Can Luton Town start their road to recovery?

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Luton Town League One season preview

Throwback to the summer of 2023, it was all going so well for Luton Town.

Author | Jamie P

EFL | Luton Town fans v West Brom
The day of relegation for Luton Town

Luton will host newly-promoted AFC Wimbledon in a fixture that revives memories of the 2011 Conference play-off final, when the Wombles triumphed on penalties after a tense goalless draw.

The Hatters' ascent was steep and stirring. The fall has been swift and sobering.

A crazy journey

Luton’s penalty shootout win over Coventry City in the Championship play-off final in May 2023 already feels like a distant moment. That day, Fankaty Dabo’s miss sealed promotion and marked the club’s first return to the top flight since 1992, the final season before the Premier League’s introduction.

In the three decades since, Luton fell through the divisions and were expelled from the EFL altogether in 2009 after a heavy points deduction. They became the first club to rise from the fifth tier to the Premier League in the modern era.

EFL | Luton Town throwback to playing at Old Trafford
In 2023/2024, they were playing against some of the world's biggest clubs

Since losing to Wimbledon in that Conference play-off 14 years ago, the club has ridden a wave of four promotions and two relegations.

After a spirited Premier League campaign in which they finished 18th, six points short of survival, hopes were high for a bounce back. Instead, last season unravelled quickly.

Rob Edwards, the manager who had led them up at Wembley, departed in January with the club 20th in the Championship after four consecutive defeats.

READ MORE | The often crazy world of Luton Town Football Club

READ MORE | More season previews to come ahead of the start of the EFL

In came Matt Bloomfield, fresh from lifting Wycombe Wanderers into the automatic promotion places in League One, despite fierce competition from Birmingham City and Wrexham. He couldn’t halt the slide. Luton were relegated on the final day, beaten 5–3 by West Bromwich Albion.

The rebuild

Seven players have departed this summer, including Amari’i Bell and Alfie Doughty, while eight new signings have arrived as the Hatters prepare for an unexpected return to League One.

They were last at this level in 2018–19, when Mick Harford led them to the title and a second successive promotion. 

One supporter told us: “We’re in a really good position and we believe we’ll be challenging. Another relegation was a huge shock but we love coming back from despair. We'll be playing in the Premier League again within three years, it's just what we do."

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