'WE DESERVE TO BE RIGHT IN THE FIGHT FOR PREMIER'

A LLAN Campbell laughs at the idea of Kenilworth Road hosting the Gucci-clad luminaries of Man City and Liverpool.

- Chris Dunlavy

"Aye, it'd be quite an experience for those lads," says Luton's Glaswegian midfielder.

"But you know what would be even better? Walking out and hearing our fans cheering in the Premier League. Wouldn't that be something, eh?" Wouldn't it just. Less than a decade after they wriggled free of the National League, the Hatters are within touching distance of nirvana.

Victory over fourthplaced Middlesbrough at Kenilworth Road tomorrow evening would move Rob Edwards' unfashionable. side to within four points of second-placed Sheffield United. A play-off place for the second successive season is already assured.

Such has been the speed of Luton's transformation that CEO Gary Sweet says it would take almost £8m to get the Hatters' stadium up to Premier League standards, and even that won't disguise 118 years of wear and tear.

A new ground is on the way but Luton are so far ahead of schedule that no spade has yet broken ground.

All of which plays into the narrative that Luton are, to some extent, impostors. No budget. No big names. Nothing to signify a team with Premier League ambitions. Yet there they are, above West Brom. Above Norwich. Above Watford.

"We deserve to be here," says Campbell, who joined from Scottish Premiership side Motherwell in 2021 and was part of the side that finished sixth before losing to Huddersfield in last season's play-off semi-finals.

"Because of what happened last year, we all wanted to be in this position. We spoke about it at the start of the season and it's been a target ever since.

"Everybody believed it, especially with the quality in the group. Then you look at the boys we brought in, the way everybody gelled together. It wasn't so much ‘Can we?’ as ‘Why can’t we?’.