I was one of those 4,000+ people at The Valley for the Charlton Athletic v Cambridge United match. The Simonsen deal crucified Charlton Athletic, with some decent players having to be released after he departed to try and fill the black hole in the club's finances.
Was at the game remember the players coming out to inspect the pitch and David Hodgson wearing a bright green suit with white shoes.. Very stylish.. Bloody cold day as well YNWA
I was 12 when this was shown & can remember having both of these as Subbuteo teams(Refs 382 LTFC & 448 LFC), so I think I did a "rematch" against my Dad later after the show. Him being a Red he refused to play as Luton, so I beat him as The Hatters. Thing is we were both Geordies, supporting LFC yet lived in East Anglia,so figure that one out.....
It slid when Walsh left for Liverpool ironically. They never really replaced the likes of him, Stein and Hill. Horton and Donaghy were solid defenders as well. Didn't Brian Horton end up at Wembley with Brighton a few months after this?
Luton have come back very strong in recent years. Without massive financial support, I don't think a return to the Premier League is realistic, that said, they have come back to just about as high as they can be realistically expected to reach. If they can establish themselves in the Championship, or even if they essentially start yoyo-ing between Championship & League One, as many clubs tend to do these days since the difference in class between the 2 divisions is massive and only getting bigger, then maybe they can establish a nice little conveyor belt of talent coming in from lower leagues for cheap, and moving on to bigger clubs for serious bank, and eventually be able to mount a more substantial challenge. Something along the lines of what the likes of Huddersfield, Brentford or Bournemouth have been able to do. That's the plan I'd work to if I picked them in Football Manager, anyway. It's a difficult one though because the tendency is to pay big wages to bring in better players to stay where you are or to improve on where you are, but Luton of all teams should be very wary of the trappings of this tendecy, and perhaps not be afraid to get relegated if necessary, and come back stronger next time.
