Former Hatter Vidar Riseth blames drinking culture for his decision to leave Luton

Forner Hatter Vidar Riseth has blamed an apparent drinking culture amongst the Town players as the main reason he decided to leave Kenilworth Road in the mid-1990s.

The Norwegian international moved to Luton from Kongsvinger in the 1995-96 campaign, playing just 12 times, before heading to Austrian side LASK Linz.

He later joined Scottish giants Celtic and it was in an interview with the Daily Record this week that he made the claims about his spell in Bedfordshire.

Speaking about his time with the Hatters, Riseth, who played under Terry Westley and Lennie Lawrence, said: “I had played for Rosenborg, who are such a professional club, and when I went to Luton I thought they would be professional too.

“But there was a different culture. For example, we won an away game on Saturday and took the bus back to Luton and the players would drink and drink and drink.

"They wanted to party and the coach would just say ‘it’s no problem’.

“Some of the players would not even go home - they would just go straight to training on Monday!

“They were so unprofessional at this club at the time.

“There were great people who worked for Luton, I loved the club, but with the team there was just too much alcohol and that’s why I took the decision to leave.”