Open Thread: the definitive list of ‘celebrity’ Luton fans…

Right, as we’ve got no matches and it is a ‘quiet’ Luton news period, and we’ve got nothing to do other than to watch that hailstorm again for the 100,000th time, I thought I might see if we can’t get the fullest list yet of well known fans of the mighty Hatters.

You might not recall, but back in the not-so-heady days of 2009 I published this article. It drew lots of comments and lots of people adding to the list.

So, in addition to the original ones below I’d like to add:

Alistair Cook – England cricket captain, ex-Bedford Modern and local lad.

Faye Carruthers – mad Hatter and Five Live, ex-talksport and Sky presenter.

Niky Wardley – Actress – been in lots of things, but you may recognise her most from Catherine Tate’s show

Jon Desborough – Sky Sports and ESPN man – I seem to recall he wrote a number of articles on the last page in the programme in the past

So – apart from these, Jon Hegley, Marty Feldman, Charles Bronson, Petey Staniforth, John Earls and the Barron Knights – have I missed anyone?

I suppose you could add Miranda Hart, in the loosest possible terms. Mind you she did say that doing that filming at the club coincided with the lowest point of her life. Luton has that effect on some. Eg Richard Money, Pavel Besta, Gary Brabin etc.

Right then – come on – let’s have some suggestions – the more tenuous the better….

Original list:

Eric Morecambe – yes I started with the obvious and best known one – the famous former director and fan. I believe Eric started coming to football at Luton when he moved to Harpenden and brought his family to matches. Let’s remember when I was a lad Morecambe and Wise were the most successful comedy partnership in the country. Often copied but never bettered. And the funny one of the two used to slip mentions of the Hatters in whenever he could. Great publicity for our club. It is so sad that he never got to see us to lift the Littlewoods Cup. By the way – can someone remind me why we can’t run out to Bring Me Sunshine at home games? I’m sure there must be a reason. We used to I’m sure.

Jamie Redknapp – mmm…strange I hear you say – but Jamie’s Luton pedigree began when a member of his family used to bring him as a nipper. He admitted on telly he was brought up on a diet of Ricky Hill and Brian Stein.

Rob Stringer – who? I hear you say, some of you will know who Rob is because of his former connections to the club, and others because of his connection to the music business (Head of Sony BMG in the US still I think), but I know him because I went to school with him, albeit not quite in the same year. You could have guessed his final career if you gauged the hours he spent in the record shops in town (Earth Records was it?), and at the Friar’s club. We had a mutual musical friend in Mr Pike, a chemistry teacher at the school, who used to let us in the stage door at the back of the club to see the artistes and get a few autographs. Rob was a director of the club for a while in the past (I can’t remember which incarnation of ownership he was connected with) but apparently preferred being a fan to a director and stuck to hiring one of the beach huts instead. Not sure if he still comes, America is a long way to travel from for a home game…

Monty Panesar – easy one this – everyone knows Monty was born and bred (and still lives) in the town and is a Hatter. I’m not sure if he was a season ticket holder or not, but he definitely used to come to games, was at Wembley in April, and famously quipped that he would “buy Luton” if he won the $1m in the Stanford Twenty20 farce. Actually his comment made me wince and rather made light of the ongoing efforts our 2020 were putting in at the time to put the club back on its feet.

Colin Salmon – Came on Soccer AM on 22nd Feb and gave it the big one for Luton, even used JohnStill’s phrase “controlling the controllables” and denied in the face of being provoked by the Cambridge fan hosting the show that we were Mr Moneybags.

Cerys Matthews – the latest addition to the list. Again, a bit tenuous because her boyfriend Steve is a Hatter, and she has been spotted at games. Good luck to her – once you get bitten by the bug…you can’t stop. Looks like a job for Gnakpa and Murray.

Nick Owen – another easy one. If you live in the midlands dear Nick has rarely been off your screens as he co-hosts the Midland Today, but his rise to fame was when he was on the TV-am sofa with Anne Diamond in the eighties and then again on BBC in the nineties. This was when the club, in the doldrums at the time made, a nice gesture of naming a lounge in the main stand after their highest profile fan at the time. Nick has been coming to Kenilworth Road for 50 years and is the definition of lifelong fan. Please note Mr Pinkney. I think Nick was a wonderful choice as Chairman of the club under 2020. High profile, magnificent with the media, passionate about the club and honest – what better choice could there be? I have met him a couple of times and he is a thoroughly pleasant man.

David Pleat Controversially I have added Pleaty. A whole generation of Luton fans will have grown up knowing him only as that bloke who is the summariser on ITV or on the radio, without necessarily making the connection between the voice and the guy who managed our club on two occasions. My first game at Luton coincided with David’s so I have a fondness for his time at the club, but more of that another day. David still lives in Luton and still comes and watches games. You can pick his car out in the club car park, I don’t think I am breaching any confidelity when I tell you the number plate is a subtle P1 EAT.

David James – England’s no1/2/3 keeper is a Hatter – despite blotting his copybook by playing for the allotments club. Apparently he used to wear Luton socks under his Watford ones. Best of luck to the guy. You can’t always choose your employers. Better to be that way around than the other (Rio – it’s not too late to see the light.)

Kevin Nicholls finally I have chosen Nico – another who having played for the club, realised that he had fallen in love with it. I apologise for paraphrasing an excellent comment he made shortly after rejoining us – he said something like: it made perfect sense to come back and play for a club which I will be supporting on the terraces once I hang my boots up.