LUTON TOWN 1981-82 DIVISION TWO CHAMPIONS
CLIVE GOODYEAR agrees he couldn’t have wished for a better season to become a regular in the Luton Town first team than when they raced to the Second Division title.
Goodyear spent the first ten games looking on from the sidelines, but an injury to Mick Saxby gave him a chance he seized with both hands.
The Hatters had started the season bidding for promotion back to Division One after seven seasons away.
The season before they had narrowly missed out, finishing fifth and two points behind thirdplaced Swansea City with 48 points from their 42 league games.
They started the new campaign on fire, winning their opening three games against Charlton Athletic, Queens Park Rangers and Bolton Wanderers.
After a small glitch during September they hit the top after a 3-0 win at Orient and between October 1 and May 17 they were only off the top for a week.
They were the highest scorers in the top three divisions with 86 goals thanks to front runners Brian Stein (21) and Steve White (18), while David Moss scored 15 .
Goodyear says:“I came into the team after the first ten games through Mick Saxby’s injury and stayed from there.
“It was a terrific squad of play- ers. David Pleat was a brilliant young manager and coach, and after I got into the side I think we only lost four games.
“We were very consistent and didn’t use very many players.Winning breeds confidence and we were a very confident team.
“We knew that with our ability we could score goals most weeks and we played a very good brand of entertaining, attacking football.
“We knew that if we played well we were going to be in the team the following week. That was a confidence boost, especially to myself being a young fella.”
1. Steve White: Lives in Old Sodbury. Director of football at Southampton’s academy, moved on to to manager Chippenham Town and is now scouting for Southampton.
2. Mal Donaghy: Returned to his native Northern Ireland where he has worked for the Irish FA and is currently their disability football development officer
3. Clive Goodyear: Returned to the Hatters as physio and also worked for Chester and Cardiff. He is now running a private practice in Bletchley.
4. Jake Findlay: An Aston Villa season ticket holder who has been assistant-manager of Stourport Swifts and works as a driving instructor in Birmingham.
5. Mick Saxby: Works in the advertising department of the Nottingham Evening Post and is radio summariser at Mansfield.
6. Alan Judge: He became a goalkeeper coach at Oxford and
Swindon. Now lives in Bicester, Oxfordshire and runs a driving school.
7. Mark Aizlewood: A former technical director for the Welsh FA he lives in Chepstow. He is an education consultant and manages Carmarthen Town.
8. Godfrey Ingram: He is living in San Diego and has founded several venture capital firms, including Bluemax Ventures Inc and Landmark Capitol.
9. Wayne Turner: He has managed Stevenage, run a property business, scouted for Leicester and Crystal Palace and is now head of youth for the Hatters.
10. David Coates: Went into scouting and worked for a number of clubs including Plymouth Argyle, Sunderland and Newcastle United before retiring.
11. Kirk Stephens: Was managing director of building and civil engineering business Walsgrave Contractors. He is now director of an architect design company on the Costa del Sol.
12. Lil Fuccillio: Managed Peterborough United. He has been chief scout at Swansea, Newcastle, Aston Villa and now Crawley Town after a spell at Bristol City.
13. Ricky Hill: He worked for Sheffield Wednesday then managed Luton before coaching at Tottenham Hotspur and in Trinidad. He is now coaching Tampa Bay Rowdies.
14. Brian Horton: After managing Hull, Oxford, Man City, Huddersfield, Brighton, Port Vale and Macclesfield (twice), he is assistant-manager of Doncaster Rovers.
15. David Pleat: Went on to be manager of Tottenham, Leicester, Luton again, Sheffield Wednes- day and was director of football at White Hart Lane. He also works in the media.
16. Raddy Antic: He has managed two of the biggest club sides in the world: Real Madrid and Barcelona as well as Serbia. His last club was Shandong Luneng Taishan in China.
17. David Moss: Went on to hold a number of coaching posts and is now chief scout for Liverpool’s Academy.
18. Brian Stein: Became reserve team boss and assistant-manager at Luton, then went to Grimsby as chief scout and first team coach.
19. Trevor Hartley: Assisted Pleat at Tottenham and managed Malaysia, and then held many coaching and scouting posts, later becoming a supply PE teacher in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.
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Mike Small: Has managed Haringey Borough and Kingsbury Town and has worked for a publishing company in the City. He lives in Buckhurst Hill, Essex.
Billy Jennings: Lives in Brentwood, Essex and has become an agent running Premier Management International and has had property interests.
Frankie Bunn: Is now reserve team manager at Huddersfield Town after becoming community officer at Oldham and coaching at Rochdale and Coventry City.
Richard Money: Has held a number of management posts including one at Luton and is now in charge of Cambridge United, having led them to promotion last season from the Conference.