The 2014–15 season was the 129th in the history of Luton Town Football Club and the club's first back in the Football League since the 2008–09 season following its promotion from the Conference Premier during the previous season. Luton finished in eighth position, one place and three points outside the play-offs.
Luton had an indifferent start to the campaign before a strong run of results placed the club in a four-way battle for the automatic promotion spots for much of the season, alongside Burton Albion, Wycombe Wanderers and Shrewsbury Town. A collapse in Luton's form in the final third of the season left them struggling to remain in the promotion positions and, despite a late run of positive results, the club fell just short of competing in the play-offs.
This article covers the period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015.
Background
Luton manager John Still had joined the club in February 2013 at a time when promotion from the Conference Premier looked unlikely following a poor run of league results under previous manager Paul Buckle. Still guided the club to a seventh-placed finish in its fourth season in non-League football. He began building his own squad a month before the last game of the 2012–13 campaign, continuing to do so through pre-season and the beginning of the 2013–14 season, with twelve new players entering Kenilworth Road and eleven leaving.
A slow start to the 2013–14 season left the club in mid-table, but this soon gave way to a club-record 27-match unbeaten run with Luton playing an attacking style of football that resulted in them scoring 78 goals. The club reached the top of the table in December 2013 and Still ensured momentum through the busy post-Christmas schedule by augmenting the squad with talented young players from Premier League academies, such as Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu and Cameron McGeehan. Luton remained in first position for the rest of the campaign as they comfortably won promotion to League Two, with nearest rivals Cambridge United 19 points behind – the largest points gap between first and second in Conference history. The club accumulated 101 points and kept 23 clean sheets, both club records, while also equalling the record for the fewest goals (35) conceded over a season.
Club
Squad
Squad No. Name Nationality Position(s) Since Date of birth (age) Signed from Goalkeepers 1 Mark Tyler GK 2009 Peterborough United 16 Elliot Justham GK 2013 East Thurrock United Defenders 2 Fraser Franks RB / CB 2014 Welling United 3 Danny Fitzsimons CB 2013 Histon 5 Steve McNulty (c) CB 2013 Fleetwood Town 6 Alex Lacey CB 2012 Luton Town Academy 12 Scott Griffiths LB 2013 Peterborough United 29 Paul Connolly RB 2014 Crawley Town 30 Luke Wilkinson CB 2014 Dagenham & Redbridge 24 Curtley Williams RB 2014 Lowestoft Town 33 Mark Onyemah LB 2014 Thurrock Midfielders 4 Jonathan Smith CM 2013 York City 7 Alex Lawless LM 2010 York City 8 Andy Drury CM 2014 Crawley Town 11 Jake Howells LB / LM 2008 Luton Town Academy 14 Andy Parry CM 2011 Southport 15 Luke Rooney RW 2014 Maidstone United 17 Pelly Ruddock CM 2014 West Ham United 21 Luke Guttridge CM 2013 Northampton Town 22 Shaun Whalley RW 2013 Southport 23 Matt Robinson CM 2012 Leicester City 28 Jim Stevenson CM 2012 Histon 39 Ian Rees CM 2014 Luton Town Academy Forwards 9 Paul Benson ST 2014 Swindon Town 10 Alex Wall ST 2013 Maidenhead United 13 Mark Cullen ST 2013 Hull City 18 Ross Lafayette ST 2014 Welling United 19 Ricky Miller ST 2014 Boston United 35 Charlie Walker ST 2014 Peacehaven & Telscombe
New contracts
PlayerContract lengthContract endDateSource13 26 5 11 26
Transfers
In
Summer PlayerTransferred FromFeeDate Source24RB Lowestoft TownUndisclosed18ST Welling UnitedUndisclosed19ST Boston UnitedFree8MF Crawley Town£100,00029RB Crawley TownFree30RB Dagenham & RedbridgeUndisclosed—ST Wycombe WanderersUndisclosed9ST Swindon TownFree35ST Peacehaven & TelscombeFree33LB ThurrockFree26MF Bradford CityFree
Winter PlayerTransferred FromFeeDate Source 27 MF Rotherham UnitedFree
Out
Summer PlayerTransferred ToFeeDateSource3 Danny Fitzsimons Dartford Released18 May 201519 Ricky Miller Dover AthleticReleased18 May 201522 Shaun Whalley Shrewsbury TownReleased18 May 201510 Alex Wall Bromley Released30 June 201513 Mark Cullen Blackpool £180,00030 June 201528 Jim Stevenson Aldershot Town Released30 June 201532 Brett Longden St Neots Town Released30 June 201535 Charlie Walker Aldershot TownReleased30 June 201536 Charlie Smith Released30 June 201539 Ian Rees Hemel Hempstead TownReleased30 June 2015— Lee Angol Peterborough UnitedCompensation30 June 2015— Kynan IsaacReleased30 June 2015
Winter PlayerTransferred ToFeeDateSource—MF Solomon Taiwo Dover AthleticReleased15 January 2015—MF Dave Martin StevenageReleased2 February 2015
Loans in
Summer PlayerTransferred ToStartEnd Source22RB Queens Park Rangers
Winter PlayerTransferred ToStartEnd Source22RB Queens Park Rangers25ST AFC Bournemouth31ST Tottenham Hotspur50MF Norwich City38ST West Ham United—DF Aston Villa
Loans out
Summer PlayerLoaned ToStartEndSource— Boreham Wood— Bristol Rovers19 Dover Athletic— Dover Athletic— Oxford City33 Thurrock
Winter PlayerLoaned ToStartEndSource36 St Albans City 32 Arlesey Town Southport18 Woking Banbury United Metropolitan Police18 Welling United— Hitchin Town
Overall transfer activity
Spending Summer: £100,000
Total: £100,000
Income Summer: £500,000
Total: £500,000
Expenditure Summer: £400,000
Total: £400,000
Competitions
Preseason
League Two
League table
Results summary
Results by Matchday
Matches
FA Cup
League Cup
Football League Trophy
Statistics
Appearances
PlayerTotal 1 GK Mark Tyler 31 4 1 0 36 (0) 2 CB Fraser Franks 13 3 1 0 17 (3) 3 CB Danny Fitzsimons 0 0 0 0 0 (0) 4 CM Jonathan Smith 34 4 0 1 39 (0) 5 CB Steve McNulty (c) 40 2 1 1 44 (0) 6 CB Alex Lacey 18 1 0 1 20 (8) 7 CM Alex Lawless 15 0 0 1 16 (9) 8 CM Andy Drury 35 3 1 0 39 (5) 9 ST Paul Benson 21 1 1 1 24 (5) 10 ST Alex Wall 7 0 0 1 8 (6) 11 LB Jake Howells 35 4 0 1 40 (10) 12 LB Scott Griffiths 34 2 1 1 38 (0) 13 ST Mark Cullen 41 4 1 0 46 (9) 14 CB Andy Parry 0 0 0 0 0 (0) 15 RW Luke Rooney 11 1 1 0 13 (3) 16 GK Elliot Justham 14 0 0 1 15 (0) 17 CM Pelly Ruddock 16 1 1 0 18 (8) 18 ST Ross LafayetteCurrently on loan at Woking 13 0 1 0 14 (12) 19 ST Ricky Miller 12 3 0 0 15 (12) 20 RW Shaun Whalley 18 1 0 0 19 (4) 21 CM Luke Guttridge 26 1 1 1 29 (10) 22 RB Michael HarrimanCurrently on loan from QPR 26 4 0 0 30 (0) 23 CM Matt Robinson 9 1 1 1 12 (4) 24 RB Curtley Williams 3 0 0 0 3 (0) 25 ST Jayden StockleyCurrently on loan from AFC Bournemouth 11 0 0 0 11 (0) 26 DM Nathan Doyle 26 3 0 1 30 (0) 27 RW Ryan Hall 3 0 0 0 4 (1) 28 CM Jim StevensonCurrently on loan at Aldershot Town 11 1 0 0 12 (10) 29 RB Paul Connolly 4 1 1 0 6 (0) 30 CB Luke Wilkinson 41 4 1 1 47 (0) 31 RW Nathan OduwaCurrently on loan from Tottenham Hotspur 11 0 0 0 11 (8) 33 LB Mark Onyemah 0 0 0 0 0 (0) 35 ST Charlie Walker 3 2 0 1 6 (5) 38 ST Elliot LeeCurrently on loan from West Ham United 11 0 0 0 11 (2) 39 CM Ian Rees 0 0 0 0 0 (0) 40 LB Lewis KinsellaCurrently on loan from Aston Villa 3 0 0 0 3 (1) 41 GK Craig King 0 0 0 0 0 (0) 42 GK Liam Gooch 0 0 0 0 0 (0) 50 CM Cameron McGeehanCurrently on loan from Norwich City 15 0 0 0 15 (2)
Goals
PlayerTotal 1 GK Mark Tyler 0 0 0 0 0 2 CB Fraser Franks 0 0 0 0 0 3 CB Danny Fitzsimons 0 0 0 0 0 4 CM Jonathan Smith 2 0 0 0 2 5 CB Steve McNulty (c) 0 0 0 0 0 6 CB Alex Lacey 0 0 0 0 0 7 CM Alex Lawless 3 0 0 0 3 8 CM Andy Drury 2 0 0 0 2 9 ST Paul Benson 1 1 0 0 1 10 ST Alex Wall 1 0 0 0 1 11 LB Jake Howells 4 1 0 0 5 12 LB Scott Griffiths 2 0 0 0 2 13 ST Mark Cullen 13 1 0 0 14 14 CB Andy Parry 0 0 0 0 0 15 RW Luke Rooney 3 1 1 0 5 16 GK Elliot Justham 0 0 0 0 0 17 CM Pelly Ruddock 1 0 0 0 1 18 ST Ross Lafayette 0 0 0 0 0 19 ST Ricky Miller 1 1 0 0 2 20 RW Shaun Whalley 3 0 0 0 3 21 CM Luke Guttridge 3 1 0 0 4 22 RB Michael Harriman 1 1 0 0 2 23 CM Matt Robinson 0 0 0 0 0 24 RB Curtley Williams 0 0 0 0 0 25 ST Jayden Stockley 3 0 0 0 3 26 DM Nathan Doyle 0 0 0 0 0 27 RW Ryan Hall 0 0 0 0 0 28 CM Jim Stevenson 1 0 0 0 1 29 RB Paul Connolly 0 0 0 0 0 30 CB Luke Wilkinson 4 0 0 0 4 31 RW Nathan Oduwa 0 0 0 0 0 33 LB Mark Onyemah 0 0 0 0 0 35 ST Charlie Walker 0 0 0 0 0 38 ST Elliot Lee 3 0 0 0 3 39 CM Ian Rees 0 0 0 0 0 40 LB Lewis Kinsella 0 0 0 0 0 41 GK Craig King 0 0 0 0 0 42 GK Liam Gooch 0 0 0 0 0 50 CM Cameron McGeehan 3 0 0 0 3TOTALS4371050
Clean sheets
PlayerTotal 1 GK Mark Tyler 13 1 0 0 14 16 GK Elliot Justham 4 0 0 0 4TOTALS1710018
Discipline
PlayerTotal 1 GK Mark Tyler 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 CB Fraser Franks 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 3 CB Danny Fitzsimons 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 CM Jonathan Smith 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 5 CB Steve McNulty (c) 11 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 2 6 CB Alex Lacey 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 CM Alex Lawless 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 CM Andy Drury 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 9 ST Paul Benson 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 10 ST Alex Wall 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 11 LB Jake Howells 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 12 LB Scott Griffiths 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 13 ST Mark Cullen 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 14 CB Andy Parry 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 RW Luke Rooney 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 4 1 16 GK Elliot Justham 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 CM Pelly Ruddock 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 18 ST Ross Lafayette 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 19 ST Ricky Miller 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 20 RW Shaun Whalley 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 21 CM Luke Guttridge 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 22 RB Michael Harriman 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 23 CM Matt Robinson 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 24 RB Curtley Williams 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 ST Jayden Stockley 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 26 DM Nathan Doyle 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 27 RW Ryan Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 CM Jim Stevenson 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 29 RB Paul Connolly 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 30 CB Luke Wilkinson 7 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 2 31 RW Nathan Oduwa 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 33 LB Mark Onyemah 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 ST Charlie Walker 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 38 ST Elliot Lee 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 39 CM Ian Rees 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 40 LB Lewis Kinsella 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 41 GK Craig King 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 42 GK Liam Gooch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 50 CM Cameron McGeehan 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0TOTALS545404120646
Summary Games played 52 (46 Football League Two) (4 FA Cup) (1 Football League Cup) (1 Football League Trophy) Games won 21 (19 Football League Two) (2 FA Cup) (0 Football League Cup) (0 Football League Trophy) Games drawn 12 (11 Football League Two) (1 FA Cup) (0 Football League Cup) (0 Football League Trophy) Games lost 19 (16 Football League Two) (1 FA Cup) (1 Football League Cup) (1 Football League Trophy) Goals scored 62 (54 Football League Two) (7 FA Cup) (1 Football League Cup) (0 Football League Trophy) Goals conceded 52 (44 Football League Two) (5 FA Cup) (2 Football League Cup) (1 Football League Trophy) Goal difference +10 (+10 Football League Two) (+2 FA Cup) (−1 Football League Cup) (−1 Football League Trophy) Clean sheets 18 (16 Football League Two) (1 FA Cup)Most appearances 47 Luke WilkinsonTop scorer 14 Mark Cullen
Honours
Team
Individuals
Players Player Award Month Source 30 CB Luke WilkinsonLeague 2 Player of the Month September 13 ST Mark Cullen October 5 CB Steve McNulty PFA Team of the Year April
Manager Name Award Month Source John Still League Two Manager of the Month October
References
External links