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Kenilworth Road: Vallecas in prime?


“Until you go to Kenilworth Road, you can’t appreciate how narrow it is.” Read our guide to football stadiums in Great Britain in 1987. 36 years have passed and life goes on. “The main wood deck is so narrow that in some places you have to lower your head when you go to the bathroom. It’s falling apart, but it deserves a place in the premier,” Sean Engels warned in The Guardian this week.

Only one match, the Final Qualifiers, House separates Luton Town from Premier. It’s not just any party. The final between Cap and Coventry City – which took place today at Wembley at 5:30 pm – has an estimated value of €195m. It is the amount that the winner will receive between the television broadcasting rights and the compensation he will receive in the event of the first year’s release.

Luton’s potential rise would transform old Kenilworth Road, It was founded in 1905 and seats 10,356 spectators, at the lowest capacity stadium of the Premier era. He will leave behind 11,307 from Dean Court, Bournemouth’s stronghold.

“We may need a little paint from time to time, but it’s a reality. If you can’t accept it, you don’t like football.. It has been like this since the Second World War, and even before that, I don’t understand why they are talking about this now just because, perhaps, we will rise to the position of prime minister. You don’t need a fancy setting to be successful, though old is beautiful too. Anyway, don’t worry, Haaland will not pass through this entrance. He will do it for the other weird entry we have,” confirmed Gary Sweet, the club’s chief executive, tired of the ridicule Luton Town had received.

among the gardens of the houses

Sweet, with “this entrance,” refers to the two entrances that open out of nowhere in the Oak Suite Among a row of Victorian homes attached to the stadium. Visiting fans access the English version of Vallecas by stairs from which they can see the surrounding gardens and houses. A neighbor told The Sun: “Even 7 years ago it would have been normal for us to see balls shattering our windows inside the pitch.”

Former youth player and Luton Town player Emerson Boyce reveals the magic of Kenilworth’s road to Marca: “Today the stadiums are very modern. If Luton get to the Premier League, a smaller old school stadium would give them an advantage. It creates a great, different atmosphere. There’s part of the stand empty, which is very strange. We went back to Palace and lost. A lot of teams wouldn’t want to.” In playing there because it’s very complicated.”

“It’s an old-fashioned backstage pitch,” Boyce continues, referring to the traditions in the ranks of the Caps: “I got to 14, and as a young player I had to clean the dressing room tunnel and remove the ice… It was part of my job. Today I don’t see players doing that, but it taught me a lot. Luton might not be the biggest club, but they are They try to educate you in the best way, from passing the ball to instilling in you the right values ​​in terms of respect. Everyone counts. They will always have a special place in my heart.”

“plastic field”

Kenilworth Road can feature in the Premier…but not in the Elite. Luton Town have already been promoted three times (1955, 1974 and 1982) and have played 16 seasons in the old First Division. Between 1982 and 1992 he lived his own golden era, and in 1983 he avoided relegation on the last day with a goal scored by Radomir Antić against City … which condemned City (0-1) and led coach David Pleat to overrun the show. field for Mourinho. In 1988, against Arsenal (3-2), they won the League Cup, the only major trophy in their 138-year history.

However, their successes were overshadowed by the introduction of artificial turf in 1985. Plastic Court, they nicknamed it. Investigations concluded that it “didn’t work for the team,” but the federation finally banned the use of artificial pitches in 1991. “This surface helped them delay their relegation by two seasons,” says This Football Times. There was another controversy: chairman David Evans banned the visitors after the Millwall ultras vandalized part of the stadium in 1985.

Falling into a Second, in 1992, gave way to a dark time. Between 2007 and 2009, he accumulated three touchdowns that brought him to fifth place, and he was three times under bankruptcy management and on the brink of bankruptcy: in 2009 he was deducted 30 points (a record) for financial irregularities.

Now, after finishing third in the league and defeating Sunderland in the semi-finals, he can return to the Premier League. A new generation stadium with a capacity of 19,500 spectators is planned … but it will not arrive on time. Home to 30,069 fans in 1959, Kenilworth Road had to undergo a minor facelift, but it still held out. Boyce concludes, “Laughton have shown that anything is possible. If they reach the Promised Land, an encouraging future awaits them.”



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