12 April 2023 , 18:57
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Luton will have to fork out around £10million to improve their stadium if they are promoted to the Premier League this season.
The Hatters are enjoying a superb campaign under Rob Edwards. They are third in the Championship, five points behind Sheffield United in second having played a game more. In terms of a play-off spot, they are nine points ahead of Preston in seventh.
Luton currently play at Kenilworth Road, which has a capacity of 10,356. The Championship side are about to start work on building a new stadium, but it won't be ready in time for next season. As such, club chiefs have been forced to draw up alternative plans.
Luton chief executive Gary Sweet has confirmed they will need to "pretty much rebuild" one of the stands at Kenilworth Road to comply with Premier League requirements. "It is maybe more of a gargantuan task than building a new stadium," Sweet told the BBC.
Luton's prospects of playing in the Premier League next season hang in the balance. The Hatters have never played in that competition before, as they were relegated from the Old First Division in 1992 - just weeks before the Premier League was launched.
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Since then, they have dropped as low as the fifth tier of English football. They returned to the English Football League ahead of the 2014/15 campaign and have been working their way up the pyramid since to become one of the Championship's strongest teams.
Luton chief executive Gary Sweet (left) has been honest with the club's supporters (Getty Images)Do you think Luton will achieve promotion to the Premier League? Let us know in the comments below!
Luton lost to Huddersfield in the play-off semi-finals last season but bounced back this term. Nathan Jones did a stellar job before moving to Premier League strugglers Southampton in November, and Edwards has carried on that good work since.
They are on a nine-match unbeaten run - winning six of those games - and have a chance of automatic promotion. That chance is slim, as Sheffield United will secure promotion if they win four of their last six games. The Blades' next four games are all at home.
Yet even if they miss out on automatic promotion, Luton will enter the play-offs in form. Middlesbrough are expected to be their biggest rivals in the play-offs, as they are enjoying a good campaign under Michael Carrick. Millwall, Blackburn, Preston, Norwich, Coventry, Sunderland, West Brom and Watford are all in contention for a play-off spot.
Luton have played at Kenilworth Road since 1905, and Sweet has admitted the ground "hasn't changed an awful lot over that time". He added: "There's rather a lot of work to do. We've got about £8m, maybe £10m of improvements to do which is pretty much rebuilding one stand in less than three months, which is some task.
"It's just really to comply with Premier League's broadcasting requirements and some facility requirements that are needed."
Luton received planning permission to build a new ground at Power Court in 2019 and are hoping to start work on the new stadium, which will cost around £100m, later this year.
Sweet admitted: "It's quite a heavy investment for football at that level for us and will firmly put us into the Premier League bracket. But just to be able to get Kenilworth Road ready now, just for maybe two or three years, is maybe more of a gargantuan task than building a new stadium."