The Opponent: Luton Town
After a decent start to the season we move on to the 1st round of The League Cup with a trip to Bedfordshire to face The Hatters. Hopefully Mark Cooper will be taking the competition a bit more seriously than Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe who plans to make a full 11 changes to the team that started their opening day victory at Huddersfield. I feel the final implications of an early exit are likely to determine most team selections for The League Cup in our league with ourselves being no different.
Luton, population wise, is very similar to Swindon, it has grown over the last few decades at a rate of knots similar to ourselves. It is also home to several international companies such as Vauxhall Motors, Electrolux and Easyjet, amongst others. Some famous Lutonians include 'singer' Paul Young, Cricketer Monty Panesar and Chelsea legend (if you have supported them more than 10 years) Kerry Dixon. Luton is home to many festivals but one which caught my eye was The Luton St Patrick’s Festival, a festival celebrating the patron saint of Ireland and organised by Luton Irish Forum. St Patrick, is held on the weekend nearest to 17 March and is now in its 15th year. The Festival includes a parade, market stalls and music stands as well as Irish themed events. If this isn’t an excuse to get hammered, which in turn means you forget that you are actually in Luton, then I’m not sure what is.
Since the 2011 census, Luton has become one of 3 towns in the United Kingdom to officially hold a white British minority. It was announced in a report based on the census figures that along with Leicester and Slough, Luton was one of 3 towns outside of London where white Britons were minority, making up only 45% of Luton's population. However the town still has a White majority, when non-British whites such as Irish and Eastern Europeans are included,] and 81% of the population of Luton still define themselves as British, despite the majority of its residents being from a foreign ethnic background. Personally I find our diversity as a country as something to be proud of but on the flip side, thuggish organisations such as The English Defence League (the founder was born in Luton) and the pro-Jihadi Muslim group Al-Muhajiroun use Luton’s ethnic diversity as a reason to spit their bile at each other.
Last Time Out – Carlisle 0 Luton 1 (Cullen). A decent 1088 made the long journey up to Cumbria for Luton’s return to The Football League and were well rewarded with a first half winner.
Starting XI – Tyler, Connolly, Griffiths, Wilkinson, McNulty, Lacey, Robinson, Drury (sub Stevenson 78), Howells (sub Luke Rooney 83), Cullen and Paul Benson.
They have served us both – Martin Williams, Roy Wegerle, Paul Benson, Mark Crook, Calvin Andrew, Jimmy Coupar, Sol Davis, Richard Dryden, Steve White, Bobby Weale, Paul Allen, Bobby Colvin, Danny Wilson, Adrian Whitbread, Garry Waddock, Tony Thorpe, Chris Turner, Norman Thomson, Kevin Dearden, Jake Findlay, Claude Gnakpa, Sammy Igoe, Yaser Kasim, David Geddis, Bernard Harris, Chris Kamara, Des Linton, Andy King, Luke Rooney, Andy Petterson, David Moss, Tommy Little, Fred Dent, Bertie Davies, Sam Parkin, Alan Judge, Willie Harber, David Preece, Colin Todd, Mike O’Hara, Tony Knight, Harry Keeling, Robert Middleton. In my humble opinion, Jed did not serve us, more his own self inflated ego.
One From The Past – Swindon Town 3 Luton Town 2, January 6th 1968, FA Cup Round 2. 2 goals from Don Rogers and 1 from Don Heath in front of just over 18’000 at The County Ground ensured we made it through to Round 3. Looking back at the team sheet that day, names such as Downsborough, Trollope, Harland, and Rogers remind us youngerish (touching 40) non-moonrakers of our fantastic footballing heritage.
The Odds – Luton 17/10 Draw 21/10 Swindon 17/10 (Hills) The inevitable Paul Benson opener is 6/1 but I would be tempted to swerve the 14/1 being offered on Ryan Harley.
The Son Says – Still upbeat from Saturday he has plumped for a 2-0 victory.
The Prediction – I got the goal scorers right for the 1st game of the season (a first in 3 seasons), this will be 1-1 Full Time and we will win 4-3 on penalties. Our goal will come from Ben Gladwin, the winning penalty will be hit by Nathan Byrne, exorcising many penalty demons at the same time. 5320 in attendance with 388 having a happy journey home. If all of this happens, I want a peerage.
And Finally – The town was immortalised in a 1970s Campari advert starring Lorraine Chase in which she was asked “Were you truly wafted here from paradise?” to which she answered: “Nah, Luton Airport.”
