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Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire. Founded in 1885 as a merger of two leading local sides, Luton Town were the first professional team in the south of England, fully professional by 1891. Luton were also one of the first southern Football League clubs, joining in 1897 before leaving again in 1900 due to financial instability. The club rejoined the League for the 1920–21 season. George Thompson became the club's first manager four years later, but only lasted eight months before leaving, and wasn't replaced until 1927. 1936–37 saw Luton promoted to the Second Division, and the first post-war seasons saw a strong Luton team begin to emerge. Record goalscorer Gordon Turner's arrival into the first team in 1950 helped Luton to promotion to the First Division for the first time in 1954–55, and the team remained there until relegation in the 1959–60 season. Luton also reached the 1959 FA Cup Final, where Turner's absence and the team's questionable preparation for the game meant that Luton lost 2–1 to Nottingham Forest. The club was subsequently relegated three times in six seasons, reaching the Fourth Division by 1965–66. However, players such as Malcolm Macdonald ensured that the club was then promoted twice in three years and was back in the Second Division by 1970. ==Creation, professionalism and The Football League (1885–1900)== Luton Town Football Club was formed on 11 April 1885 at a meeting convened at the Village Hall "for the purpose of considering the advisability of forming a town football club". The new club was a merger of the two leading local teams, Luton Town Wanderers – a well-organised and ambitious club who had played in the FA Cup – and Excelsior, a local works team whose ground at Dallow Lane was to become the first home of the new club. Wanderers had extended its name to Luton Town Wanderers only three months before and were not initially enthusiastic – some of the Wanderers even refused to become part of the new club, and continued alone, advancing further in the 1885–86 FA Cup than Luton Town did.〔 〕 Early team selections consisted of five players from one of the former clubs and six from the other. The club's early years saw around 35 matches played between October and the following Easter. Most of these were friendlies arranged by the club's secretary, but Luton also competed in the FA Cup. The team had little success – it was not until the 1891–92 season that Luton even reached the first round proper.〔 〕 Luton's first achievement was perhaps to become the first professional club in the south of England, at a time when professionalism was mainly restricted to the north. On 15 December 1890, a salary of five shillings per week was offered to three players: Frank Whitby, Harry Whitby and Tom Read. Frank Whitby was the first to sign and thus became the first professional footballer in the south. In August 1891 it was decided to pay the whole team two shillings and sixpence per week, plus expenses. Woolwich Arsenal became the second professional club in southern England a few weeks later.〔 〕 Luton Town were founder members of the Southern Football League in 1894–95 – the club's first competitive league match was on 6 October 1894 – a 4–3 home defeat to Millwall Athletic, who went on to win the inaugural championship as Luton finished as runners-up. The next season, 1895–96, saw Luton come second again as Millwall retained the championship. The sparse programme of league matches was still supplemented by numerous friendly matches at this time. After the two successive runners-up finishes, Luton applied to join the Football League's Second Division in 1896. When the club was not elected, Luton Town instead helped to form the United League. With only eight members, the United League was a short-lived failure and produced a damaging financial loss for the club – in the league's inaugural season, Luton finished second behind Millwall for the third consecutive year.〔 〕 Financial strife caused the club to relocate to Dunstable Road in 1897 and to become a limited company. The following summer, Luton Town applied once again to the Football League, and this time were elected to the Football League Second Division for the 1897–98 season. During the club's first Football League campaign, moderate success was enjoyed, and the team also won the United League. The second season in the League was considered a failure, as Luton finished 15th – the 17th-place finish in the third was considered so disastrous that the club did not even apply for re-election. With wages rising beyond the club's financial means, attendances falling and most of the club's turnover being spent on accommodation and transport to away matches in the north, it was decided that for the club to continue, it would be necessary to return to the Southern League.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Luton Town F.C. (1885–1970)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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