Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire. Rising back to the top flight of English football for a season in 1974–1975, the remainder of the decade was spent in the second tier. David Pleat's appointment as manager in 1978 prompted the development of a strong team that won promotion after the 1981–1982 season; Pleat consolidated Luton's position in the top tier before leaving in 1986. Ray Harford's Luton team subsequently achieved a 3–2 victory over Arsenal in the 1988 League Cup Final, before settling for runners-up medals at the next year's Final after losing 2–1 to Nottingham Forest. Luton were relegated from the top flight after the 1991–1992 season, after ten successive seasons as a top division club. The team made an FA Cup semi-final appearance in 1993–1994, once again under Pleat, before suffering a second relegation in 1995. Luton were relegated to the fourth tier in 2001, but under Joe Kinnear bounced back at the first attempt. Mike Newell became manager in 2003, and led Luton to the Football League Championship before he was sacked in 2007. Three successive relegations and a total of 40 points deducted over the latter two seasons for financial irregularities saw Luton Town relegated from The Football League into the Conference Premier at the end of the 2008–2009 season. They remained in the fifth-tier for five seasons, until winning promotion with a club-record 101 points in 2013–2014. Following successive promotions in the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 seasons, the club currently competes in the Championship. Gradual rise (1970–1982) Malcolm Macdonald took his goalscoring form into 1970–1971 as Luton did extremely well in their first season back in the Second Division, finishing sixth and only seven points away from promotion to the First Division. However, success on the pitch was not matched off it – April saw the club announce a £173,116 loss, and the club appealed to the supporters for money to cover their shortfalls. In the end, it was Macdonald himself who ended the crisis as he was sold to Newcastle United for £180,000 a month later. Two years in mid-table followed Macdonald's sale, as Luton finished first 13th, then 12th. In 1972 manager Alec Stock moved on to be replaced by Harry Haslam. Luton managed a second-place finish in 1973–1974 which saw them promoted, but only managed a solitary year in the top flight,