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2009 Football League Trophy final

Field	Value
title	2009 Football League Trophy Final
image	Luton Town Football League Trophy 2009.png
image_size	260
caption	Luton Town staff and players celebrate their victory
alt	A scene of unmitigated jubilation. Viewed from the right, a crowd of men in a varying assortment of grey suits, navy tracksuits and white, orange and navy soccer attire celebrate together on a podium, many of them brandishing potent bottles of champagne. Some of the men wear straw boaters marked with white, orange and navy ribbons. One of the champagne bottles, which apparently was uncorked rather over-enthusiastically, can be seen in mid-air flying off the front of the podium, its contents flowing forth vigorously.
event	[2008–09 Football League Trophy](2008-09-football-league-trophy)
team1	Luton Town
team1score	3
team2	Scunthorpe United
team2score	2
details	after extra time
date	5 April 2009
stadium	Wembley Stadium
city	London
man_of_the_match1a	Kevin Nicholls (Luton Town)
referee	Phil Crossley (Kent)
attendance	55,378
previous	[2008](2008-football-league-trophy-final)
next	[2010](2010-football-league-trophy-final)

The 2009 Football League Trophy Final was the 26th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from Football Leagues One and Two, the Football League Trophy. The final was played at Wembley Stadium in London on 5 April 2009, the second time that the final had been staged at the stadium since it was rebuilt. The match was contested between Luton Town and Scunthorpe United. Luton won the match 3–2 with Claude Gnakpa scoring the winner five minutes into extra-time.

Luton's victory was a single positive note in an otherwise terrible season for the club. They started the season with a 30-point deduction imposed by the Football League and Football Association for various financial irregularities, despite the fact that these misdemeanours were carried out by the club's previous owners who had not been in charge since January 2008. Despite accumulating enough points to mathematically remain in League Two, they were twelve points from safety when the final was played and were ultimately relegated out of the Football League. They became the first club to win the Football League Trophy and suffer relegation from the Football League in the same season. As the competition is usually only contested by teams from Leagues One and Two, it was uncertain whether Luton could defend their trophy. On 15 June 2009, Luton's request to play in the competition in 2009–10 was denied by the Football League.{{cite news| title = Luton consider Trophy ban appeal | access-date = 3 January 2010}}

Background

Luton and Scunthorpe went into the match in vastly different positions. Scunthorpe were in the play-off positions in League One and hoping to secure both promotion to the Football League Championship and claim the Football League Trophy in the same season. Luton, on the other hand, were bottom of The Football League and facing relegation into non-League football, having been given a 30-point deduction at the beginning of the season for financial irregularities. Both teams were playing in their first Football League Trophy final.

Match details

Craddock Gnakpa McCann

{{Football kit	pattern_la = _borderonwhite	pattern_b = _lutonhome08	pattern_ra = _borderonwhite	leftarm = FF3300	body = FFFFFF	rightarm = FF3300	shorts = 000033	socks = FFFFFF	title = Luton Town	{{Football kit	pattern_la = _whiteborder	pattern_b = _bluesleevelinesandsides	pattern_ra = _whiteborder	leftarm = 970045	body = 970045	rightarm = 970045	shorts = 970045	socks = 970045	title = Scunthorpe United

ENG Mick Harford

ENG Nigel Adkins

Protests

During the match, many of Luton's 40,000 fans unfurled flags featuring the slogans "Thanks for Sweet FA" and "The FA & Football League – Killing Small Clubs Since 1992" in protest at the actions taken against the club from the footballing authorities. Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney was widely booed, among other less savoury chants, for his part in the club's demise.

Route to the final

Luton Town

	(1–1 on aggregate. Luton Town won 4–3 on penalties)

Scunthorpe United

	(Scunthorpe United won 3–0 on aggregate)

Post-match

Luton manager Mick Harford paid tribute to his players, saying "the players knew when they came to the club that they could be non-League players next season. They put their necks on the line. Today their camaraderie, spirit and togetherness was there for all to see." He also praised the "special" Luton fans, saying "They've had it tough down the years, with [the club] being in and out of administration and having sanctions put upon them. We have the second-highest league attendance in League Two and the highest away following, and they've turned out again today."

Scunthorpe manager Nigel Adkins congratulated Luton on their victory but also lamented his own side's shortcomings, saying after the match "Credit to Luton. I congratulate Mick Harford, but we have to learn from this negative experience and use it in a positive way. I will make sure [the players] will remember this because it's not nice... We will draw a line under it and make sure we come back to Wembley in the play-off final – and make sure we win."

Luton were relegated on 13 April 2009, only a week after their Football League Trophy victory. Their relegation was confirmed when they could only manage a draw against Chesterfield, while the only club they could catch, Grimsby Town, won against Notts County. Cliff Byrne secured a place in the League One play-offs for Scunthorpe at the expense of Tranmere Rovers with a goal two minutes from the end of their final game. They returned to Wembley for the League One play-off final and won promotion in May, beating Millwall 3–2.

References

(5 April 2009). "Luton 3–2 Scunthorpe". [[BBC.
(10 July 2008). "Luton to face 30-points deduction". British Broadcasting Corporation.
Stafford, Mike. (5 April 2009). "Luton get the last laugh with victory in the 'Paint Pot final'". [[The Guardian]].
(6 April 2009). "Luton hope to defend trophy even if relegated". [[ESPN]].
"2009-03-28, Scunthorpe 3–0 Colchester". Scunthorpe United.
McVay, David. (5 April 2009). "Defiant Luton celebrates trophy win with final protest". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
Dart, Tom. (6 May 2009). "Luton Town find pot of gold at last". [[The Times]].
(5 April 2009). "Harford praises Luton's character". British Broadcasting Corporation.
Stafford, Mike. (13 April 2009). "Football League round-up". The Guardian.
Williams, Bob. (2 May 2009). "Cliff Byrne secures play-off spot for Scunthorpe". The Daily Telegraph.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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