An Irrational Comeback of Luton
Wrexham’s return to the Football League after 15 years was one of the stories of the football season, but in Luton, where the airport is situated where I first set my foot on British soil, “an even more remarkable script has been written,” as the BBC reports: Luton Town’s Premier League promotion.
Having last been in English football’s top flight in 1992, the year the Premier League began, Luton have waited 31 years to take their place at the top table. As recently as 2014, the “Hatters” were in the National League – the fifth tier of English football. They had fallen out of the EFL in 2009 amid a financial meltdown.
Less than 10 years on, they are back in the English top flight. Following a 1-1 draw after extra time in the Championship play-off final, Luton won 6-5 in the penalty shoot-out over Coventry City.
Both goals in the game came after Luton lost their captain Tom Lockyer early on in the eight minute after he collapsed on the pitch, and the defender was taken to hospital where the club have confirmed he is “responsive and talking” to his family. Despite this adversity, Luton scored first and went ahead through Jordan Clark, but their half time lead was cancelled out by Coventry’s Brazilian midfielder Gustavo Hamer in the second half.
Luton Town goalscorer Jordan Clark said boss Rob Edwards had told them to win the Championship play-off final for Tom Lockyer after the defender collapsed in the opening stages of the match. Speaking soon after victory was secured, Edwards told BBC Three Counties Radio he was “only thinking about Lockyer”. He later told Sky Sports: “I just felt emotional. I feel for ‘Locks’, who has been our best player this year.”
In the shoot-out all of the five regular penalties and Luton’s sixth were converted until Coventry’s Fankaty Dabo blasted the 12th penalty kick of the shootout over the crossbar to send the Hatters to the Premier League for the first time.
Dan Potts wore the captain’s armband as he scored Luton’s sixth penalty.
Hatters captain Tom Lockyer, 28, was pictured celebrating in his bed after his team-mates had won the shootout, and they held up his shirt in their trophy celebrations at Wembley.
Luton Town is the first side to go all the way from the top tier to non-league and back. Their victory at Wembley completed a remarkable achievement for Luton boss Rob Edwards, who began this season as manager of the Hatters’ fierce local rivals Watford.
Just a year on from managing Forest Green to the League Two title, Edwards won his second successive promotion. He left Forest Green to take on the Watford job at the end of last season, but was then sacked in late September. He then returned to management in November when Nathan Jones walked out on Luton for a second time – and Edwards has now masterminded the completion of one of football’s great journeys.
Luton Town’s cosy and compact Kenilworth Road with a capacity of just a little more than 10,000 in the densely populated Bury Park area of the town is a throwback to a bygone era of English stadiums. Next season it will play host to some of the biggest names and teams in world football.
Supporters file into one side of the Oak Road Stand through what must be the most unconventional entrance in the land, with turnstiles sandwiched between a long row of terraced housing.
After clicking and clunking through the barriers, they are guided to a tight alleyway before ascending metal stairways that have the feel of being in the gardens of the adjoining homes.
Sparsely spread sheets of corrugated metal provide limited privacy for properties either side of the away entrance at Kenilworth Road (above).
Inside the ground, facilities are basic with limited legroom in the seats. Maybe that explains the title of Robert Banks’ s brilliant book about the ups and downs of a West Ham supporter (below).
Luton have already planned to build a new stadium at the site of an old power staton, where all should be different but next season will be played at Kenilworth Road which has been their home since 1905.
Luton’s biggest success was a 3-2 win over Arsenal in the League Cup final 1988. They also won the 2008/09 EFL Trophy.
The club’s nickname, “the Hatters”, reflects Luton’s historical connection with the hat making trade, which has been prominent there since the 17th century. The nickname was originally a variant on the now rarely seen straw-plaiters. Supporters of the club are also called Hatters. By this way there is a historical connection to Rapid, which was founded by the workers of a hat factory in Vienna in 1897 as so-called “1. Wiener Arbeiter-Fußball-Club” and renamed “Sportclub Rapid” on 8 January 1899.
Luton Town was founded more than a decade earlier in 1885. The Hatters are associated with two very different colour schemes—white and black (first permanently adopted in 1920), and orange, navy and white (first used in 1973, and worn by the team as of the 2015–16 season).
Dusel-Tuchel
Borussia Dortmund vergeigt den Titel zu Hause mit einem 2:2 (0:2) gegen Mainz, die Bayern gewinnen 2:1 in Köln und sind doch wieder deutscher Meister. Zum elften Mal hintereinander.
Kurzfristig, nachdem Ex-Rapidler Dejan Ljubicic mit einem Elfmeter für den 1. FC Köln zum 1:1 ausgeglichen hatte, war Borussia, das zu diesem Zeitpunkt noch 1:2 zurücklag, in der Tabelle vorne. Und hätte Ex-Hammer Sebastien Haller bei 0:1 in Hälfte 1 – ebenfalls per Elfmeter – für Dortmund ausgleichen können, wäre vielleicht alles anders gekommen, aber der Franzose vergab. Stattdessen hatte der Wiener Karim Onisiwo zum zwischenzeitlichen 2:0 für Mainz getroffen. Als Jamal Musiala für den FC Bayern in der 89. Minute das 2:1 gegen Köln erzielte, hätte Dortmund wieder gewinnen müssen!
Da in der Nachspielzeit aber nur mehr das 2:2 gelang, hat Tuchel ordentlich Dusel: mit viel Krampf und Glück schafft Thomas Tuchel, der Julian Nagelsmann erst Ende März ersetzt hat, nach dem Aus in Champions League und DFB Pokal doch noch den Meistertitel mit dem FCB. Bei Punktegleichheit entscheidet eben das Torverhältnis…
Absteigen müssen Hertha BSC Berlin und Schalke 04, der VfB Stuttgart muss – wieder einmal – in die Relegation gegen den Dritten der 2. Bundesliga. Ob das Heidenheim oder der HSV ist, entscheidet sich am Sonntag im Finish der 2. Bundesliga, in der Meister Darmstadt als erster Aufsteiger schon feststeht.
Fiorentina verliert Finale
Das italienische Cupfinale am vergangenen Mittwoch – die erste Chance auf einen Cupsieg für die Fiorentina, die am 7. Juni in Prag Gegner von West Ham Utd im UEFA Europa Conference League Endspiel sein wird – konnten die Violetten aus Florenz nicht nützen. Inter Mailand gewann die Coppa Italia trotz raschem Rückstand (Argentinier Nicolas González traf schon in der 3. Minute für “La Viola“) mit 2:1 durch zwei Tore des Argentiniers Lautaro Martínez.
Auch Coppa Italia-Sieger Inter hat ubrigens noch ein weiteres Endspiel vor sich, das Champions League Finale am 10. Juni gegen Manchester City, welches seinerseits ebenfalls ein doppeltes Cupfinale in dieser Saison hat: Am 2. Juni geht es für die “Citizens”, die auch bereits als Meister der englischen Premier League feststehen, im FA Cupfinale in Wembley gegen den Stadtrivalen Manchester United.
Während also im Champions League Finale zwei Teams aufeinandertreffen werden, die heuer bereits einen und im Fall von ManCity vielleicht dann schon zwei Titel gewonnen haben, sodass man auf‘s Double oder gar Triple losgehen kann, geht es in der Conference League in Prag um “Alles oder nichts”.
West Ham und der AC Florenz können sich nur mit einem Sieg im Conference League Finale für die Europa League 2023/24 qualifizieren, während sie aufgrund ihrer Ligaplatzierungen beide einen Europacup-Startplatz verpassen werden.
Fiorentina ist aktuell Elfter der Serie A und West Ham ist derzeit Vierzehnter.
Die Hammers könnten sich in der letzten Premier League-Runde am Sonntag um ein oder zwei Plätze verbessern, wenn man auswärts gegen Abstiegskandidat Leicester gewinnt und die Wolves gegen Arsenal höchstens einen Punkt holen. Verlieren die Wolves, würde für Platz 13 ein Remis genügen. Um noch auf den 12. Platz vorzustoßen und Chelsea zu überholen, würde es einen klaren Sieg der Hammers und eine Niederlage der Blues im Heimspiel gegen Newcastle Utd brauchen. Jeder Premier-League-Platz bringt ein Preisgeld von rund 2 Millionen Pfund. Sollte West Ham sich vom 14. auf den 12. Platz verbessern, würde das den Hammers 94 statt 90 Mio Pfund einbringen.
Fiorentina hat noch zwei Meisterschaftsspiele vor dem Finale in Prag: gegen AS Roma und Sassuolo. Eine Conference League-Qualifikation über die Liga ist aber nicht mehr möglich. Das Team von Trainer Vincenzo Italiano und seinen Stürmern Luka Jovic, Arthur Cabral und Nicolas González müsste dazu Siebenter werden (siehe Europa-5-Jahreswertung), doch ist dieser Rang außer Reichweite.
“One more year!?”
In every game for some time now the Hammers supporters have chanted a song with the words “One more year”, directed at West Ham’s captain Declan Rice. 24-year-old Declan who has come through the youth ranks at West Ham is supposed to leave the club to join an outfit that plays Champions League football. He is without doubt one of the best holding midfield players in Europe.
Oliver Holt reports in the Daily Mail that Rice has a very good relationship with the fan base, but that it is inevitable that he will leave West Ham United this summer.
And it seems that generous West Ham fans will let Declan Rice leave with their blessing because of their understanding of the modern game and Rice’s desire to play on a higher level, Holt writes.
In an interview during the World Cup in Qatar, when asked about his future, Rice said: “You only get one career and at the end you want to look back at what you’ve won and the biggest games that you’ve played in.”
Declan Rice is one year before the end of his contract, with West Ham having the option to extend it by a further 12 months until 2025. The player has turned down three contract offers from West Ham. He would have become West Ham’s highest paid player in history if he accepted their most recent offer.
Despite the very likely transfer the captain is giving his all for the club in every game and is eager to win the Conference League with the Hammers to be able to leave on a high. The final on 6 June in Prague against Fiorentina is sure to be for everyone at West Ham one of “the biggest games you’ve played in” so far.
For RapidHammer who was at London Stadium when Declan Rice scored his first Premier League goal for West Ham in January 2019 against Arsenal, this is the second cup final this year with Rapid Wien already having played in the Austrian Cup final against Sturm Graz. The “Greens” unfortunately lost their final in Klagenfurt, but here’s hoping that the “Irons of steel” will do better in Prague.
▶️ West Ham v Arsenal 1-0 (January 2019)
Come on you Irons!
Timothy Keller 1950-2023
“There is no downside for me in leaving, not the slightest” (Timothy Keller)
Video tribute ▶️ youtu.be/3-pFsQnYFXY
One of the most inspiring Christian authors of our time, pastor and founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York and its Church Planting Center, died today, 19 May 2023, trusting in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection, more than three years after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
His books are a fountain of inspiration, food for thought and for getting deeper knowledge of the gospel and Christ’s love for us.
Out of his belief of the truth of God’s word in our culture and our days he explained the gospel in a modern and winsome way in his books, for example “Warum Gott?” (“The Reason for God – Belief in an age of scepticism”).
Timothy Keller who was dubbed “the C.S. Lewis of the 21st century” will never be forgotten. May he rest in peace and live in the eternal presence of our God.
▶️ article from Christianity Today
▶️ article from The Gospel Coalition (TGC)
TGC interim president Sandy Willson spoke on Timothy Keller’s passing away:
“Today the Christian world is in mourning, for one of our great leaders has departed this life. Tim Keller was a once-in-a-century sort of person. There is no pastor I know, in the last 100 years, who did what Tim Keller did to take the Reformed faith to the street, to the church, and to the academy. He will be remembered among this generation’s most effective Christian pastors, apologists, and evangelists. Tim not only made the most articulate arguments for the Christian faith; he also demonstrated our faith with his humble and gracious spirit and his relentless passion to see the lost come to know the Lord he so loved. He planted the most amazing church New York City may ever have seen, he planted thousands of other churches globally through Redeemer City to City, he co-founded The Gospel Coalition, and he inspired an entire generation to love and serve the Lord. We all grieve for Kathy and the dear Keller family. And we all rejoice for the unmitigated delight that is now Tim’s, as he looks upon the beautiful face of his Savior, whom he has faithfully served.”
Finale ! Praha !
West Ham through to first major European final for 47 years
What a night! First European final in 47 years and first cup final since 2006! Now let’s go and win it in Prague!
Match details
AZ Alkmaar (4-2-3-1): Ryan 5; Sugawara 5, Beukema 6, Hatzidiakos 6, Kerkez 6 (M de Wit 85); Reijnders 6, Clasie 6; Van Brederode 5 (Lahdo 78), Mijnans 6 (D de Wit 70), Karlsson 5 (Meerdink 85); Pavlidis 5.
Subs: Verhulst (g), Deen (g), Mihailovic, Bazoer, Vanheusden, Buurmeester, Goes.
West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Areola 7; Kehrer 7, Zouma 7, Aguerd 8, Cresswell 7; Soucek 6, Rice 7; Bowen 6, Paqueta 7 (Downes 90+5), Benrahma 5 (Fornals 74); Antonio 6 (Ings 85).
Subs: Fabianski (g), Anang (g), Johnson, Coufal, Lanzini, Cornet, Ogbonna, Palmieri, mMubama.
Booked: Soucek, Kehrer.
Referee: Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia).
Tonight’s the Night …
… for the next step further to European glory.
Andy Carroll in Amsterdam on his way to the semifinal ▶️ https://fb.watch/kEgixehUPf/ and ⬇️ in the stadium at Alkmaar
Second Leg Looming
On Thursday it’s now or never for West Ham United. The Hammers have waited 47 years to play in a European final once again, and it’s 58 years since they won the European Cup Winners‘ Cup in 1965. Leading 2-1 from the first leg of the Conference League semifinal against AZ Alkmaar, the tie is in West Ham’s control. RapidHammer is looking back to a similar situation twelve years ago when the Hammers had also won the first leg of a semifinal tie 2-1 and were about to make it to a Cup final. But with West Ham you never know…
Hammers Social Club next to Upton Park (2011)
The games I am timidly looking back to are not last year’s Europa League semifinal matches but a domestic two legged semifinal in 2011, because last season in the Europa League West Ham were trailing a 1-2 deficit from the first leg. They also lost the second leg away to Eintracht Frankfurt and could not get to the final, contrary to the Cup Winners’ Cup of 1975/76, when West Ham overcame Frankfurt at semifinal stage. The opportunity was wasted last year, would the Hammers get another chance to progress to a Cup final any time soon or would they have to wait again for years?
As it turned out in this strangest of seasons in which West Ham like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide have been around the Premier League’s relegation spots much too long but are unbeaten in all of their European games (10 W 1 D), the wait was only 12 months, not an other eleven or twelve or even 47 years. And though it’s only the less prestigious Conference League this time, being successful on the second attempt one year later would be a perfect script.
It isn’t an unusual proceeding in football that a team that has failed on their first trying, does win the competition in the next year! There are fringe benefits of failure, defeat can teach you a lesson and make you stronger. Remember Bayern Munich that lost their „Finale dahoam“ and were beaten on penalties by Chelsea in 2012, but won the Champions League the next season with a 2-1 over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley. I‘m sure some more examples will come to your mind…
Reaching a semifinal the second year running gives West Ham the chance to make amends for last year‘s defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt and also for this season’s disappointing Premier League campaign.
The Telegraph described the first leg of the semifinal against AZ Alkmaar, which West Ham won 2-1 after being 0-1 down at halftime, as “a night of angst and drama in east London”, but in contrast to last year when the first leg was lost 1-2, this semifinal tie is in West Ham’s control, and deservedly so. The Hammers haven’t lost any of their European games this season and now a draw at Alkmaar would be enough to reach the final.
As said above, it is 47 years since the last final which West Ham reached in continental competition when the Hammers played Anderlecht in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1976.
In the domestic cups, the last final in which West Ham played was the FA Cup Final in 2006 which the Hammers reached by beating Middlesbrough in the semifinal at Villa Park with the only goal scored by Marlon Harewood. The final (which was not played at Wembley, but in the Millennium Stadium at Cardiff) was lost on penalties against Liverpool after a dramatic 3-3 draw a.e.t. The last silverware won by the Hammers was the FA Cup 1980 when they beat Arsenal 1-0 thanks to Trevor Brookings’s famous header.
The latest chance to reach a domestic cup final came in 2011 with the League Cup semi when West Ham played against Birmingham. Back in 2011, the situation was not unalike the current one as the Irons were struggling in the Premier League, but had excelled in their cup ties so far, beating Manchester Utd 4-0 in the quarter-final at Upton Park.
After this pleasant result I decided to travel to east London in January 2011 to watch the first leg of the semifinal tie against the Blues at Upton Park. I witnessed a narrow 2-1 win under the lights, and I remember very well celebrating this win and the goals by Mark Noble and Carlton Cole with my friends from the the then popular website “Football United” at the “Hammers Social Club” (WHU Supporters Club) next door to the Boleyn Ground. But I also remember the supporter sitting next to me in the ground saying that he feared a one-goal-lead would not be enough…
Twelve years later the score from the first leg in the Conference League is the same as the one from January 11th, 2011. And what happened two weeks later when the away tie was played at St Andrew’s in Birmingham?
West Ham played well in the first half and looked on course for victory when Carlton Cole’s spectacular strike gave them an interval lead and extended their advantage in the tie. But in the second half the Hammers crumbled, ex-Hammer Lee Bowyer levelled the game on the night scoring in the 59th minute, and Roger Johnson’s powerful header 11 minutes from the end of normal time restored equality to the semifinal. The tie went to extra time, and only four minutes into the extra period Birmingham’s Craig Gardner who had already struck the woodwork twice, was the hero at St Andrew’s with another low drive that keeper Rob Green was powerless to prevent going in. The Hammers couldn’t score within extra time and eventually lost 1-3, wasting their advantage from the first leg and their lead at the interval of the second game.
Let’s hope that twelve years later history will not repeat itself. AZ Alkmaar is said to be a strong team especially at home, but the boys of Moyes have been looking to write their own chapter in recent years and, after falling short at this stage of the Europa League last season, they will hopefully play with a visible determination to go one further, at least, this time around and not get overwhelmed by the occasion.
Moyes had rested Paquetá, Rice, Zouma, Antonio and other important players in this weekend’s game against Brentford, making nine chances from Thursday’s European cup game. The match against Brentford was always going to be a tough contest against a Bees side which has done very well this season. Brentford had already beaten the Hammers at their ground, and in the reverse fixture it soon was crystal clear that, while West Ham’s team of fringe players were struggling, the west London side was able to cope with the absence of their best striker Ivan Toney and would gain maximum points that season against their East-end opponents.
For West Ham though the defeat scarcely seemed to matter. Indeed, perhaps the most concerning aspect of West Ham’s afternoon came with news that Michail Antonio has a calf injury, seemingly making him a major doubt for next Thursday’s clash with AZ Alkmaar.
Paquetá and his fellow Hammers will have to play like they did in this clip below last Thursday, and David Moyes has to get his match plan right and resist the temptation to sit back and just go for a draw.
Regarding the Premier League, West Ham still is not mathematically safe from relegation threats. With two games to go Southampton is already relegated, but it’s not entirely impossible that Leeds United sitting currently in 18th (with Sam Allardyce as their third manager this season in a desperate attempt to safe them from relegation) as well as 19th ranked Leicester City with a game in hand could leapfrog the Hammers if they beat them in the remaining games in which the Hammers play both Leeds and Leicester.
However the odds aren’t good for Leicester having to play Liverpool and Newcastle next. Before they host West Ham in their last game of the season, the Blues could already be relegated.
I think it is more likely that Leeds avoid the drop. Apart of West Ham away next Sunday, Big Sam’s team has to play Tottenham a week later. Spurs aren’t doing well in the second half of the season and after Antonio Conte’s departure they are likely to miss out on securing a European spot. With Nottingham Forest and Everton still in Leicester’s and Leeds’s reach the relegation battle is probably not going to be decided before the last round of the season.
Well, when we are going into West Ham’s last two Premier League games of 2022/23, we will already know if the Hammers are able to play a third match before the season ends. This would require defending their lead from the first semifinal leg next Thursday. Let’s hope that on Thursday – much contrary to their tie against Birmingham in 2011 when a 2-1 was not enough to reach the final of the League Cup – the Hammers will rise to the occasion and keep their unbeaten record in all the continental games of this season. Then the last game of the season would not be Leicester away, but the Conference League final in Prague.
Come on you Irons!
Hammers Social Club after the demolition of the Boleyn Ground (2017)
An other version of this article has been posted on ▶️West Ham Till I Die: Now or never for West Ham
West Ham lead!
West Ham have come from behind to lead AZ Alkmaar 2-1 after the first leg of the Conference League semifinal.
Goals: Reijnders; Benrahma (pen), Antonio.
Come on you Irons!
EXTRA TIME 
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