Luton’s rollercoaster can end with main prize

THERE is a lot of work needed at Kenilworth Road but a starting place might be to add a new line to a flag draped above wooden seats as the main stand meets the away end on Oak Road.

‘Luton Town — established 1885, betrayed by the FA 2008,’ it reads. Promoted to the Premier League, 2022? They are just three games away from doing so.

The flag is a nod to an English record 30point deduction for financial irregularities which resulted in Luton dropping into non-League for the first time in the club’s history.

It completed a three-year fall from the

Championship to the Conference. If it wasn’t for that calamitous dive, fans would scarcely believe the rapid rise back up the divisions with Nathan Jones in charge.

The place was rocking on Saturday to roar Luton over the line against Reading and secure a top-six finish. Harry Cornick scored the only goal of the game after he nicked the ball from goalkeeper Orjan Nyland to nip in and score.

Cornick, 27, joined the club in League Two. ‘I knew we were going to go through the leagues quickly, there is a special feeling about this club,’ he said. ‘My first game was a loss to Barnet. Now I can’t wait to see Pep Guardiola here tucked away with all those fans! (He gestures at the tiny stand towered by rows of terraced houses).

‘The gaffer is an infectious character, you just buy into him.’

If Luton go up, the ramshackle but iconic stadium will need a new set of floodlights and upgrades to the cramped media box.

The fact ‘if Luton go up’ is a serious consideration at this stage of the season feels like a miracle.