• last year
Premier League pundits were told to ‘eat their hats’ as Luton Town Football Club were shown sky-high support ahead of their first match.

A grass painting has appeared on the flight path at London Luton Airport with the words ‘Pundits, prepare to eat your hats. Luton Town FC has landed’, written in giant letters.

Using over 500 litres of environmentally friendly paint and measuring the same width as its runway (2,275sqm), the message took two days to create and will be viewed by thousands of holidaymakers travelling through the airport over the next week.

The installation comes as excitement builds in the town ahead of the team’s first game against Brighton and Hove Albion this Saturday.

The match will be Luton Town’s first in English football’s top flight since 1992 after beating the odds and earning promotion via the Championship play-offs at the end of last season.

Luton Town FC Manager, Rob Edwards, said: “I speak on behalf of the whole team when I say that we are filled with immense pride and gratitude to our community.

“A tremendous thank you to London Luton Airport, for its remarkable show of support through the creation of this impressive good luck message on their flight path.

“This symbol of community will inspire the players for the games ahead and we hope we give fans a season to be proud of.”

The airport created the empowering artwork on behalf of the local community at Stockwood Park, Luton, as it sits beneath the airport’s flight path and close to the team’s training ground.

Following the team’s promotion, LLA is now the closest airport to a Premier League ground in the UK - just 3.1 miles from Kenilworth Road - meaning football fans from across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa can fly into the airport to see a Premier League game.

Neil Thompson, operations director at London Luton Airport, said: "As members of the local community for the past 85 years, we felt it was important to commemorate this historic moment for the town and for the team and wanted to cheer them on from a high-altitude, as well as on the ground.

“We're hoping Pelly and the entire team can spend the season in the Premier League flying high but, whatever happens, we’ll be there alongside the fans to support them - up the Hatters.”

Midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, who is the first player in footballing history to go from the non-league tiers of English football to the Premier League with the same club, visited the site to see the airport’s efforts to commemorate the team’s historical achievement.

Commenting on the design and his excitement, Pelly said: “The journey that this team and I have been on personally throughout my 10 years at Luton Town FC has been incredible.

“I’ve been bowled over by the love of the community during my years playing for the club, but seeing London Luton Airport create this today to cheer the team on has been out of this world.

“I can’t believe they’ve committed to showing their support by bringing their messa

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Transcript
00:00 We're going to the Premier League.
00:07 Being in the Premier League feels great, man. It's one of the toughest leagues in the world
00:17 and everyone's a player in it, so to be in there, to be battling against the top, it's
00:21 been a long journey but hopefully the journey doesn't stop here.
00:27 Heading into the new season, into the Premier League with the whole town behind us is incredible.
00:32 You can see with things like this now, the town coming together, everyone's supporting
00:36 us, we're on a global stage.
00:43 Luton Airport has been at the heart of the local community for 85 years now. We support
00:47 27,000 jobs so it's critical for the local area, the local businesses that the airport's
00:52 at the heart of that community.
00:55 I think the artwork looks amazing, I've seen the drone shots this morning and I think if
00:58 you see that from a plane it's going to look absolutely amazing. It's going to be phenomenal.
01:07 The excitement at London Luton Airport is building massively for the game on Saturday.
01:12 Everyone's talking about it and I think people can't wait to see it.
01:17 People that work at the airport, their supporters, their fans, and we're going to be supporting
01:20 the team all the way through this journey.
01:22 The fans have been incredible. I'm really excited for them to get the chance to show
01:27 what they're all about on the big stage in front of the biggest audience of all, which
01:32 is the Premier League.
01:34 We're really looking forward to them singing our names, aren't we pal?
01:37 Yeah man!
01:38 Come on you Hatters!
01:40 [Music]
01:43 (music fades)
01:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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