Luton Town is set to celebrate hard this week after securing promotion to the Premier League. After 31 years away, the Hatters will finally be playing in the top tier of English football after defying the odds by securing promotion from the Championship. Despite being forced to penalties against Coventry at Wembley, Rob Edwards’ side emerged victorious, making all the effort worth it. Luton is a club that has had its fair share of struggles, having plummeted through the English pyramid due to financial issues, leading to them playing in the National League as recently as 2014. However, this grounding has made the club and its players different, with Jordan Clark revealing that he’s one of several stars who regularly buy behind-the-scenes staff cups of coffee as a show of the spirit around the club.
The Hatters will have work to do ahead of the new season, with vast improvements needed to their Kenilworth Road home to make it comply with top-flight regulations. However, they are now the first club to go from non-league football to the Premier League, with Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu encapsulating that outstanding achievement. The midfielder has been on every step of the journey and said that the focus right now is on celebrating. Luton’s players made their way to the dressing room where the celebrations continued with music, dancing, and champagne.
Luton chief executive Gary Sweet was then asked about the £170million windfall that will be coming their way and joked that most of the funds will be going on the club’s celebratory bar bill. While the party is set to run long into the night, the club will be most concerned about the wellbeing of captain Tom Lockyer after he collapsed early on at Wembley. His family has since posted an image on social media saying that he’s okay.
Lockyer will be a massive part of the Hatters’ plans going into next season, a campaign where Luton knows they’ll be up against it from week one. But after seeing the spirit, desire, and quality that Rob Edwards’ side possess, it may be that Luton is preparing to upset the apple cart once again as they prepare to mix it with football’s elite for the first time in more than three decades.