Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football
club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club
currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference
National, for the second consecutive season during the 2010–11 season. Formed in
1885, it was the first club in southern England to turn professional, making
payments to players as early as 1890 and turning fully professional a year
later. It did not reach the top division of English football until 1955–56, and
did not reach a major final until the 1959 FA Cup Final. Relegated from the top
division in 1959–60, the team was demoted twice more in the following five
years, reaching the Fourth Division for the 1965–66 season, before being
promoted back to the top level by 1974–75. Luton Town's most recent successful
period began in 1981–82, when the club won the Second Division and was promoted
to the First Division. Winning the League Cup in 1987–88 with a 3–2 win over
Arsenal, Luton remained a First Division club until relegation in 1991–92
signalled the end of major success. More recently, financial difficulties have
caused the club to fall, in just three years, from the second tier of English
football to the fifth, ending its 89-year spell as a member of The Football
League.
