Luton Town will be visiting the Valley on Saturday 27th November in the second round of the F A Cup having beaten Corby 4-2.
Our reward for limping past Barnet is to host the Conference National promotion contenders who currently carry the biggest chip on their collective shoulders about their demise and ultimate exit from the Football League. Their fall since 2006 surpasses that of our own and they were harshly treated along the way in terms of hefty points deductions for Administration and other irregularities.
Luton are handily placed behind AFC Wimbledon in their league and are averaging 6-7,000 for home games. I can see them filling the Jimmy Seed if not asking for some of their entitlement in the East Stand.
Their fans are itching for a return and they have a growing, if still relatively small, unsavoury following boosted by the intellectually challenged English Defence League whose local branch has formed something of a reputation for itself with it's contradictory and random political alignments and policies. A one-off cup tie at a former Premier League club will be right up their street. Luton traditionally don't do away matches but I fear they might make an exception for this and it could be ugly. You have been warned.
I've heard similar concerns elsewhere, which is a real shame.
ReplyDeleteAssuming the reputation of the no-doubt small minority of Luton 'fans' is well known, then we can only hope that the club move swiftly to ensure that the correct procedures are in place for selling tickets in the home areas.
We certainly do not want a repeat of the Dag & Red FAC game from a few years back where what appeared to be a relaxed attitude to ticketing policies (perhaps due to playing a lowly non-league team) left us with huge pockets of D&G in home supporter areas. Since most of these goons (who would otherwise have been watching West Ham) were only there to cause trouble, it was an unpleasent afternoon that the stwards were clearly unprepared for.
I actually feel sorry for Luton as they have been dealt some heafty blows in the last few years.