Erling Haaland calmed down about Luton facilities as the Man City star said: “You’re going to go through the other crappy entrance.”
ERLING HAALAND and his fellow Premier League superstars have been told they should be happy to play at the rickety old Kenilworth Road in Luton when the club ascend on Saturday.
Although the Manchester City star loves playing away from home in luxurious settings such as Old Trafford, the Emirates and Anfield, he will find playing at the 118-year-old, 10,356-seat stadium to be a completely different experience.
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Hatters chief executive Gary Sweet told SunSport, “We may need to paint our entrances and put up a new sign, but let’s accept that.”
“It annoys me but makes me laugh to read on social media how our away fans’ entrance is through gardens.
“It was like that before the Second World War – why is it being increased now just because we might be promoted to the Premier League?”
“Haaland will not go through this entrance. He’ll go through the other crappy entrance we have. That’s what we have, folks – so take it.”
“People make fun of our site, but it doesn’t bother us. We have thick skin here and it shows maybe a little bit of the fear of other teams.
“Our stadium will be an asset to the Premier League. This is real, real football. This is history and tradition that takes place here.
“This is not a sterile stadium where there is not much going on.
“It’s lively, it’s emotion, it’s white knuckles, it’s tears and joy, everything in this stadium is a cauldron. If you can’t accept it, you don’t like football.”
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Luton meets Coventry in the Championship play-off final and gives the winner a £200m win – narrowly NINE Years after not playing in the league.
And that season, the Hatters finished third THIRD The lowest Payroll. Even some League One clubs have larger budgets.
And Sweet said, “It shows that we can achieve something with what we have, and it’s a great story for those people who don’t need an elaborate environment to be successful.”
“With hard work, intelligence, cunning, sound financial management and a determined commitment from everyone pulling together, you can do it without having a swanky stadium.”
“It’s a beautiful stadium by the way – the old girl is beautiful.”
But if the club beat Sky Blues at Wembley they will have around £10million to spend and have just a little left over FOURTEEN Weeks to bring the ground up to Premier League level.
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The club will need to build a new grandstand – traditionally known as the Bobber Grandstand – where the executive boxes are currently located. It will include a media center for journalists and broadcasters.
They must construct a new TV bridge, as well as a 70-person media conference room and at least 50 seats for media and league data providers.
With the Premier League having 100 deals with broadcasters around the world, the club must have 15 international TV commentary outlets and a further 15 for radio.
The floodlight system also needs to be modernized.
Sweet said: “We went from non-league to this position in nine years – so I’m sure we can fix the floor in 14 weeks!”
Meanwhile, Sweet says all systems will move to the new Power Court stadium – which will initially have a capacity of 19,200 with the possibility of increasing that to 23,000.
However, the club will have to wait until the old substation is removed from the site before work can begin. The stadium is currently in the pre-bid phase.
Sweet said: “The new stadium and Premier League football could be worth tens of millions, maybe more than £100m for Luton and the place.”