New manager has transformed club in five weeks and they face York City in play-off final with place in Football League at stake
Five weeks ago Paul Buckle was a concerned onlooker as Luton Town lost 3-1 to Braintree Town. "They were so poor, everything was pathetic," recalls the man who, back then, had just agreed to become the team's manager but did not officially take over until the next day.
Luton were three points off the Conference play-off spots and falling, without a win in eight matches. Buckle reversed the trend and, after four wins and two draws from his six matches at the helm, will on Sunday lead the club out at Wembley, where they will play York City for the right to call themselves a league club again. York may not recognise their opponents. The teams have already played each other four times this season, including the semi-final of the FA Trophy. The record so far reads one draw and three victories for York, the most recent of which, on 30 March, led to the dismissal of Gary Brabin as Luton manager and the transformative hiring of Buckle.
"It was a tough decision to make the change but we weren't playing well enough to make the play-offs and even if we somehow did make them we wouldn't have won them," says the Luton chairman, Nick Owen. "Paul has come in and really reinvigorated the place. His man-management has been superb."
It has also been direct. "I tore right into them after seeing the Braintree game," Buckle says. "It was so half-paced it was clear that they were not fit. When I looked at the training ground, even that was tired and scruffy so the first thing to do was get that into shape, which we did with the help of the apprentices. Since then we've had double and triple training sessions and really improved the core stability of the players. And they've really bought into it. I think they were embarrassed about how they were playing: they had been brought to Luton to get promotion but their performances were rubbish. They're turned it around."
Buckle has turned his own season around too. At the start of this campaign he was in charge of Bristol Rovers, who hired him last summer after being impressed by the success he had achieved during four years at Torquay United, whom he helped to regain league status. But Buckle was soon belted out of Bristol, sacked in January by popular demand. Results were glum and fans were angered by his decision to get rid of almost 20 players, including crowd favourites such as Stuart Campbell.
He spent three months mulling over his managerial style before Luton came calling. "I had a long hard think about things after Bristol and I haven't changed," says the 41-year-old. "A lot of things weren't right off the pitch there. When you have to do a big sorting out process, you need to be given time to see it through. I was given 24 games."
Luton, of course, had undergone a drastic sorting out process even before Buckle took charge. They were effectively kicked out of the league three years ago after financial mismanagement led to them being docked 30 points, which made avoiding relegation impossible.
"Our first task was to get the club back living within its means and we've done that," says Owen, the figurehead of the Luton Town 2020 consortium that replaced the dysfunctional previous regime. "When we went down we knew it wasn't going to be easy getting back into the league. You've got a lot of clubs with great league pedigree in the Conference so the competition is intense." In their first two seasons in the Conference they reached the play-offs but lost. "We're hoping this is going to be third time lucky," he says.
Nearly 30,000 Luton fans will be in attendance at Wembley, the FA having twice responded favourably to appeals to increase their allocation. That gives an indication of the potential of the club; getting back into the league is key to unlocking that potential. "It's not win or bust but in both sporting and financial terms it's hugely important to get back into the league," says Owen. "A lot more money comes with being in the league and that enables you to build further."
One of the things Luton intend to build is a stadium to replace the 10,000-capacity Kenilworth Road. "We have a huge catchment area but to attract more people on a regular basis you have to have a stadium that's nicer, more accessible and offers a more comfortable experience. We're vigorously looking into getting that as soon as possible," says Owen. Winning at Wembley will bring it closer. Read More
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