@OakwoodExile , Actually thought that was a a good read. A few issues with it, a bit rich insulting our town coming from a Luton perspective! I have had the misfortune of having to go to that town on business a few times recently and I can honestly say that the biggest pleasure I got out of it was the road leaving the place. Shame the author stooped to insulting Ainsworths' appearance, normally opposition support only do that to mask their own teams poor abilities but the author had already recognised them so didn't need to do that. Lastly comparing some of the Luton qualities to being more "Chorleywood"! Excuse me but I played for Chorleywood some 35 + years ago and we won the Hertfordshire County premier league two years running plus a few cups on the way and we were better than the current Luton team I'm sure? :-).
Personally I think any away supporter that turns up at Luton deserves to see their team win, if only to balance out the sheer unpleasantness of having to visit that godawful town.
Is Luton really so bad? It certainly isn't glamorous but I can't really see that it is much different from most other towns of that size. I may be wrong, but I reckon a lot people have either a) been told luton is crap and this taints their impression before getting there or b) notice that there is a relatively large ethnic minority population and subconsciously deem the place to be less desirable as a result.
Anyway, back to the football. It is interesting that Ainsworth's post match interview on Player indicates the coaching staff had recognised a pattern whereby we tend to concede after a break in play. I've no idea whether they actually employed any scientific analysis to interrogate the theory but apparently they've been working on measures to maintain concentration during stoppages. Perhaps this was a contributing factor that helped us turn the game yesterday after the injury to the linesman? Luton were enjoying a decent spell but we subsequently got hold of the game again and then scored five minutes later.
Having travelled a great deal in our fair country I can assure you Glenactico that Luton is deinitely the dump it is claimed to be. There is only one place I know of that is worse and that is Middlesborough.
Glenactico, good points. We see a particularly crap bit of Luton, with the ground obviously being right off a pretty crap highstreet. That I fear you're right when you suggest a bit of racism conditions our largely white support to straight away think, "Ooh this is a bit foreign and sh!t isn't it".
2 years in a row I've driven in on the coach and the comments from a lot of the fans round me! It's largely foreign, get over it!
Imagine if our stadium wasn't in a great bit of town and that coloured other fans views.
Racism has nothing to do with it. A count of all the abandoned matresses (I made it at least 7) on the short journey to the ground is much more to the point.
And to be totally fair Colchester is nothing like the dump that Luton (or even Wycombe) is.
I will admit that a very large "out of proportion" ethnic habitation does not help my view. When I last visited the place I had a walk of say one mile, probably less, to arrive at one of my destinations. Within that small journey I only encountered 3 people speaking English and many many more speaking many different languages from heaven knows where. I just remember thinking that the place had the multi ethnicity akin to Slough. The English speakers were the only ones that were doing what I recognized as work, (one for BT Infinity), the other two were refurbing a commercial building. I'm not saying that the non English speakers were not working, but given the time of day and the location it was not apparent. Some were openly dealing counterfeit cigarettes. It wasn't until I reached the regenerated part of the town centre that a more indigenous population became evident and they appeared to fall in to two categories. Retired and out shopping or, pissed/very weathered, in and around Weatherspoons and it was before 11.00am. I know Wycombe has areas exactly the same, having had a fry in The Falcon only this morning it's almost a mirror, just that I can't think of any areas of Luton that I have seen on my travels that has made me see any different. Maybe I'm just old and remember a Luton that had a thriving industry of vehicle manufacturing and with the closures a lot more buildings lay empty and run down. I just do not look forward to going there on business and always glad to get out. I am happy of course to be enlightened if someone can point out the nice parts, say an old town/market etc?
@Bluebottle, Got to agree. It was a dump of a place and If I owned Luton Town FC. I would work alongside the Council/Local Authority and cleared all those abandoned mattress and mess that my family and I witnessed. Doesn't help the area's image I know that.
First thing I mentioned to the friends, was it's a dire place not the game itself. First impressions and all that.
Jesus , the racism card gets played ! and a white man taking the liberal high ground :Malone . Call me a racist if it makes you feel better but I am personally not attracted to run down towns like Luton and to an extent area of our town . These towns have a large ethnic community which in my opinion adds to the distaste . They also have a larger amount of a white underclass whom seem to take no pride in the appearances of their dwellings. Slough is also a shit pit because of this . I you want to pretend that this is not the case and to admit it means one is a racist then good luck to you .
So things that now constitute racism include any criticism of any town that has an ethnically diverse population. May I for the sake of equality add that there are other parts of the country that I'm pretty sure have a majority white population that I also consider equally dreadful.So Malone stick that in your overly judgemental pipe and smoke it
@bourne70 'these towns have a large ethnic community which in my opinion adds to the distaste' . So leaving aside that everybody is an ethnic of some description, why are people of different ethnicity distasteful? That's about as racist as you can get.
So I personally don't like rough areas filled with rough people Asian and white alike . I have two Asian friends whom live in middle class areas and do not fill the stereotype,they take pride in their properties and appearance , they would not live in these areas either . I do not dislike Asians . I worked in slough and every Sunday loud speakers where bought into gardens with prayers being played at full volume , the streets where full of rubbish from Asian and white alike and the air was pungent with the smell of curry with the area being similar to Islamabad in the way that people dressed . I personally could not and would not want to live in such an area and I chose an area in our town free of this . Do I want them to get out of the county ? no . Do I accept the majority of them have as much right as I do to live here ? yes . I do not wish them to change their culture if they do not want to either but I personally do not regard these areas as either pleasing on the eye or an uplifting experience . I also would avoid a street with white people who have the constant smell of fried food coming from their kitchens , mattresses in the gardens and a rusty old car dumped on their un mowed lawn .
I believe that Bourne70 expressed his opinion in slightly the wrong way, but I know where he's coming from, so I suppose that makes me racist, yeah I know. I am saddened that so many of our towns have lost their former cultural identity to races and religions foreign to me, in my own country. Just drive through Wembley, Oldham, Burnley, Southall, Slough...the list goes on. I'm not happy with this and nor are millions of other Brits...50% of the population of Luton is made up of ethnics...if those that came to this country over the last 50 years had made more of an effort to integrate then I don't suppose it would matter that much, but it does. And the worse problem of all is that there is a significant element of these people in our midst who would want to do us harm, but we bear some of the responsibility for that.
Do you seriously believe that adding 'white trash' to your collection of pet hates seriously gets you off the charge of racism? Dr Congo please ban this poster.
I'm afraid some of these opinions being expressed are indeed racist whether those making them think so or not.
It's not racist to say that you don't like a town that has a large Asian community, it is racist to say (or imply) that that is one of the reasons you don't like it.
Also the very use of the word ethnics in this manner is at best questionable.
Then ban MBS and I would guess a far few more on here if they expressed their true feelings . Personally I am as offended by your idiotic insistence that any kind of criticism of an ethnic group should be branded as racist.
@MBS I think the population of Luton is 100% ethnic. And what the 2011 census actually found is that the white British as a category were now less than 50%, but that doesn't add in those from Ireland or Eastern Europe. It also found 80% of the population identifying as British. You may have a seemingly more eloquent turn of phrase but your sense of Britishness is completely lost on me.
The Christmas lights may have offended Baldric which could well be a reason for their lacking . I red the Guardian by the way . I guess this is because my late father bought me up reading it . Funny how people get pigeon holed by the likes of you though Sir !
Any form of racism either overt or implied is deplorable let's remember that. It seems that after Glenactico/Malones contribution (well done) this thread has gone from crap towns of the UK of which there are many to some pretty ugly opinions Bourne70s being one.
No ChasHarps/Mr Tattler, you know full well the limits of free speech in this country. The remarks made and specifically the one which Arnos Grove and I singled out were unambiguously racist. They wouldn't be welcome in the workplace and I don't believe they should be welcome here.
Comments
"High Wycombe what a ghastly horrid place" Did a Luton supporter actually write this? Is it irony?
"...makes Dean Morgan look like a work alcoholic at times." Classic stuff
@OakwoodExile , Actually thought that was a a good read. A few issues with it, a bit rich insulting our town coming from a Luton perspective! I have had the misfortune of having to go to that town on business a few times recently and I can honestly say that the biggest pleasure I got out of it was the road leaving the place. Shame the author stooped to insulting Ainsworths' appearance, normally opposition support only do that to mask their own teams poor abilities but the author had already recognised them so didn't need to do that. Lastly comparing some of the Luton qualities to being more "Chorleywood"! Excuse me but I played for Chorleywood some 35 + years ago and we won the Hertfordshire County premier league two years running plus a few cups on the way and we were better than the current Luton team I'm sure? :-).
Personally I think any away supporter that turns up at Luton deserves to see their team win, if only to balance out the sheer unpleasantness of having to visit that godawful town.
Is Luton really so bad? It certainly isn't glamorous but I can't really see that it is much different from most other towns of that size. I may be wrong, but I reckon a lot people have either a) been told luton is crap and this taints their impression before getting there or b) notice that there is a relatively large ethnic minority population and subconsciously deem the place to be less desirable as a result.
Anyway, back to the football. It is interesting that Ainsworth's post match interview on Player indicates the coaching staff had recognised a pattern whereby we tend to concede after a break in play. I've no idea whether they actually employed any scientific analysis to interrogate the theory but apparently they've been working on measures to maintain concentration during stoppages. Perhaps this was a contributing factor that helped us turn the game yesterday after the injury to the linesman? Luton were enjoying a decent spell but we subsequently got hold of the game again and then scored five minutes later.
Having travelled a great deal in our fair country I can assure you Glenactico that Luton is deinitely the dump it is claimed to be. There is only one place I know of that is worse and that is Middlesborough.
At least Middlesbrough have a proper football team.
What about Colchester? Now that is a shithole!
"Is Luton so bad " er yes but only if you use a tight criteria community, infrastructure aesthetics
Glenactico, good points. We see a particularly crap bit of Luton, with the ground obviously being right off a pretty crap highstreet. That I fear you're right when you suggest a bit of racism conditions our largely white support to straight away think, "Ooh this is a bit foreign and sh!t isn't it".
2 years in a row I've driven in on the coach and the comments from a lot of the fans round me! It's largely foreign, get over it!
Imagine if our stadium wasn't in a great bit of town and that coloured other fans views.
Oh wait...!
Racism has nothing to do with it. A count of all the abandoned matresses (I made it at least 7) on the short journey to the ground is much more to the point.
And to be totally fair Colchester is nothing like the dump that Luton (or even Wycombe) is.
I will admit that a very large "out of proportion" ethnic habitation does not help my view. When I last visited the place I had a walk of say one mile, probably less, to arrive at one of my destinations. Within that small journey I only encountered 3 people speaking English and many many more speaking many different languages from heaven knows where. I just remember thinking that the place had the multi ethnicity akin to Slough. The English speakers were the only ones that were doing what I recognized as work, (one for BT Infinity), the other two were refurbing a commercial building. I'm not saying that the non English speakers were not working, but given the time of day and the location it was not apparent. Some were openly dealing counterfeit cigarettes. It wasn't until I reached the regenerated part of the town centre that a more indigenous population became evident and they appeared to fall in to two categories. Retired and out shopping or, pissed/very weathered, in and around Weatherspoons and it was before 11.00am. I know Wycombe has areas exactly the same, having had a fry in The Falcon only this morning it's almost a mirror, just that I can't think of any areas of Luton that I have seen on my travels that has made me see any different. Maybe I'm just old and remember a Luton that had a thriving industry of vehicle manufacturing and with the closures a lot more buildings lay empty and run down. I just do not look forward to going there on business and always glad to get out. I am happy of course to be enlightened if someone can point out the nice parts, say an old town/market etc?
@Bluebottle, Got to agree. It was a dump of a place and If I owned Luton Town FC. I would work alongside the Council/Local Authority and cleared all those abandoned mattress and mess that my family and I witnessed. Doesn't help the area's image I know that.
First thing I mentioned to the friends, was it's a dire place not the game itself. First impressions and all that.
Jesus , the racism card gets played ! and a white man taking the liberal high ground :Malone . Call me a racist if it makes you feel better but I am personally not attracted to run down towns like Luton and to an extent area of our town . These towns have a large ethnic community which in my opinion adds to the distaste . They also have a larger amount of a white underclass whom seem to take no pride in the appearances of their dwellings. Slough is also a shit pit because of this . I you want to pretend that this is not the case and to admit it means one is a racist then good luck to you .
So things that now constitute racism include any criticism of any town that has an ethnically diverse population. May I for the sake of equality add that there are other parts of the country that I'm pretty sure have a majority white population that I also consider equally dreadful.So Malone stick that in your overly judgemental pipe and smoke it
@bourne70 'these towns have a large ethnic community which in my opinion adds to the distaste' . So leaving aside that everybody is an ethnic of some description, why are people of different ethnicity distasteful? That's about as racist as you can get.
Oh dear. I'm afraid that proves beyond all doubt your hopeless racism.
So I personally don't like rough areas filled with rough people Asian and white alike . I have two Asian friends whom live in middle class areas and do not fill the stereotype,they take pride in their properties and appearance , they would not live in these areas either . I do not dislike Asians . I worked in slough and every Sunday loud speakers where bought into gardens with prayers being played at full volume , the streets where full of rubbish from Asian and white alike and the air was pungent with the smell of curry with the area being similar to Islamabad in the way that people dressed . I personally could not and would not want to live in such an area and I chose an area in our town free of this . Do I want them to get out of the county ? no . Do I accept the majority of them have as much right as I do to live here ? yes . I do not wish them to change their culture if they do not want to either but I personally do not regard these areas as either pleasing on the eye or an uplifting experience . I also would avoid a street with white people who have the constant smell of fried food coming from their kitchens , mattresses in the gardens and a rusty old car dumped on their un mowed lawn .
I believe that Bourne70 expressed his opinion in slightly the wrong way, but I know where he's coming from, so I suppose that makes me racist, yeah I know. I am saddened that so many of our towns have lost their former cultural identity to races and religions foreign to me, in my own country. Just drive through Wembley, Oldham, Burnley, Southall, Slough...the list goes on. I'm not happy with this and nor are millions of other Brits...50% of the population of Luton is made up of ethnics...if those that came to this country over the last 50 years had made more of an effort to integrate then I don't suppose it would matter that much, but it does. And the worse problem of all is that there is a significant element of these people in our midst who would want to do us harm, but we bear some of the responsibility for that.
Do you seriously believe that adding 'white trash' to your collection of pet hates seriously gets you off the charge of racism? Dr Congo please ban this poster.
I'm afraid some of these opinions being expressed are indeed racist whether those making them think so or not.
It's not racist to say that you don't like a town that has a large Asian community, it is racist to say (or imply) that that is one of the reasons you don't like it.
Also the very use of the word ethnics in this manner is at best questionable.
Then ban MBS and I would guess a far few more on here if they expressed their true feelings . Personally I am as offended by your idiotic insistence that any kind of criticism of an ethnic group should be branded as racist.
And there is no significant element of any community that wish 'us' harm.
@MBS I think the population of Luton is 100% ethnic. And what the 2011 census actually found is that the white British as a category were now less than 50%, but that doesn't add in those from Ireland or Eastern Europe. It also found 80% of the population identifying as British. You may have a seemingly more eloquent turn of phrase but your sense of Britishness is completely lost on me.
Dear oh dear, the Daily Mail readers are coming out in force and this thread is fast becoming the nadir of Gasroom 2.0.
Second only to the absence of any Christmas lights this year.
The Christmas lights may have offended Baldric which could well be a reason for their lacking . I red the Guardian by the way . I guess this is because my late father bought me up reading it . Funny how people get pigeon holed by the likes of you though Sir !
Baldric calling for posters to be banned, because their opinions or taste's are different to his. Free speech as long as it fit's into their criteria.
Any form of racism either overt or implied is deplorable let's remember that. It seems that after Glenactico/Malones contribution (well done) this thread has gone from crap towns of the UK of which there are many to some pretty ugly opinions Bourne70s being one.
No ChasHarps/Mr Tattler, you know full well the limits of free speech in this country. The remarks made and specifically the one which Arnos Grove and I singled out were unambiguously racist. They wouldn't be welcome in the workplace and I don't believe they should be welcome here.
What's a racist exactly then?