Luton Town: Staring into the Abyss 1958-2008 - Minus 30: The Coldest Place in Football

Over the past 50 years Luton Town have been rocked by twelve calamities. Each of them threatened the very future of the club. Trouble and strife have become a way of life at Kenilworth Road. But in the summer of 2008 the Hatters suffered a crisis of catastrophic proportions. An unprecedented 30 points penalty looked certain to demote them from the Football League after 88 years membership. Desperate for a new ground and eternally penniless, no other club has suffered the extreme ups (few) and downs (many) of Luton Town. This book chronicles half a century of crises, culminating in the astonishing events of 2008. Drama, farce, comedy, tragedy that is the soap opera of everyday life at Kenilworth Road. The mad Hatters and their loyal fans have seen it all, and author Rob Hadgraft has suffered with the best of them. Hadgraft traces Lutons troubles back to the autumn of 1958 when the club briefly topped the Football League. From that pinnacle the only way was down. The 2008-09 season presented the sternest challenge yet. Could Luton pull back from the abyss one more time? Life is never dull for Luton fans. Their beloved Hatters are the only club to have plummeted from top of the League to 92nd place . . . twice! On the first occasion it only took eight years to plunge from top to bottom. In 2008, the clubs umpteenth financial crisis provoked an unprecedented deduction of 30 points, even before the season started. Luton played in the top division in the 1950s, 70s, 80s and 90s. They have graced Wembley five times. Yet now non-League football beckons. This book charts the dirty dozen crises that convulsed Luton Town over the last half-century. The Hatters steered an erratic course through the choppiest of financial waters to bounce back time after time.

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