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Reading
the papers and various internet sites this season I have to pinch myself far
too regularly to make sure I'm not dreaming and that various events over the
last few years weren't just a figment of my imagination...
It
was only just over two years ago that 2020 were granted exclusivity in the
bidding for our great Club following years of abuse by previous misguided
Boards that were lured by the promise of personal hoards of silver and a
share in some Fantasyland new football stadium fit enough to house Real Madrid
and maybe also the Ferrari F1 Racing team.
As
you will recall the main basis of 2020's business plan was to get the Football
Club operating back within its means from a position that the then
Administrator (who has recently popped up in South-East London) stated was
severe and life-threatening with reported monthly losses around a staggering
half a million pounds.
Loyal
Luton had been extremely active in investigating and highlighting the many
facts on the back of suspicions where the numbers and words just didn't add up
and this helped expose those leading us down the ‘Road of
Self-Destruction'. We continued working hard behind the scenes bringing our
problems into the national spotlight while together with TiL
and LTSC we led meetings with high and supposedly influential
people within both the FA and the Football League following our perceived
mistreatment by the authorities and the leniency shown towards the
previous directors of the Club.
We
were promised by both authorities that lessons had been learned and that strong
changes to the then laid-down rules would be made. We were told that following
the cases of Leeds and Luton Town that Lord Mawhinney was spearheading a
radical overhaul in the Football League rules relating to the insolvency and
ownership of clubs including 'fit and proper tests'; clubs taking on too
much debt; wage bill/ income ratios etc. Similar words of intention were also
stated by the FA as they confirmed they would undertake a consistent
approach in dealings with breaches of rules whether it be Manchester United or
Accrington Stanley that potentially offended.
So
what has happened since we had these meetings nearly two years ago...yes,
you've got it, precisely the square root of zero.
This
season has really highlighted how impotent and spineless the authorities
are. If the shenanigans going on at Meadow Lane were not enough to throw our
hands up in despair then a week can't seem to pass by without Portsmouth not
paying wages, getting television money held back to pay overdue creditors or
changing ownership. It seems ridiculous that a player isn't allowed to play for
more than two different clubs in a season yet one of our supposed 'elite' clubs
is now onto it's fourth different owner since we dropped out of the
Football League and half of these have had to pass on ownership of the
Club due to having insufficient funds to cover the burgeoning wage
bill despite passing the Premier League's 'fit and proper test' - well done Mr Scudamore, that's another fine mess you've helped create...
Then
if that wasn't enough we now have Hull City suing their previous Chairman Paul Duffen for many irregularities including the payment of
agents fees to his own bank account. Now you can knock me down with a feather
whilst I await anything but golden silence coming out of the authorities but
isn't this even more 'irregular' than the actions from 'Uncle Bill &
Co,' that saw us get a ten-point deduction last season...
But
hang on, the incompetence of the authorities doesn't end there we are now
seeing it at first hand in the BSP where Steven Vaughan has been legging
over our new League all season and in the meantime poor old Chester
go from worse-to-worse and are now having to regularly play 'the kids'. If only
a stronger backbone had been shown by the Board of the BSP at the start of the
season and greater consideration was given to the heritage of the Club and
their long-suffering fans who we wish well in their fight for justice and the
return of their club from being some play-piece for another questionable
owner augmented by a real lack of protection afforded by the so
called 'guardian-angel' authority.
Piecing
all this together we now have a game that has only moved backwards in the last
two years and is so controlled by the media that the majority of people in this
country are now more interested in the harem of women that the ex-England
captain has allegedly been bedding rather than the increasing mismanagement and
fraudulent activity riddling the game which if not dealt with by a firm hand
before too long could see the whole pack of cards come horribly crashing down.
Therefore
as Luton fans we should take great comfort that we have a group of
investors that remain fully behind their original investment cornerstones and
want to get us as far away as possible from repeating previous troubles.
Yes we are still loss-making, however, we have made incredible steps over the
last two years and importantly the losses are now lower than originally planned
and the wage bill has been significantly improved. Additional new investors
have come on board and like any business that wants to continue moving forward
in the right direction then ongoing investment will still be required
although these recent rumours of us nearing administration had about as much
merit as Alex Ferguson signing Dean Morgan...
We
did warn at the outset about a rollercoaster ride and I don't think the last
two years has been anything but. Much has been learned over the last couple of
years, however, none of you really need us to tell you about the
disappointment felt on the footballing / results side although I don't
think your emotions will be any different to all those connected with 2020 and
we know they are working hard to improve performances on the pitch so let us
hope that it is not too long before both the results and performances start
meeting all our high expectations.
In
our eyes one of the big positive developments in the last couple of years has
been the formation of SoLYD, which hopefully will help protect the Club's
future and continue the fine gravy-train of fine young players being developed
through the ranks.
There
have been many of you that have already helped to contribute to this excellent
concept, however, this is a project that requires continuous funding so if you
haven't done so already then please consider signing up to the monthly donation
scheme for which details can be found at http://www.solyd.co.uk Your donation need only be as
much as you can afford as every penny counts but all goes to such a good cause.
As
many of you will know LLSC has agreed to fund the Under-15's tour of
Scandinavia, which is coming up in the next couple of months and in line with
this we have pledged a minimum £2,500 to SoLYD. The U15's squad had an
impressive recent tournament success in Germany so it has been pleasing for
our Committee to know this money is going towards a team that offers much
potential for the future.
Unfortunately
our main fundraiser event to-date our Xmas Party was impacted by heavy snow and
the resulting traffic chaos. However, some of the items we planned to auction
that night to help raise funds towards the above tour/ pledge will shortly be
available for bidding via e-auction so look out for details coming very soon.
We can
also confirm that the end-of-season LLSC Party will take place
following our last home league match with Altrincham on Saturday 17th
April. This event will again be held at the High Town Club, Oxen Road,
Luton. Tickets will be available in due course and all partners, friends and
non-members are welcome to attend this further fundraiser so make sure you mark
your diaries accordingly.
Finally,
I know many of you have been asking us about Members Meetings. To be honest,
with things improving off the field there hasn't been anything really
contentious for me to bore you with my dulcet tones and keep your attention
spans for more than ten minutes. However, we are conscious of the need for
regular communication so can confirm that there will definitely be a meeting held
on one of the remaining Saturday home games and as soon as
arrangements are confirmed we will let you know the finer details.
In
the meantime, keep all your heads up, feel proud we still have OUR Club,
especially that there are no dodgy owners jetting in from the Middle East with
suitcases full of fake notes and promises and don't forget we have set
strong foundations in place to continue moving forward. Remember that Rome
wasn't built in a day but it was built by teamwork and people all pulling together
in the same direction. So as frustrating as some of the performances are let's
not turn The Kenny into a venue that our players feel nervous to
play in front of. With 6,500 or more home fans every game the players need
all of us channelling our energies positively into encouraging and lifting
them throughout the whole game whilst making sure it is the away players being
intimidated rather than lifting their own game as we have seen too regularly
recently. If we can all work together then there is no reason why we shouldn't
be looking at promotion as a realistic target and then hopefully we can
all enjoy one happy long summer and find out which England players are more
adept at playing away from home...
Cheers
and look forward to tonights game.
Kev
Kevin Lennon
Chairman
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