John Moore was a class act. It would be a major PR success for the club if he was given a testimonial. Here's what he said, not verbatim but broadly accurate I believe:

Firstly, may I begin by saying what a pleasure it is to speak to you tonight.

However, I must say, having heard the news, that tonight I am full of fear for your club. I am pessimistic about the future. I don't feel that the people who are looking after the interests of your club are doing the job they are supposed to be.

It has been my honour and privilege to serve Luton Town. But I considered that I, along with the other members of management were simply custodians for the future. Your club's greatest success was from the early eighties to the early nineties but I can tell you it took a lot of time and hard work beforehand to get there.

So, when I heard that a new Luton Town chairman had been appointed I wanted to ring David Pinkney and ask him: 'Are you in it for the long haul?' Because, if not, then no achievement will be made.

In my view, the best chairman your club had was Dennis Mortimer. He didn't do anything spectacular but gradually built the club.

Now I worked for David Evans (ironic laughter from floor). I couldn't understand why he wanted to sell the ground, the crown jewel of your football club. You know, you marched against the move to Milton Keynes - you were angry and did that. But there was no supporter opposition to the sale of the ground and I couldn't understand it. I wanted it! But I'm not really a political animal.

Floor: John, David Evans lent £823,000 to the club and walked away with £4 million. He wanted to be the Secretary of State for Sport.

Well what can you do now? In my view, supporters of your club should unite and be collectively single-minded. As a football team, you might get lucky and get by if one of you is not giving their all. But if three or four of you are not playing to their best ability, you've got no chance. You know, when I was a player our captain was Terry Branston. And before he lead us out to play he would turn around and say: 'One of us may have a bad time today. If he does, it's up to the other ten to get round him and support him. We have a responsibility to make sure that we get him through the game.' It's the same now for the supporters of your club.

Floor: John, you achieved the highest ever league position for a Luton Town manager. Can we take this opportunity to thank you for your success.

Well, thank you. You know, at that time, David Evans castigated David Pleat for lack of loyalty. Pleat went to Tottenham along with [his first team coaches]. People often ask me 'Why didn't you go to Spurs?' and I reply 'I wasn't asked!' (laughter) But even if I was asked, I wouldn't have gone. As the only one left, Evans was really forced to give me the job. I accepted because I was thinking of all the work in the previous ten years - I didn't want it destroyed.

But actually, I didn't like the job. I enjoyed helping the kids. I knew if a kid was going to make it because of what I had put him through before he became a professional. I told them: 'I'll whip ye! I'll drive ye! I'll work your nuts off!" So if they managed to get through that, I was confident they would work for the team.

We built a comradeship. But I think that some of the senior players forgot where they came from. Maybe it was the money, I don't know. I knew if a kid 'wanted it' but I couldn't be sure about the senior players. So to be honest, I think the high league position when I was manager was really a gift from God - I don't think I'm a good manager. But I loved working with the kids.

Floor: John, thank you for all you did for Luton Town. Can I say that I thought your treatment at the end of your career here was a disgrace! (Strong applause in agreement)

Well, at first I did feel a bit bitter when I left but after a time I thought 'well, that's how football goes sometimes.' I didn't want to make a thing of it.

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Some 100 fans squeezed into the Eric Morecambe Suite to learn the shocking details regarding our dying club. Two hours earlier, we had been stunned by the announcement of FA charges brought against the club. Outside the ground, Sky Sports News was gauging opinion from TiL board members. The mood was sombre but quietly determined.

The meeting kicked off with a quick introduction to the TiL board members and their roles on the committee. Several presentations then followed, as outlined in the PowerPoint slideshow available on the TiL website. What follows are some personal observations on the night.

Liam Day, Chairman, spoke about the TiL structure. There are several sub-committees and more assistance from the membership is a priority to complete the backlog of work. Without being explicitly stated at the meeting, there is clearly a significant burden on the existing board members, and many of them do not live in the Luton area.

The Trust is taking professional advice from K&L Gates, a leading international law firm, and Tenon, the UK's 9th largest firm of accountants. Hopefully such a formidable line-up is benign when calculating its fees. I don’t think TiL Members begrudge their subs being spent on legal and financial muscle now that the relationship with the board has deteriorated to a terse political stand-off.

Where else is our membership money going? Mark Stephenson outlined TiL’s sponsorship of Keith Keane’s underused kit and Dave Edwards’ away strip. Funds are also put towards LTFC girls and the club’s Football in The Community project run by Stuart Smith. Strangely, there appears to be no recognition of this on the club’s official website.

Falling income from membership fees means that sponsorship has had to be scaled back. TiL Treasurer, Les Miller, pointed out that the Trust is currently losing about £2000 per annum. Instigating email distribution of newsletters and subscription reminders is hoped to cut costs and bring in more renewal subs and donations.

One important point: No payment was made for TiL’s 10% shareholding in LTFC. Therefore, the shares are not a balance sheet asset and no financial loss would arise should the club go bust.

Approval of the 2006 accounts and election of officers went through on the nod.

The President of Trust in Luton, John Moore, then got up to speak and had us all in the palm of his hand. His good grace and integrity was a painful contrast to the enemy within. A point was made from the floor to right the wrong of his departure without a testimonial.

(John Moore’s speech is covered elsewhere on the website).

The eagerly anticipated detail on Jayten and the accounts were impressively presented by Mat Phillips and Stephen Browne. Mat’s key points:

• It is too early to judge Mr. Pinkney’s intentions. There has been some internal progress since his arrival and there had been an upturn in relations over the last fortnight.

• The rumoured £6 million investment was just that, a rumour. But some token investment had been made.

• TiL’s view is that the existence of a holding company is unnecessary. The lack of transparency has been the root of some of the FA charges.

• TiL want an independent feasibility study. Liam had put pressure on the council regarding this but reported that the council is very negative about club sites in Luton.

• TiL are 100% behind the players and team management. TiL’s focus is ‘off the pitch’.

Stephen covered the tortuous process of obtaining financial information and statutory documents from the board. Their prevarication forced TiL to make a formal accounts request, at which time the club was contravening law by withholding information. TiL know that minutes of board meetings exist, but were told otherwise by Mr. Bagehot.

TiL is now in possession of the “missing” statutory pages from the 2006 accounts. However, a complete picture of money in and out of the club is still being withheld. The club is currently losing more than Mr. Pinkney’s declared annual loss of £3m. Losses have increased considerably over the last three years but the reason for this cannot be ascertained. The key unanswered questions are how much money has been siphoned off by Jayten and its directors (at least a six figure sum), and why players salaries have apparently increased exponentially. Who signed player contracts in May 2007?

The much quoted figure of £13m of transfer fees overstates income from player sales. The real figure is £9m when taking into account agents fees, tax, and payment schedules etc. That £9m, however, has funded the club’s losses since Jayten took over. The problem is that few assets remain to pay off future losses.

A police statement has refuted the claim that increased policing costs are responsible for the year-on-year increase in the financial shortfall.

On top of funding the operating losses, additional investment is needed for the new stadium. TiL do not know who is paying for the J12 planning fees, nor do they know how the build costs of £55m-£70m will be raised. It is also not clear whether the stadium will be owned by Luton Town or some other company (parent or otherwise). The example of Coventry City was cited as an example of the dangers of mortgaging the club’s future to get into a new ground.

Nevertheless, a new home is required. Stephen stated that the best possible outcome from remaining at Kenilworth Road would be a financial loss of £0.5m per annum.

With the limited manpower at their disposal, TiL are doing their utmost to publicise all the above issues. Roger Holdstock reported that there had been a surge in traffic on the TiL website since the TiL leaflet had been distributed at the Forest game. In that period, the website had received 15,000 hits.

The meeting ended with questions being put by members of the floor to the TiL board:

Q. What is the FA penalty likely to be?
A. Anywhere in the spectrum between West Ham and Swindon

Q. Is a second leaflet drop being planned?
A. No. The FA charges are keeping the club in the media spotlight for the time being. (Gary Sweet said that a leaflet print-run could be turned around in two days if it was felt that the Trust needed more exposure.)

Q. Should Mitchell and Bagehot stand down?
A. Yes. Whilst the FA charges are still unproven, Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Bagehot’s actions had besmirched the name of the club. Even if they resigned though, they would still be shareholders and therefore a liability.

Q. Has anyone from the club been in touch with TiL about the FA charges?
A. No. TiL had contacted the club but had been told ‘no comment’.

Q. Who makes sure that Companies House are policing the overdue accounts from Jayten and the football club?
A. There is a maximum of a £1000 fine only, so there is very little sanction against breaking the law.

Q. Should the FA investigate what has happened at the club since February 2007?
A. Yes, absolutely. TiL were pressing hard with the FA but the response had been lukewarm.

Q. Who should carry out the independent feasibility study?
A. The local authority (or the club, as a distant second choice). TiL had been in contact with the four local MPs. They were fully in support of a feasibility study and did not believe that J12 would happen.

Q. What would be the extent of the Mike Newell claim?
A. TiL had sent 102 written questions to the board of Luton Town. Among these were enquiries related to Mike Newell’s claims on the club. No answer had been received. TiL speculated that the claim would not be less than £1m.

My overall impression from the evening:

Mr. Pinkney’s relationship with TiL was at a watershed. Managerial incompetence at the top level since 2004 had jeopardised the future of the club. The signs that the financial meltdown has reversed since Mr. Pinkney’s arrival are not encouraging.

The TiL board is passionately committed to giving up their time to save the club. They impressed me with their professionalism. Following on from John Moore’s presidential appeal for fans to unite, it is up to supporters to get behind TiL as a conduit to the club. Time and money is urgently needed so please email TiL to offer your support.