The pre-season period has been a busy one in terms of players arriving and departing at Kenilworth Road, with many players with high credentials arriving at Luton for the new season. Last year, with the signings of Martin, Spillane, McVeigh, Jarvis and Henderson it appeared that our ambitions were to rename ourselves Norwich City reserves, but this season has been different - it now looks like Peterborough United reserves. In total, seven new players have arrived at Luton during the pre-season period, five of which have links to Posh. Goalkeeper Mark Tyler and defender Shane Blackett both signed directly from Peterborough, whilst centre-forward Liam Hatch remains contracted with Peterborough, but has signed for the Hatters on a season-long loan deal. Experienced centre-back Alan White has also played for Posh as well as Luton, making seven appearances on loan and remarkably scoring three goals. His time at Luton was a lot longer, although you have to go back nine years for his spell at Luton. During those nine years the club has seen two different periods of administration (plus another one during his stay), seven different managers, two promotions, four relegations and at least four different chairmen. A lot has happened in a decade. White made 81 prior appearances for Luton. Also joining the team is Adam Newton, a player who spent last season helping Brentford to the League Two title and another player with previous Peterborough links. Andy Burgess and Callum Reynolds are the two signings with no Boro links. Burgess arrives from Rushden and Diamonds (another club that Luton have a history of signing some players from recently) after a spell at Oxford. Most notably, he is a self-confessed Luton fan, who is remembered by me for writing a short piece in a tabloid newspaper prior to the Liverpool away game two seasons ago criticising the farcical decision by Kevin Blackwell to give a month's notice before resigning. Reynolds arrives on loan from Portsmouth.
In terms of departures, the good news is that a lot of the high earners have now left the club. Martin and Spillane returned as expected to Norwich, and Mark Bower and David Livermore also returned to their respective clubs after Luton seemingly decided not to try and sign them permanently (although that may not have been an option). Free scoring striker Drew Talbot has signed permanently for Chesterfield, where he can recreate his successful second season magic at Luton with former Hatter Darren Currie. The linking up between the winger and striker was an integral part of our success in 2007-08. Talbot played for the Spireites last season on loan, scoring twice in his spell, and I'd like to wish him luck there - his efforts were never in question. Paul McVeigh unsurprisingly departed the club after two seasons of very little first-team action. Last season, he impressed me when appearing for the first team but was apparently on some sort of an appearance bonus, so didn't feature too much, and his departure was unsurprising. He has since re-signed for former club Norwich City on a one year contract. Dean Brill has also signed for a League One club after being released by Luton, joining Oldham on a two-year deal. Ian Roper had the option to extend his contract by a season, but the arrival of new defenders meant that he chose not to and signed for Kettering Town instead, with a key factor being travelling distance, as well as the excellent fast food facilities in Kettering. Ian Henderson's short-term contract was not extended either after it expired in the summer.
Another unsurprising but sad departure in the summer was that of Sol Davis Sol first signed for Luton in 2002 and was released in May 2009 after excellent years of service to the club. Sol was part of the League One title winning side that got progressively better and better during his time at Luton. However, he suffered a stroke in October 2006 on the way to an away match and despite a quick recovery, has looked a shadow of the player he once was for us (part of the blame for this from me goes to Kevin Blackwell, who never gave him a chance at Luton, even when it became apparent his replacement signing was nothing special, but that's just my opinion). He made over 200 appearances for Luton, scoring three times in that time. He was loved by Luton fans for his commitment and tough tackling (video montages of some of these have been created by fans and uploaded onto YouTube). This would be the bit where I wish Sol all the best, but as I'm writing this article, it has been confirmed that he has been signed by MK Dons on a short term contract, so instead I'd like to wish that his team gets relegated next season, with money problems forcing them out of business next summer, and subsequently dropping out the league, with Blue Square Premier champions Luton Town one of the teams that takes their place, with Sol moving on to another team where he has a very long and prosperous remainder of his career. Incidentally, at the time he suffered his stroke, Luton were in the Championship play-offs, ahead of teams such as Sunderland, Burnley, Wolves and Hull. It seems that since then the club has been on a downward spiral ever since (until this season).
Friendlies
Pre-season saw the usual eclectic mix of teams facing Luton in pre-season friendlies, from Manchester United to Bideford to Racing Club Montegnee. In total, the Hatters played 11 games in total, with a record of 6 wins, 1 draw (with penalty shoot-out defeat) and 4 defeats. The first four matches were all wins, with three of those coming in the South West Challenge Cup, a pre-season tournament which Luton won, beating Bideford, Exeter and Racing Club Montegnee in the process. Other wins came against St. Neots Town, a Peterborough XI side and Spalding United, courtesy of a Luton XI. The pre-season ended disappointingly with a defeat against Blue Square South side Hampton & Richmond Borough, including missed penalties from Craddock and Newton. If you're interested, the top scorer in these games was Tom Craddock, with five goals, most of which came in the South West Challenge Cup, where he was named Player of the Tournament. Asa Hall managed three, Talbot got two and there were one each for Newton, White, Hatch, Watkins and trialist Lawrence Hunter.
Generally, the pre-season was like every other pre-season, with matches being played against various opponents and results that don't really mean anything, trialists that come and go and optimism for the coming season. However, there were a couple of match cancellations that caused some controversy. The first came from Leyton Orient, who were due to play a friendly at Kenilworth Road but cancelled as they had a better offer to host Newcastle United. Whilst the cancellation was unprofessional, we were lucky to find another opponent in Peterborough United, so there wasn't any significant harm done to our preparations hopefully. The second cancellation came in the Southwest Challenge Cup. Despite knowing the schedule and kick off times before they entered the competition, Grimsby Town pulled out of the Sunday final because they objected to playing three games in three days, as they had a cup game on the Monday. There were also apparent concerns about 'vocal friction' and 'Luton supporters who were clearly intent on getting at Mike Newell', even though they had a much better opportunity three months earlier in the league fixture at Luton if that was what they wanted. Grimsby were happy to play the fixture at an earlier time, but there was no way that Luton would realistically be able to tell everyone who had come to follow them about the time change. So, in the end Grimsby withdrew and Racing Club Montegnee got a bye to the final, despite not having won their two group matches. Incidentally, Grimsby were able to get back in time for their Lincolnshire Senior Cup game, and were fully prepared for it. They lost 2-0 to Scunthorpe United.
Miscellaneous
Thankfully, unlike the season before, there were no other pending matters to be dealt with, no completion's of any takeovers of the club and no points deductions
The Manchester United friendly was also notable for other reasons than playing the youth team of the champions of England. The club chose that match to unveil the club's new crest and kit, with both receiving a mixed reaction. The credentials of our new sponsors aren't questionable though. The UK's largest airline - easyJet, were unveiled as the new Hatters shirt sponsors, and NICEIC, a reputable electrical independent voluntary body. The incentive for easyJet to sponsor Luton may seem strange, but they stated that they'll get more exposure sponsoring a Blue Square Premier side than they will sponsoring a team in the obscurity of the bottom two Football League divisions. That's certainly true if the television coverage for our division is resolved. As well as these, the club have also received a discount on a new scoreboard, which was unveiled at another pre-season friendly.
In terms of news of other BSP sides, there have been some bizarre events at some other BSP clubs. Firstly, Chester City's place next season is still not secure, and an announcement is expected later today. There have been rumours that they will be allowed to compete at the cost of a 15 point deduction, with 25 points being deducted overall from Chester, meaning avoiding another relegation could be tricky for them. There has been some anger from Grays over the issue, as they face Chester on Saturday if they survive. As a result, Grays have seen turbulence this week as well, not only with these issues, but after signing nine players yesterday, their manager apparently departed the club the same day! Cambridge have had their fair share of problems as well - after narrowly missing out on a Football League return last season, saw their manager Martin Ling walk out on them this week - after just nine days at the helm! Ling was upset with the then chairman George Rolls, who today stepped down, leaving Cambridge with no chairman and no manager. Not an ideal way to start the season, as Newcastle fans may find out.
Finally, former Luton striker John Hartson has been diagnosed with testicular cancer that has spread to the brain, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy for this. Hopefully, John can make a full and excellent recovery; as a young Luton fan he was my first ever favourite player, and I was gutted when he left for Arsenal. Best of luck with the treatment John.
If you have any comments on this story, you can now follow lutontown-mad.co.uk on Twitter! Just log on to Twitter and follow @lutontownmad!