Luton Town were relegated from the Football League in 2009 after failing to recover from the 30-point deduction imposed upon them at the start of the campaign.
Fast forward 13 years, though, and the Hatters are preparing for their first season back in the top tier of English football, 31 years after dropping out of the old First Division prior to the inauguration of the Premier League.
While Luton Town have bounced back in expert fashion, other clubs haven't been so lucky over the years. Below, FourFourTwo, picks out five sides who have been unable to escape Non-League oblivion since dropping out of League Two.
Five teams relegated from the Football League who have failed to bounce back
Chester City
Under Mark Wright, Chester City plunged out of League Two in the very same year as Luton Town in 2009 – the other victims of Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth team’s late escape act.
Their previous demotion out of the Football League under Terry Smith had lasted only four years, but this time they immediately went into administration, before being expelled out of the Conference a few months later. Returning in the eighth tier as Chester FC, they will start the new season in National League North.
Rushden & Diamonds
Based in the small town of Irthlingborough (population 9,000), the Northamptonshire club were the Forest Green Rovers of their day, belying an unlikely location to climb as far as the third tier in 2003.
Three seasons later though, their five-year tenure in the Football League was over and after financial problems, the club dissolved in 2011. A new team called AFC Rushden & Diamonds were relegated last term out of Southern League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier.
Scarborough
A dramatic last-gasp goal from the goalkeeper Jimmy Glass famously saved Carlisle United from being relegated to the Conference in 1999, consigning Scarborough to non-league instead.
Seven years later, the Yorkshire side dropped another division because of financial issues, then went bust and had to start again as Scarborough Athletic in the Northern Counties East League Division One, the 10th tier. Only in 2022 did they finally make it back at least as far as National League North.
Torquay United
A Football League club for most of their history, the Gulls are now preparing for a 10th consecutive non-league campaign, after relegation in 2014.
They looked all set for an EFL return when they led the National League for much of the 2020/21 season under Gary Johnson, but after losing to Hartlepool United in the play-off final, their form fell away and, despite Johnson’s continued presence on the Plainmoor touchline, they slipped to relegation to National League South this year. Poor Helen Chamberlain...
Yeovil Town
Gary Johnson’s greatest feat (well, apart from that weird spell managing Latvia) was guiding Yeovil Town all the way from non-league into League One, then returning to take the Glovers as far as the Championship in 2013.
But then it all went downhill: two consecutive relegations, another to drop out of the EFL in 2019, then joining Torquay by plunging into National League South. Along with Boston, Darlington, Hereford, Scunthorpe and Maidstone, there will be nine ex-EFL clubs at sixth-tier level this season.
More Luton Town and Football League stories
The Football League may have already kicked off, but check out how FourFourTwo thinks every side in the top four tiers in English football will get on this season.
Meanwhile, FourFourTwo looks back at 2003, when the club's owners proposed a 70,000 seater replacement for Kenilworth Road, complete with a Formula One track.
