Markus Heikkinen played in Luton in 2005–2007. The club was sometimes even in England’s fifth league level, but now moved up to the Premier League.
Luton’s promotion to the English Premier League has been the talk of the town in recent days. The club reached England’s highest league level for the first time since the 1991–92 season. Former Finnish national team player, currently AC Oulu’s sports manager Markus Heikkinen played for Luton in 2005–07.
However, Heikkinen did not follow Luton’s promotion very closely. Luton beat Coventry on penalties in a crucial promotion play-off.
– My boys were watching the game. They shouted to come and watch the polka dot race. I went to see the last bets. Of course, I was hoping that Luton would rise, Heikkinen said.
During Heikkinen’s tenure, Luton played at the second highest league level in the Championship. In the first season, the club was tenth in the league, but after the second season, it was relegated from the league. Heikkinen has warm memories of the club and his time in Luton.
– Luton had just been promoted to the Championship when I went there from Scotland. We had a pretty good starting line-up and a few players on top. At one point, it looked like we were in the top six, that is, in the qualifying rounds. Towards the end, the snacks ran out a bit. The championship series is a raw series.
– Then they started selling players. We also started the next season well. but the decline started earlier and eventually the series step changed to a lower one. Later it turned out that there had been problems on the financial side even then and especially after that. They have had time to visit quite deep. It seems like a shockingly hard performance that the club is now in the Premier League.
Luton even went outside the league at the fifth league level, where it was still in 2014.
Heikkinen was a popular player in Luton. In his first season, he won four different club Player of the Year awards. Heikkinen was also remembered by the club’s fans, and some of them came to see him in Oulu years later. Supplier Carrie Dunn has written about his trip. Heikkinen told about another case.
– When I played the last game in AC Oulu in October 2018, there were a couple of supporters from Luton watching the game. Or I didn’t see them until after the game, when they were a bit lost on other paths.
“There was a family atmosphere inside the club and it was easy to be there”
In connection with Luton, there has been talk especially about the club’s stadium at Kenilworth Road, which has been Luton’s home ground since 1905 and has remained more or less the same since the Second World War. The capacity of the stadium is the smallest in the history of the Premier League, 10,356. Away supporters come to the stands by stairs from the middle of the residential buildings.
In Heikkinen’s opinion, the stadium is the same as the club.
– All the players knew all the employees. The club had a family atmosphere and it was easy to be there. The stadium was intimate and small. The stand was close to the pitch and the audience was very much involved and did not turn their backs on the team when things didn’t work out.
– By English standards, Luton is by no means a big club, even in the lower leagues there are bigger ones. It is a warm-hearted and homely club with a nice atmosphere. May this success bless them, they have seen some really rough times.
Luton’s next goal is to keep a place in the Premier League. It’s a tough challenge.
– The spirit of the game in the Premier League has become quite merciless with the large TV compensations. You have to find ways to get by other than just money, because probably everyone else has more money. Recruitments have to hit the spot. I would like to see that they would be able to maintain something of the rise story, because at best it can carry over into next season as well, Heikkinen stated.