So here we are. Three matches left of the season and Luton Town sit 11th in the Championship table needing just two points to better what many would suggest to be the benchmark season at this level in the 2005/06 campaign.
Whatever happens over the last three games this has clearly been an outstanding season, of which credit must go to everyone involved, particularly in these extraordinary circumstances the world is operating in.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say even one league place higher than last season would have been a fantastic return this term but the lowest we can finish is 14th.
With no midweek game this week it got me thinking about just what an achievement this season has been and how it ranks in my time as a Luton fan, which really began around 1989/90. I was five when we won the Littlewoods Cup and I watched it on TV and remember it incredibly well but you’d be stretching it to suggest I really understood what being a fan was at that age, or recognised myself as one at that time.
I started going to games regularly in the early 90s and I’ve enjoyed the highs, and of course the lows, that everyone else has in that time.
Thankfully there have been plenty of highs. The League 2 promotion season in 2001/02, THAT night at Vicarage Road the following season, the fantastic League One season under Mike Newell in 2004/05, the JPT win in 2009, the Conference promotion season in 2013/14 and the two fantastic promotion campaigns since then. In amongst all the lows I’ve enjoyed great times as a Town fan.
Those listed above are all fantastic achievements but even though we haven’t got promotion or anything this term, I believe what we have done this season may just be the biggest achievement of them all.
As football fans we might not like it, but football is a very different game now to what it was when I first became a fan, heck it is a different game now than it was when we came back into the Football League such is the riches in the game, or should I say greed a week or so on from that ridiculous European Super League idea.
I’m in no way diminishing any of the achievements I listed above, but I think most would suggest that this is our level so we’ve largely swam in easier waters for far too long.
Clearly we are not doing that this year. However you measure the size of club on paper, we are near the bottom of the pile yet we are above halfway where it really matters despite the odds being against us. We are guaranteed to finish above the likes of Blackburn Rovers, Nottingham Forest, Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday among others.
We have proven that shrewd management on and off the field, an amazing team spirit, good recruitment and smart business decisions can still deliver success in the modern game, and in the most testing of situations in light of the pandemic.
What is more, we have done it while undergoing a transition in style on the pitch, changing from a defensively resolute side to one which is happy to press wealthier and supposedly better opponents in their own half in keeping with the modern trend.
When you pile everything together and throw in a first home win over our arch rivals in 28 years, I would say what we’ve achieved this season is top of the list of achievements in my time as a fan of the Hatters.
I think that’s a fair assessment. Given where we got to after agreeing to the stupid breakaway of the premier league but getting relegated before we could benefit, this season has been great. We don’t have the clout to compete financially and I would say mid table league 1 is probably where our finances more naturally sit. So to be mid table in the championship and be looking financially ok and very well run is fantastic.
Pitts gave an incredible stat yesterday that it’s now 8 seasons on the trot that we’ve finished higher than the year before. That’s amazing. But it’s also a worry. It can’t go on forever and so it becomes even more important that we continue to play our part. If we don’t have as a good a season next year, let’s keep calm. Don’t call for drastic change. Accept there are 23 other teams in the league all doing their thing so we have no right to always get better compared to the rest. We have a generation of fans who haven’t yet experienced a downside with Luton. It’s especially important they don’t overreact whenever that dip comes.
I would consider success next season to be to play more attacking football and score more goals – even if we lost a few more games. If every game was fun, that would be a huge leap forward that would allow us to eventually push forward again.