Joe Kinnear

Ex-Team Manager

Kinnear's Transfer Dealings

For all of Joe Kinnear's transfer dealings as Luton manager, click HERE.

With Luton languishing second bottom of Division Two, Joe became the third Hatters manager in the 2000-01 season after Ricky Hill and Lil Fuccillo when he was appointed in February 2001.  Kinnear has been in football all his adult life, signing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1965 having made his name as a teenager with non-league St. Albans City.  He was a reliable defender who collected 26 Republic of Ireland caps and an array of medals during ten successful years at White Hart Lane.  He then joined Brighton & Hove Albion before moving into coaching.

Joe moved on to coach the United Arab Emirates national side for the next six years, working alongside former Tottenham teammate Dave Mackay.  His major impact in this country came after taking charge of Wimbledon in 1992 when he succeeded Peter Withe.  With no ground of their own, and by far the smallest fan base in the Premiership, he led Wimbledon to top-half finishes, including 6th, their highest-ever League position in 1994.  In 1996, Joe turned down the opportunity of replacing Jack Charlton as the Republic of Ireland national team manager, preferring to stay with Wimbledon.  The following season he led Wimbledon to both cup semi-finals and to 8th place in the Premiership.  In 1998 he again kept Wimbledon in the top flight, securing Premiership status with 2 weeks left of the season and finishing in 15th place.

After a mild heart attack, Joe left Wimbledon in 1999.   He was constantly linked with managerial vacancies thereafter, with Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Glasgow Celtic all rumoured to be after his services.  He finally returned to football in 2000 when he took over as Director of Football at Second Division strugglers Oxford United, but after a few months at the Manor Ground he was unable to turn around the club's fortunes and, frustrated at the lack of funds available, he left before coming to Kenilworth Road in February 2001.

On joining Luton, Kinnear said, "The bottom line is that Luton are in trouble and they've come to me to get them out of trouble and, as from Monday, I will be tested to the full and I'm 100 per cent confident I can do it.  Money will be made available for me to build the club, so I've got to convince players that this is the club for them, and that the club has a future.  I'm hoping to get a big response from the players as there are a lot of talented players here."

He continued, "When I went to Wimbledon we were second from bottom and it was a case of keeping them up that year without going into the transfer market.  This is a similar case but I've got the option of going out and buying players.  It's not going to be easy but I never run away from a fight.  I haven't got a magic wand but I've still got plenty to offer.  The description of my job is Manager, in charge of any football activity, with total carte blanche.  Everything and anything to do with football will come under my jurisdiction.  I have the full support of the Board and they’ve told me that I will be held responsible for results, tactics and anything that comes under the football umbrella.  That means buying and selling players, contracts - exactly what I did at Wimbledon.”

Although the Hatters had a fine early run when Kinnear took over as manager, the team could not maintain its form, and the Hatters were eventually relegated to Division Three for the first time since 1968.  However, Kinnear made some astute new signings and built a squad that he believed would firstly get Luton out of Division Three, and then push for promotion to Division One.

And he fulfilled his first aim, taking Luton back up to Division Two at the first attempt - the club's first promotion-winning campaign for 20 years.  Setting numerous records along the way, Luton played neat, attractive football and totalled 97 points during the course of the season, although they amazingly didn't win the Championship, losing out to Plymouth Argyle in that race.  However, promotion was the main aim, and Luton found themselves back in Division Two with every chance of getting into Division One.

Back in Division Two for the 2002-03 season, Joe led Luton to a final League placing of 9th, although for a great deal of the campaign the Hatters were chasing a play-off place.  However, after a run of 5 straight League defeats from the opening 5 matches, and then numerous injuries to key players towards the end of the season, Luton's aspirations were quashed.  Joe did, however, mastermind a 2-1 win at Vicarage Road against local rivals Watford in the League Cup 1st Round in September, as Matthew Spring and Steve Howard netted the goals to wipe out memories of the Hatters' 0-4 home defeat to The Hornets in their last meeting.

However, at the end of the season, with Luton supporters feeling sure that during the forthcoming campaign, the 2003-04 season, the club would be pushing for a play-off place, there was set to be shocking news from Kenilworth Road.  Chairman Mike Watson-Challis retired and struck a deal to sell the club to a new, unnamed consortium.  But, just 2 days after taking over the club, the new consortium decided to sack both Joe and his assistant manager, Mick Harford.  This decision obviously angered the Hatters' supporters greatly as they had struck-up a rapport with both Joe and, of course, Harford, who is a Luton legend.

Joe and Harford were only informed of the decision to dismiss them by post, the popular duo receiving letters that outlined the termination of their contracts.  On arriving at Kenilworth Road to collect their possessions and say their goodbyes, the pair were escorted off the premises, and this news was arguably the most devastating to the fans - Joe and Mick Harford were their hero's and the most popular managerial figures since David Pleat's spells with the club.

And so the Hatters fans were left to wait and see who the new manager would be - although the majority agreed that whoever the new man was, they were still extremely annoyed at the treatment Joe and Mick Harford received.

Eventually, Mike Newell was appointed as the new boss - following a bizarre PR stunt by John Gurney (the man heading the consortium in charge of the club) whereby he set up a phone poll for the Hatters supporters to ring in at a cost of 50p and vote for who they wanted as the new manager.  It was almost certain that Joe won the vote, but, with Joe refusing to return under the current consortium, Gurney was forced to appoint Mike Newell as manager - and he claimed that Newell had actually won the voting!

Joe then conducted a radio interview on BBC Three Counties Radio - some four weeks after he was actually sacked.  This silence was due to legal reasons.  You can hear the full interview with Joe Kinnear in full audio using Real Player by clicking HERE.

The Luton Town supporters also sent stacks of thank you messages to Lutonfc.com for both Joe and Mick Harford - and they were given to both Joe Kinnear and Mick Harford - and were greatly appreciated by the pair.  In fact, Joe even displayed them on a TV interview on Anglia News and Mick Harford was, at the time, quoted as saying, "They were the only thing keeping him going" as he was deeply saddened by his treatment.  You can read the fans' appreciation messages by clicking HERE.

Joe's record as boss of Luton was a good one, having won 56, lost 38 and drawn 28 of the 122 matches he was in charge for.  Having admitted that he turned down 2 job offers to join bigger club's during his time at Luton, it was evident to everyone that Joe would undoubtedly have no difficulty in securing a new position as manager of a higher Division club than the Hatters - and it happened in mid-February 2004 when, after eight months out of the game, he was appointed as the new manager of First Division Nottingham Forest following the sacking of Paul Hart.

Forest had slid down the Division One table to a position of third from bottom on Joe's arrival, with the club having last won in the League in late October 2003 against Bradford City.

A fans' favourite during his time at Kenilworth Road, every Luton Town supporter wished Joe Kinnear the best of luck as Nottingham Forest manager.

However, things began to turn sour when it was announced that Joe was allegedly earning £400,000 a year as Luton Town manager and there were also further rumours that he was allegedly taking some of the money from various transfer deals.  It left Luton Town supporters with some animosity towards him.

He then tried to lure the hugely popular Mick Harford to Nottingham Forest - and this disgusted the Luton Town supporters who saw the move by Joe as a stab in the back.

Unfortunately for Luton Town, Joe did eventually manage to persuade Harford to join him at The City Ground in early November 2004.

Speaking on luring Harford to Nottingham Forest, Joe said, "I'm glad that he's decided that he's had enough of Luton and wants to move on" he said.

"I'm giving him that opportunity so he'll be coming in on Monday as first-team coach.

"Obviously he wants to progress his career and bringing him into a club like Forest is another step - it's far superior and he's very excited about it."

You can hear the full interview with Joe Kinnear in full audio by clicking HERE.

This increased the animosity towards Joe amongst the Hatters supporters and, unfortunately, Joe Kinnear is now not a very popular figure amongst the Luton Town fans.

However, the Hatters supporters had the last laugh as Joe resigned under intense pressure from the supporters just a few weeks after taking Mick Harford to Nottingham Forest.  His record as Nottingham Forest manager wasn't a good one - he won 15, drew 14 and lost 15 of the 44 matches that he was in charge for - and on leaving the club, they were languishing at the bottom of the Championship and struggling to stay in the Division.

Profile By:  James Garley