According to reports, it’s been discovered that newly-promoted Luton Town wanted a Formula 1 track built around their stadium, which is currently being renovated.
Following their promotion to the Premier League – which gets underway on Friday – Luton have been forced to make changes to their historic Kenilworth Road stadium, to comply with Premier League stadium regulations.
As a result, the team’s first home game against Burnley has been postponed, due to the work not yet being completed.
Had former chairman John Gurney had his way, then not much work would’ve been required ahead of this season.
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Gurney controversially held the chairman role at Luton for just 55 days in 2003, in which time he tried to change everything about the club.
Gurney staggeringly bought the club for just £4.
He had dreams of a developing a 70,000-seater multi-sports stadium for the side, as well as a removable pitch on stilts so that the club could host NFL and NBA matches.
Supposedly, Gurney’s ambitious plans also included a Formula 1 track, similar to what’s been created around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which now hosts the Miami Grand Prix.
Gurney planned for the start/finish straight to be designed inside the stadium, and believed that hosting a Grand Prix would earn the club £200 per year.
He held a difficult relationship with supporters, which was tested to its limits after he considered rebranding the club as London Luton.
As well as that, he contemplated merging the club with Wimbledon.
After sacking popular manager Joe Kinnear, it got to a point where fans threatened to boycott matches if Gurney remained.
“We knew John Gurney from his days at Bedford Rugby Club, which wasn’t a happy time for them,” BBC commentator Simon Oxley told FourFourTwo. “There were warning signs as soon as he walked through the door.”
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Comically, Gurney set up a vote of who the fans wanted to replace Kinnear; however, they had to call premium rate phone numbers.
What makes this comical, is that 82% of the fans who voted, did so for Kinnear.
Unsurprisingly, Gurney didn’t bother using the results of the vote.