YOU MIGHT BE MAD TO BE A HATTER

The football fan, Rowland Frank Palmer, will not mean much to most of you, but today I enjoyed the celebration of his life at a small church in Flitton, near Flitwick in the Bedfordshire area. He was my brother's father in law and a very gentle and welcoming man he was too.

He lived in the Ampthill area all his life and was a Luton Town supporter. When  I met him, we had chats about the Hatters and their successes and demise. There have been good times and he enjoyed them as his one and only club.

Luton presently lie at the wrong end of League 2 and are struggling for survival, so much so that the board has gently asked John Still, their manager, to step down. I don'tknow what Rowland would have thought.

John is a legend at the club and his lead lifted Luton up into the Football League in 2013-14, so that they could take on the "Full Timers". Recently however, they lost 3-4 to local rivals, Northampton Town and that was the Cobblers v the Hatters-enough was enough. John  went quietly.

The Hatters get their name from the local industry of straw hat manufacturing using raw materials from the local farms.

Whe Luton made it to the FA Cup Final in 1959, Syd Owen, probably one the club's greatest players, captained them and the crowd threw their hats into the air when things were going their way. This gesture did not last for long as they lost 1-2 to Nottingham Forest. Forest,  incidently, were down to ten men following a serious injury and the fact that there were no substitutions allowed in those days left them hanging on.

Founded in 1885, when the Luton Town Wanderers and Excelsior clubs joined forces, they became the first fully professional club from the "south" in 1890-1 and were founder members of the Southern Football League in 1894-5.

They then joined the Football League, which was made up of professional teams mainly from the Midlands and North and this soon led to financial problems and too much competition. TRavel expenses and wages could not be met. So, in 1900-1, the club had to draw in its horns and return to the comfort of the Southern League.

Bob Hawkes was their captain and first England International in 1907 and over the years the club has bobbled along without too many records being broken, though they did beat Arsenal in the 1988 League Cup Final (were runners up the following year to Nottingham Forest) and survived in the First Division from 1981-92. Their original ground was at Dunstable Road, moving to the more "familiar" Kenilworth Road (capacity about 11,500), where they have remained since, although there are plans to erect a new stadium soon! if money is available.

Money issues seem to haunt the Hatters, who were docked by the FA 30 points in 2008-9 for  more financial irregularities. This condemned them to fall out of the FL, only to be reborn as a Football League club with John Still's help and Rowland's enthusiasm, 5 years later, after winning the Conference.
Read this previous blog.
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/hatters-take-bow.html