Submitted by Andrew McMellon (@andrew_mc84)
Host of My Best Eleven Podcast, Journalist and Pundit (https://mybesteleven.podbean.com/)
If the centre of the park is the engine room, this is where the goals are made. Dribbling, crossing and play making are just some of the skills these players are remembered for. The best of them all had a trick in their bag and that 'X Factor' that attracts the crowds week in week out.
David Moss A winger who had all the tricks in his bag. A player who spoke honestly about loving beating wingers and loving the ball at his feet. Always played best on the left hand side, cutting in and would have thrived in todays 4-2-3-1 formation on the left of the 3. Interestingly, he spoke recently about how he loved to go back and forth from the US league and back to Luton, and how it did not effect his fitness not having a pre season or break.
Ricky Hill
Arguably Luton’s most gifted technical player ever. He had a wand of a left and right foot and was unfortunate (as were others), in that side to have not played more games for England. He set up goals and linked play magnificently for Harford ,Stein, Walsh etc to finish. Came through the clubs academy and will forever be remembered as the player who had the fans in awe. Any player who played with him, has put Hill into their Best Eleven.
Jean Louis Valois Only at the club for one season but anyone who saw him play realised very quickly that Joe Kinnear had managed to get a player way better that League Two to the club. A wand of a left foot who introduced himself to Luton fans with a sublime goal on the opening day of the season. The only issue with Valois was he seemed to go off the boil quickly and left the club at the end of the first season. A memorable player who would have not been out of place in the Championship in todays era.
Kingsley Black A home grown talent from the Luton area who went to school on Farley Hill. A winger who got a reputation as a great one on one player with a sensational cross on him (especially the one in the image above against Nigel Winterburn). Played in the 1989-90 final game of the season scoring very important goals to avoid relegation that day. Went on to play at Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough and became a crowd favourite there as well as being a flair player in a very good Northern Irish international team.
Scott Oakes A man who could have (and many would not have blamed), signed for Newcastle after the FA Cup Quarter Final replay win against West Ham in 1994. An amazing, tricky player who could play up front or just behind the front two or even on the wing. Signed from Leicester as a kid, Scott is a man who most Luton fans think of when it comes to talents who did not quite reach their potential. Scott had a record of 173 games for the club and went onto play for David Pleat’s Sheffield Wednesday in the mid 90’s. Post retirement, Scott openly says he is glad to be away and does not really pay too much attention to the sport, preferring tennis.
