History of Luton Town F.C. (1885–1970)

Wanderers secretary Herbert Spratley seized upon Deacon's idea and arranged a secret meeting on 13 January 1885 at the St Matthews school rooms in High Town.

The motion to form a "Luton Town Football Club", put forward by G H Small and seconded by E H Lomax, was carried.

[6] Council plans to build a school on the site of the Dallow Lane ground caused the club to relocate to Dunstable Road in 1897 and to become a limited company.

In the 1900–01, 1901–02 and 1902–03 seasons Luton Town finished 10th, seventh and 11th respectively, finally making a profit for the first time since turning professional in 1903.

The 1904–05 season saw Luton finish 17th – second from bottom – and to make matters worse, the club was told to leave the Dunstable Road ground at short notice.

Optimism was in the air at the start of the 1911–12 season, but it was to finish in tragedy – popular full-back Sammy Wightman died from injuries sustained in a match against Brighton & Hove Albion, and a high wage bill, a spate of injuries and a lack of goals contributed to the club being relegated to the Southern League's Second Division.

Most war-time games were friendlies, but while Luton competed in the London Combination, Ernie Simms, who had been wounded during the war, achieved the feat of scoring 40 goals during 1916–17.

The following year saw McCartney guide his team to seventh with help from young Scotsman Andy Rennie, who switched from centre-half to centre-forward and scored 43 goals in 41 matches.

Despite the presence of skilful players such as Frederick Kean, Charles Fraser and Rennie, the club was beset with injuries and finished sixth.

The following season Luton finished 14th, perhaps distracted by a cup run which was finally ended by the eventual winners, Everton, in the sixth round.

Charles Jeyes, who had served on the board for six years, became chairman in the 1933 off-season and secured the purchase of the club's Kenilworth Road ground.

The club finished fourth, largely due to the sale of two vital players, Bill Brown and Sam Bell, and a terrible injury to Fraser.

The directors recruited Ned Liddle to fill the vacant manager's position in August 1936 – the team finally won promotion on 1 May 1937 with a 2–0 victory over Torquay United.

[17] The 1937–38 season was tough for the club: Luton's opening home matches were against Aston Villa, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Luton battled relegation for much of the season but finished 12th and reached the fifth round of the FA Cup, losing 3–1 to Manchester City.

Late in the season, manager Ned Liddle left to join Chelsea (as a scout), as did star forward Joe Payne days later.

However, performances were boosted by the debut of Gordon Turner and by the growing maturity of players like Syd Owen, Charlie Watkins and Bob Morton.

Pye fractured his ankle in December 1953 and sat out the rest of the season; many fans believed the club would have won promotion had he stayed fit.

On 30 April 1955, the side won 3–0 at Doncaster Rovers and thus secured promotion in second place, behind Birmingham City on goal average.

Mitchell boasted that the club would be able stay in the top flight, and planned to build a new ground that would "hold 35,000 in comfort … [and] get a lot of support which goes to London at the moment".

Captain Syd Owen replaced Tom Kelly as coach, but lost three months of the season as a player after a thigh injury.

There was only one big signing during the following season, as the club relied on youth development to finish a respectable 16th; Allan Brown arrived in February from Blackpool for a fee of £8,000.

Duncan left for Blackburn Rovers in October 1958, and for the rest of the season team affairs were managed by a committee made up of club directors and coaching staff.

Bartram left at the end of the season; Jack Crompton was appointed manager on 29 June 1962 but resigned six days later citing his doctor's instructions.

O'Rourke scored both goals in the last home game of the season against rivals Watford, preventing the Hertfordshire club's promotion and guaranteeing Luton's survival.

The club was second from bottom of the Football League when Luton lost 8–1 to Lincoln in December, but the team steadily improved in the new year.

Four days later Luton beat Crewe Alexandra in front of 19,000 at Kenilworth Road to seal the Fourth Division championship.

Brown resigned as manager in December 1968 under pressure from the board, and was replaced by Alec Stock, who brought Malcolm Macdonald to the club in the summer of 1969.

Macdonald was moved from defence to centre-forward with marvellous success, scoring 25 goals as Luton stormed to a second-place finish in 1969–70.

Comedian Eric Morecambe became a director of the club in 1970, and promotion back to the Second Division was clinched on the final day of the season with a tight 1–0 win over Southport.