Mick Harford leaves Luton

Harford took over at the helm in January 2008, with Luton just inside the relegation zone, and could do very little in preventing relegation to League Two after the enforced loss of key players, particularly Jaroslaw Fojut and Chris Coyne whilst the club were in administration. After much dithering from the footballing authorities that cost the new consortium 2020 dearly in costs to the administrator at the time, Luton were eventually allowed out of administration but with 20 points deducted, in addition to a ten point penalty that was given by the FA. The 30 points proved too much to overcome, and Luton were eventually relegated from the Football League as a result, but not before a defiant performance in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy that saw Luton win the Trophy at Wembley in April after a 3-2 victory over Scunthorpe United.

After a particularly good start to the season from Oxford, Luton are currently 13 points behind the pace in the Blue Square Premier and in 8th place. With performances seemingly not improving either, Mick's contract was terminated this morning by mutual consent. Managing Director Gary Sweet had these words to say on the official website:

"The entire board are incredibly disappointed to part company with Mick, who we all had a great relationship with.

"It was an incredibly tough business decision that was made with a very heavy heart. Mick has been a wonderful servant and an impeccable ambassador for Luton Town over the last couple of years and we would like to thank him immensely, particularly for his help in stabilising the Club and for his loyalty."

"Together, we agreed tough targets and milestones at the beginning of the season which we have been increasingly more challenging to achieve.

"Mick hasn't seen a single stroke of luck throughout this campaign and if perhaps we had fewer injuries I am sure things have been different.

"Whilst results, and in particular, performances have not reached our expectation, Mick's attitude, conduct and his management of our squad regeneration programme has been nothing short of remarkable considering the budget constraints and challenges he has had to deal with during his time here.

"This Club is far stronger now than it was when Mick joined."

"This isn't an issue we had expected to cope with at the start of this season but you need to have contingencies for every eventuality in football.

"We know what we're doing and our target of getting back into League at our first attempt, of course, remains unchanged.

"We will be advertising the manager's position and will be looking to find a suitable candidate as soon as possible."

Sweet added: "We wish Mick every success in the immediate and long term future and we urge all Luton Town supporters to sincerely thank him for his commitment to our Club.

"We'd also like to thank Mick for the last season's magnificent achievement of winning the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

"It was won in spectacular fashion in front of 40,000 of our supporters at Wembley and will go down as a proud day to be a Hatters fan."

Alan Neilson has taken over as caretaker manager whilst the club seek a replacement. Thanks for your efforts Mick, none of us here doubt that you were anything other than 100% committed, unlike our previous manager.