Luton Town's Season

Luton Town Football Club, 1908-9 [Z1306/75/21/5]

Tuesday 27th April 1915: As the 1914-1915 football season draws to a close we can reflect on Luton Town’s performance. The war has meant that the best any team could hope for this year was simply to carry on. Luton have managed to keep going to the end of the season but only at the cost of several hundred pounds in losses. Only the presence of thousands of troops in the town has prevented this loss being even larger.

Luton’s performance on the pitch has been very up and down. In the Southern League they secured the extraordinary record of winning more points from away games than they did at home. Away from Kenilworth Road they won 19 points out of a possible 38, beating Watford (the champions), Northampton, Brighton, Exeter and Queen’s Park. At home however their record was no better than that of the bottom-placed club, Gillingham; they did not win a single home point between February 13th and April 17th, losing to Crystal Palace, Portsmouth and West Ham United in quick succession, and only managed a total of 15 home points during the season.

In the F.A. Cup Luton were forced by an injustice on the part of the Football Association to take part in some of the early rounds, playing three financially unprofitable games against minor clubs. Their first draw in the main competition sent them to Southampton to face a Saints team on top form and the Hatters were eliminated. Luton did better in the Southern Charity Cup, defeating Watford in the first round and Coventry in the second. After beating Reading in the semi-final they drew the final 0-0 against Plymouth. As it was not possible to arrange a replay the trophy is being jointly held by the two clubs. The seasons top scorer was Ernie Simms, with a total of 22 goals.

Source: Luton News 29th April 1915; Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 4th May 1915