Mick Harford joked that Brad Pitt should play him in the film about Luton’s Renaissance from the Conference to the Premier League – if the Hatters win promotion.
Town face Coventry on Saturday at Wembley in the so-called richest game in world football, the Championship play-off final, with the winner booking a place in the top flight.
Both clubs have recovered from adversity to reach this point, though perhaps no team in the history of English game has had more of a comeback story that Luton.
Club legend Harford was manager for both Town’s last Wembley win – the 2009 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – and then a week later their darkest day, when the inevitable relegation from the Football League was confirmed after starting the season with a 30-point penalty.
That was because of the financial misdealing of previous owners, but the never-since-repeated punishment was meted out in 2008 to Luton’s supporters and their new fan-led consortium of owners, 2020.
Five long years, Luton spent in the non-league, suffering play-off final heartbreak twice, as well as a semi-final failure, until John Still led them back to the Football League in 2014.
Now, less than a decade later, the Hatters have the chance to return to the top flight and a Premier League they helped to found but never got to play in due to relegation from the final First Division season before the rebrand.
No team has ever achieved that feat so that is the history-making story that awaits if they can see off Coventry.
Now the club’s chief recruitment officer, Harford said: “We have to talk about it because there is a massive story happening here for us if we do get promoted and I think they should make a film out of it if we do get promoted.
“It is the biggest game in Luton’s history in my opinion. If we do get to the promised land we get a vast amount of money and we can build the stadium and that stadium secures our feature for a long time.”
Asked who would play Harford in the movie retelling of Luton’s story, the former England striker said: “No idea! Who’s got a broken nose and a dodgy knee, eh? Who would play me? It has got to be Brad Pitt hasn’t it!?”
But it’s telling that a man who was involved in arguably Luton’s greatest day in their history, the Littlewoods Cup final win over Arsenal in 1988, believes Saturday will be the club’s biggest game.
Asked if he ever imagined Luton would be in this position, when he led Luton out at Wembley in 2009, Harford said: “Not really. You are so far down the ladder. You’ve come back from a rollercoaster ride. The club was in the depths of despair and turmoil, 30 points going into the National League.
“Five years in the National League which was a really tough league to get out of so, no, you could never have imagined it but as I’ve said before all the managers here have had massive success from the board and 2020.
“Whatever a manager wants and has asked for he has been given and supported. When Nathan (Jones) came in he took over from John Still and got us out of League Two into League One and we progressed into the Championship.
“Nathan left and came back and steadied the ship again and obviously Rob (Edwards) has now come in and he’s done a brilliant brilliant job.”
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