List of Luton Town F.C. players

For a list of all Luton Town players, major or minor, with a Wikipedia article, see Category:Luton Town F.C. players. For the current Luton Town first-team squad, see Luton Town F.C. § Current squad.

Luton Town Football Club is an English football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The side currently plays in the Championship, the second tier of football in England. Founded in 1885, Luton Town became the first professional team in southern England six years later and joined The Football League in 1897. After leaving the League in 1900 due to financial strife, Luton Town competed in the Southern League until Football League membership was regained 20 years later. After an 89-year period of League membership, the team was relegated to the Conference Premier in 2009 due to a 30-point deduction imposed by the football authorities. Five seasons later, the club won promotion back to The Football League.

Luton Town's first team has competed in numerous nationally contested competitions, and the 50 players judged in 2009 the club's best by Denis O'Donoghue of The Times are listed below. In addition, all players who have appeared 100 times for the club in these competitions are given. Club record holders are also included, regardless of the number of matches they played.

Fred Hawkes holds the record for most league appearances for the club, having played 509 matches between 1901 and 1920. The closest to Hawkes's record is Bob Morton, who appeared 495 times between 1948 and 1964. Including all senior competitions, Morton leads the chart with 562 compared to Hawkes's 549. As of 1 July 2009, the player who has won the most international caps while at the club is Mal Donaghy, who appeared 58 times for Northern Ireland.

The goalscoring record is held by Gordon Turner, who scored 276 goals between 1949 and 1964. Turner's tally of 243 league goals is also a club record. Turner's nearest rival is Andy Rennie, whose 147 league goals, 162 in total, were scored between 1925 and 1934. Joe Payne holds the Luton Town record for the most goals scored in a season, set in 1936–37, with 55 league goals in 39 Third Division South games and 58 in all competitions. Payne also holds the Football League record for most goals in a match, with 10 during a 12–0 victory over Bristol Rovers on 13 April 1936. Turner holds the club record for most goals in a top-flight season, with 33 league goals and 38 overall during 1957–58.

Key

• Players with name in bold currently play for the club.
•   Players with this background and text in bold in the "Nationality" column won full international caps for their country while with the club. If no reliable source has yet been found for the exact number of such caps won, the caps column will be empty and a reference will be supplied for the player having been capped during the relevant period.
•    ¤ Players with this background and symbol in the "Notes" column are club record holders, and have footnotes detailing their achievements.
•    † Players with this background and symbol in the "Club career" column played for Luton for their entire football career.
• Years are the first and last calendar years in which the player appeared in competitive first-team football for the club.
• League appearances and goals comprise those in the Southern Football League, the United League, the Football League and the Conference Premier.
• Total appearances and goals comprise those in the Southern Football League, United League, Football League (including play-offs), Conference Premier, FA Cup, Football League Cup, Associate Members' Cup/Football League Trophy and several now-defunct competitions including the Anglo-Italian Cup, Texaco Cup, Watney Cup and Full Members' Cup.

Notable players

Appearances and goals are for first-team competitive matches only; wartime matches are excluded. Substitute appearances are included. Statistics are correct as of 12 September 2020.

The Times top 50 (2009)

Following Luton Town's relegation from The Football League in April 2009, a list of the 50 best Luton Town players of all-time was compiled by The Times journalist Denis O'Donoghue. The players selected by O'Donoghue are given below.

Bruce Rioch, pictured here in 2008, played for Luton from 1964 to 1969 and later became the first captain of Scotland born in England.

Paul Walsh played for Luton from 1982 until 1984, when he was sold to Liverpool. He is seen here in that club's colours following a 2008 match featuring former players.

Steve Foster, pictured in 2006, played for Luton from 1984 to 1989 and captained the club to its Football League Cup victory of 1987–88.

Mick Harford, pictured in 2009, is regarded as "one of Luton's finest players", and represented the club as both player and manager.

Steve Howard, pictured in 2009, scored 103 goals for the club between 2001 and 2006, giving him the club's sixth-highest goals total.

Chris Coyne played for the club from 2001 to 2008, captaining it from 2006. He is pictured here playing for Australia in 2008.

Name	Nationality	Caps[a]	Position[b]	Club career	League[c] apps	League goals	Total[d] apps	Total goals	Notes
Andy Rennie	Scottish		Forward	1925–34	307	147	335	162
Joe Payne	English	1	Forward	1934–38	72	83	77	87	¤[A]
Hugh Billington	English		Forward	1938–48	87	63	95	70
Bernard Streten	English	1	Goalkeeper	1946–57	276	0	301	0
Syd Owen	English	3	Defender	1947–59	388	3	423	3
Bob Morton	English		Midfielder	1948–64 †	495	48	562	55	¤[B]
Gordon Turner	English		Forward	1949–64	406	243	450	276	¤[C]
Bert Mitchell	English		Midfielder	1951–55	106	41	119	43
Ron Baynham	English	3	Goalkeeper	1952–65	388	0	432	0
Jesse Pye	English		Forward	1952–54	61	32	65	36
George Cummins	Irish	19	Forward	1953–61	184	21	212	30
Billy Bingham	Northern Irish	7	Midfielder	1958–60	97	27	102	33
John O'Rourke	English		Forward	1963–66	84	64	90	66
Bruce Rioch	Scottish		Midfielder	1964–69	149	46	167	51
Graham French	English		Midfielder	1965–73	182	21	202	3
John Moore	Scottish		Defender	1965–73	274	13	306	14
Tony Read	English		Goalkeeper[D]	1965–72	203	12	233	12
Alan Slough	English		Midfielder	1965–73	275	28	312	32
Terry Branston	English		Defender	1967–71	101	9	118	19
Mike Keen	English		Defender	1968–72	144	11	160	11
Brian Lewis	English		Forward	1968–70	45	22	53	25
Malcolm Macdonald	English		Forward	1969–71	88	49	101	58
John Aston	English		Midfielder	1972–78	174	31	201	37
John Faulkner	English		Defender	1972–78	209	6	239	7
Bobby Thomson	English		Defender	1972–76	110	1	135	2
Alan West	English		Midfielder	1973–81	285	16	317	17
Steve Buckley	English		Defender	1974–78	123	9	135	9
Paul Futcher	English		Defender	1974–78	131	1	142	1
Ron Futcher	English		Forward	1974–78	120	40	133	43
Ricky Hill	English	3	Midfielder	1975–89	436	54	507	65
Brian Stein	English	1	Forward	1977–88 1991–92	427	130	496	154
Mal Donaghy	Northern Irish	58	Defender	1978–88 1989–90	415	16	488	21	¤[E]
David Moss	English		Midfielder	1978–85	221	88	245	94
Kirk Stephens	English		Defender	1978–84	227	2	248	2
Raddy Antić	Yugoslavian		Midfielder	1980–84	100	9	108	10
Brian Horton	English		Midfielder	1981–84	118	8	132	10
Paul Walsh	English	5	Forward	1982–84	80	24	89	28	¤[F]
Tim Breacker	English		Defender	1983–90	210	3	262	3
Les Sealey	English		Goalkeeper	1983–90	207	0	259	0
Steve Foster	English		Defender	1984–89	163	11	213	14
Mick Harford	English	2	Forward	1984–90 1991–92	168	69	216	92
David Preece	English		Midfielder	1984–95	336	21	394	27
Marvin Johnson	English		Defender	1987–2002 †	373	7	440	10
Tony Thorpe	English		Forward	1993–98 1998 1999 2002–03	164	70	193	85
Matthew Taylor	English		Defender	1999–2002	129	16	146	17
Steve Howard	Scottish		Forward	2001–06	212	96	228	103
Chris Coyne	Australian		Defender	2001–08	221	14	252	17
Kevin Nicholls	English		Midfielder	2001–06 2008–10	216	30	237	33
Jean-Louis Valois	French		Midfielder	2001–02	34	6	40	6
Curtis Davies	English		Defender	2003–05	56	2	62	2	¤[G]

Other Luton Town centurions and record holders

Players other than those selected by O'Donoghue who either made 100 first-team appearances for Luton Town or hold a club record appear here.

Fred Hawkes, born in Luton and pictured c. 1906, holds the record for most Luton Town league appearances.

Bob Hawkes, pictured in 1908, represented Luton for 19 years and was the team's first international player.

Louis Bookman played 110 times for Luton between 1919 and 1922, also representing Ireland during that time. Here is pictured here while with Ireland in 1914.

Northern Ireland international Danny Wilson scored Luton's second goal in the 1988 League Cup Final and appeared for the club 142 times between 1987 and 1990. He is pictured here in 2008.

Midfielder David Oldfield, seen in 2010, played for Luton from 1986 to 1989 and from 1995 to 1998.

Scott Oakes, a Luton player from 1991 to 1996, pictured in 2010.

Matthew Spring represented Luton 357 times over two spells (1997–2004 and 2007–08), scoring 43 goals. In this 2009 photograph he is seen in Charlton Athletic colours.

Luton-born Kevin Foley played 166 times for his home-town club between 2002 and 2007. He is seen here in 2009 as a Wolverhampton Wanderers player.

Forward Rowan Vine, pictured in 2011, scored 33 goals for Luton between 2005 and 2007.

Keith Keane, seen here in 2011. Born in Luton, he made his first-team debut in 2003 and made 284 appearances for the club across four different leagues before leaving in 2012.

Name	Nationality	Caps[a]	Position[b]	Club career	League[c] apps	League goals	Total[d] apps	Total goals	Notes
Jimmy Durrant	English		Midfielder	1897–1904 1913–14	155	30	177	40
Tom McInnes	Scottish		Forward	1897–1900	93	20	109	29
Harry Williams	English		Defender	1898–1905	144	3	157	3
Bill McCurdy	Scottish		Defender	1899–1901 1905–09	193	0	211	1
Fred Hawkes	English		Midfielder	1899–1920 †	509	22	549	25	¤[H]
Fred White	English		Defender	1900–09 †	237	10	257	11
Bob Hawkes	English	5	Midfielder	1901–20 †	349	40	382	43	¤[F][I]
Herbert Moody	English		Forward	1901–05 1907–12	232	93	247	104
Billy Barnes	English		Forward	1904–07	101	12	107	12
Peter Platt	English		Goalkeeper	1905–09	130	0	139	0
Abe Jones	English		Defender	1906–10	136	12	141	12
Harry Stansfield	English		Midfielder	1908–12	135	24	144	24
Syd Hoar	English		Midfielder	1913–15 1919–25	221	36	237	39
Ernie Simms	English	1	Forward	1913–15 1916–22	160	109	178	122
Louis Bookman	Irish	3	Midfielder	1919–22	101	8	110	9
Arthur Roe	English		Midfielder	1919–25	117	1	124	1
George Butcher	English		Midfielder	1920–25	121	23	129	25
George Lennon	Scottish		Defender	1920–23	107	0	115	0
Alf Tirrell	English		Defender	1920–24	122	4	130	5
Jimmy Walker	Scottish		Defender	1920–26	133	4	138	4
Rob Millar	Scottish		Defender	1920–30	205	4	213	4
Bob Graham	Scottish		Defender	1921–29	164	5	175	5
Bill Jennings	English		Defender	1922–26	114	2	117	2
Syd Reid	Welsh		Forward	1922–28	134	70	143	81
George Dennis	English		Forward	1924–29	139	41	150	44
David Richards	English		Defender	1925–31	147	0	152	0
John Black	Scottish		Defender	1926–30	91	4	101	4
Charles Fraser	English		Defender	1926–35 †	246	4	270	4
Henry Kingham	English		Defender	1926–37	250	0	275	0
Jimmy Yardley	English		Forward	1926–32	173	78	188	94
Harry Woods	English		Forward	1926–32	97	22	105	13
George Harford	English		Goalkeeper	1929–34	99	0	107	0
Hugh McGinnigle	Scottish		Defender	1930–37	159	2	177	3
Fred Kean	English		Defender	1931–35	117	5	141	6
Tom Mackey	English		Defender	1932–38	183	2	208	2
George Martin	Scottish		Midfielder	1933–37	98	27	105	29
Joe Coen	Scottish		Goalkeeper	1934–39	142	0	158	0
Fred Roberts	English		Forward	1934–45	180	38	198	45
Tom Smith	English		Defender	1934–39	157	1	172	1
George Stephenson	English		Forward	1934–39	192	58	212	69
Bill Fellowes	English		Defender	1935–38	110	3	124	3
John Finlayson	Scottish		Defender	1935–39	154	9	168	9
Jack Nelson	English		Defender	1935–39	134	1	148	1
Harry Cooke	English		Defender	1946–53	210	4	228	4
Doug Gardiner	English		Defender	1946–51	121	1	134	1
Wally Shanks	English		Defender	1946–57	264	6	275	6
Billy Waugh	Scottish		Midfielder	1946–50	135	9	147	12
Tom Aherne	/ Irish[J]	1 / 13[J]	Defender	1948–57	267	0	288	0
George Stobbart	English		Forward	1949–52	107	30	116	30
Charlie Watkins	Scottish		Defender	1949–55	218	16	239	20
Les Jones	Welsh		Defender	1950–58	98	1	110	1
Jim Pemberton	English		Defender	1950–58	92	8	100	10
Mick Cullen	Scottish	1	Forward	1951–58	112	16	125	19
Roy Davies	South African		Midfielder	1951–57	150	24	171	27
Seamus Dunne	Irish	15	Defender	1951–61	301	0	323	0
Jimmy Adam	Scottish		Midfielder	1953–59	137	22	140	24
John Groves	English		Defender	1953–63	218	16	251	18
Terry Kelly	English		Defender	1954–63	136	1	150	1
Allan Brown	Scottish		Forward	1956–61	151	51	172	59
Brendan McNally	Irish	3	Defender	1956–63	134	3	164	3
Ken Hawkes	English		Defender	1957–61	90	1	102	1
Dave Pacey	English		Defender	1957–65	246	16	277	19
John Bramwell	English		Defender	1960–65	187	1	206	2
Harry Walden	English		Midfielder	1960–64	96	11	106	12
Fred Jardine	Scottish		Defender	1961–70	220	9	243	10
Tommy McKechnie	Scottish		Forward	1961–66	131	31	146	34
Gordon Riddick	English		Midfielder	1962–67	102	16	114	17
Ray Whittaker	English		Midfielder	1963–69	170	40	188	45
Keith Allen	English		Forward	1966–73	137	36	154	43
Max Dougan	Scottish		Defender	1966–70	118	0	132	0
John Ryan	English		Midfielder	1970–76	266	10	304	11
Peter Anderson	English		Midfielder	1970–76	181	34	208	40
Keith Barber	English		Goalkeeper	1970–77	142	0	158	0
Jimmy Ryan	Scottish		Midfielder	1970–77	184	21	214	25
Alan Garner	English		Defender	1971–75	88	3	112	4
Don Shanks	English		Defender	1971–75	90	2	110	5
Paul Price	Welsh	1	Defender	1972–81	207	8	230	8
Jimmy Husband	English		Forward	1973–78	143	44	162	48
Lil Fuccillo	English		Midfielder	1974–83	160	24	180	27
Mark Aizlewood	Welsh		Defender	1978–82	98	3	110	4
Jake Findlay	Scottish		Goalkeeper	1978–85	167	0	187	0
Wayne Turner	English		Midfielder	1978–85	84	2	102	3
Mitchell Thomas	English		Defender	1982–86 1993–99	292	5	336	5
Ashley Grimes	Irish	3	Midfielder	1984–89	87	3	115	4
Peter Nicholas	Welsh	15	Midfielder	1984–87	102	1	116	1
Richard Harvey	English		Defender	1986–98	162	4	191	5
Darron McDonough	English		Midfielder	1986–92	105	5	129	7
Kingsley Black	Northern Irish	16	Midfielder	1987–92	127	26	157	30
Julian James	English		Defender	1987–98	282	13	335	14
David Oldfield	English		Midfielder	1987–89 1995–98	146	22	172	33
Danny Wilson	Northern Irish	15	Midfielder	1987–90	110	24	142	30
Alec Chamberlain	English		Goalkeeper	1988–93	138	0	158	0
John Dreyer	English		Defender	1988–94	214	13	249	15
Lars Elstrup	Danish	6	Forward	1989–91	60	19	70	27	¤[K]
Ceri Hughes	Welsh	6	Midfielder	1989–97	175	17	206	20
Paul Telfer	Scottish		Midfielder	1990–95	144	19	165	22
Phil Gray	Northern Irish	5	Forward	1991–93 1997–2000	140	43	161	53
Des Linton	English		Defender	1991–97	83	1	104	1
Scott Oakes	English		Midfielder	1991–96	173	27	200	34
Trevor Peake	English		Defender	1991–98	179	0	202	0
Paul McLaren	Scottish		Midfielder	1993–2001	167	4	202	6
Juergen Sommer	American	3	Goalkeeper	1993–95	82	0	103	0
Kelvin Davis	English		Goalkeeper	1994–99	91	0	105	0
Dwight Marshall	English		Forward	1994–99	128	28	156	39
Gary Waddock	Irish		Midfielder	1994–98	153	3	172	3
Graham Alexander	Scottish		Midfielder	1995–99	150	15	180	17
Steve Davis	English		Defender	1995–99	138	21	175	27
Stuart Douglas	English		Forward	1995–2002	146	18	173	23
Ian Feuer	American		Goalkeeper	1995–98	85	0	100	0
Andrew Fotiadis	English		Forward	1996–2003	123	18	147	20
Matthew Spring	English		Midfielder	1997–2004 2007–08	308	36	357	43
Liam George	Irish		Forward	1997–2002	102	20	124	24
Alan White	English		Defender	1997–2000 2009–10	99	4	115	4
Emmerson Boyce	English		Defender	1998–2004	186	8	212	9
Peter Holmes	English		Midfielder	2000–07	105	11	127	12
Ahmet Brković	Croatian		Midfielder	2001–08	194	31	223	38
Russell Perrett	English		Defender	2001–07	99	9	108	9
Sol Davis	English		Defender	2002–09	199	3	229	3
Kevin Foley	Irish		Defender	2002–07	151	3	166	5
Steve Robinson	Northern Irish	7	Midfielder	2002–08	185	9	211	12
Dean Brill	English		Goalkeeper	2003–09 2012–13	88	0	109	0
Marlon Beresford	English		Goalkeeper	2003–04 2004–08	116	0	132	0
Keith Keane	Irish		Midfielder	2003–12	237	7	284	8
Enoch Showunmi	Nigerian		Forward	2003–06	102	14	114	16
Rowan Vine	English		Forward	2004–07	112	31	121	33
Dean Morgan	English		Forward	2005–08	88	11	101	12
Jake Howells	Welsh		Midfielder	2008–16	273	29	334	31
Claude Gnakpa	French		Midfielder	2008–11	105	22	134	27
George Pilkington	English		Defender	2008–12	140	11	169	12
Mark Tyler	English		Goalkeeper	2009–16	257	0	297	0
Alex Lawless	Welsh		Midfielder	2010–16	169	18	203	22
Andre Gray	English		Forward	2012–14	97	52	111	57
Jonathan Smith	English		Midfielder	2012–17	149	10	176	11
Steve McNulty	English		Defender	2013–16	117	2	125	2
Scott Griffiths	English		Defender	2013–16	105	3	115	3
Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu	English		Midfielder	2013 2014–	219	17	254	17
Cameron McGeehan	Northern Irish		Midfielder	2014 2015–17	98	28	106	31
Elliot Lee	English		Forward	2015 2017–	93	26	109	29
Scott Cuthbert	Scottish		Defender	2015–18	97	3	111	4
Dan Potts	English		Defender	2015–	136	8	150	10
Olly Lee	English		Midfielder	2015–18	105	10	123	11
Alan Sheehan	Irish		Defender	2016–20	117	6	135	9
Glen Rea	Irish		Defender	2016–	133	4	154	5
James Justin	English		Defender	2016–19	90	6	114	6
Danny Hylton	English		Forward	2016–	115	50	130	58
James Collins	Irish	4	Forward	2017–	133	59	141	63
Andrew Shinnie	Scottish		Midfielder	2017–	90	6	104	10
Harry Cornick	English		Forward	2017–	115	20	128	22

Notes

a ^{1 2} Number of international caps won while at the club sourced to Hayes, Completely Top Hatters! except where otherwise noted.

b ^{1 2} For a full description of positions see Football Positions.

c ^{1 2} Southern Football League and United League appearances and goals sourced to Collings, The Luton Town Story 1885–1985.
Football League appearances and goals for players whose career ended up to and including 1997 sourced to Bailey, The Definitive Luton Town F.C.. This list excludes games played in the abandoned 1939–40 season.
League appearances and goals for players whose career ended post-1997 sourced to Soccerbase.

d ^{1 2} Other appearances and goals sourced to Bailey, The Definitive Luton Town F.C. unless the player's career ended post-1997, in which case they are sourced to Soccerbase.

Footnotes

A. ^ Joe Payne holds the club record for most league goals in a season (55 in 1936–37). He also holds the Football League record for most goals in a match – 10 against Bristol Rovers on 13 April 1936.

B. ^ Bob Morton holds the records for most Luton Town appearances in both the Football League (495) and in all competitions (562).

C. ^ Gordon Turner holds the records for most Luton Town goals scored in both the league (243) and in all competitions (276).

D. ^ Tony Read was unusually utilised as both a goalkeeper and as a forward – he is listed here as a goalkeeper as he appeared more often in that position.

E. ^ Mal Donaghy holds the club record for most international appearances while with the club, with 58 of his 91 for Northern Ireland coming while he was at Kenilworth Road.

F. ^{a b} With five England caps, Paul Walsh shares the record for most England appearances by a Luton Town player with Bob Hawkes.

G. ^ Curtis Davies became Luton Town's most expensive sale when he was sold to West Bromwich Albion for £3,000,000 on 31 August 2006.

H. ^ Fred Hawkes holds the records for most league appearances for Luton Town, with 509.

I. ^ Bob Hawkes became the first Luton Town player to be capped by any country when he appeared for England against Ireland on 16 February 1907.

J. ^ While a Luton Town player, the dual Irish international Tom Aherne made one appearance for the Irish Football Association-controlled all-Ireland team and 13 for the Football Association of Ireland-affiliated Ireland team.

K. ^ Lars Elstrup became Luton Town's most expensive signing ever when the club paid £850,000 to buy him from Odense Boldklub on 17 August 1989.

References

Bibliography

• Bailey, Steve (December 1997). The Definitive Luton Town F.C. Soccerdata. ISBN 1-899468-10-2.
• Collings, Timothy (1985). The Luton Town Story 1885–1985. Luton Town F.C. ISBN 0-951067-90-7.
• Hayes, Dean P. (November 2002). Completely Top Hatters!. The Book Castle. ISBN 1-903747-27-9.

Notes