[Football] Luton's first home Premier League game postponed

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Arthur

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
8,760
Buxted Harbour
Moot point. We were nowhere near the PL then. And if we got there back then, I'm sure we would have then moved into Pompey or Saints for a bit. Not just said "hang on, wait for us to build a new stand/stadium" or whatever.

What I'm saying is, if Luton haven't got a fit for purpose ground to fit in with the rules (rules which I'm sure were defined a long time before they even reached the playoffs for the first time), go play at Fulham or Chelsea or Milton Keynes or something for one or two games. Not saying relegate them or promote someone else. Just make them play somewhere else. Rather than postpone games and negatively impact other teams, in this case Burnley who have done nothing wrong.

Or alternative view, relax the rules. Newcastle have got away with their away end bull for years now.
But we weren't millions of miles away when we were at Withdean. Imagine if we'd had a good season and got promoted before Falmer was ready. What an achievement that would have been and then how quickly would that high be squashed had the club gone to Pompey or Southampton as you suggest.

It's one game for christ sake. Even if that becomes three or four games it doesn't really matter in the grand scale of things.

Regardless of what you think of Luton or the town what they've achieved is Roy of the Rovers stuff. They are fan owned and had one of if not the smallest budgets in the league and they've knocked on the door two seasons running.

From my understanding the majority of the changes they've got to make to the ground is to accommodate the media requirements and the floodlights. Both things we had to do when we got promoted. We were obviously in a much better spot to achieve that. Had Luton been in their new ground already I'm sure it would have been the same for them. They new side isn't going to accommodate many fans and needs to built in the space of a few months reportedly costing £10m. £10m is a lot of money and money they wouldn't have had they not got promoted. It's ultimately going to be £10m down the drain in a couple of seasons when they move so it's no wonder they didn't start until promotion was confirmed.
 




Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
Why couldn't the Premier League scheduled away games only for the first month?
They did with West Ham, when their stadium was being used for athletics.
Spurs played their home games at Wembley until their new WHL was ready.

As for Brighton, I seem to remember we beat Man City in the League Cup at Withdean, which was hardly a decent ground.
 


AmexRuislip

Retired Spy 🕵️‍♂️
Feb 2, 2014
34,754
Ruislip
IMG-20230726-WA0005.jpg
 


drew

Drew
NSC Patron
Oct 3, 2006
23,610
Burgess Hill
Regardless of what you think of Luton or the town what they've achieved is Roy of the Rovers stuff. They are fan owned and had one of if not the smallest budgets in the league and they've knocked on the door two seasons running.
Luton aren't fan owned. The supporters trust owns about 50,000 shares out of about 18m.
 








drew

Drew
NSC Patron
Oct 3, 2006
23,610
Burgess Hill
Begs the question why don't we have a supporters trust? Would be no threat to TB's holdings whatsoever, would be purely symbolic. One for the FAB?
What purpose would they serve? Might have been appropriate back in 1996 but don't really see the point now. We've got a fan at the helm so the only need could possibly be if he ever chose to sell up.
 






Uter

Well-known member
Aug 5, 2008
1,507
The land of chocolate
Don’t want to say I told you so but posted weeks ago that they should play at Milton Keynes until their stadium is sorted. I told you s Shame no one thought of that idea.
But despite being a relatively modern stadium, does stadium MK actually meet PL requirements? I remember we had to spend millions on the Amex when we went up, despite the stadium only being 6 years old.
 


Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,952
Surrey
What purpose would they serve? Might have been appropriate back in 1996 but don't really see the point now. We've got a fan at the helm so the only need could possibly be if he ever chose to sell up.
I'm no expert but presumably a supporters trust gets increased visibility on how the club is run. That has got to be worth something. Imagine if Bloom passed on and some shady Archer-esque character too control. You wouldn't need a Paul Samrah account-cum-sleuth to find out some time later that the articles of association were being changed so that the owner can make a fast buck at the expense of the community.
 


Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
62,405
Location Location
Rock and a hard place really innit. Luton having to shell out £10m+ to upgrade KR when (a) its only going to be for 1 season, and (b) they've got permission to build a new stadium. The KR money would probably be better channelled towards that project, rather than putting lipstick on a dead pig.

However, I do get that the fans of course want to see PL football at KR (and so do I, it'll be hilario to see the "big boys" slumming it at that shabby little dump). Sharing at Dongs might've been a financially better option, but I'm glad to see they're pressing ahead to play at KR.
 




PeterT

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2017
2,308
Hove
But despite being a relatively modern stadium, does stadium MK actually meet PL requirements? I remember we had to spend millions on the Amex when we went up, despite the stadium only being 6 years old.
That I don’t know, although they have hosted women’s internationals including at the last Euros so I assume that needed a bit of work done to meet the relevant requirements then.
 








Motogull

Todd Warrior
Sep 16, 2005
10,475
Rock and a hard place really innit. Luton having to shell out £10m+ to upgrade KR when (a) its only going to be for 1 season, and (b) they've got permission to build a new stadium. The KR money would probably be better channelled towards that project, rather than putting lipstick on a dead pig.

However, I do get that the fans of course want to see PL football at KR (and so do I, it'll be hilario to see the "big boys" slumming it at that shabby little dump). Sharing at Dongs might've been a financially better option, but I'm glad to see they're pressing ahead to play at KR.
Yeah the EFL should have waived those upgrades.
 


drew

Drew
NSC Patron
Oct 3, 2006
23,610
Burgess Hill
I'm no expert but presumably a supporters trust gets increased visibility on how the club is run. That has got to be worth something. Imagine if Bloom passed on and some shady Archer-esque character too control. You wouldn't need a Paul Samrah account-cum-sleuth to find out some time later that the articles of association were being changed so that the owner can make a fast buck at the expense of the community.
Do they though? At the end of the day, the guy/woman that owns the majority of shares has the final say. As a club, we don't currently need a supporters trust. That's not to say in the future there might be a case for it.
 


South Stand Bonfire

Who lit that match then?
NSC Patron
Jan 24, 2009
2,529
Shoreham-a-la-mer
But despite being a relatively modern stadium, does stadium MK actually meet PL requirements? I remember we had to spend millions on the Amex when we went up, despite the stadium only being 6 years old.
Most of our improvements were the “standard “ requirements dictated by the TV companies which I believe they fund i.e. A second TV box (SE corner) and upgraded lighting for HD TV broadcasts. The rest of the stadium was otherwise pretty much PL ready.
 










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