Hatters chairman: Coronavirus pandemic is the toughest test 2020 have faced

Town chairman David Wilkinson believes the current coronavirus pandemic is the biggest crisis that owners 2020 have faced since taking over the club more then a decade ago.

There have been a fair amount of tough times for the board to contend with too in their time at the helm, a 30-point deduction, plus relegation to the Conference, but this tops the lot according to Wilkinson.

He said: “Since we came into the club in 2009, we’ve had the hangover from the financial crisis of 2008, we’ve had Brexit, we’ve had coronavirus, we’ve had three promotions in a dysfunctional football pyramid, which every time you go up, you’ve got a problem.

“And we’re now stuck in an increasingly unsustainable Football League, but what Gary (Sweet, chief executive) and the rest of them (board) have had to handle is phenomenal in the circumstances.

“I think to have got where we’ve got to and to be in the position we’re in is a miracle sometimes.

“It’s the toughest now. Playing without a crowd is tough, but it’s also tough as in the gap between the Championship, the Premier League and League One is just ridiculous and almost impossible.

“I don’t know and none of us know how it’s going to end up, there has to be changes.

“I know they’re talking about them, but you still have this huge resistance from the rich clubs and you’ve got 71 people in the Football League all with different agendas, so it’s very difficult.

"The important thing is the pyramid survives, we’ve all got to help each other, we don’t want anyone to go to the wall.

"The trouble at our level and lower, it’s all about community, whereas higher, I don't know what it’s about really.

"It’s not much about community, it’s more about tourism and sponsorship and those sorts of things.

"It should be about protecting communities, but how it will happen I don’t know."

The fact that Luton should themselves be in a relatively good position financially coming out of the coronavirus compared to a number of clubs is down to the manner in which 2020 have run the club since taking over.

Wilkinson continued: "I think so, we’ve tried, obviously it’s cost us money on the way through, but we’ve managed it within our means, we haven’t gone out and borrowed money.

"We’ve done all that we wanted to do on the development side, which has been stopped as well, which would have provided us with extra income to run the club forward.

"It will happen, but won’t happen for a while, so that’s delayed things, but I would think we are in a lot better shape than many.

"To be relegated isn’t going to be very easy, if we’re relegated, we believe we won’t be, but it would be tough because the gap again, the gap is increasing all the time.

"It’s all down to player wages in most cases are bigger than the revenue and income, so it’s tough."

Looking back to matters on the pitch, Town have nine games left in which to save their Championship status under new boss Nathan Jones, starting at home to Preston North End tomorrow.

Even though the Hatters are facing a six point deficit to reach safety, Wilkinson believes the Hatters can still pull off a great escape, saying: "We’re very excited about it, it’s exciting as always, we’re never boring.

“Before coronavirus started, we may on paper, have had a slightly easier run-in than some.

"We would have backed ourselves in most of the home games, maybe the odd away game, but most of the home games, certainly with a full house.

"But how an empty stadium is going to affect them, I don’t know, it’s going to be like watching a training game, although because our stadium is smaller than most (at this level), maybe that’s an advantage?"

Although there won't be any supporters at stadiums for the final matches of the season, and no news yet on when that will change, over 4,000 Hatters followers have snapped up season tickets for the 2020-21 campaign, despite not even knowing what level of football they may or may not be watching.

Wilkinson added: "Supporters have been fantastic, we have done over 4,300 season tickets now, people have been donating and the higher level tickets are saying they don’t want their money back.

“We still don’t know when we will have a crowd in the stadium again, so all of that is difficult to plan for, but I don’t think anybody could do any better.

"It’s incredible, they don’t know if they’re going to see a game in the stadium yet, they know now who the manager is, but I think it’s amazing, incredible.,

"They always are though, they’re a fantastic group."