Danny Wilson: Joining Luton Town was one of the best decisions I ever made

Deciding to join Luton from Brighton back in 1987 was one the ‘best decisions’ that former Town midfielder Danny Wilson believes he made during his career.

Then aged 27, Wilson, who had spent four years on the south coast after arriving from Nottingham Forest, wasn’t short of options on leaving the Seagulls.

But after looking at his potential destinations Wilson opted for Kenilworth Road and speaking to the Luton News about his reasoning, he said: “I was doing quite well at Brighton, enjoying it and then it’s just football, it comes out of the blue.

“I could have gone to Oxford or a couple of other clubs that asked, West Brom had asked, but I just felt in my heart of hearts, that Luton had a team that could go on and achieve things with the quality of player that I was looking at, so that was my decision.

“It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in football too.

“When I looked at the squad that Luton had at the time, the internationals they had, I thought, ‘well, in that respect, I think I’d prefer to go there.’

“‘I’ve got more chance of winning something with the likes of Steve Foster and Mickey Harford, people like that, Ricky Hill, all those lads, I thought I had a better chance of achieving something.’

“Thankfully at the end of it, that was forthcoming, Oxford fell apart a little bit with all due respect and then we went from strength to strength.

“When you’re getting results when you’re playing against Man United, I look back and think we had a good side.

“I had a fantastic three or four years there, great memories and memories that you can’t buy.”

Wilson certainly did achieve his target of winning things too, as Luton lifted the Littlewoods Cup in 1988, beating Arsenal 3-2 at Wembley, the midfielder himself on the scoresheet, one of 30 goals he netted in 142 appearances.

He continued: “We had a great season, we did all sorts in that season, above all expectations quite honestly, winning the League Cup.

“The only sad part about that was not getting into Europe, that was the only downside to it all.

“The rest of it was all great and it just proved that we had top international players who could play both home and away.

"As we used to be vilified a little bit as we played on the plastic, but some of our away results and our away performances were excellent, so we put that to bed to a certain degree.

“That (cup win) was the icing on the cake for us too.

We generally went into every game we played in the First Division as underdogs because we were never fancied.

"We didn’t have a big squad and we didn’t have players in peoples eyes that were much good in that league, we were always thought to be fighting against relegation every season, but we weren’t and we took a bit of strength from that.

" I think to get to any cup final you have to have a little bit of luck and we had a little bit of luck, but then when it needs to be, we showed the quality that the team had got.

"I don’t think anyone can complain about how we played in that particular game against Arsenal, we were fantastic, it was one of the better games at Wembley for a final.

“We had got internationals in the team too, a lot of internationals.

"Mal Donaghy and Steve Foster, Mick Harford, Ricky Hill, the Steins, Ashley Grimes for the Republic of Ireland.

"So we didn’t go into the game full of fear, we were not a team of kids, we had good experience and we felt on the day if we could apply ourselves in the way Ray (Harford) wanted to play, we’d have a chance and we did."

Heading to a side that had just finished seventh in the top flight, Wilson, who had already made his Northern Ireland debut prior to signing for the Hatters, was straight in, playing 38 of the 40 league games that season.

He remained a regular during his time with Luton, something he had banked on becoming too, saying: I expected to play every game, every player does that.

"Given my age and given my background as well, I played all the games for my previous clubs, so I wasn’t going there to sit on the bench, I wanted to get in the first team.

"With such a load of quality in the squad, you have to fight for your place and earn the right, that’s what we did, and that's what I certainly had to do."

Wilson was up and running with his first goal for Town on his fourth appearance, scoring from the penalty spot against Arsenal in a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road.

He went on to notch eight that season and paid tribute to his team-mates, one striker in particular, for helping him achieve that tally.

He said: "When you score goals it doesn’t matter who they come against, but when they come against a big club like Arsenal, it’s fantastic, so in that respect it was terrific.

"What we had in the team at that time, we had lads who scored goals and my bonus was I could do it coming from midfield.

“There was so much quality in there, they’re all capable from different areas of grabbing a goal.

"So I think that’s why the team was so successful in that period, we could score goals, we weren’t a team to sit back, we were a forward-thinking team.

"Mick Harford up the top was such a great target man that we all fed off him, so it was terrific from that point of view.

“You knew the ball was going to stick, you could make runs off him and Mick was very, very reliable in that respect.

"He fed all his partners, whether it be Paul Walsh, Iain Dowie, whoever it may have been, he would help and supply them with the goals.

"He didn’t always score them all himself, he was very unselfish and that’s what I enjoyed with Mick.

"You could make runs off him and the ball would come back to you.

"That’s why I scored as many goals from midfield with Luton as I had done at other clubs."

Wilson's stint with the Hatters was played predominantly when Ray Harford was in charge, and he was a manager that the midfielder loved playing for.

He added: "Ray Harford had a great reputation as a coach and from that perspective, that helped as well.

"I wasn’t the youngest, but at the same time, I still had a lot to learn, so to have a good coach in Ray and what a fantastic guy as well god bless him, he was terrific.

"We had a great relationship up until sadly the time he passed away.

"He very rarely lost his temper, he understood players, he knew how to treat players.

"I don’t mean that in a soft way, I think he was tough in his own way, but he wasn’t aggressive, you knew where you were with Ray.

"He was possibly a better coach than a manager if I’m quite honest, he didn’t like confrontations with players, but he loved to coach them.

"That’s where he came to his fore and I really enjoyed working with him."