Nothing demonstrated better the agony and ecstasy of a Championship Playoff Final than the sight of poor Fankaty Dabo slowly trudging, head-down and numb back toward the halfway line as jubilant Luton players flanked him as they sprinted to celebrate with their goalkeeper, Ethan Horvath.
Quite why Horvath was the focal point of the celebration is unclear given he had not even a sniff of any of the six Coventry pens, but that’s just how it always is.
But well done to Luton. Fair play.
I hope they enjoy their summer before the grim reality of life in the Premier League fully kicks in, although I suspect, however they approach it, their outcome will be no worse than City’s last two feeble attempts to stay in there.
It may be that, despite everything pointing to the contrary, they offer Norwich City a lesson on how a Premier League season should be approached when you’re a footballing minnow.
And even if they don’t, there still are many lessons we can (or should) learn from the way they have approached their last two Championship seasons, both on and off the pitch.
Off it, the most obvious one is the higher success rate of their recruitment, all of it based on a budget that is but a fraction of City’s in 2022-23.
I’ll not go down the Carlton Morris route as others have done, as he was released from our club because there were better strikers ahead of him in the pecking order and he didn’t score enough goals. That one should be parked once and for all, but there are plenty of other examples of where they have got it right.
The loan signing, for example, of Marvelous Nakamba in January is one that Luton manager Rob Edwards hailed as crucial to their surge to the playoffs. It’s almost too obvious to say, but a solid, reliable, presence like his in front of our centre-backs is what we’ve been crying out for since Ollie Skipp returned to North London.
But it’s not even just about the personnel they have brought through and brought in. For me, the biggest difference between the Luton Town of 2022-23 and Norwich City of 2022-23 has been their capability of playing and maintaining a high tempo.
At times, especially at Kenilworth Road, it’s been ferocious and was demonstrated perfectly in their Playoff semifinal first leg against Sunderland where they simply blew away the more technically gifted Wearsiders.
It was no surprise that we lost there on Boxing Day in what ended up being Dean Smith’s final game in charge. When you have a tendency to come across as lily-livered when the opposition comes after you, then Kenilworth Road is not the place to be.
We were. They did. It wasn’t.
To be fair, this is an area that David Wagner has identified as one that needs addressing but, equally, it’s one that has needed addressing in almost all of the time Stuart Webber has been at the club.
A tendency to get beat up, out-muscled, and out-fought is one of the big reasons why we are where we are.
While Luton may come up short next season, it won’t be because of all of the above. It will be because of their technical and tactical limitations, which are doubly difficult to address on a limited budget.
But, as I’ve said, good luck to them.
Their story is as uplifting as they come in 21st-century football and I genuinely believe their unbridled elation yesterday was borne of them not having been in the top flight since 1991-92.
Hatters’ fans bear no residual bruises and scars from Premier League campaigns that have gone horribly and disastrously wrong. For them, it is the Promised Land, and for now, that’s how it should remain.
All of that grizzly, heart-wrenching stuff can wait at least until August. Hopefully beyond.
If, in the unlikely event, it had been us winning at Wembley yesterday, no way would we have shared that same level of joy unconfined. We do still have the scars.
I hope too that Hatters’ fans don’t get too seduced by the figures being bandied around, namely £170 million.
I’ve heard talk of them using the money to stabilise the club but, from bitter experience, it rarely works like that. That mythical £170 million will disappear in a flash, not least because there is much work that needs to be done to Kenilworth Road over the summer to make it Premier League-ready.
And then there are the enhanced wages for existing players, the transfer fees and wages for new players, and the additional day-to-day costs that come with being a Premier League club.
If anyone thinks they can spend, say, £70 million and snaffle away the rest for a rainy day then they should think again. So too the notion that £170 million hits your bank account in one lump sum in early July because it really doesn’t. It comes in tranches and with conditions aplenty.
So, enjoy it Luton fans. You deserve it. The journey you’ve been on has been quite something.
Just bear in mind, from experience we can hand-on-heart say it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Well Gary, hope you feel better now you’ve that off of your chest. What an amazing achievement by a team with a 6M wage bill and no ridiculous parachute payments to supplement their meagre 7M championship income, But such figures are also ridiculously huge when you look at where Luton were 9 years ago in Non league. This is a truly epic story , unparallelled. Full credit and respect to brilliantly managed and run club. Whatever the future holds it is this and only this that you should be putting your energy into writing about.
Very fair comment, John. Spot on in all counts. A wonderful achievement.
My only defence for such cyncism, is that this being a Norwich City website, I was looking at your terrific achievement from a Norwich City perspective. 😀
(PS. It really is shit up there).
Cheers Gary, to give you some succour I would have loved to have had the sort of failure Norwich have had over the past 30 years. I can tell you getting beaten by Braintree when you grew up beating Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal etc is a kind of pain not many fans get to experience. Good luck to Norwich next season and my dream would be that you’re playing Luton in the Prem!
That would indeed be a dream, John.
I’ll be rooting for you guys next season and would love nothing more than to see you survive while, along the way, dishing out a few bloody noses to the big boys.
One thing’s for sure, a few of those Big Time Charlies won’t be looking forward to a trip to the Kenny!
Come on you Hatters.
Well done Luton – a team that spent little but wanted to be in Premier League. That’s the difference between them and us. It was said during Sunderland game that they hardly concided in open play – you could see why there was no playing across the penalty area, no back passing from halfway line. If midfield or defence had ball facing their own goal they turned round all the time; no dodgy passing towards their own penalty area. Exactly the opposite to what we have been doing in 3 out of the last 4 seasons. It’s down to poor coaching, not bad recruiting, as I don’t feel they have better players than us – just a better style for the players they have.
Morning Gary
That’s a good point you make about us letting Carlton Morris go at the time – injuries were coming thick and fast for the poor $od and there was never a clear breakthrough path in view for him.
He was maybe sold too cheap, but I also reckon letting him go was the right thing to do at the time.
A few weeks ago I was kind of hoping it would be Millwall to send shockwaves through the PL but in terms of physicality and sheer, dogged determination Luton aren’t a bad *second best* in that respect.
Well done Luton Town and well played Carlton Morris 🙂
Hi Gary
The Luton owner is slightly north of Delia in the money stakes, but not sure he will be able to do what the Greek-baring-gifts did at Forest and finance a 21-player recruitment last summer.
Luton have also said that some money will go into their new stadium project.
Will Edwards be given time to keep them up or will he get the Watford shafting once it goes belly up, and then Big Sam or Dean Smith comes riding over the rainbow for a last minute rescue attempt? Warnock will, by then, be back at either Huddersfield or Cardiff.
Let’s hope Morris gets to prove Webber completely wrong and that his style can be a success in the EPL. Some dreams just have to come true
Yes, well done Luton.
If they, Bournemouth and ourselves are at home on the same day there will be more at Carrow Rd than the 2 PL clubs combined. What a contrast between the way those two clubs have made their way into the top flight….
I’m guessing Hatters fans will suddenly be all in favour of retaining parachute payments (not that any of the teams in the play-offs were actually relying on them).
The parachute payments are and always have been a terrible idea. Somehow like you say the playoff contenders were not in receipt but places 1 and 2 got the benefit. I will happily take the benefit to further stabilise the club financially but will be very disappointed if the money goes on transfers. I hope we keep the squad we have gone up with, with the benefit of keeping our 3 loans.
I agree totally Gary congratulations and good luck to Luton.
An absolutely miraculous achievement.
But you are so right, enjoy the summer the Reality Bites.
I will be astonished if Luton survive but I would love to see it.
Despite all we say on here about finances every now and then a club spring a massive surprise in the Championship.
We did ourselves in Daniel Farke’s second season. As skint as can be at the time, but beat the odds to lift the Championship.
But as I fear Luton will find out it’s one thing to get to the EPL it’s completely another thing to stay there.
Carlton Morris wasn’t given a proper chance, after all those years of development he was judged on what he did on loan.
Daniel Farke was full of praise for Max Aarons ignoring the interest of massive clubs to concentrate on helping Norwich, I wonder what Max thinks now, he might have been better off staying at Luton.