S7 E51: Bolton 1 Luton 2 FA Cup reaction and why there’s no need to panic over club finances

Luton Town prevailed 2-1 in their FA Cup third round replay away to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday evening to set up a tie away to Everton in the fourth round.

Kev is joined by The Lutonian journalist James Cunliffe to break down the victory beginning with some faces they were delighted to see back in action.

The lads then go through the match as the Town came from behind to record a win over the League 1 side. All the key incidents over the course of the evening are picked out and discussed before a look ahead to the trip to Everton in the next round.

Once the FA Cup chat has concluded the boys turn their attention to the news of the last few days which includes the first signing of the transfer window and a first assessment of Luton Town’s newly-published financial accounts.

All this and plenty more on the longest running Luton Town podcast!

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Find all the latest news and features about Luton Town at The Lutonian: https://thelutonian.com/

Thanks to the Hightown Club in Luton for hosting our video podcasts. Find them at: https://www.facebook.com/HightownClub/. .

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The Luton Town Supporters’ Trust celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2023 year having been created, and initially named Trust in Luton, in 2003 to help force out unpopular former owner John Gurney.

Current club chief executive Gary Sweet was part of the group that effectively forced the club into administration and out of Mr Gurney’s control, for a new consortium to take over, headed up by Bill Tomlins.

Another change of ownership again brought problems and administration followed again in 2007, until the club was eventually bought out by the fan-led 2020 consortium, headed up by Sweet, which has now helped steer the history-making Hatters from the non-league to the Premier League.

The Supporters’ Trust is a democratic, non-profit organisation run by fans for fans. The purpose of a Trust is to help fans to join together and strengthen their influence over the way Luton Town Football Club is run, and to improve the links between their club and the community it serves.
In a way, we’re like a union, believing that many voices are stronger than one and that the best way to influence the club is to represent many fans, not just ourselves.

We have defended the Club in the tough times and maintain a shareholding in the Club to ensure we are able to protect and celebrate the future. We act as custodian of the image rights of the Club – to protect the Club name, kit colours, Club crest and mascot for the long-term interests of the Club.

And like our Club, we have integrity. We believe in fair play and are committed to represent the fans and influence the regulation and its enforcement of football. And to collaborate with other Trusts to share our ideas, learn from best practice and presented a stronger voice to the authorities.

Join the Trust for as little as £10 a year (adults) and £5 for children and seniors.

We offer exclusive benefits, podcasts and meet the manager and players events and are committed to continually improving the experience of the Hatters’ fans, bringing the team closer to the fans and bringing the supporters’ voice into the boardroom, validating proposed activities and decisions that impact the fans.

We encourage the you to get involved, to enjoy the thrill (the ups and the downs!) of supporting Luton Town, and we raise money for both the fans and the community/charity, along with the Club, to help with immediate needs as we have seen during the recent COVID crisis, and to build a better future through significant capital projects.

Find us at: https://www.lutontownsupporterstrust.com

It was tough [ __ ] for Bolton at the tough sheet Stadium on Tuesday night as the town came from a goal behind 2 in21 and book our place in the fourth round of the FA Cup to uh go through that game with me I’ve got the leonian journalist

James conliff um ready to do this James you were planning that weren’t you it’s a long journey home mate I had to do something here’s the intro can you believe it we are Premier League yes I love this town I love this town I love this this you know what I

Love about this town is actually you everyone in it has got these massive Souls we’re looting people and that’s what we care about Prem League hello everyone welcome along to another episode of the Lut toown supporters Trust podcast as I said before the intro I’ve got the lonian journalist James

Conliff with me and we’re going to look back at Bolton 1 Luton toown 2 in the third round of the FA Cup replay before we go into the uh game James we’ve actually got some correct scores to uh yes give a shout out to first ones

Before we give a shout out to those uh Helen so unlucky just the width of the post away from getting a correct score on uh her return to the but well done to kha Jenner 3573 and Gerard mcmah 4712 he gave us the correct scores on YouTube in

Advance well done to you too your prize is purely Pride I’m afraid but hey there’s a lot of it because no one else has got any correct scores I’ve never got a correct score on this podcast not once and last podcast was actually our 50th one of the season so that’s a

Pretty terrible record so well done absolutely yeah yeah exactly I mean what was that something like the 25th game wasn’t it so uh yeah well done to you too so uh before we cover the game James as we always do let’s have a look at the

Teams and one player that we were all delighted to see on that team Sheet was reys Burke so good to have him back I don’t know I couldn’t really work out if he was playing right back right center back some sort of hybrid role wherever

He played in the pitch it was so good to have him back done 65 70 really good minutes H and it’s a boost not just because he’s such a good player but obviously in of the fact that mad zanderson has an injury now to have ree

Burke fit and Fir in is a huge asset yeah big time um yeah we’re big lovers of ree Burke on this podcast um it’s just the fact that he hasn’t managed to put together a significant string of games so far he keeps getting injured after about the seven game Mark

So hopefully that Situation’s resolved and we can um see him have a good end of end of the season because um you know a Premier League team with Reese Burke in the back line is is a pretty decent one cold Knight had the potential for you know if you’ve got muscle trouble

For them to seize up or whatever they do in the cold but I mean he was up and down that line like nobody’s business carrying the ball as reeberg does that’s why I couldn’t work out if he was right back or right center back he was so far

Forward times I thought liquid football Kevin yeah in Hy hybrid sort of stuff at times I thought it was right winger as well he’s just he’s just so good to watch isn’t he he’s just so natural it’s just he just wish he had you know legs that stayed fit absolutely um yeah but

You know you think back to a very long time ago now but you know P used to be so so injury-prone and then he got through that whether that’s through his own work or whether that’s through some medical um magic then he just was Mr ever present never missed the game

Didn’t he so it can be done and so hopefully uh re bur is one of those because to have Reese Burke as an option um that’s mad that it’s mad I’m saying that to have Reese Burke as an option where usually he’d be a starter but that’s the strength of the defensive

Unit at the moment but to have him available to play and just give so many more um possibilities yeah inject some of whatever it was pad into ree berke’s veins and um yeah let’s get that boy fit and fire in fully for the Premier League games to come because they’re starting

To come thick and fast once again another one in the starting lineup P good to see him back no Lona anywhere to be seen no nothing came of that after the game either so I’m guessing he just had the night off and probably didn’t fancy two trips to Lancashire in four

Days and I can’t blame him for that hav’t injured them both um but yeah p in the center of the park um very good could have scored in the second half um good all around game clicker also in the center of the park and Chong we we asked

We wanted Chong to grab a game by the Scruff of its neck from the start I wouldn’t say he grabbed it by the Scruff of his neck but he had a major impact in that first half in particular yeah M much improved performance from the off really and we we we talked numerous

Times about how effective he is off the bench and how exciting he is and didn’t really grab it the last time around in the in the first um iteration of the game um but this time yeah I think he did and that’s that’s what you want really and I think

He knows what he probably has to do and he just hadn’t quite produced it but hopefully now he has turned the corner yep on the score sheet and as we said in the lead up to this game uh important that players come on and impact the game when

They get their chance and Chong did that um let’s go on to the game then James it took about 10 minutes to realize that he’s going to be a much better game of football than the first one to be fair 10 seconds probably would have been

Enough it was that bad first time around I have to say I was impressed with Bolton on the pitch but off the pitch I mean considering they went to such lengths to get this replay and I’ve no problem with that whatsoever and the the way that their chairman was talking up

This replay I was expecting a Full House people sat on the roof couldn’t get in for love no money it’s barely half full I mean what was that all about that was a bit disappointing but actually once the game started they gave a lot more than what they showed at the Kenny and

Made for a better game but probably benefited Us in the same way yeah I think so whether you know they would have wanted to put on a show for their home fans however many there were and it’s a big old stadium isn’t it for for

What it is I mean I don’t know the population of Bolton but I can well imagine that Luton luton’s population is much bigger and we’ve got a much smaller stadium so sometimes these things don’t match up some so much and I mean they’ve been in League one as well we know we

Know lower down the leagues it’s easier to get tickets and then higher up you get to the Premier League they you can’t get them for love nor money so there could be that um it could just be there was Bloody cold I oh was def that yeah

Could be that um but yeah I thought they they were much improved from that first game they gave quite a good showing in the first half at the Ken kenth road but after that it was um decent defending you know let’s give them some credit that they kept looting out but they

Didn’t really offer anything whereas in this one I think there was much more of a a goal threat yeah there’s much more of an intent from them as well wasn’t there there was no time wasting from him the goalkeeper or anything like that like we saw at K nor Road they P the

Ball about really well um to be fair to them they beat our press really really well not many teams are doing that even in the Premier League this season so kudos to them for that ultimately Premier League class sha through over the course of the 90 minutes as you’d

Expected to we named a strong enough side like we wanted them to um to do that but after 10 minutes you’re like not again not against lower league opposition again you know I mean first and foremost the bl’s well offside in the buildup added by AJ

He’s he’s well offside um I think that was referenced on the home radio commentary that I heard um but then he beats Ted meni and credit where it’s due not many have beaten Ted and mangi this season but beating Morin up he slips over as well to compound the misery and

Then the ball across and unfortunately Burke couldn’t quite get in front of um Charles before he tapped it in but I mean to be fair someone of that nature is not going to miss from him there no um you know we highlighted him before um the first game which is why

Surprised that he didn’t really have much of a sniff then but much better in this one and I think when anyone gets to the by line and you’ve got and and the game or the the the players open up as in the way that it did because of that

Mistake then any striker of any quality you’d be looking to knock that in from from that range and he’s a he’s a northern Irish International so um it was worrying when it um but at the same time Luton have this mentality of well if you go behind they’re just going to

Start again and try and score more than them Rob even said that in the um in the pre-match uh to me to one of my questions and um I think that’s a that’s a good quality the thing about cut full football I suppose is if the longer it

Goes on where you’re behind the more H the lower league team get and the more difficult it is the more you know maybe panicky you might get to to score so to to cancel that one out within or four minutes was a welcome relief yeah it

Really was at the time I was wondering what the hell I was doing in Bolton um but yeah it’s it was good to cancel it out because we saw in the first game exactly what was going to happen the longer um that that went on at one nil

And I don’t know was it overconfidence on their part from trying to play out they made an absolute Pig Zer of it didn’t they Barkley got an interception in ball fell to um Jordan Clark rolled a lovely ball into Heath Chong didn’t panic when the opportunity looked like

It was closing down waited for the defender’s legs to open up put the ball in and I think back would have been uncited so you can’t really say too much about um the goalkeeper in that situation but just a really good finish many a player would have just lashed at

It and um either been deflected or blocked or whatever but he waited Chong he knew that the opening would come and then he just put it in the bottom corner it was the Finish was good um but I think it’s the pass that gets him there

That is the key there that that’s the benefit of having a fit Jordan Clark uh on a pitch or on a bench to come on because he can unpick defenses like that we saw it loads of times in the championship um and it was just you

Wouldn’t say it was inch perfect but it got through their defense and that’s what you’re trying to do you’re trying to you know have that penetration get them on the turn um and yeah full credit for Chong for for having the confidence to to shoot when maybe like a second

Earlier you’d thought maybe the chance is gone turned into a right old Cup tie from there as well didn’t it they had shots flashing past our goal we had shots flashing past their goal clicker had a shot saved Morris maybe could have done a little bit better with a Chance

Not too dissimilar to the one Chong scored actually um and a couple of other sort of shots whizzing Here There and Everywhere um but it was a really good game of football to watch um but you kind of felt that once we got that equalizer

We would the better side in the game yes they they got forward on the Counterattack a few times they had that silly shot from the halfway line as well didn’t they I must admit Tim kog did give me the ebgbs a couple of times I hate a goalkeeper who has to bounce

Everything before he catches it just catch up sting thing please I’ve got fear that when they bounce it he hit their foot or something can go in or something do you know what I mean just catch it especially that one from the halfway line he had you know half the

Night to track the pace of that and just just catch it well wow I mean the in the in the highlights and I think the home commentary over egged that far more than it it was worth I think I mean I don’t think that he was in any danger of that

Beating him he got to the he got to the line fair play but he was never scrambling back to the point where that you know he was in D traits there cruel yeah no he was always in control of situation as soon as he did actually

Catch it after he bounced it he rolled the ball out to mangi pretty much straight away so it’s almost like he was looking at who to pass the ball to whilst the ball was still coming to him so no real problem with that we get to

Halime um two changes at the break Ryan Charles Ryan Charles Ryan Giles comes on for Alfa Dy on the day that lots of rumor surfaced that he could be going on loan to Cardiff I believe that’s not true um and then Amari Bell came on for

Ted and mangi poor all Ted he had an absolute shocker didn’t he hasn’t had a shocker in a luten shair he was Jew and um well I suppose if you’re going to do it make sure you do it in a game that carries a little less significance than

The normal ones but to be fair to him he was on the left hand side of whichever back formation we were and he didn’t really adapt too well did he on the course of the night obviously slipped for the goal then for some reason dived

In on a bloke and got himself a yellow card when he was going away from goal it was just one of those nights to forget for Port Ted so Amari Bell came on and immediately we look so much more secure at the back yeah we did um I mean that’s that’s

His quality I suppose isn’t it I think he gets overlooked quite a lot of Mari Bell um about his defensive abilities but he really certainly last season really stepped up to be a center half when they were playing the three anyway and um you know he’s not got the

Skippers arm band when Morris is not on the pitch for no reason whatsoever yeah that’s exactly it huge figure in the dressing room and probably written off because of the way some of the goals went in early in the season but we were bit wet around the sort of ears then

Weren’t we we’re much better now and not many goals go in sort of in a directly in his sort of path so uh yeah fair play toari for um improving Ryan JS big impact in the what turned out to be the winning goal recycled the ball pushed it into Morris

Lovely little turn sawar him past Santos rolled the ball across one of them was going to put it in wasn’t either clicker or um OG Benny turned out that it was OG Benny wasn’t going to miss there just a really really good team goal actually I

Love those sorts of goals and also uh because of that ball has gone in that area of the box so many times not necessarily from Morris mainly a lot time from Dy but Morris knows where it needs to be because he’s a striker and there’s no one there to put it in or

They’ve not read the situation we talked about the last Premier League game where Elijah didn’t quite read one and or ha might one Burnley didn’t quite read it at the back post um and so to have put two players in there that’s I think um probably bit a

Bit of coaching to tell them to get in there I know they’ve um constantly doing work on that to get those players in there um certainly from the wide positions because you know if the strikers are out of position then they need the wide players need to come in a little bit and

You’ll get goals because the amount of balls that are going in the box and um yeah they because they put so many balls in the Box they do need to you know be better at converting them but that was a it was a lovely goal you don’t miss that

No you really don’t prior to that I don’t know how we didn’t score clicker had a scuffed shot that hit the post hit the goalkeeper on the arm somehow made its way out to Chong goalkeeper made a good save to be fair to him really good

Save actually and then it fell out to P hit a really venomous shot unfortunately was straight at him but it was like pinball in there for a minute surely someone’s got a score and then they nearly went up the other end and but for Ross Barkley who we’ve waxed lyrical

About from an attacking standpoint this season but for Ross Barkley being on The Bard defensively Charles would had a tap in to put them two one ahead Tak him one for the cuse out there I mean we know that he loves the place and he he’s got

A new lease of life here but if anything shows you it other than silky 60 yard raking passes it’s lobing your body in the way of a clear goal scoring chance then it’s that one and uh yeah you’d have to see it really cuz that you he gets talk so much about what

He does with the ball but he’s he’s an all around midfielder isn’t he let’s be let’s be fair he’s a great player he is you know we just want him for his offensive stuff really but if he’s going to do that defensively as well then you’re talking about one of the best

Players in the Premier League aren’t you even if he’s playing for Luton um and yeah it was fantastic just reading the game and actually the way he just did it nonchalant got up cracked off on and then you know 10 minutes later or whatever it was we’re aheading the game

And you kind of felt we were going to hold on I know they had a goal dis allowed for offside which took an absolute age for the linesman to work out what had happened but when he did work it out I think he’s got it right I think Charles is

Offside I don’t know if Charles needed to touch it that it was down the other end of the pitch for me don’t know if the ball was going in anyway but once he’s touched it he is offside thankfully they’ve communicated and they’ve got to the right decision and from there on

Really I think they had one shot that CW managed to catch but once Jerome and bod vson came on the idea sort of ran out quite quickly really they did I think the touch from Charles was necessary to get the ball in I think otherwise that that bamboozle

Cruel to a certain extent otherwise I think it’s a straight catch to get to get the ball gather the ball at least but um yeah fair play for forgetting that we um we’re not used to that anymore are we we’re line know just makes a proper decision but um you

Couldn’t really see it on the TV angle but you know I take it from lots of people’s views that it probably just it was off just but um you know for a couple of seconds you were fearing the worst you I bet he was as well yeah it

Was more than a couple well I think what actually happened was Tim crawl he goes over to Lio he says look mate if you let this goal in we’ve got another half an hour and it’s freezing cold and the line was like you’re damn right right flag’s

Going up I’m only joking that’s not what happened and obviously the referee told the liesman that Charles did get the touch I would imagine from the side on angle liesman didn’t know if he touched it or not and then once the referee’s informed him that he got the touch he’s

Informed the referee that he’s offside which I think is offside he’s the only person in the six-yard box when the shot happens and um so be it I mean even if he’s not offside as I say the first one was so what you gain on the swings you

Lose on the roundabout yeah and they should have had a penalty against him in the first game which would have prevented them getting back up to the old tough sheet Stadium According to some of the commenters on our um review of that first game but hey you know I

Mean yeah one person did remark that it can’t have been a penalty I think I’m I’m paraphrasing it can’t have been a penalty because the Lo players didn’t make much of weren’t asked about it so much I’m like well that’s not in the law is it it’s not about whether the players

Asked about it it’s whether you’ve been impeded and you know he was well yeah they didn’t appeal because it was so bloody obvious that they just expected that it’d be given and hey it wasn’t we had to go up into freezing C temperatures snow and all of that but

It’s character building for the boys they got the win come from behind win which would make it even more important and um kind of live to fight another day really it was a cup tie though that I’ve no doubt would have lost in recent Seasons especially when we W one when we

Went one nil down yeah yeah no I think that now have this no it’s it’s not a fearful thing when it goes when we go behind I mean for so long I mean it it felt like forever um as a Nathan Jones team you went behind

You knew you won’t get back into it believe me I don’t leave football matches early it’s just something I don’t do but last night was so cold if Nathan Jones was managing us and and we went one n down I was offski cuz we weren’t coming back and I weren’t going

To turn into an Eskimo for to sit there watch that no chance but this team you feel more confident about them don’t you there’s calmness to them there’s a let’s not panic build our way into the game take our chances be ruthless something that we’ve actually re really got good

At in recent times in terms of shots on go to goal ratio whereas at the start of the Season it was an absolute mess wasn’t it um and now we just it’s just all of these signs of I mean they call it incremental improvements it’s actually huge improvements when you think how

Quickly it’s coming along you know we’re only talking been 5 months since that Brighton game to where we are now um full credit to everyone involved and especially as it’s not the same 11 it’s it’s these sort of Fringe players doing it as well it just shows that the training is

Exceptional that but also they they’ve got the evidence of um what is it now 14 goals in the last 10 minutes might even be 15 from 14 in the Premier League yeah 14 in the Premier League um and if you’ve got that in your locker you know that the game’s not done it’s

It’s if you’re if you’re struggling for goals in the second half then you’d be fearful but that’s where Luton D seem to be doing most of their business really in the latter stages of the games and that’s you know down to Fitness but it’s also down to desire really isn’t it and

Um you know that’s that’s what football fans want you know first and foremost out of every football player that they go to pay money to see isn’t it desire oh yeah absolutely yeah I mean that’s the thing you can guarantee isn’t it you can’t guarantee result results you can’t

Guarantee that passes and shots and everything else but the one thing you can guarantee is your own mental your own attitude and to be fair these boys have never ever or should never ever be questioned on that because they prove it time and time again that theirs is

Perfect um it was good to see Jacob Brown as well he came on for the last 20 or 25 minutes or so there was talk about a knee injury wasn’t there although he was suspended for the last game anyway there’s talk about knee injury in in among situation he looked fine when he

Came on so um that’s good going forward it just gives him even more options because we’re now going to play three games in a week aren’t we whoever it is in the fourth round we’ve got them on the Saturday Brighton Tuesday Newcastle on the Saturday so the more options he’s

Got for those three games the better yeah absolutely and um ones that can run as much as Jacob Brown are going to be key um certainly when you factor in the way Lon want to press and be be aggressive he’s he’s quite um an unsung

Hero in that regard I’d say yeah he is he absolutely is and of course Elijah came off the bench as well as I say say only kind of concern with Sami Lona but I’ve not heard anything to suggest that there’s any issues there so maybe he

Just had a night off and we’ got enough Midfield options now fair enough I mean he’s had to come back and play so many games when perhaps they would have eased him in a bit more if marvelous hadn’t been out wouldn’t he because he had couple of months out with that injury

Himself so I think it’s probably just sensible to wrap him up in a bit of C more y that’s it and and if there was something wrong with him he’s got 11 days now to get it right hasn’t he before uh NFA Cup game so we now know

Then obviously that the reward for winning the game is a second trip of the season to goodison park already won there once this season happy enough to be going back happy enough I probably would have preferred Palace a little more because um who knows whether this

Latest round of um uh Evert and bashing because of their finances uh will will result in more sort of Siege mentality as it did before when they went on a bit of a run and racked up some points although um L have reeled him in a bit

Since so in the league at least but um yeah that that remains to be seen I mean there’s no fear from going up there um done it once do it again um and yeah it’s uh it’s going to be I think it’ be more of a focus for the players in terms

Of how they tackled the match because as as Rob Rob spoke about after the Bolton one that maybe they were slightly off it Psych ically because of the fact of of it being a lower league opposition and with Premier League you really know what you have to do which is be completely

Completely at it so um yeah I mean wasn’t wasn’t too bothered about who it was going to be really when we knew there was it when when that game went to a replay but um yeah we’ll take it yeah beat them once no reason why we

Can’t go and beat them twice know Ross Barkley when we beat them first time time around oh love that one yeah you know um he was obviously injured for that time actually they were talking weren’t they that he might have been fit for that game but it I think he started

I The Forest game was the one that he came back on wasn’t it and um can you can you imagine that him going back in the for mix in now and showing them what they missed that’d be fantastic well he’s not the only former Everton player

In our Squad that wasn’t around at that time either cuz Andros towns end is also here as well obviously the last Club he had if we take Burnley out of the equation was Everton so um I I don’t think he’ll have any ill feeling towards them it was just

He was injured and they needed to free up the space in their 25man squad and had to let him go yeah I don’t think it would be the same as probably wanting to show Burnley what they’ve missed but you still want to go to your old club and do

The business would you so yeah that’s um yeah actually now you mention it now you put it like that I’m coming around to the idea of Everton rather than Crystal Palace I mean to be fair towns end was on a winner either way in terms of the

Old Club States cuz he played for Palace as well and they say we’re going to go right through this FA Cup competition and he’s going to have a who who of who we’ve played who he’s played for in the past but yeah there’s just something about that isn’t there Barkley back at

Everton I mean they’ll give him a good reception they loved him didn’t they to be fair his career lost its path after he left there not whilst he was there so um that’ll be good he’ll deserve that you know four ends of the ground rooting for him and um wishing him well and

Obviously I don’t think they’ll have any ill feeling towards Andros but it’ll be great to see how those two can improve us from when we were there the first time because we were kind of hanging on a little bit but not to the extent that I was really worried they were going to

Score it was just we hadn’t won a game and we were so desperate to well yeah l a different animal now they particularly when you add those two players into the mix and um yeah it’s going to be quite quite I’m quite I’m now I know I’m

Talking about it uh yeah let let’s get that one and let’s hope they’re both ready and rare in to go and um yeah I think well you did Everton preview podcast with one of their um one of their podcasts didn’t you about and they were talking about Ross Barkley and what

What he could possibly do and back then it was all ifs and buts and could coulds and shs and stuff but now it’s definitely Ross Barkley for England so it’d be great to see him up there yeah it would uh hopefully it’s a warmer trip up the m6 than it was on Tuesday

Night that is for sure I’d be surprised if it’s colder don’t know the fixture date yet um likely to be week Saturday though because the Liverpool game’s been selected for TV hasn’t it on the Sunday and I don’t think Everton and Liverpool will play at home on the same day I

Could be wrong keep checking all of the official um sites and things but I would be surprised if it’s not the Saturday or certainly not the Sunday anyway it won’t be the Sunday cuz Liverpool or home so um yeah week Saturday trip to Everton fourth round of the FA Cup we can go

There with the confidence that we can beat them and uh that’s a big thing because we saw West Ham come AC Cropper last night to Bristol City obviously Premier League teams are going to go out in the next round you got Tottenham v Man City in the next round so that’s not

Just a Premier League team but a potential winner of it disappearing you got Chelsea Aston Villa another potential winner of it disappearing ourselves we if we’re through into the fifth round we’ve not Premier League team out so all of a sudden they’re falling by the wayside you’re going to

Get into the last 16 and there ain’t many Premier League teams left in this thing all of a sudden the doors open up and Europe might be Beyond Us in the League this season but not necessarily in the cup yeah and that’s when it starts to get interesting I think um you know

Don’t want to talk too far ahead Rob was um obviously disappointed with some of the aspects of teams player yesterday they were quite sloppy Bolton had a lot of the play as well it made a decent and entertaining Cup Final where Luton didn’t really have the control they

Probably were after he called it sloppy and did acknowledge that probably psychologically the mentality is not quite you know spinal tap turn to 11 that is in the Premier League it is a little bit dulled by um the FA Cup but that feeling will change I think the

More the more rounds you can get through yeah he also alluded to the fact that he’s delighted that we’ve got a Premier League team in the next round because he knows that we’ll have to be up for it to get something out of that game I can

Understand that really I mean it was even though you know it was a big game for them in terms of lower league against Premier League the atmosphere was quite sterile I mean it was freezing cold I’m not complaining you know i’ have thought most people were wearing

Gloves so it’s hard to get like clapping going and everything like that so the atmosphere was kind of plain freezing cold and then it started snowing kind of like get us out of here really so I understand why the attitude might have been a bit indifferent I thought it was

Better last night than it was against exitor and it was a hell of a lot better than it was against gunsby last season so they’re learning it yeah I mean but you’ve got to look at all those games and see what’s the common denominator and it is probably

That this lower league team and you’re not really as interested I know everybody will say are the next game is the most important game all these football cliches that come out but we’re all human as well even fans were weren’t probably up for it as much and that’s

Just to be expected because of the the wild ride that has been the last year um so it’s understandable but uh you know the definitely the further you go into this competition the the more Focus there will be on it that’s it as far as the game’s concerned but it’s been a busy

Week as I suspect it’s going to be a busy month really uh let’s cover a couple of um topics we will go into all of the sort of outside football topics in a deep dive which will come out early next week we’re going to have a very

Special guest joining us for that so we’ll get some inside info uh on some of the stuff that’s going on but we’ll quickly reflect on two pieces of news that’s happened this week the first of which Tom Holmes has joined um from Reading um only Tom Holmes though there

Was talk of a Double Deal think there’s I think the other guy has um got another offer somewhere else but that’s to be uh determined but for the moment Holmes already scored for l so he should fit him pretty well he was wearing a reding shirt at the time made even better um

Rob seems very impressed with him they’ve chased him for a long long time as well they have they wanted him when they’re in the championship um and yeah it’s it’s not a surprise one is it it’s been well documented because of the situation coming out of reading

Where they’re in D Straits and sixes and sevens and the the director of football and the manager I don’t think I knew anything about it and that sort of stuff so um it’s a good move for the player it’s a good move for L don’t think redin

Fans see it quite quite that way but um you know we’ve we’ve certainly been in their position yeah I mean if you’re a reading fan keeping your Club alive is more important than who’s playing for it at the moment unfortunately and we wish them well in their quest to do that and

Would obviously support all of the um protests that they’re um that they’re going through at the moment uh and hope that it has a a good resolution yeah obviously the vultures Circle at this stage don’t they but at least we’ve been good enough to give him back to them for

The rest of the season so they’re not going to be cut short this season well exactly nobody nobody loaned back Kevin Nichols or Chris coin or any of those players that they Rowan Vine they all went on their way and then we had to go all the way down to Rock Bottom and

Beyond and build back up again so um hopefully that doesn’t happen to any set of fans really because it’s not the fan fault but um you know if if it takes protest if it takes you to stop games like that then I’m all for it really absolutely yep fans need to be

Heard that’s um for sure yeah so Tom Holmes has comeing in undisclosed fee he’ll go back to readin for the rest of the season as I say reading get their player so nothing really lost from their point of view yes we’re going to have got him a bit cheaper than what we might

Have done another time that’s just the unfortunate way of the horrible football world but on the BR side you’ve not got to watch Chris I’ve never been relegated Perry for the rest of the season like we had to so um you know every cloud has a

Silver lining and all of that the other thing that’s been released actually in the hours leading up to us recording this podcast James Town have released their accounts for the year end 2023 some of the numbers are astronomical um not in a negative way just in the size way and it really Rams

Home the Premier League when you compare compare it to the championship numbers if you’re kind of unsure exactly what they mean check out Kieran Maguire on Twitter he’s done a thread about the accounts and why they’re good and why they’re bad and why they’re indifferent they’re actually not that bad there’s a

Couple of losses that are substantial but what people have got to remember is the year end for a football club’s account or Luton Town in this case is the 30th of June so in effect before the transfer window opens in the summer so all of the kind of spend in

There’s a 22 million pound transfer figure that that’s going to be added to the next set of accounts that’s basically what we spent in the um summer transfer window but there’s also a seriously big hike on what they call wages in there and um that’s not looten buying their way out of the

Championship that’s not looten belowing the wage budget or anything like that they simply every single one of those contracts will have had a qu quite Hefty promotion bonus which is why we’re able to attract these players on the wages that they’re on they all um got their

Promotion bonus at the same time and it went into last season’s account so basically while we’re not complaining fatti dabo’s penalty that landed somewhere in timbuk 2 cost us in the region of 15 million quid in promotion bonuses yeah it did and then you add on

To the fact that Luton then have to pretty much redevelop Ken Road just to um make sure they can get into the Premier League it’s a big outlay in big in one small chunk of the summer really but um yeah I mean we well we knew from

Um early in the season I think maybe even the playoffs I think when Gary swe did a did some press before the final talking about the finances of it that it doesn’t if you get through um sorry if you if you get to the Premier League it

Doesn’t all come in one big lump sum and it doesn’t all come at the start of the season as well and it sort of trickles through a bit but um l l are very well off from this promotion in terms of their entire history of finances um not against the

Likes of um the big boys obviously but there’s it looks a bit worrying doesn’t it but there isn’t really anything to worry about but I can understand people’s um nervousness about obviously because of the situation of where where we’ve come from 15 years ago 16 years

Ago um but that that wasn’t this lot of their in charge was it they know what they’re doing yeah don’t be as nervous as perhaps the numbers would lead you to be the dates are the important thing with this all of the accounts the year

End account was the 30th of Jan uh sorry of June so when we get promoted on May the 27th that’s five weeks of boba’s work going in there with no Premier League money the Premier League money starts filtering through in July so that will go on the 20 23 24 accounts not the

Um 22 23 accounts so you’ve got the promotion bonuses which basically kick in the very second of that penalty clears the crossbar in effect obviously it don’t get paid until everyone’s had a few Champagnes and settle down a bit naturally and then you’ve got the Bob’s Redevelopment as well which was going on

Towards 10 million quid so that’s basically 25 million quid from a kick of a football that we cannot recover until the Premier League money comes through it just so happens that the dates of the accounts for smack bang in between one and the other so when the accounts balance themselves out next season

You’re going to see lon’s finances in a much much much more stable position so if you’re worried about sort of things like PSR and points deductions and all of that you don’t need to worry because it’s all in hand it’s literally just the dates that the accounts have got to be

Finalized really and and they have to finalize them then otherwise there is further sort of regulatory punishments so they’re just doing everything on board and they’ve just been honest which not everyone is in football and it just means that it looks bad but it’s not actually that bad in reality it’s not I

You probably always got also probably got a factor in they’ve moved substations and stuff and that that’s a big expensive piece of work to get power Court even beginning and I know people are really desperate for news about power court but those things the foundations of it are really important

To get done so that was a massive delay in the whole process moving that thing so God knows how much that’s cost and whether those whether those go on these accounts or not I don’t know but there’s a lot of outlay going now but there will

Be a lot lot coming back in as well yep and of course it’s not just the bobber stand new flood lights New Media area literally everything that Ken offro that pretty much will have gone on those accounts that you saw and Premier League money comes on the sort of next set of

Accounts the figure that’s interesting me though bearing in mind that we the numbers kind kind of 100 million that you get for the Premier League that’s the sort of generic one with the parachutes after it which hopefully we won’t need so let’s say we get 100 million from the Premier League we spent

22 million on transfer fees it says it there in black and white it’s crazy that we’re going to potentially stay up in this league having spent 22 million of the 100 million pot of course the rest of the pot’s going on power court and stadium and everything that we all know

But it’s Madness isn’t it when you think that every single week we’re coming up against teams that are bringing a 50 million pound player on and our entire sum of spend was 22 million that 22 million just to sort of cover that a little bit I think the figure that most

People kind of had was 20 million you’ve probably got to factor in things like signing on fees for free transfers which wouldn’t obviously come in a transfer budget things like add-ons so when we got promoted barnesley probably would have had an add-on from Caron Morris as part of the

Deal and that kind of thing that’s where the extra 2 million will have come from but it’s Madness that we’re as competitive as we are on 22 million quid compared to what everyone else is spending particularly this week in when we’ve seen charges put forward for Everton again and notam Forest um it’s

It’s mindboggling the way that they’ve managed their finances and I don’t know I can’t really understand why anyone’s really up in arms about it because um the rules are there and if you’ve not lived by them and played by them then you’re going to get stung really and um

Those two those two clubs could have a massive impact on where the loton do stay up um you know I think the purist would say they want to do it all on on your own but every little helps say Tesco I mean the purists would the Len

Sorry the football fan in me would but if these teams are cheating then I don’t give a [ __ ] if we stay up because they’re punished for cheating because we’re not cheating and we’re just showing that you can do this without cheating the best one is the not Forest

Fans I mean they’re a precious Bunch anyway aren’t they and we’ve had our Runnings with them this season but oh but we sold Brennan Johnson at the end of the transfer window well it doesn’t matter the date is the 30th of June not the 1 of September you didn’t sell him

By the 30th of June so he can’t go in last year’s accounts he’ll have to go in next year’s accounts if you wanted to sell him by the 30th of June you should have Bloody sold him by then you didn’t you’re going to get punished for it

Exactly and Gary O’Neal the Wolves boss has already come out hasn’t he and said that you know players were having to be sold in the summer and that’s so they would come under the threshold of PRS so um you know that’s a football club managing their finances just enough well that’s

Terrible grammar by me that managing them well enough um but they’re still like shelling out loads of money but but they recognize that that’s what they have to do and if you have to sell one of your best players or a couple of your best players

To to do it then that’s the whole You’ve dug for yourself really isn’t it um you know Newcastle bu accounts can’t buy any players because they’d be falling foul of this and Arsenal too Arsenal and you know newcastle’s chairman has just been charged with not that this will affect

The club but just sort of shows you the people that you’re dealing with and it is only a charge so it’s alleged but in charge with 58 million pounds of skull duggery so um that that’s the that’s the Shark Tank we’re swimming in at the moment yeah that’s the horrible world of

Football to be fair to Gary O’Neal as well he actually said in that sort of snippet of interview don’t expect no January signings because we still got to sort our finances out to allow us to be able to spend but the good thing from their point of view and actually hearing

Him speak I kind of hope that they do all right for themselves because they’re obviously trying to do it the right way now the good thing for from their point of view is they’ve got enough points with the players that they’ve got that they’re not going to be in any danger

Like Everton and Forest have spent God knows how much and they’re still crap these guys have sold their best players but they’ve still got the players that they are playing well enough to do again it just shows you don’t have to spend hundreds and hundreds and hundreds

Millions quid you just got to have a damn good manager who’s damn good at coaching those assets that he’s got and it leads you to success whereas The two clubs that we’ve mentioned maybe not so much for us cuz Steve coop is a good manager just obviously working

Under a basket case but Everton they haven’t had a good manager in God knows how long in terms of the modern way they spent all of this money on players they sack these managers regularly who then want to begin the cycle again and then they wonder why they’re getting charged

Every time it’s just it’s not rocket science Lance no it’s not and I think now you can safely say that Gary O’Neal is a good coach because he’s done it at Bournemouth and he’s been doing it at wolves under the um aices around having to sell best players as well so you know

That’s what you have to do um stop getting in journeyman that haven’t cut it before um be brave like wolves have um and like Luton have obviously and um have a have a decent plan and stick to it so yeah I mean there’s there’s more

Than one way to skin a cat in football and when it comes to finances I much much prefer the fact that this CL does it well more Luton more wolves less Everton less forests in the world basically yeah and if if the two of those teams happen to finish below Luton

More more the better really kind of be Cala wouldn’t it if Luton stay up after 30 points of deductions from other teams after 30 points of deductions kicked us out of this league maybe the football gods have finally come to repay us it would be sweet sweet returns that if that happened um

Uh it’ be a shame to lose the song and maybe you won’t because never forget a but um yeah it would well this flag’s behind us we’re not forgetting exactly it it would go some way to redressing the balance at least wouldn’t it it would indeed yeah and another season of

Premier League football would be lovely because judging by the finances in this league these two ain’t the only ones that are going to cop it based on that summer transfer window 2.2 billion worth of players were spent and we only that was just Chelsea and we contributed 22

Million of that don’t know what the other 19 clubs were Buy in yeah yeah absolutely also interesting that Manchester City got date for their no one knows it no one knows it no definitely but apparently it’s been it’s there some somebody’s got it written back of a [ __ ] packet did you see the

Richard Masters thing to the DC I I don’t want to watch that sort of nonsense to be honest well nor do Everton and not Forest fans because he came out and he said small clubs like not forest and Everton I mean Christ I’ve got I’ve been slaughtered for for

Calling not Forest a few things on this podcast but he must be coping dogs abused for calling them a small Club I mean they’re only champions of Europe twice to be fair to him you know small club that’s the head of the Premier League calling them that well yeah

Exactly um shown me a man not fit for purpose please well yeah I mean they’re going to change the rules at some point aren’t they but um hopefully it’s not to the detriment of allowing clubs to get away with ridiculous ridiculous spending it it I think to our luten

Minds it it’s beyond belief that you could be in the Premier League and be in a situation that that they are in it really Buggles them the brain because every other club in the world is trying to get promotion um and and Achieve and do better with the ultimate

Goal of trying to reach the top otherwise what’s the point in being in football and being in a sport that rewards you for uh success yes then but if if the if the goal of it is to get there and then you are still in the

[ __ ] I don’t know what world we are in upside down completely I mean I’ve said it in previous podcasts I don’t understand how you could be in the [ __ ] anyway because over a three-year period you’re allowed to lose 105 million which isn’t an insignificant sum it’s 105 million pound now in that three-year

Period you’re also given £300 million for 10000 million each year so in effect to fall foul of The Works you’ve got to have done yourself up by 405 million quid in a three-year period I mean Jesus Lord it it just blows my mind it does and even the the figures that came out

When they’re talking about sort of match day Revenue I mean that really doesn’t change much because we know it it can’t because of the limited um limited scope to improve that with kenth Road that’s that’s one of the major reasons for going to power Court I mean even with

The the bobber stand and stuff but some of the Premier League clubs can make almost what Len do in a game or two Match Day revenue and I know that’s small for I compared to the TV money and maybe even the sponsorship money they get elsewhere but surely you can make that

Work if you want to there’s just not a will to do it is there that’s the that’s the overriding problem yeah I think in one of the messages he put on that thread Kieran Maguire said that our annual turnover in terms of Revenue was the equivalent of one man united home

Game which just shows you exactly where we’re at in this league that we’re making a whole season’s worth of ticket sales effectively the same as what man united would get from one home game but we’re doing it the right way that’s the main thing so they overriding thing with

These accounts just to go back to the original topic yeah the numbers look eye watering um and the size of the numbers have grown significantly because of the league that we’re in but there is no need to kind of panic everything’s on course come to the 23 24 accounts and

I’m assuming they’re not going to blow 75 million quid in this transfer window they’re not they’re not going to blow 75 million quid in this transfer window H they’ll all be absolutely fine when the 23 24 accounts uh come out this time next year that’s all that we can want really

So um yeah nothing to worry about in that regards welcome Tom homes to the club uh we hope you go well at reading and we look forward to seeing you next season that’s it for this episode of the podcast thanks to James for joining me

And uh recollecting a well a rare FA Cup win against lower league opposition and it was good to have um thanks to you for watching or listening please keep your comments coming along and again if you um see either of us at game feel free to

Uh come over and chat we’re always uh more than accessible and love hearing how much you’re enjoying the podcast yet again people came up to me against and Bolton and said the same thing and uh we really appreciate all of your support we are still closing in on 1,000

Subscribers we’re up somewhere around the 965 Mark now so close we got a massive special guest coming on our um Deep dive at the weekend so if we can hit a th by then that would be absolutely fantastic so if you’ve not yet subscribed to YouTube please please please do really

Love to hear a th well before that next Cup game actually but before the end of the month for the transfer window is closed we’re recording the Deep dive at the weekend by the way it’ll be out a couple of days later it will it’ll be out next week yeah absolutely I should

Shouldn’t put too much pressure on it being out straight away yeah but again if you hit subscribe you’ll know exactly when that drops and you won’t want to miss it cuz as I say we have got a very special guest joining us thanks as always to the high toown club for

Staging the podcast to Sean Grant and the Wolf Gang for our intro music and also so to Ed Smith creative for all the designs that you see on set as always thanks for watching thanks for listening we’ll have the Deep dive with you next week and we’ll also preview

Everton away in the FA Cup that’ll be out at the usual time ahead of the game until then come on your Hatters can you believe it we are Premier League I love this town I love this town I love this this T you know what I love

About this town is actually you everyone in it has got these massive Souls we’re loting people and that’s what we care [Applause] about