2000–01 Luton Town F.C. season

Season summary

One of new chairman Mike Watson-Challis' first acts was, on 4 July, to sack manager Lennie Lawrence and look to appoint his own man.{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}} Ex-player and fan favourite Ricky Hill was appointed a week later, and was provided with the resources to build his own squad.{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}} One signing was that of goalkeeper Mark Ovendale from AFC Bournemouth, who cost £425,000; the most the club had spent on a player since the 1995–96 season when they were competing in the First Division.{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}} Ovendale struggled to make an impact,{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}} which was the story of most of Hill's acquisitions, who included among their number untested foreign players Friedrich Breitenfelder, Petri Helin and Kent Karlsen.

Hill's reign began with a defeat to Notts County and did not improve from there; one win in their first ten league games left Luton in the relegation zone and the fans voicing their displeasure.{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}} A penalty shootout victory over Peterborough United in the League Cup set up a tie with Premier League side Sunderland, but Luton collapsed to a 5–1 aggregate defeat. One further league win followed, but even more defeats left Luton in 23rd place by early November. Hill resigned on 15 November to be replaced by his assistant, another former Luton player, Lil Fuccillo.{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}} John Moore, who had led the club to their highest-ever league finish in the 1986–87 season and was in charge of the youth team, was installed as Fuccillo's assistant. Luton's fortunes failed to improve under this tenure, suffering seven further league defeats, though a run to the Third Round of the FA Cup did offer some respite.

With the club failing to impress on the pitch and facing the prospect of relegation, Watson-Challis acted to recruit a Director of Football to oversee "all football matters".{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}} Former Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear was appointed to this role on 8 February, but his first act was to immediately demote Fuccillo to assistant and place himself in charge.{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}} Kinnear's arrival prompted an initial resurgence in form – Luton won five of their next seven games and were one point away from 20th position, and safety, by 6 March. However, they failed to win again during the campaign and, on 24 April, were relegated to the Third Division for the first time in 33 years following a 1–0 loss to Rotherham United.{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}}

With the season drawing to a close, Kinnear signed striker Steve Howard from nearby Northampton Town for a fee of £50,000, released five players, and transfer listed four others.{{cite news | access-date= 3 February 2014}}

Match results

Luton Town results given first.

Legend

Friendlies

Football League Second Division

:All results, goals, attendances etc. taken from Soccerbase{{cite news | access-date = 28 January 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131217125924/http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=1628 | archive-date = 17 December 2013

FA Cup

Football League Cup

Football League Trophy

League table

Main article: 2000–01 Football League#Second Division

Player statistics

:Last match played on 5 May 2001. Players with a zero in every column only appeared as unused substitutes.{{cite news | access-date = 22 February 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131217125924/http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=1628 | archive-date = 17 December 2013

Managerial statistics

:Only competitive games from the 2000–01 season are included.

Transfers

In

Out

Loans in

Footnotes

:A. Luton progressed into the Second Round on the away goals rule.

References

References

1. George was born in [[Luton]], [[England]], but also qualified to represent the [[Republic of Ireland national football team. Republic of Ireland]] internationally through his mother and represented Ireland at [[Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team. U-21]] level.
2. Boyce was born in [[Aylesbury]], [[England]], but also qualified to represent [[Barbados]] internationally through his parents and would make his international debut for [[Barbados national football team. Barbados]] in March 2008.
3. Stein was born in [[Cape Town]], [[South Africa]].
4. Howard was born in [[Durham, England. Durham]], [[England]], but also qualified to represent [[Scotland]] internationally and would make his international debut for [[Scotland B national football team. Scotland B]] in November 2007.