Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknamed 'the Hatters' and affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association. The team plays its home matches at Kenilworth Road, where it has been based since 1905. The club's history includes one major trophy win, several financial crises, numerous promotions and relegations, and some spells of sustained success. It was perhaps most prominent between 1982 and 1992, when it was a member of English football's top division, at that time the First Division; the team won its first major honour, the Football League Cup, in 1988. Luton Town have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Watford.
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The 1989–90 season was the 91st completed season of The Football League.
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire. Founded in 1885, 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.
South-eastern English football clubs Luton Town and Watford have been rivals since their respective formations in the late 19th century. The clubs are respectively from Luton, Bedfordshire, and Watford, Hertfordshire, and for this reason a match between the two teams is sometimes called a "Beds–Herts Derby". Another name occasionally used in the press is "M1 Derby", which comes from the M1 motorway, which passes both towns.
The 1987–88 season was the 103rd season in the history of Luton Town Football Club. It was Luton Town's 68th consecutive season in the Football League, and their 71st overall. It was also their sixth successive season in the First Division, and their 12th overall. The season is one of the club's most successful of all time, as Luton Town achieved a ninth-place finish in the league, won the Football League Cup, and reached the FA Cup semi-final and Full Members' Cup final. As League Cup winners, they would normally have qualified for the UEFA Cup, but were denied a first foray into European competition due to the ban on English clubs as a result of the 1985 Heysel disaster continuing for a fourth season.
The 1974–75 season was the 89th season in the history of Luton Town Football Club. It was Luton Town's 55th consecutive season in the Football League, and their 58th overall. It was also the team's first season in the First Division since 1959–60, and their sixth overall. The season saw Luton narrowly relegated back to Division Two.
