Cricketer aims to bail out favourite club. Pun intended.

Luton’s financial prayers could be answered by England and Northamptonshire bowler Monty Panesar, who has emerged as a candidate to buy the League Two outfit:

Luton fan Monty Panesar says he will splash the cash on The Hatters if he pockets $1million in cricket’s money-spinning Twenty20 international.

The spinner wants to be in the England side to face a Super Stars XI in Antigua on November 1, organised by mutli-millionaire Sir Allen Stanford.

The club, who start next season with a ten point deduction due to transfer irregularities, were ‘rescued’ from administration by the Luton Town FC 2020 consortium in January. It’s a nice gesture from Luton-born Panesar, but I get the feeling that the club will need a helluva lot more than the $1m (£500k) he is offering to get them back on track.

In a related story, I met Luton manager and ‘Great ever Hatter’ Mick Harford once, and he is easily the scariest man alive. One time, I was watching him warm up for Wimbledon before a game at Craven Cottage, and he was casually blasting balls at an empty goal from about thirty yards. One of them went wide, and hit a fan right in the face, sending his tray of hot drinks and shattered glasses off in several directions. While the man writhed on the floor, clearly injured, Harford didn’t bat an eyelid and carried on shooting at goal. He’s pretty much my hero.

[The Mirror]