The Hatters relegated City with a win at Maine Road in 1983 before the clubs were thrust into different football universes
Luton Town and Manchester City will meet for the first time this century on Sunday at Kenilworth Road. The gulf in resources between the two clubs is vast – the Premier League newcomers’ entire squad is worth an estimated £75m, or three-quarters of Jack Grealish. Still, there are reasons for City to be fearful of this fixture – the champions are in a rare slump, winless in four games, while Luton have already pushed Arsenal and Liverpool to the limit at home this season.
You might expect City fans to have been firmly rooting for the underdogs in those games against their likely title rivals, but the reality is more complicated. Supporters of a certain age could never bring themselves to back Luton – thanks to a strange rivalry that began with a dramatic late goal 40 years ago. Raddy Antic’s 86th-minute strike on the final day of the 1982-83 season kept the Hatters in Division One and sent City down to the Second prompting the Luton manager, David Pleat, to jig deliriously across the Maine Road turf at full-time in an all-beige ensemble.
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