The Hatters’ under-11 class of 2009 were the best of their age in Europe and several have gone on to enjoy decent careers – a couple of them at the renascent Kenilworth Road

Nine years ago Luton Town were crowned European champions. They swatted aside Werder Bremen in the quarter-finals, edged past FC Zurich after extra-time in the semis and beat Bayern Munich in the final, clinching a 3-2 win with four seconds to play. It was at the Aarau Masters, a televised five-a-side tournament in Switzerland played in front of 3,000 spectators, where Luton’s under-11s triumphed, upstaging the cream of the crop from across the continent, including Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund.

Among those celebrating that day was James Justin, now 20 and a core member of a free-scoring Luton team who are flying high in League One under Nathan Jones. Others from the class of 2009 have progressed nicely too, with Jamal Lewis excelling at Norwich, the brothers Jay and Cole Dasilva on the books of Chelsea and Brentford respectively, while Frankie Musonda remains at Luton.

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That year was largely a chastening experience, though, with the club relegated to the then Conference after being slapped with an irreparable and unprecedented 30-point deduction. “I wasn’t of age properly, but I knew what was going on with the minus points and administration struggles,” Justin says. “It’s crazy to see where the club is now compared to where it was at. It’s nice to have seen the club bounce back.”

As Justin says, his age group was stacked with talent but failure to regain league status slowly took its toll on a thriving academy. “We played AFC Wimbledon at Manchester City’s stadium in the play-off final and we knew if we lost that game there would be turmoil because we knew all of our players were being monitored by the big clubs who felt they could come and sign our players without compensation,” says Gregg Broughton, Luton’s former academy manager, who now holds the same title at Bodø/Glimt after five years at Norwich. “Sure enough, we lost on penalties and within 48 hours the vultures started circling. Forty of our players had been approached, aged nine to 16, as our ability to retain player registrations expired.”

Brentford tried to sign Lewis but, after Luton discovered a loophole, they won a case against the Football League at a Football Association tribunal to keep him. Lewis qualifies to play for Northern Ireland through his mother but competed for England at cross-country as a schoolboy and decided to focus on athletics before being lured back into the game by Norwich.

The Dasilva brothers, as well as Cole’s twin, Rio, moved to Chelsea, but the cautionary tales are there for all to see. Michael Cain and Tarum Dawkins both left Luton aged 16, for Leicester and Arsenal respectively, while a 14‑year‑old Dave Moli joined Liverpool. All three have since fallen away from the professional game.

Janoi Donacien signed for Ipswich last summer, eight years on from joining Aston Villa, while Cauley Woodrow, sold to Fulham at 16, is likely to line up for Barnsley at Kenilworth Road on New Year’s Day.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest James Justin celebrates scoring for Luton against Scunthorpe at Kenilworth Road in League One earlier this season. Photograph: Nigel Keene/ProSports/Rex/Shutterstock

It was Luton where Jack Wilshere began his career in earnest before joining Arsenal at the age of nine, while Kingsley Black, John Hartson and Curtis Davies were notable success stories for the academy in bygone eras. These days it is Justin, who joined the club aged seven and still lives with his parents, that the next generation aspire to emulate. When he made his full England Under-20 debut last year – aptly in Switzerland – Jay Dasilva was on the opposite flank.

“I always describe James as the silver-medallist, because Jamal and Jay were the outstanding players at that age group, but James quietly got on with it, did everything properly and was great in training,” Broughton says. “When others have decided to walk away from Luton, he’s stuck at it. His dad is a big Luton man through and through, and it’s great to see James getting his rewards.

“David Pleat built the culture in the 70s and 80s and the current ownership group, to whom David was operating as an adviser when they bought the club, had the academy as one of their cornerstones. It’s easy to have it as a cornerstone written down on a piece of paper or a slogan on a wall, but they’re very, very big on it. There are really good people at the club who believe in the youngsters. They have done brilliantly.”

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Max Aarons is another classy export. After trials at Tottenham and QPR, he arrived on the same basis at Norwich. The teenager impressed the then youth coaches with his aerobic ability, blowing away the rest of the field on the yo-yo test before earning a professional contract after shining on tour in Riga.

Still only 18, the full-back has excelled for Daniel Farke’s table-topping team in the Championship this season, with him and Lewis marauding forward on opposite flanks. Another, Arthur Read, scored his first professional goal for Luton last week. Other graduates have moved on, with Tyreeq Bakinson and Freddie Hinds joining Bristol City last year, 12 months after Cameron McJannett signed for Stoke.

Justin has seen the club – his club – go almost full circle, given Luton were promoted to the second tier under Mike Newell when he joined in 2005. His former agent was the late Cyrille Regis; he regularly attended games and spoke with Justin on a weekly basis. “He gave me not just on-the-pitch advice but advice as a person, how to grow up as a good man and do well for my family,” Justin says. “He always used to say family comes before everything, and keep a good attitude. He was a top guy and I was sad to see him go.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Luton Town U11s pose for a photo after being crowned Aarau Masters champions in 2009. Photograph: Luton Town

This year marks the 10th anniversary since Luton Town 2020, a consortium of supporters, led the team out of administration, determined to consign those darker days to the past but also build a legacy. They expect to learn in the next couple of months whether a planning application for Power Court, a new 17,500-seat town-centre stadium and Newlands Park, a multi-use site off junction 10 of the M1, has been given the green light by the council. “Ever since we got promoted from the Conference the club has been going up and up and up,” Justin says. “We’ve managed to keep moving forward and we are looking to push on even further from here.”

All bets are off

Luton became the first Football League club to pay staff the national living wage in 2014 and the chief executive, Gary Sweet, recently revealed the club has rejected in excess of £500,000 in sponsorship from gambling firms. “Both of those things will effectively cost us money but we believe we’re a better club for it,” Sweet says. “In our community, gambling is a problem and gambling companies want to be associated with us because it will bring them profit. We want to make things better, not worse. Generally, we don’t want to be associated with brands that make profit out of people’s vulnerabilities.”