The Hatters were at the EFL Awards at the London Hilton Hotel on Park Lane last night to celebrate Olly Lee winning the Mitre Goal of the Year award for his wonder strike against Cambridge last November and the club being named League Two Family Club of the Year!
The Town had three tables at the event, with Olly joined by the five players named in the EFL League Two Team of the Year – Alan Sheehan, Jack Stacey, Dan Potts, Luke Berry and Danny Hylton – and their partners.
Manager Nathan Jones looked on proudly with chief executive Gary Sweet, vice-chairman David Wilkinson, finance director Simon Gibb and senior operations manager Kevan Platt, who was first to go up on stage with junior supporters’ liaison officer James Whitehead to collect the League Two Family Club of the Year award.
Unfortunately we lost out on the overall Family Club of the Year award to League One club Blackburn Rovers, but it was a great achievement to win the divisional award in our fourth season back in the EFL, the first of which the club did not manage to achieve basic family excellence accreditation.
The team’s wonderful campaign on the pitch saw the five players selected by managers of the other League Two clubs in the team of the year.
But an EFL judging panel selected an overall EFL Team of the Season that contained just two players – Wycombe striker Adebayo Akinfenwa and Accrington’s Billy Kee, the overall player of the year for our division – and Stanley boss John Coleman as League Two representatives.
The Hatters party was delighted when Olly was selected by the audience, who had to register their choice on a voting slip during the evening, as the winner of the Goal of the Year for 2017 with that 70-yard ‘From Another Post Code’ strike in the 7-0 win over Cambridge last November.
Olly said: “I’m delighted to win the award – It is not often you get the chance to win a goal of the season award, and not many people do it, so it’s fantastic for me.
“It is an instinctive goal, one you may not score most of the time, but I caught it well and luckily it went in else some of my team-mates might have said a few words being in a better position!”
Well done Olly, Alan, Jack, Dan, Luke, Danny and all the staff and volunteers who have contributed towards the Family Club of the Year award.
It was a proud night for the club, it’s been a great season…and it can get better still! #COYH
This is what the EFL wrote in the evening’s programme about the Hatters’ Family Club of the Year success:
‘Having only returned to the EFL in the 2014, Luton Town has overcome the limitations of their ageing stadium and created an outstanding match day experience for families. The improvements they’ve made in a short space of time have been due to their commitment to making it a key area of leadership focus. Every new family can expect to be personally welcomed to the club; as they receive free scarves, meet the manager and players and enjoy the pre-match warm-up from the comfort and privilege of the dugout. Their journey of ongoing improvement in this area has demonstrated the impact of engaging positively with families and young supporters – something that has become entrenched in their culture.’