1999–2000 Luton Town F.C. season

During the 1999–2000 English football season, Luton Town F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Luton Town

1999–2000 season
Chairman	Cliff Bassett
Manager	Lennie Lawrence
Stadium	Kenilworth Road
Second Division	13th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	First round
Football League Trophy	First round
Top goalscorer	League: George (14) All: George (16)
Average home league attendance	5,658
← 1998–99 2000–01 →

Background

Luton suffered from severe financial difficulty throughout the 1998–99 season and were forced to sell a number of established players and promising young stars.^{[citation needed]}One of the club's directors, Cliff Bassett, made the decision to place the club into receivership as part of a move to shift controversial^[1] owner David Kohler out of the club. Kohler, accused by Luton supporters of selling the club's assets while continuing to draw a large salary of his own and of promoting an unworkable stadium project (known as the 'Kohlerdome') for his own means, relinquished his position as chairman on 20 February 1999 following the discovery of a petrol bomb in his letterbox.^[1] Despite his departure, Kohler remained as the majority shareholder and held out from selling until a suitable offer was made. Numerous bids from consortia fell through, unable to meet Kohler's demands, until, after being told by the Football League that the club would be unable to compete in the 1999–2000 season unless it was out of receivership, Bassett himself stepped in hours before the deadline and bought out Kohler's shares. Luton finished the 1999–2000 season in 13th position, relying heavily on players brought through the youth system, such as Emmerson Boyce, Gary Doherty, Matthew Taylor, Matthew Spring and Liam George. Bassett made it clear throughout the season that his intention was to find a new owner for the club and, on 23 May 2000, Luton Town was sold to a consortium led by businessman Mike Watson-Challis.^{[citation needed]}

Season summary

Just before the 1999–2000 season, the club was sold to Cliff Bassett, while player sales continued to balance the books.^[2] Young duo Kelvin Davis and Chris Willmott were sold to Wimbledon for £900,000, and Lawrence was forced to sell Gary Doherty late on in the season, but he successfully kept an inexperienced Luton side up once again. Mike Watson-Challis then purchased the club in 2000,^[2] and Lawrence was sacked to be replaced by former Luton player Ricky Hill.^[3]

Final league table

Main article: 1999–2000 Football League § Second Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
11	Wrexham	46	17	11	18	52	61	−9	62
12	Wycombe Wanderers	46	16	13	17	56	53	+3	61
13	Luton Town	46	17	10	19	61	65	−4	61
14	Oldham Athletic	46	16	12	18	50	55	−5	60
15	Bury	46	13	18	15	61	64	−3	57

Source: ^[4]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored

Results

Luton Town's score comes first^[5]

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
7 August 1999	Notts County	A	0–0	6,141
14 August 1999	Blackpool	H	3–2	5,176	George (2), Spring
21 August 1999	Reading	A	2–1	8,741	Fotiadis, George
28 August 1999	Cardiff City	H	1–0	5,374	Gray
31 August 1999	AFC Bournemouth	A	0–1	4,797
4 September 1999	Bury	H	1–1	4,633	Fotiadis
11 September 1999	Wrexham	H	3–1	5,121	Taylor, Spring, George
18 September 1999	Brentford	A	0–2	7,039
25 September 1999	Oxford United	H	4–2	6,102	George (2), Fraser, Locke
2 October 1999	Wigan Athletic	A	0–1	6,866
9 October 1999	Oldham Athletic	A	1–2	4,532	Midgley
16 October 1999	Gillingham	H	3–1	6,394	George (2, 1 pen), Douglas
19 October 1999	Wycombe Wanderers	H	1–1	5,820	Douglas
23 October 1999	Oxford United	A	1–0	5,866	George
2 November 1999	Millwall	A	0–1	6,181
6 November 1999	Burnley	H	2–1	7,205	Midgley (2)
12 November 1999	Cambridge United	A	1–3	6,211	George
23 November 1999	Preston North End	H	0–2	5,124
27 November 1999	Bristol Rovers	A	0–3	7,805
4 December 1999	Notts County	H	2–2	5,195	Doherty, Thorpe
17 December 1999	Colchester United	A	0–3	3,049
26 December 1999	Chesterfield	H	1–1	5,870	Locke
28 December 1999	Bristol City	A	0–0	11,832
3 January 2000	Scunthorpe United	H	4–1	5,574	Douglas, Gray, Spring (2)
8 January 2000	Stoke City	A	1–2	10,016	Spring (pen)
15 January 2000	Blackpool	A	3–3	5,262	Locke, Gray, Taylor
22 January 2000	Reading	H	3–1	6,044	Watts, George (2)
30 January 2000	Cardiff City	A	3–1	6,185	Watts, Spring, George
5 February 2000	AFC Bournemouth	H	1–2	5,961	Boyce
8 February 2000	Stoke City	H	2–1	5,396	Gray (2)
12 February 2000	Bury	A	0–1	3,760
19 February 2000	Bristol Rovers	H	1–4	6,520	Gray
26 February 2000	Brentford	H	1–2	6,029	Gray
4 March 2000	Wrexham	A	0–1	2,703
7 March 2000	Burnley	A	2–0	12,080	White, Gray
11 March 2000	Millwall	H	0–2	6,341
18 March 2000	Preston North End	A	0–1	13,731
21 March 2000	Cambridge United	H	2–2	5,379	Doherty, McLaren
25 March 2000	Chesterfield	A	3–1	2,597	Doherty, Watts, George
1 April 2000	Colchester United	H	3–2	5,125	Watts, Doherty, Taylor
8 April 2000	Scunthorpe United	A	2–1	3,811	Gray, Doherty
18 April 2000	Bristol City	H	1–2	4,771	Doherty
22 April 2000	Gillingham	A	0–2	8,667
24 April 2000	Wigan Athletic	H	1–1	5,010	Gray
29 April 2000	Wycombe Wanderers	A	1–0	5,379	Taylor
6 May 2000	Oldham Athletic	H	1–1	5,963	Gray

FA Cup

Main article: 1999–2000 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	30 October 1999	Kingstonian	H	4–2	4,682	Gray, George, Spring, Taylor
R2	19 November 1999	Lincoln City	H	2–2	4,291	Doherty (2)
R2R	30 November 1999	Lincoln City	A	1–0	3,822	Douglas
R3	11 December 1999	Fulham	A	2–2	8,251	George, Spring
R3R	21 December 1999	Fulham	H	0–3	8,170

League Cup

Main article: 1999–2000 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st Leg	10 August 1999	Bristol Rovers	H	0–2	2,984
R1 2nd Leg	24 August 1999	Bristol Rovers	A	2–2 (lost 2–4 agg)	4,414	Kandol, Doherty

Football League Trophy

Main article: 1999–2000 Football League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
SR1	7 December 1999	Oxford United	A	0–2	1,220

Squad

^[6] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Nathan Abbey 2 DF  ENG Gavin McGowan 4 MF  ENG Matthew Spring 5 DF  ENG Alan White 6 DF  ENG Marvin Johnson 7 FW  NIR Phil Gray 8 MF  ENG Paul McLaren 9 FW  ENG Stuart Douglas 10 MF  SCO Michael McIndoe 11 FW  IRL Liam George 13 DF  SCO Stuart Fraser 14 FW  ENG Andrew Fotiadis 15 DF  ENG Matthew Taylor

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  CIV Landry Zahana-Oni 17 DF  BRB Emmerson Boyce 18 FW  COD Trésor Kandol 19 DF  ENG James Ayres 20 MF  UGA Jerry Moses 21 MF  ENG Andre Scarlett 22 GK  ENG Daniel Tate 23 DF  ENG Jude Stirling 24 GK  ENG Scott Ward 28 MF  ENG Adam Locke 32 GK  ENG Ben Roberts (on loan from Middlesbrough) 40 DF  ENG Julian Watts

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 27 MF  SCO Ray McKinnon (to Livingston) 30 FW  ENG Neil Midgley (on loan from Ipswich Town) 39 FW  ENG Tony Thorpe (on loan from Bristol City) 3 DF  NGA Efe Sodje (to Colchester United)

No. Pos. Nation Player 12 DF  IRL Gary Doherty (to Tottenham Hotspur) 25 MF  ENG Ryan Davis (Released) 26 MF  ENG David Castro-Pearson (Released) 31 FW  ENG Paul Read (Released)

Player details

Players arranged in alphabetical order by surname.

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		FL Trophy		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Nathan Abbey	32 (1)	0	5	0	2	0	1	0	40 (1)	0
DF	James Ayres	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
DF	Emmerson Boyce	23 (7)	1	0 (2)	0	2	0	1	0	26 (9)	1
DF	Gary Doherty	40	6	5	2	0 (2)	1	1	0	46 (2)	9
FW	Stuart Douglas	35 (5)	3	5	1	2	0	1	0	43 (5)	4
FW	Andrew Fotiadis	8 (14)	2	0	0	0 (2)	0	0	0	8 (16)	2
DF	Stuart Fraser	20	1	5	0	1	0	1	0	27	1
FW	Liam George	35 (7)	14	5	2	0 (1)	0	1	0	41 (8)	16
FW	Phil Gray	28 (1)	11	1	1	2	0	0	0	31 (1)	12
DF	Marvin Johnson	44	0	5	0	0	0	1	0	50	0
FW	Trésor Kandol	1 (3)	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	2 (3)	1
MF	Adam Locke	27 (7)	3	3 (1)	0	1	0	1	0	31 (8)	3
DF	Gavin McGowan	9 (3)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9 (3)	0
MF	Michael McIndoe	2 (14)	0	0 (2)	0	2	0	0	0	4 (16)	0
MF	Ray McKinnon	0 (3)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1 (3)	0
FW	Paul McLaren	25 (4)	1	4)	0	1	0	0	0	30 (4)	1
FW	Neil Midgley	8 (2)	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	8 (2)	3
FW	Paul Read	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0
GK	Ben Roberts	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
MF	Andre Scarlett	2 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	2 (2)	0
DF	Efe Sodje	5 (4)	0	1 (1)	0	2	0	1	0	9 (5)	0
MF	Matthew Spring	44 (1)	6	5	2	1	0	1	0	51 (1)	8
DF	Matthew Taylor	39 (2)	4	5	1	1	0	0	0	45 (2)	5
FW	Tony Thorpe	3 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3 (1)	1
DF	Julian Watts	45	4	5	0	2	0	0	0	52	4
DF	Alan White	16 (3)	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	18 (3)	1
MF	Landry Zahana-Oni	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0

See also

• List of Luton Town F.C. seasons