So, the year that began behind closed doors due to Covid-19 ends without a single festive Luton match because of a spate of positive coronavirus tests in the Hatters’ camp.
For that reason 2021 can’t possibly be a memorable year despite some notable events over the 12 months, but with hours left of the year it is time for an annual look back at what has happened.
On the pitch, I don’t think any of us can have any complaints. This was the year in which Elijah Adebayo not only arrived at the club, but made the kind of impact that even the better psychics among the Town fraternity could not have predicted. Hopefully I am still assessing his quality in the orange shirt when I pen this column again at the end of 2022.
We also signed Kal Naismith in this year too. I think it is fair to say his addition went a little under the radar at the time but that isn’t the case anymore. What an important player ‘Kaldini’ has become for us, both with the quality he possesses, as well as the versatility he offers us.
It was also the year the great Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall warmed our hearts while we were watching on, from in front of laptops and TVs.
More importantly than all of that, it was the year that lot from down the road came and were beaten. How we would all have given so much to be inside Kenilworth Road on April 17, but the joy experienced when James Collins’ winning penalty hit the back of the net was no less in our absence.
This was also the year we saw some established stalwarts, who were so pivotal in our rise through the leagues, depart the club. James Collins, Kazenga Lua Lua, Matty Pearson and George Moncur all left Kenilworth Road but thankfully despite plenty of rumours suggesting otherwise, Sonny Bradley and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu stayed.
As players leave others arrive, and in Allan Campbell, Amari’i Bell, Admiral Muskwe, Reece Burke and Henri Lansbury to name just some, we have some fantastic players to look forward to watching in 2022.
Off the pitch it has been a hard year, as you would expect with everything that is going on in the world so, once again, it would only be right to continue to thank the 2020 board for being the amazing owners of our club that they are, and be eternally grateful that because of them we still have a club to support.
My favourite moments of 2021 came in the latter part of the year. That isn’t to dumb down THAT win in April, but I cherish memories of things I am actually present at much more than when I’m not. So, the return to Kenilworth Road for the 3-0 win over Peterborough at the start of this season was wonderful, as was the going mad at last-minute equalisers at Blackburn and Bristol City. Goals that late are always special but after a 17-month exile from stadia they were even more memorable.
So, 2021 was another year of progression for our club and we are all set up for 2022 to be a great year. Let’s just hope those players affected in the Hatters’ squad recover from Covid and that we can all return to the terraces to witness it.
