Seven more questions on forthcoming opponents with the answers to be given on here on match day.
60s. Is this the sort of player people are talking about when they say there are no personalities left in the game any more I wonder? Who is he?
“Starting off at his home town club, he was soon attracting First Division attention, but would be buyers were frightened off by his lifestyle. He failed at Luton’s fiercest rivals and an M4 corridor town before dropping into the non league game. Luton gave him another chance though and his night before match day drinking sessions became legendary in the town, but that didn’t stop him scoring what many regard to be the club’s best ever goal in a game against Mansfield. However, that lifestyle caught up with him and he was “unavailable for selection” for some years. When that situation changed, he was unable to repeat his earlier form and left for some confectionery makers and then America, before resurfacing years later at the home of a coastal town’s former Football League club.
70s. Name the three players in this photo, when was the game played and what was the final score?
80s. AA dry line in Luton and Cardiff during this decade?
90s. English trees seen north of the border it seems.
00s. Although you wouldn’t have guessed it by his name, Wales had no claim on this defender who played for Luton against us during this decade. Starting off in the city of his birth, he created a good impression and Luton won a race with a few other clubs for his signature. The move south worked will for him initially, but a manager, who, until recently, worked for City didn’t fancy him and he was loaned out to busy insects where he did his cause no good by missing a match after claiming he had got lost on the M25! He would have become a mischievous child if Luton had not entered administration and as the club declined, so did his career as serious injuries bit. Left without a contract as Luton dropped out of the Football League, a trial with Oldham came to nothing and he turned down the chance of one at a Grimsby team managed by one of his former bosses Mike Newell. In the end, he was offered another chance at Luton, but a long standing injury flared up after one match and when he didn’t turn up for pre season training months later, the curtain came down on a career which promised a lot, but didn’t deliver much – can you name the player I’m describing?
10s. The next move for the player in the picture after leaving Luton was to go to Welling United, can you identify him?
20s. Cheesy sounding import from the Midlands?
Answers.
60s. Shrewsbury born winger Graham French played less than thirty times for his town club, but he attracted the attention of Tommy Docherty at Chelsea who decided not to bother when he learned of his off field activities. Luton took a gamble on him and were repaid with nearly two hundred games and twenty two goals. The latter period of French’s eight years with the Hatters saw him jailed for three years for his part in a shooting incident in 1970 in a pub. Returning to the club after his release in 1973, French could not regain his first team place and he left for Reading and then Boston Minutemen – he turned out for Southport in 1976 under the assumed name Graham Lafite.
70s. On 16 September 1978, Luton beat City 7-1 at Kenilworth Road. In the photo, future City man Bob Hatton is scoring one of the goals with Keith Pontin unable to stop him, the goalkeeper is Keith Barber who was making his second appearance on loan for us from Swansea – Barber spent seven seasons with Luton, but this game marked the end of his Football League career.
80s. Ray Daniel.
90s. Scott Oakes.
00s. Lewis Emanuel looked a fine player in the making when he broke into the Bradford side as a teenager. He did well too initially at Luton, but the arrival of Keith Blackwell dfd him no favours and he was loaned to Brentford to get some game time. Cruciate ligament injuries and a recurring toe injury took their toll as he struggled to reach previous standards in a badly struggling team – he left the game after only playing once in 09/10.
10s. Alfie Mawson was loaned to Luton and the Welling from Brentford during 13/14.
20s. James Bree is on loan to Luton for the season from Aston Villa.
