Brave Luton Town transfer call landed Hatters “godsend” £600k payment and more: View.
Luton Town have enjoyed a fantastic rise through the leagues over the last decade.
The late 2000s saw Luton Town suffer an unimaginable three consecutive relegations, meaning they had fallen from the Championship straight down to non-league. The club was in turmoil and found themselves playing their football in the Conference for the first time in their history.
Luton were putting up good performances in the Conference but it did take them a little while to fight their way back out of the division.
Eventually, the 2013/14 campaign saw the Hatters finish as champions on a whopping 101 points, having won 30 of their 46 league games.
Their rise that followed has been well documented, as within nine years, the club had made it from non-league to the Premier League – a real fairytale story.
Despite reaching the bright lights of the top flight and growing immensely as a club, Luton Town fans will look back on their non-league days with pride as they created some wonderful moments and had some memorable players on their books.
Andre Gray, in particular, is one player from their non-league days that they will look back on fondly, as his goalscoring record was simply sublime.
Andre Gray’s time at Luton Town
Kenilworth Road general view
The forward started his career at Shrewsbury Town but was released as a youngster after making just five appearances and he found himself in non-league, playing for Hinckley United.
Gray scored a number of goals for Hinckley and was soon picked up by Luton Town in March 2012, initially on loan, before the deal was made permanent in the summer, for a fee of just £30k.
He only spent two full seasons with the Hatters, but in that time became a fan favourite, and scored many goals. Over the course of two years, Gray bagged a whopping 55 goals in all competitions and was the club’s top scorer in both seasons.
Andre Gray’s Conference stats for Luton Town, as per transfermarkt
His spell culminated in the 2013/14 Conference title win; something that Luton had been trying to achieve for the last five years. Gray’s goals certainly got the Hatters over the line and paved the way for their dramatic rise through the leagues.
Luton earned a huge profit on Andre Gray
Collage Maker-05-Sep-2023-01-23-PM-4229
Gray will not only be remembered by Luton for his goals and performances, but also for the amount of money that they earned from selling him.
As expected, following the Hatters’ promotion from non-league, the striker was the subject of interest from the Championship as Brentford came calling. The Bees paid Luton an initial fee of £600k, which is a huge increase from the £30k that they paid for him back in 2012.
Prior to signing Gray, Luton had endured a number of issues off the pitch regarding finances, so the transfer of the forward was described as a “godsend” by the chief executive Gary Sweet.
Gray went on to make a name for himself in the Championship and the Premier League, scoring goals for Brentford, Burnley, Watford, and QPR.
He recently signed for Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth Argyle returning to the English game after spells in Greece and Saudi Arabia.
Gray’s deal only runs until January, which means the forward will need to earn an extension if he is return to Kenilworth Road in February to face his former employers.
