The Forgotten Men - A Luton Town Story
In this post, I am going to talk about the players that Luton Town had in their ranks during their non-league era. (Yes, it did happen)
The five years between 2009-2013 were awful for Luton Town supporters! Two play-off final heartbreaks, one unfairly won by York City due to a blatant offside, but we all know what has become of them in recent seasons….. At least we had the last laugh.
Anyway, I’ve gone off track. Let us talk about Luton Town FC’s forgotten men.
Godfrey Poku
Godfrey, along with JJ O’Donnell joined the Hatters ranks in January 2010 from fairly local Conference South side St. Albans City FC.
Featuring only 19 times for the Hatters in two seasons with the club, Godfrey was overlooked due to competition in midfield in the form of super Kevin Nicholls, Keith Keane and Simon Heslop.
Godfrey went out on loan to his former club St. Albans, and Southport. After these loan spells, he was permanently let go as he joined Mansfield Town.
Godfrey is currently playing for the National League South team Oxford City.
Taiwo Atieno
Not to be confused with Solomon Taiwo (John Still’s signing).
Taiwo joined the Hatters from Rochester Rhino’s, a U.S team in the lower leagues.
Partnering Taiwo up front was the prolific Lloyd Owusu ‘Owusu Owusu Owusu Owusu’ you get the idea…
Atieno’s time at Luton was short lived as he later joined Stevenage, for whom he made just one appearance. He has since retired, ending his career at Barnet.
Adam Watkins
Adam featured regularly under Gary Brabin and usually put on a good performance.
After a while though, he was loaned out to other clubs and subsequently lost his place in the squad.
Adam is now plying his trade at Royston FC, having previously played for Bedford & Dunstable FC.
Jamie Hand
A fan favourite and a cult hero around Kenilworth Road……….
would not be the words used to describe Jamie Hand. A graduate from that club in yellow down the road, Jamie started his loan spell at Luton quite well.
After a few matches, his performances started to become worse and he was dropped by manager Gary Brabin. Because of this, he returned to his parent club Hayes & Yeading.
Now, the reason I sarcastically say that Jamie was a cult hero around Kenilworth Road is because, as he left the club, with no ammunition what so ever, Jamie tweeted about Hatters fans in an extremely negative light. I can not repeat what was said, but he got a fine from the FA for what was said.
Jamie has now retired having finished his career at Farnborough FC.
Stuart Fleetwood
A highly underrated footballer in my opinion.
Fleets joined us from Hereford United and started off his time at Luton extremely well. He partnered with Andre Gray up front and they complemented each other very well on the football pitch.
In his time with the Hatters, Fleetwood scored 21 goals in 67 games.
He is now playing for Bath but is out on loan at Weymouth FC.
His allegiance to Luton is clear as he still stays in touch and plays for a charity football team based in Luton (here he is with me just a few months ago)
Arnaud Mendy
Last but not least, Arnaud Mendy. Who? You ask. Yes, he did play for us, all be it 18 games!
Mendy joined us from Macclesfield Town, originally on loan. Just why we signed him permanently after that loan spell is beyond me.
He went on to play for Lincoln, Whitehawk and is currently at Hemel Hempstead FC.
I hope you enjoyed this article. As usual, feedback is welcome.
I may do another similar article in a few weeks time. If there are any players you would like me to include, please let me know.
