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