John Moore

Ex-Youth Team Coach

Not many football managers take their club to its highest-ever league position ­ and then quit to become a double-glazing salesman!

But that's exactly what John Moore did, shortly after he steered the Hatters to seventh place in the old Division One, back in May 1987.  Moore decided he didn't like the high-profile nature of his job and stepped down, leaving his coach Ray Harford to take over the manager's hot-seat.  Harford couldn't emulate Moore's top ten finish in the League, but he did lead the side to cup glory a few months later.

Moore's connections with Luton Town go back to May 1965 when he signed for the club shortly after they were relegated to Division Four.  It was just five short years after being in the top flight and represented a massive slump.  The club was in a highly-depressed state, but young Scotsman Moore rolled his sleeves up and decided to help get things moving again.

His new team-mates back then included a young winger called David Pleat and colourful front-runners John O'Rourke and Ted Phillips.  Within three years Luton were on the rise again and romped to the Division Four championship under Allan Brown.  Moore was a rock in central defence, often paired with big Terry Branston at the back.

Moore had nine happy years as a player with the club and although he never played in the top flight, he was in more than one promotion-winning side and was a popular man on the Kenilworth Road terraces.

After 263 full appearances and 13 goals, he moved to Brighton & Hove Albion for a short loan spell and then to the County Ground, Northampton, where he saw out his top-level playing days.  He had played his part in two promotion campaigns. Second Division status had been regained by the time he played his final match, in an FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Sunderland.

November 1974 was his last league appearance when he helped The Cobblers beat Cambridge United 4-3 at The Abbey Stadium.  At the age of 30, he moved into non-league circles and had spells at Milton Keynes, Vauxhall Motors and Dunstable Town.  With the latter, he was player-manager for 18 months before being offered the post of youth coach back at Luton.

He quickly took to the job and soon showed a flair for bringing through and nurturing talented youngsters.  With Luton Town's finances meaning many young players had to be sold, John's role on the production line became vital.  And he didn't disappoint his bosses - the list of youth products that  later fetched big transfer fees is enormous.

When David Pleat left to manage Spurs in 1986, John was offered the first-team manager's job and took it, supervising a side that often played attractive football on the plastic pitch, but gained a reputation for being mean in defence.  On taking over from David Pleat, John said at the time, “David Pleat is a hard act to follow, but I’m confident I can project this team to a higher level next season.”  The artificial pitch upset the likes of Kenny Dalglish, but Moore's boys were quite happy as they rose to 7th place in the table.  He then left the Hatters due to what he described as "Extreme pressure".

His departure from the game didn't last long and when Pleat moved on to Leicester City, he was able to tempt John back into football as youth coach at Filbert Street.  Before too long, John was heading back to his spiritual home at Luton and a similar role in the backroom team as Jim Ryan brought him back to the club. John said, “My greatest delight since I gave up playing has been to see boys coming through the ranks and progress into the first-team. Helping others to achieve their potential is very rewarding.”

He had been at Kenilworth Road through thick and thin and is still regarded by Hatters fans as a true Luton man, despite his Scottish roots.  His honesty and passion shines through and he's highly popular on the terraces.

In November 2000, Luton manager Ricky Hill was sacked and Hill's assistant manager Lil Fuccillo was appointed as manager.  John was immediately offered the role as Fuccillo's assistant manager, which he duly accepted.  Supporters welcomed the move to restore John to his former position.

However, Fuccillo was not in charge for long, and ex-Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear replaced him.  Fuccillo left the club at the end of the season, and Kinnear made John the youth team manager, a job that John had excelled at in previous years.

After endless years of service as a player, coach and briefly as a manager in 1986-87, John retired at the end of 2003. 

Following some 40-odd years as a player, manager and coach, John took the decision to leave at the end of 2003. 

Meanwhile, Director of Football and First-Team Coach Mick Harford said, “John Moore can go to his retirement now knowing that he has done a fantastic job for Luton Town and he’ll always be loved and remembered here and over the years, John’s been probably given the most credit for the players who’ve come through the youth system – the Pembridge’s, the Hartson’s, the Spring’s, the Taylor’s – John’s been responsible for all of those and I’m sure he’ll still be recommending players to Luton Town in the future and I hope there’s still a connection between John and Luton Town because he’ll be missed.

“Marvin Johnson takes over from John and he is in the same mould – he cares about the young lads and he cares about the club and he’s very thorough in what he does and he’ll still speak to John over the years and in the future and I think Marvin is a very good substitute for John and hopefully he’ll do a fantastic job for Luton and he’s got everyone’s blessing here and it is something he’s been looking forward to."

John’s final match in charge of the Under-19's was a victory and he will now be replaced as youth team manager by former Hatters defender Marvin Johnson.

However, amazingly - and much to the disgust of the Luton Town fans - John spoke of his departure and said that he hadn't actually retired, but was given notice that his contract would not be renewed.

Speaking of his departure, John said, “I was given a month’s notice on the 5^th December by a letter posted to my home, which stated my last day of work would be the 31^st December 2003. 

“I didn’t want to retire.  I haven’t retired.  Luton Town have parted company with me because of circumstances.  What those circumstances are, I don’t know because I have never really been given a reason for my departure from the club. 

“I’ve got no control of how other people see me and I’ve never regarded myself as a legend.  I’ve always just regarded myself as a servant of the club, happy to serve in whatever capacity the manager at that time wanted me to serve and obviously I’ve spent a lot of that time underneath and that has given me great pleasure and it has been an honour and a privilege to serve the club and to do what I have done for the club and I feel humble and pleased about that. 

“The letter of notification was signed PP B. Ward, the administrator.  Nobody from the club has ever sat down and said: ‘It was due to economic reasons or a lack of money or whatever you want to call it and we need to dispense with your services John, we’re sorry we can’t keep you on’.  Nobody has ever sat down and said that to me or given me any reason or spoken to me, they’ve just given me two letters, one to say my contract wouldn’t be renewed after the 30^th November and another letter sent to my house saying my contract was being terminated and the notice was until the end of the month, 31^st December finish.

“After the service I’ve given to the club and the time I’ve been here, it is not a nice way to experience it – but there is nothing I can do about it and I’ve just got to get on with my life. 

“The club made out that I’d retired but I had no intention of retiring, but if you’re given notice, then you’ve got no alternative but to leave and the club wanted me to go onto the pitch and say bye to the fans on the 28^th December at the home game, but I don’t think you get a lap of honour after you get the sack, so I wasn’t inclined to do that because I just didn’t feel happy or right about it and although I wanted to say bye to the fans, I couldn’t be hypocritical and make out everything was rosy when I was breaking up inside and I just didn’t feel that was right for me to go on the pitch when I was feeling so bad about the situation. 

“I always want people to be honest with me and maybe I’ve had my time and served the club and I’m happy and privileged to have done it and I feel good about hopefully being able to produce players who’ve moved on after coming through the ranks. 

“There are no directors at the club, so who has made the decision to let me go?  The only person there is, is the chief executive and that’s just how the situation is but it would have been nice of it was done in a better way. 

“The only thing Mike Newell and Mick Harford said was what I heard them say.  I heard Mick Harford on the radio saying I was retiring and Mike Newell writing in his programme notes that I was retiring and it did disappoint me, I’d rather they’d just told the truth and said unfortunately we’ve got to release John and we can’t keep him any more because of the situation at the club. 

“The club have offered to do a benefit match for me and if that happens I’d be privileged to do so.  I’ve accepted that offer. 

You can hear the full interview with John Moore in full audio by clicking HERE.

John was always was a winner, and his departure from Luton Town is a crying shame given the way that it occurred.

Profile By:  James Garley