In the window of an evangelical church in Luton town centre, a sign reads “Sunday of empowerment” and labels five ways in which the power of prayer can be used to great effect.leisure complex near the Town Hall, dozens of Luton fans sat dressed in their orange or white shirts. The beer and cider is flowing, cigarette smoke hangs in the air for a second before dissipating and the sun is gloriously warm.
The goals are cheered and the goals against are… sort of cheered too? Instead of the usual grumbling and griping, the sour mood of failure that leaves the air thick with resentment, as if trouble may break out at any point, there is a vaguely party-like atmosphere. They sing about winning 12-0, with the customary nod to sarcasm, but mainly focusing on saluting those who they love.
You can make an argument that Luton have rather fallen into the trap of self-fulfillment. Hear all that aggressive patronising often enough — “The away end through the house! The long stand that holds about 1,000 people! They have players I’ve never heard of!” — and it begins to seep into your pores. Did Luton have it implied to them so often that they were sat at the wrong table that they began to believe it? Maybe.
Luton will miss the Premier League too. This is a town that endures a complex reputation, known as a transport hub, a home of religious extremism and the unwilling de facto hotbed of the English Defence League thanks to links with convicted criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Even aside from those albatrosses, Luton is struggling like every conurbation in a country where services have been starved. More than a quarter of the town’s children live in poverty.
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