David Moss: I signed for the right manager in Luton Town's David Pleat

Ex-Hatter David Moss believes he signed for the perfect manager in David Pleat when moving to Luton back in the summer of 1978.

The 68-year-old was aged 26 when he was snapped up by the Hatters from Swindon Town for a fee of £110,000, big money in those days, especially as the transfer record was Kevin Keegan's £500,000 move to Hamburg from Liverpool.

It proved money superbly spent though, as Moss went on to score 94 goals, the joint seventh highest in Luton's history, from 245 games while on the wing, as Town reached the top flight and stayed there before he went back to Swindon in 1985.

Speaking to the Luton News, Moss said: “That’s where I was lucky as I had a manager who he did say to me, when he signed me, ‘I know what you can do and I know that you can’t do.

"'So I want you in the opposition half of the field, influencing the game there. I want you in and around the penalty box to do what you do best and that’s create and score goals.’

“So I was fortunate, I signed for the right manager at the right time.

“I played both sides, I played on the left as much as possible, so the likes of Mark Aizlewood, Mal Donaghy played left back occasionally, Wayne Turner did, Richard (Money) came from Liverpool, so I played with three or four left backs.

“Kirk (Stephens) was always the regular right back, and they had license to be fair, that’s where David was good.

“They talk about attacking full backs now, we had attacking full backs, 30-odd years ago.

"It’s nothing new, it’s not a new science, we were doing it in then with great overlapping full backs and they chipped in with the odd goal or two.

“The whole team was capable of scoring goals, Mal Donaghy got almost double figures in one season which was fantastic, most of them headers from my corners by the way!”

Although Moss put pen to paper for such a big fee, he was never once worried about the pricetag on his head when starting out for Luton at Kenilworth Road.He continued: “

I’d had my last few seasons at Swindon, I’d scored something like almost 50 goals and there was speculation about I’d be moving on.

"I’d been at Swindon nine years to be fair, I was there to 17 to the age of 26 and there were a few clubs interested, Luton was one and Stoke City was another one, Bristol City too I think.

"I just had a nice feeling, I’d only ever played once at Kenilworth Road and I couldn't remember much about it, so I didn't really know a great deal.

"But I had a nice feeling when I met them and the plans were to build a young, bright team which he (Pleat) started doing with players like Mal Donaghy, brought for nothing from Ireland, Kirk Stephens from non-league, myself, Mark Aizlewood, Brian Stein was brought in from a London side when he was about 18.

"Ricky (Hill) had made his debut at 16, so when things just feel right, it was time for me to move on.

"I thought the manager, the way he spoke to me, was all about positive and attacking football, everything just fell into place.

"It was a lot of money for Luton, for a Third Division player, it was a lot of money.

"I felt quite proud actually, it didn’t really add any pressure, I had a feeling I could survive at that level and do well.

"I had a good season in my first season, I think we struggled, the team, we were in a relegation battle and I had a quite a long pelvic injury, so I missed quite a lot of games.

"I still ended up with about 13 league goals, so that went well, but I knew I could do better.

Moss served notice of his skills from the word go, scoring two in a 6-1 win over Oldham Athletic on August 19, 1978, quickly bagging another brace as Cardiff were thrashed 7-1 at Kenilworth Road a month later.

Although that season didn't go according to plan, Luton finishing 18th, just two points clear of relegation, it was a good debut campaign for the new boy.

He said: "That was a boost to get off to a start like that and we were 1-0 down at half time.

"We hadn't played very well, and Bob Hatton was another signing, he wasn't a young player, Bob was a veteran striker, but what a player to play with for a couple of years,

"I’m sure Brian Stein learned so much playing alongside Bob, so I think Bob scored two that day, Steiny would have scored and Lil (Fuccillo) got a penalty.

"That was a great start for me to get two goals."

The Hatters were to eventually flourish under Pleat though, going on to reach the First Division, with the title secured on this day in 1982, thanks to a 3-2 victory over QPR, in which Moss netted from the penalty spot.

On playing in the top flight, he added: "It was what we all wanted.

"When I signed for Luton, I was playing in the Third Division with Swindon, and my ambition was always, 'could I play in the First Division?'

"When I spoke to David and Kane Guttiridge, who was David's assistant at the time, it was, 'look, our ambition is promotion, we may be a small club and not the best financially at the moment, but we've got ambition.'

"I think there was a new board of directors, so it was the right time to join and eventually we got to the First Division.

"It was fantastic as we got some good hidings in places, where we expected, but we had some great results as well."