was a collaboration – one that you’d never expect and wouldn’t imagine. Again I don’t know why or how this came about but the Luton Town players got together with The Barron Knights.

Yep you read it correctly. There’s another thing from the past you probably forgot about I bet.
Quick history for anybody too lazy to click the above link: They were a comedy musical band who did spoofs of current songs of the day. Weird Al does the same thing.

They first found success in 1964 with “Call Up The Groups”. Then after a couple more singles disappeared onto the cabaret circuit only to resurface again in 1978 with “A Taste Of Aggro”.

A few years before that – as mentioned in 1974 they did this with the Luton Town squad:

» The Barron Knights & the ’74 Luton Town Squad – Hatters Hatters

Sample lyrics: “Hatters, Hatters what a great team / Let’s show the others we are the cream.”

Edit/update: Found some info about the single via Netsounds music. It says: “With Gatefold And Inner Sleeves Inside Of Sleeve Shows Eric Morecambe In Bath With Players”

EXTRA TIME: A reminder of some of their more famous spoof singles »

[See post to listen to audio]
» THe Barron Knights – The Chapel Lead Is Missing

[See post to listen to audio]
» The Barron Knights – Little White Bum

(A spoof of Tommy Steel’s – Little White Bull)

[See post to listen to audio]
» The Barron Knights – A Taste Of Aggro

(Songs spoofed: Boney M – Rivers of Babylon / Father Abraham – The Smurf Song / Brian and Michael – Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk Cats and Dogs.)

As for Luton… personally I’m not bothered if they survive or go under. (Apologies for any fans reading this). It will be sad to see it happen, but these days these things do. Thankfully though are still a rare occurrence.
If they do go I’m sure like Aldershot they will return in another form.