Trust in Luton/Luton News Protest over Points Deduction

[Daggers]

Show your support by backing our campaign against FA verdict

The punishment does not fit the crime.

That is the view of both LTFC2020 – the consortium looking to take control of the Hatters – director Gary Sweet and The News/Gazette.

The FA's decision to impose a 10-point penalty on Luton Town has been met with widespread derision by those involved with the club and supporters alike.

And The Luton News/Dunstable Gazette, is today launching a campaign asking the FA to reconsider their decision and return the points to the Hatters.

We want you to show your support by registering your objection, which we will then present to the powers that be at Soho Square.

To download a form which you can print out and send in to the campaign click here (PDF version) or here (Word version)

Sweet said: "Previous penalties issued to other clubs – West Ham and the FA bungs inquiry two years ago – were because an on-field advantage was created to the detriment of other clubs."

This view is shared by chairman-elect Nick Owen who said: "Compare this with West Ham. They breached the rule book and appeared to create an advantage on the field of play. Although they received a fine, they were not docked points.

"Why hit little old Luton with a 10-point deduction when the regulation they have transgressed is a mere technicality, with no advantage to any individual or the club?

"We feel we have become a soft target.

"Kicked when we are down."

Sweet is also of the opinion that the current regime, including the 2020 consortium, are being left to pick up the pieces from the misdemeanours of others.

He said: "I believe that the FA are rewarding dishonesty and are also discouraging honest people from getting involved in the game.

"Two years ago Cherry Newbery, who is the fabric of this football club, blew the whistle and since then the perpetrators have left, and when they left so did the perpetration.

"The guilty parties have left the club so the people who are left holding the baby, so to speak, are the ones who are being severely punished."

Sweet also revealed that any appeal, which is likely to cost thousands of pounds, would have a knock-on effect that would prove detrimental to other areas of the club.

He said: "We're about growing the youth development side of things and getting back to the true values of the old Luton Town.

"In doing so we intend to put more money into the youth side of things with the intention of becoming self-sufficient by producing home-grown talent from this region.

"That is the only department that has actually received an increase in budget from previous years, so where do you think the money is going to come from?"

Although LTFC2020 knew what they were getting into when they bid for the club, Owen was at pains to reinforce the commitment of the consortium.

He added: "I must stress that those of us at the heart of LTFC2020 are still utterly committed to turning things round, however victimised we seem to be.

"Whatever the outcome of these tortuous issues, we will stand firm and turn things round.

"I am confident our wonderful fans will stand right behind us too. And, I can assure you, we are deeply grateful for that."

Trust In Luton: downloadable forms

MPs call for FA demo support

HATTERS: Hundreds respond already to FA protest

[Ashley]

I'm going to give Luton my backing and sign a form.

[Daggers]

HATTERS: We've topped 2,000 forms in FA protest.

Campaign to help Luton Town still going strong

Our campaign against the FA's treatment of Luton Town is still going strong - and we've now received more than 2,000 of our specially-produced protest forms back.

Now in its third week, our offices are still being sent more than 100 campaign forms per day as fans continue to sign up against meted out by the Soho Square authorities.

We are asking fans to registered their objection to Town's 10-point penalty and [pounds sterling]50,000 fine by cutting out the form in the Luton News, Dunstable Gazette and Herald&Post, or downloading it from this website, and send it back to us.

Despite the impressive total, we still ...

[The People's Hero]

Whoa Whoa Whoa.

Nothing will happen unless they get the mighty FOXES TRUST involved.

They sure know how to act pompous, run a rubbish website and do fu ck all.

That IS what's required... right?

[Daggers]

David Davies wants FA to rethink ‘harsh’ Luton punishment

Troubled club attract offers of players on loan amid threat of rescue collapsing

A number of football luminaries have written to the FA in support of Luton Town’s appeal against a deduction of ten points and a £50,000 fine after they were found guilty of misconduct over payments made to agents. The Coca-Cola League Two club hope that the FA will consider lessening the punishment at an appeal hearing in London tomorrow.

As it stands, Luton will start next season on minus 30 points after a separate points punishment was imposed by the Football League last week, leaving the club facing a battle to retain their League status.

David Davies, the former acting chief executive of the FA, and Doug Ellis, the former Aston Villa chairman, who served as a councillor on the governing body, are among a number of eminent figures in the game who have sent strongly worded letters to the FA. Davies, who is now a consultant, wrote that the punishment was “harsh, unfair and should be reconsidered”.

Ellis wrote that the misdemeanours were committed by the club’s previous regime and Luton Town Football Club 2020 (LTFC 2020), the prospective new owners, should not be penalised severely. He added that LTFC 2020 was “suffering as they try to save the lifeblood of the club”. The FA has informed Luton that it will not consider any letters of support.

Related Links

Luton have also received backing from many people in the game who believe that the ten-point punishment will dissuade club officials from blowing the whistle on future wrongdoings for fear that their cooperation will not be taken into account fully if the FA issues charges at a later date. Luton have been angered that they were not treated leniently because it was Cherry Newbery, the secretary at the time, who drew attention to directors who were paying agents through a holding company, rather than from the club’s bank account. Luton introduced this payment system because Mike Newell, the manager at the time, had an aversion to the club paying agents for deals.

Should Luton’s appeal be unsuccessful, they would start the season with minus 30 points after the League imposed a 20-point deduction for the club not being able to meet the League’s insolvency rules to exit administration. The League has ordered Luton to give an undertaking that they would spend an extra £500,000 so that unsecured creditors would receive 16 pence in the pound and LTFC 2020 has been asked to sign a letter relinquishing its right of appeal against the League’s penalty.

In these circumstances, it would be understandable if LTFC 2020 considered pulling out of a deal to take the club out of administration, leaving Luton in danger of going out of business. LTFC 2020 has already given the administrator, Brendan Guilfoyle, of the P & A Partnership, more than £1 million to keep Luton going, and now must pay a further £1.6 million to buy the club, in addition to administration costs and paying off football creditors.

Clubs from the Barclays Premier League and Coca-Cola Championship have expressed their support with offers of players on loan, while Luton’s players have pledged to stay and fight what will inevitably be a relegation battle, but the club are expected to sell Calvin Andrew, a forward, to Crystal Palace this week.

Vultures are circling already, with Norwich City making an offer of £300,000 for David Bell, the midfield player who was the subject of a bid in excess of £750,000 from West Bromwich Albion last season. On the pitch, Luton recovered from a two-goal deficit to defeat Boreham Wood 4-2 in their opening preseason friendly match on Saturday, scoring three second-half goals to claim the victory. In what could be a foretaste of things to come, Mick Harford, the manager, used eight players who are on trial at the club.