Luton Lose Football League Status

Mikk · 04-13-2009, 05:26 PM

Quote:

From: BBC

Luton's relegation from the Football League was confirmed after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Chesterfield.
The result, coupled with Grimsby's win at Notts County, means that the Hatters cannot get out of the bottom two.
Luton made a brave attempt to remain in League Two, but a 30-point deduction for financial infringements proved too much to overcome.
Luton have been in the Football League for 89 years and won the League Cup in 1988, beating Arsenal in the final.
 They won at Wembley only eight days ago, when Claude Gnakpa scored an extra-time winner to secure victory in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in a fine match.
Glory at Wembley, with a record Hatters 40,000 fans in attendance, was a welcome reward for Luton after a season in which they were all but doomed to the drop before a ball was kicked.
Luton boss Mick Harford has guided his side to 13 victories so far this season, with 15 draws and 14 defeats - a record which would have left the club comfortably in mid-table, if the points deduction had not been in place.
But with four games left to play, the Hatters will have to start preparing for life outside the Football League.
In Monday's match, Luton's Keith Keane volleyed over and Gnakpa missed a good chance in the first half.
Chesterfield's Allan Goodall, Gregor Robertson and Derek Niven all had good chances for the visitors.
Luton pressed after the interval as news filtered through of Grimsby's lead at Notts Country, with Sam Parkin looping a header on to the top of the crossbar.
Tommy Lee frustrated the hosts with fine saves from Parkin, Gnakpa and Asa Hall and Luton's day was summed up when Parkin sent a free header over in the 75th minute.

Really sad as when i grew up, my dad is from dunstable and would always tell me how Luton were the best side in that area and its a real shame to see them slip out of the league.

Hopefully they'll bounce back up if they survive.

James Deuce · 04-13-2009, 05:32 PM

I'm not really knowledgeable about the lower leagues and how they work. So is there a league below league 2 so you can get back in the "football league"?

Mikk · 04-13-2009, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Deuce
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I'm not really knowledgeable about the lower leagues and how they work. So is there a league below league 2 so you can get back in the "football league"?

The next league down from 2 is the conference which has the same promotion/relegation i believe as the main leagues.

But then there are lots of leagues below that too.

James Deuce · 04-13-2009, 05:34 PM

So there is basically a never ending thing of leagues?

Dmac · 04-13-2009, 05:37 PM

Well for one, it's the conference anymore, it's the Blue Square Premier and secondly it is exactly the same promotion wise.

Mark~ · 04-14-2009, 09:04 AM

There's a pyramid.

The Conference (fuck the BSP, it's the Conference), is Level 1. Level 2 is the Conference North and South.

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- Take a look at that.

As far as Luton go, it's very sad to see them go down, after very unfair treatment from the FA. Unfortunately, the wrong people have been punished. Mike Newell and the Luton board at that time caused all the problems, then pissed off, leaving the current board, management and fans to take the points deduction. Here's hoping they come straight back up.

Flash_Back · 04-14-2009, 01:37 PM

The thing that is really sad about this is they should be 11th placed in the league and they have been dealt a punishment that no other team was given, Leeds were in administration they weren't handed 30 points deduction. I think the FA should be ashamed of themselves to be fair. I was cheering them on a couple of weeks back in the JPT final.

Gouldinho · 04-14-2009, 02:06 PM

I think they deserved it. Teams that go into administration are running away from there debts. Why should teams that run things by the book suffer because teams like Luton were spending money that they didnt have. Its a shame they dont have justice here in Ireland football like they do in English football.

In 2007 here my club Shelbourne were relegated as champions because the FAI took over the running of the league and introduced a licencing system for the premier division. We had massive debts and were rightly relegated. We didnt go into administration and we paid all our players and staff the wages owed to them. Last year 2 clubs in the premier division were in the same predicament but ran away from their debts by going into administration and they never bothered paying their players or staff anything near to what they owed them. They got a ten point deduction whilst we did they right thing and were relegated. The two teams amazingly got a licence to play in the premier division this year, which only kicked off a month ago. I hear one of the clubs are a few weeks away from goinig under. The fact that those two teams were not relegated and two other teams that spent within their means are playing in the second tier is a disgrace. The reason why Luton were deducted so many points was because they paid a miniscule amount of what they owed. The teams above them in the table did things the right way. Luton spend stupid amounts of money that they never had. Its sad for the supporters but the club deserves it.

Flash_Back · 04-14-2009, 02:35 PM

Yeah I believe that the team should be punished but at the end of the day the people who left Luton like this fled while Nick Owen came in to try and add a bit of stability to the team he loves. Then they gave Nick Owen and Luton a 30 point deduction when it was his predecessor who done all the damage to the club.

I felt they could have given them a 10 - 12 point deduction and no one would have blinked that it was unfair.

Luton Lose Football League Status

This is a discussion on Luton Lose Football League Status within the European Sports forums, part of the Sports Forums category; From: BBC Luton's relegation from the Football League was confirmed after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Chesterfield. ...