Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu grew up with the sight of the Wembley arch in his bedroom window, but the Championship play-off final will be his first-ever chance to step inside the national stadium for what he calls the biggest game of his career.
The midfielder and his Luton team-mates are expected to visit the home of English football today ahead of tomorrow’s clash against Coventry City for a place in the Premier League.
History awaits Town if they are successful as they would be the first team to go from the non-league to the Premier League. That rise would achieved inside a decade and all nine years of that have featured Mpanzu in orange.
He initially joined the Hatters in 2013 on loan from West Ham United, though he grew up in Hendon in north London, close enough to always have a sight of Wembley from his house.
His Hatters switch became permanent in 2014 and later that year he was part of the team that won the Blue Square Premier to return to the Football League after five years in the wilderness.
Mpanzu’s and Luton rise have gone hand in hand, with three promotions and the last seven seasons spent finishing in a higher league position that the previous term.
This year, that meant a third placed finish in the Championship and, after losing in the play-off semi-final last year, they’ve gone one better to reach the showpiece final against Coventry.
Mpanzu said: “I used to live near Wembley. I could see Wembley from my house, but I haven’t actually been inside the stadium. I’ve been in the surrounding areas, I know the area well, but as a fan, this is the first time.
“For a lot of us, it’s the biggest game of our career. I don’t think (Henri) Lansbury will think that, he’s been up three or four times, but apart from that, this is a big game for us.
“The amount of fans that are going to be at Wembley, it’s crazy, it’s incredible and we just can’t wait to get out to the pitch and do the business.
“Hopefully after 90 minutes, or even if it’s 120 or penalties, we’ll be lifting that atrophy and it will be champagne for us.”
Asked if he’d take a spot-kick should it come to that on Saturday, Mpanzu said: “We’ve been taking penalties all week, we’ve got six, seven, confident players that are going to take penalties.”
Whatever the means, victory would also see Mpanzu make history. Providing he steps onto a pitch with Luton in September as a Premier League player, he would be the only man ever to have to have played in England’s top five divisions for the same club.
Success at Wembley will also end Town’s record of never having won promotion via the play-offs in six heartbreaking attempts, three in the Football League and three in the non-league.
Two have of those have been in Mpanzu’s time at the club, but asked if he was aware of the record, the DR Congo international said: “I don’t think I am. It will be a great day, they’ve not been there (top flight) since 1992, so for them to go back to the top league will be great, not just for the club but the town and all the staff and all the fans that have believed what we could have achieved over these last couple of years.
“Losing last year to Huddersfield, with the bare bones of a squad, it was tough for everyone, to come back and bounce back and be in the final it’s been a real, real togetherness from the group, and we’ve got one more.”
