The Kenny Experience: Emotional evening sees Luton almost slay giants
Walking down Luton High Street you are not short of opportunities to get your hunger satisfied. There is a plethora of places to eat and there's a strong smell of Asian food in the air, even on this mildly cold November afternoon.
What is not as strong though is the presence of a Premier League football club. In fact, one wonders where on earth they have hidden the latest addition to stadiums which have graced the self-styled biggest league in the world. But it is there, and it is getting ready for a visit from one of the biggest clubs in the country - Liverpool.
Which, apart from being an exciting prospect also serves as a remarkable testament to the rise of Luton Town Football Club. Twelve years to the day on this visit from Liverpool, they welcomed Fleetwood Town to 'The Kenny' for a match in the Conference League. An amazing rise and in the Fan Zone, amongst the traditional smell of beer, chips and assorted meats, Tribal Football met up with one of the supporters who literally has seen it all.
"My dad took to me my first Luton game when I was six. It was the FA Cup final in 1959," says Mark who has been a season ticket holder almost longer than he can remember and now, aged 70, enjoys once again playing the big boys in the top league.
"You know, I've seen George Best play here at the Kenilworth and Bobby Moore," he says while also remembering recently deceased Bobby Charlton, who "had such a crisp shot".
Mark is accompanied by his son Ollie as he has been for the past 30 years. Representing the We Are Luton Town podcast, or 'WALT' for short, Ollie went on BBC 5 Live on Sunday morning to talk about the game as well as tipping a 1-1 scoreline.
"I am an optimistic Hatters fan," he stated on air, but while waiting to enter the stadium he is trying to backpaddle a bit, "I mean, we could really face a pummeling today," he adds. A couple of hours later he was a little cockier!
Along with Ollie and dad Mark is Matt, who also works with The WALT as well as another Mark, who has come down from his home in Nottinghamshire to watch the game. But can either of them explain how on earth one has managed to create a Premier League club in these surroundings?
"Well, you have to remember this used to be a club in the old first division," Ollie tries explaining with Dad Mark adding: "Back when they allowed 32,000 people in the ground," getting a great round of chuckles from the group, since everyone knows not much has happened to The Kenny since then. Apart from the fact that now only 11,000 are allowed in.
Speaking of which, how in the name of health and safety Kenilworth Road is allowed to stage football in the Premier League beggars belief. You can't walk around the stadium and one stand is only reachable going down a narrow alley not even nine feet wide. It seems like a disaster waiting to happen, but then again, it has been waiting to happen for 100 years without ever materializing.
So, the only way to describe how Luton managed such a rise in such a short space of time is shrewd business from CEO Gary Sweet and his associates. He has been along for the ride from the Conference League and enjoys immense respect among supporters.
According to the official matchday programme he is slowly coming to terms with rubbing shoulders with fellow CEOs from the other Premier League clubs. In said programme, he also sent his best wishes to Liverpool winger Luis Diaz, but seeing how the match turned out, he might have preferred Diaz benched for the whole match.
If you wish to see how a 'proper' football stadium looked before the world went mad, hurry on down to Kenilworth Road. It serves as a time capsule for a few more years as plans for a new stadium have been approved. It is expected within three years if all goes well, according to Mark, who is "not on any council, I just know people," he says with a wink, before skidding off to the club shop which probably fits into a small corner of the Megastore supporters can shop in at Anfield.
The atmosphere at The Kenny hasn't been affected (yet) by the tourism a lot of the bigger stadiums in the Premier League suffer under and supporters easily out-sang the travelling party from Liverpool on this particular Sunday. They were rewarded with a highly surprising point after a hard-fought 1-1 draw, just like Ollie predicted on 5 Live.
More performances like these and we might just see more of Luton in the Premier League than most people expected.
