LUTON TOWN FC are on the brink of being promoted to the Premier League after an impressive 2022/23 season.
Fans of the Bedfordshire-based football club, known as the Hatters, are just one win away from seeing their team ascend from the Championship, with chairman David Wilkinson backing them all the way.
Who is Luton Town football club chairman David Wilkinson?
In 2018, Luton Town FC announced that David Wilkinson had been voted by his fellow directors as the new chairman of the club.
Wilkinson is a lifelong Hatter and was a founding member of Luton Town 2020, the consortium of supporters who led the club out of administration in 2008.
Before Wilkinson’s appointment, the team had been without a chairman in name since television presenter and BBC newsreader Nick Owen stood down from the role in August 2017.
Wilkinson had already undertaken many of the responsibilities of chairman in his role as vice chairman, a position he took up in 2014.
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After his appointment he said in a statement that, while he was “touched and honoured by this offer,” it wouldn’t really mean “much change”.
He explained: “As vice chairman I have chaired all board meetings, attended Football League meetings, sat on committees, helped to host visitors and represent us at other clubs and events.”
Wilkinson added: “I cannot express to you how proud I am to have been given this opportunity.”
Prior to being vice chairman for Luton Town, Wilkinson was the club’s director.
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What is David Wilkinson’s net worth?
Wilkinson’s net worth is not publicly known but his squad is estimated to be worth £25.74million, as per Transfermarkt.
Luton have set their sights on playing in the Premier League.
In May 2023 they reached the Championship play-off final after overcoming Sunderland.
The Hatters won 3-2 on aggregate and will now face Coventry in the final at Wembley on May 27.
If they are successful, the club – led by manager Rob Edwards – will have to upgrade their Kenilworth Road stadium so that it meets Premier League requirements.
The work could cost £10million to carry out.
Luton’s stadium is one of the most unique in the football league, with fans having to walk over gardens to get inside.
Fans have to climb metal staircases above resident’s gardens to access the away stand, while patios from adjacent houses back on to the stadium.
Local resident Abdul Ali’s family home is metres away from the entrance and backs on to the ground.
He told The Sun in April 2023: “We used to have footballs smashing our window every so often when they accidentally got kicked out when teams tried to score.
“It was kind of annoying at the time, it used to drive my dad mad.
“We complained and complained and the club finally put up netting and some corrugated iron to stop it.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
