Born and bred Lutonian Wayne Turner remains hugely proud to have represented Town in the top flight

Being a born and bred Lutonian playing for his hometown club in the top flight still remains a truly proud moment for ex-Hatter Wayne Turner.

Now 62 years of age and back at Kenilworth Road in his latest guise as head of academy development, the former midfielder was a big part of the team when they were last in the highest tier of English football, over 40 years ago.

A young Turner was a fringe player when the Hatters achieved promotion to the big time in 1982, then going on to cement his place in the side for the first three seasons, as he played 83 matches in the top flight for Luton.

The fact he was from the town made it that bit more special too, as he said: “When I signed as a schoolboy at 14, we had an exceptional Luton schoolboys team.

"Out of that 11, eight went on to at least get an apprenticeship, but there were very Lutonians who actually got through to the first team.

"Even today, I think JJ (James Justin) has been around, Kingsley Black, Mitchell Thomas, myself, there's not been many actual Lutonians who have gone all the way through the youth set-up to the first team.

"So even though it's 40 years ago, it’s something you’re still proud of.

"I played 100-odd games, but 80 of them were in the top division, so that for me was something to be proud of and love.

"They're the games that everyone talks about today too, the Liverpool 3-3, the Man City (staying up), the semi-finals, the Stoke game 4-4, I was lucky enough to play in all of them.

"So although I only played 80-odd games in the top division, they were so entertaining, losing by six or winning by four or drawing by four, it was amazing times that I loved.

"Coming back as a coach and then assistant manager and then back into the youth fold, on the verge of getting into the Premier League and now getting there, watching the new stadium coming out of the ground, it’s just unbelievable.

"I’ve loved every minute of it and I’m still loving it today.”

When Turner first joined the club back in the 1970s, Town had been a Division Two outfit who were looking to get into the highest division possible.

He took a while to get into the side, with just five outings in his first four seasons, but a loan move to Lincoln City in the 1981-82 campaign changed all of that, as he returned to feature in the Luton XI that made it back into the top flight.

Unfortunately, his efforts weren't rewarded with a medal, as he continued: "I'd been in and out of the team, getting frustrated and then Colin Murphy, he was manager of Lincoln, invited me on loan.

"I went there and they were fourth from bottom, we had an unbelievable run and when I left in March, April, we were third from top.

"It was a great spell where I got used to playing first team football, winning first team football, and then I came back and played six or seven games in the team that went up.

"On the night of when we paraded the trophy down the town hall, Lincoln were playing Fulham at and needed to win to go up and if they won I got a great bonus and a medal because I had played 18-20 games for them.

"I’d only played seven or eight games (for Luton) so I didn’t get a medal for them, I ran out of the town hall, turned the radio on to see if Lincoln had won.

"They drew 1-1, which meant Fulham went up as they only needed a point, we didn’t, so I didn’t get a medal and we didn’t go up!

"I just missed out, but I was still unbelievably delighted that the club went up, because on Saturday I did the lap of honour.

"The next season I got in the team in the First Division, so the loan worked for me."

From there, Turner went on to establish himself as part of Luton's XI, as although he wasn't known for his goal tally, just three in total, one of them earned him his place in Town folklore, scoring the winner in an FA Cup fifth round replay against fiercest rivals Watford in 1985.

The midfielder continued: "That's the one that comes back every year as I scored on my 24th birthday.

"So every time it comes in, I’ll get a drink when I walk in the pub, it's fantastic, as I love that I did it.

"It was three games in a week, replay, replay, so it was Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, as in those days you just kept playing and you had to get on with it.

"It's not just the goal, but the fact that it was after a week of continuous football that everyone had had enough of, but loving it as it was against Watford.

"It was 0-0, 2-2 and then 1-0, so the fact that it was the third game of the week, tensions rising and it was the winner, that's the one that everyone talks about."

Another goal that Turner will always look back on fondly was his strike in a 5-0 victory over Town's recent opponents, Brighton, at Kenilworth Road in the 1981-82 season.

He said: "I remember it because I got the second just after half time.

"We did everything, half time team talk, you hope it’s going to go your way and I’ve got the second one, with an overhead kick.

"It’s gone to plan and we’ve absolutely spanked them.

"That was a special moment, your instincts kick in and we won it comfortably, as it was very rare to get a five nil-er."

With Luton adding some top class players to their squad in the mid-1980s, as they went on to win the Littlewoods Cup in 1988, one of them, Welsh international midfielder Peter Nicholas, eventually went on to take Turner's place in the side.

It saw his lengthy stay at Kenilworth Road come to an end, moving to Coventry City in 1985, but Turner still looks back on his time representing the club as a truly special one, saying: "I always saw myself as a midfield player, but I could play a couple of three positions, so whenever anything happened, I was called upon.

"There was a spot that became available at left back, Richard Money was in and out a little bit, got injured, so I made that my position for a bit.

"Then left side of midfield when Lil Fuccillo was injured, I tucked in there, the odd time I’d get central midfield and then when Brian Horton left that was my big chance to get my games.

"I was always swimming against the tide trying to stay in the team and fighting to get in the team and stay in the team.

"I was a bit of a polyfilla up until the run when I was in midfield as that was really where I was at my happiest and my best.

"It was just unfortunate that as I was getting my feet under the table, they went and got Peter Nicholas who was Welsh captain at the time.

"It was time for me to move on, I didn’t want to leave the club, I loved it, but what it did do, it made me realise that if you’re not playing at that age of 24 you need to move on.

"You need to be playing regular first team football which I was until Nico came and it was time to go.

“I wouldn’t change it for the world though, I just landed as we were in the top division and we were all in it together, I gave it my best shot and loved every minute."

That wasn’t the end of Turner’s association with Luton though, far from it, as he has been back in a number of roles since, before his latest comeback ahead of the summer.

He added: “I had three great years with Lennie (Lawrence) doing the first team, we lost out in the play-offs to Crewe, and then that ended when we got beat 4-0 by Watford at home and Lennie was getting all sorts of stick.

"He said we had to move things around so I resigned, that was sad, but I then moved on and did coaching for the FA.

"I worked for Nike, got a job at Wycombe, had a fantastic three years at Peterborough, had a sticky wicket at Stevenage for a year., then I was European scout for Leicester, European scout for Palace, while I was building all my own houses, so it was a really busy time.

"That’s when I had to give football up to concentrate on the development business, but I always came back to Luton.

"I did some voluntary stuff, under Gregg Broughton and John De Souza, helped coach the 15s and 16s, before taking over from 2012 when we weren't in the league.

"I went back to developing in 2015, kept in contact with Gary Sweet, came down and did some voluntary stuff and here I am again, back employed and loving every minute of it."