There are no paupers in the Premier League any more. The top flight makes princes of every one that it blesses with its broadcasting revenue. But it still felt as if Luton Town came in rags when they arrived in west London last night to take their doomed tilt at the capital’s most profligate billionaires.
Luton, with their annual wage bill of £5m, compared to Chelsea’s yearly player earnings of £150m. Luton, whose squad cost £20m to put together. Chelsea, who have spent £278m on midfielders alone in the last seven months.
Luton, whose Kenilworth Road ground is a wonderful anachronism where the wooden floor boards in the main stand creak and rattle and shake when its team attacks.