of £50,000. Steve Howard ended the season by winning the Third Division golden boot award with 24 goals. Ending the season with a club-record 12 consecutive wins, Luton travelled to Swansea City at the end of March knowing that a win would guarantee them promotion back to the third tier at the first attempt. They duly won 3–1. At the end of the season, star players Jean-Louis Valois and Matthew Taylor both left under the bosman ruling. Valois moved to Scottish side Hearts after only one year in a Luton shirt and Taylor joined Portsmouth for a tribunal set fee of £400,000. Despite these losses, Luton still managed a ninth-place finish back in the third tier of English football in 2002–2003. Partly fuelled by the collapse of broadcaster ITV Digital, it was revealed that the club was losing up to £500,000 per month. Chairman Mike Watson-Challis sold the club to a consortium headed by John Gurney in May 2003 and, days later, both Kinnear and his assistant Mick Harford were dismissed. A bizarre series of episodes followed, including the infamous "Manager Idol" phone-vote, an attempt to merge the club with Wimbledon, and plans for a 50,000 capacity stadium built on rafters over the M1 motorway, before Gurney was finally ousted by supporters' group Trust in Luton. Gurney left the club in administrative receivership, with his only legacy proving to be the appointment of Mike Newell as manager. Newell brought Mick Harford back to the club as First Team Coach and Director of Football shortly after being appointed as manager. Newell surprised all the observers by taking the transfer-embargoed club to a tenth-place finish in 2003–2004, although he was not helped by the transfer of striker Tony Thorpe to Queen Park Rangers for £50,000. After a year in administrative receivership, Luton Town finally acquired new owners in May 2004 when a consortium led by former general manager Bill Tomlins bought the club. 2004–2005 saw Luton win nine and draw one of their opening ten league fixtures to go nine points clear at the top of the newly named League One by the beginning of October. Experienced players such as Chris Coyne, Kevin Nicholls and Steve Howard gelled well alongside youngsters Curtis Davies, Keith Keane and Kevin Foley to create the template for a championship-winning side. Promotion was secured on 12 April, when third placed Tranmere Rovers were beaten 0–1 at Brentford,