Press Release
LTFC2020 are delighted that they have been chosen by the administrator as the best bid to take Luton Town Football Club out of administration. LTFC2020 now enter an exclusive period of six weeks, within which they need to progress to a full agreement detailing the purchase of the Club.
Gary Sweet, bid manager, said “This is fantastic news for all fans. The majority of people involved in the LTFC2020 bid are lifelong Hatters and we are delighted to be in a position to be the next custodians of the Club - bringing the Club home to the fans”.
“The process to gain control of the Club will take some weeks and we do not expect to be ‘the decision makers’ until at least April. Until then the administrator will remain in charge. There will be some tough negotiations with HMRC and the Football League before the Club is allowed to exit administration. We have the support of the fans, our backers, the Club, the administrator and local MPs so we are doing all we can to get the best possible solution for the Club.”
He went on “After years of mismanagement, the Club is in a dire state and was losing over £400,000 a month. Clearly this is not sustainable so financial stability and living within our means is of the utmost priority. This will mean some hard, and sometimes unpopular, decisions and, when we take those, we ask fans to stand by us as they have over the past few weeks. We want a long-term dream for our Club and not a recurring nightmare.”
Detailing LTFC2020’s plans after financial stability is attained, Gary said “We want to re-engage fans both past and present - they haven’t had much to be proud of over recent years with regards to the management of the Club. We hope to achieve this by embracing individual fans and businesses through regular communication, honesty and transparency. We also plan to continue the only success story of 2007 – youth and community development. With the team we have in place, we have the skills to reinvigorate this vital area. Once we are stable financially we will carry out an independent feasibility study to identify the best location for a new stadium. We already have professionals in place ready to start this process but we must stabilise the Club first otherwise there will be no Club to relocate.”
LTFC2020 started their bid campaign on the basis that this was the ‘last chance saloon’ for the Club – any more mistakes would prove terminal for the Club.
Gary finished by saying “LTFC2020 will do the very best we can for the Club. We will be open and transparent so the fans can see how we are progressing although we kindly ask for your patience to implement these measures. However, it is not just down to us – the fans play a critical role and without their help and support we will fail. The fans have played their part brilliantly so far and without their help we would not be in this privileged position and for this we thank them. We are looking forward to welcoming new, past and present fans to the matches, and to be the people who have helped the Club regain their trust.”