Luton Town’s Mad Hatter moments

Luton Town ended last season on a high by securing promotion to the Premier League just nine years after being crowned champions of the fifth tier of English football.

However, it hasn’t always been plain sailing for the Hatters, as the club is nicknamed due to Luton's historical connection with the hat-making trade. The Hatters have endured numerous mad moments – such as playing in the 1959 FA Cup final without a manager.

This article looks back on some of these stories, which the Mad Hatter character in Disney’s Alice and Wonderland may be mad keen on.

The unexpected

In the late 1960s, Luton Town forward Bruce Rioch was tying the laces of his boots when manager Alec Stock strolled towards him. “Well?” the former Queens Park Rangers manager asked Bruce.

When the future Arsenal manager looked up, Stock had disappeared. Bruce later recalled in the book, The Sack Race: The Story of Football's Gaffers:

“I thought, ‘Well what? What does he want from me?’ Then it clicked – he was keeping my mind alert.”

Another Luton Town player who didn’t initially grasp his manager’s intention was striker John Hartson.

In January 1995, the Hatters’ manager David Pleat pulled aside Hartson after training and asked him to come to his office that afternoon. This came as a shock to Hartson as he scored for Luton Town the week before but now thought Pleat might tell him he was being dropped for the Hatters’ next game.

In a BBC article, Hartson recalled that he banged on Pleat’s office door later that day and entered “all cocksure”.

“Hi son,” Pleat said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah gaffer, what is it?” Hartson responded.

Pleat replied: “I would like you to go home, have a shave, put a suit on. We’ve got to go and meet [Arsenal manager] George Graham. Arsenal have bid £2.5m for you.”

Hartson had become the most expensive teenage footballer in Britain. He later said this was a big moment in his life but he took it in his stride.

A new broom sweeps clean

After resigning as Oxford United’s Director of football, Joe Kinnear bagged a similar role at Luton Town in early 2001.

Kinnear seemingly thought the following declaration that the Mad Hatter says in Alice in Wonderland: “I want a clean cup. Let’s all move one place on.” Kinnear instantly downgraded Luton’s manager Lil Fuccillo down to just a coach at the club and appointed himself as Luton Town manager.

This wasn’t the only time Kinnear appeared to adopt the Mad Hatter’s philosophy of “Clean cup, clean cup! Move down!”

The Hatter frequently encourages his tea companions to move. Similarly, Kinnear got 10 new players to make the move to Luton ahead of the 2001-02 season, while several players moved to pastures new. His revamped side ended the season as runners-up to secure the club’s first promotion in two decades.

Kinnear feels robbed

Tottenham Hotspur and several other Premier League clubs turned their attention to Luton Town winger Matthew Taylor in the summer of 2002. Knowing the value of Taylor’s formidable left foot and impressive turn of pace, Kinnear placed a £1.5m price tag on the future Bolton Wanderers player.

A transfer tribunal set a substantially lower transfer fee of £750,000, which amounted to daylight robbery in Kinnear’s eyes. According to the Independent, the Luton Town gaffer muttered:

“At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.”

Kinnear probably wanted to hide beneath one after his Luton Town side secured a shock 2-1 win against bitter rivals Watford in the first round of the Worthington Cup in September 2002.

Knowing his mother resided in Watford, Kinnear told the media after the game:

“I’m in Watford every week and I’ll probably get a clip around the ear when I next go round to my mother’s.”

Kinnear’s two-year stint as Luton manager ended just six months later, meaning he didn’t get anywhere close to replicating Douglas ‘Dally’ Duncan’s 11-year spell as Luton manager in the 1950s.

After Duncan departed Luton Town in October 1958, a new manager didn’t arrive speedily. Three directors, captain Syd Owen and trainer Frank King were left to select the team for the 1959 FA Cup final.

The managerless Luton Town ended up losing only 2-1 to Nottingham Forest, managed by Billy Walker, who already had two FA Cup winners’ medals to his name. Interestingly, throughout their 1959 FA Cup runs, both Luton and Forest only fielded the 11 players who featured in the final.