Luton Airport shows support for Luton Town FC with giant Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu portrait

Thousands of passengers flying into Luton Airport will be greeted with an unmissable message of support for Luton Town Football Club ahead of the team’s first Premier League match this week.

The giant eco-friendly grass painting on the flight path has a portrait of midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu’s portrait alongside a message reading: “Pundits, prepare to eat your hats. Luton Town FC has landed.”

The huge painting measures 2,275 square meters and is the same width as London Luton Airport’s (LLA) runway. The installation took over two days to create with over 500 litres of environmentally-friendly paint. LLA created the empoering artwork on behalf of the local community at Stockwood Park, which sits beneath the airport’s flight path and close to the team’s training ground.

Midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, the first player in footballing history to go from the non-league tiers of English football to the Premier League with the same club, visited the site to see the airport’s efforts to commemorate the team’s achievement.

Pelly said: “The journey that this team and I have been on personally throughout my 10 years at Luton Town FC has been incredible. I’ve been bowled over by the love of the community during my years playing for the club, but seeing London Luton Airport create this today to cheer the team on has been out of this world.

"I can’t believe they’ve committed to showing their support by bringing their message and me to life on such a huge scale. We’re feeling confident for our first game and we’ll do all we can to prove people wrong.”

Captain Tom Lockyer and manager Rob Edwards joined Pelly to witness some of the finishing touches of the message being applied.

Kerri Skingle is a member of the guest experience team at the airport and is an avid Luton Town fan. Kerri said, “The team’s promotion to the Premier League means so much to the people of the town and it’s amazing that LLA wants to show the players this simple and friendly demonstration of support for the upcoming season. It means a lot to the local community for the airport to stand behind the team on such a large scale and I feel really proud to be a part of it.

"We’re all behind the club and we wish them the best of luck in the match against the Seagulls [Brighton and Hove Albion football team] this Saturday.”

The newly appointed Premier League team recently travelled from the airport to Slovenia for their pre-season training camp.

Neil Thompson, operations director at Luton Airport, added, "As members of the local community for the past 85 years, we felt it was important to commemorate this historic moment for the town and for the team and wanted to cheer them on from a high-altitude, as well as on the ground.”

While Rob Edwards added: “I speak on behalf of the whole team when I say that we are filled with immense pride and gratitude to our community. A tremendous thank you to London Luton Airport, for its remarkable show of support through the creation of this impressive good luck message on their flight path.”

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