Luton Town have one unique League One advantage that could leave rivals in their wake | OneFootball

There are a few reasons for Luton Town supporters to be confident ahead of their return to League One for the 2025/26 season.

It may be a bit of a fresh take for Luton Town supporters to get to grips with and a bit of a sore spot given how soon the season finished but, following their relegation at the weekend, it has to be said that the Hatters are in an excellent spot to propel themselves back up the EFL.

A few days ago, Luton went up to The Hawthorns to face an out of form West Bromwich Albion side that had nothing to play for and a side that had been playing like they had nothing to play for for a few weeks.

The Hatters, under the management of Matt Bloomfield, had wrestled back control of their own fate with some stirring performances and results in the last month or so and the avoidance of defeat would have proved to have been enough to have kept them in the second-tier.

Instead they collapsed to a 5-3 loss to a Baggies side seemingly playing with no fear or pressure and showing signs of what they could be next season – it was the story of Luton’s season as complacency seemingly struck again just at the wrong time.

Complacency is something they will be keen to guard against so heading into the summer knowing and believing they are already in an excellent spot to come back up immediately is a dangerous mindset – but it does have to be said that they are indeed in an excellent spot heading into the summer.

Back-to-back relegations is never a good thing and the reasons for it are varied but, the fact is, they would much rather have gone down this season than in a couple of years with parachute payments still able to soften and steady their decline.

Luton Town's financial might in League One could prove pivotal

Having been relegated from the Premier League last season following their shock return to the top-flight in 2023, Luton will be entitled to their second of their parachute payments from the Premier League, which is 45% of the shared element of broadcasting rights that each Premier League club receives each season.

The figure for Luton will be £39 million, as per The Athletic, and that is substantial in comparison to the rest of League One, albeit the third tier of English football did just see the record transfer fee broken three times by one club and two big spending sides, Birmingham City and Wrexham, gain automatic promotion at the first time of asking.

What parachute payments means for a club in difficulty and strife such as Luton is a few things, and mainly serves to stabilise the situation off the pitch but, on it, the Hatters will now be able to strengthen further within their own self-restraint.

Perhaps even more crucially than that, though, is the fact that they also won’t be forced into losing too many, if any, players either as they seek an immediate return back up to the second-tier.

It could well be that some players force a move through or an offer comes in that is irresistible but, unlike pretty much every single other club at League One level, they are under no pressure or financial obligation to sell – meaning they can keep a squad that was in the Premier League a couple of years ago intact for a third-tier campaign.

Luton Town's 2024-25 squad building has unexpectedly set them strongly for League One

Playing in the top-flight is very different to League One, though, and whilst Birmingham proved that simply out spending the division on sheer talent would be enough for any side in the third division, it is also useful to have brought in some experience from that league, too – as Blues did with Alfie May, for example.

However, by accident or by design, Luton have already done some excellent business in that regard with the signings of the likes of Thelo Aasgaard and Millenic Alli for example in the winter transfer window.

They have already plucked some of the best talent that was plying their trade in League One and now Kenilworth Road may well end up looking like a League One all-stars side.

Many believed, and probably fairly, that it was a massive over achievement for Luton to reach the Premier League in the first place with players that had often thrived in League One and performed reasonably well in the Championship – now they have the chance to dominate the division that most were all deemed to good for in the first place.

At the helm of that squad seemingly perfect set up for League One football is Matt Bloomfield, who struggled at the start of his Luton tenure before turning things around towards the end of the campaign.

The former Wycombe Wanderers midfielder was in charge of the Chairboys in the first-half of the campaign as they not only kept pace but often set the pace at the top of League One ahead of Birmingham.

It’s most likely way too early to talk about how Luton should be positive and confident ahead of next season when they were playing Premier League football this time last year but the Hatters have left themselves, almost inadvertently, in a good spot both on and off the pitch.