Get on the Town to win 2-1...but don't forget the urban myth...
Have you heard the story of the clubs who win back-to-back promotions from the Conference to League 1?Of course you have. Because you’ll know it happens all the time. Confidence oozes throughout the club, on a crest of a wave, onto the pitch to the players and onto the terraces with the fans. The momentum and expectation is infectious. Nine months later the previous year’s success has been emulated, and a year after playing Barnet and Braintree you’re maybe, perhaps, hosting Brighton, Bolton, Bournemouth or Blackpool in League 1.
Yes, it’s all ifs and maybes. The weird and wonderful changing landscape of football, season-on-season.
Therefore it’s important to be beware of the urban myth: not very many clubs wins back-to-back promotions from the Conference.
If you happen to trawl through 27 season’s worth of promotion and relegation articles on Wikipedia, you’ll note that only seven clubs have won back-to-back to promotions from the Conference to League 1 since 1986/87. Furthermore, only once in the history of promotion from the Conference to Football League has a club won concesutive championships. And that came between 1990 and 1991 when Darlington did it.
There’s no doubt the Town will be riding high on that wave. And there’s no reason why not, right? But the art of dealing with expectation is just one string to many of John Still’s bows. The Town are 13/8 joint-favourites to win promotion with Sky Bet just 12 months after lifting the Conference Premier trophy which still resides, proudly and now free of fingerprints, inside Kenilworth Road.
So before you go flying into back the Hatters for another campaign of success, just remember the urban myth. And, while you’re at it, remember how the Town started last season. Carlisle, once a Conference side back in 2005, are 15/2 to win 1-0.
But forget that, though, be positive, and stick your pound on a 2-1 Luton win at 9/1 with Sky Bet. You can put your winnings towards the next coach trip to Accrington.
Sky Bet are the Title Sponsor of The Football League. This season, a £250,000 Sky Bet Transfer Fund will go to a Football League club to spend on players in the January 2015 transfer window.
Fans who bet with Sky Bet generate Transfer Fund Tokens and go into a random draw to win a £5,000 prize – and the £250,000 Sky Bet Transfer Fund for their Football League club.
To sign up, go to www.skybet.com/luton and follow the instructions.