September 22, 2023
Touille Lewis, Staff Writer
The Wolverhampton Wanderers travel to Kenilworth Road to take on the Luton Town Hatters in a historic nanner der-bae this weekend. This matchup is the first Bae Derby since the nanners of the two clubs got married, a scenario which the Nanner League has never seen.
While I could do the usual and bore you to death with puns and clever wordplay in preparation for this matchup, I’ve decided to take a different route this time. I’ve taken off my wordplay HAT and WANDERed down a different path. Sorry, now I’m done.
Instead, I’d like to tell you the story of the last time these two clubs played. I hope you’ll come along with me on this journey.
It was January 5, 2013. Wolverhampton Wanderers are in the EFL Championship and struggling as they’ve just lost their last 3 matches. The year before, they finished in 20th place in the Premier League and were relegated. Their manager Stale Solbakken is on the hot seat because the Wolves are plummeting and they’re fighting tooth and nail to stay in the Championship. They draw non football league Luton Town away in the EFL Cup who was at the time playing in the 5th division of English football. The Wolves traveled to Kenilworth Road to take on the Hatters, which at the time only seated around 9,000 fans.
After a scoreless first half, Alex Lawless put the Hatters in front at the start of the 2nd half and they never looked back. Luton Town took down Wolves 1-0 in a historic upset win.
Lawless’s goal:
After the game, manager Stale Solbakken was sacked and the Wolves free fall continued. Wolves were relegated to League One later that year as they finished the season in 23rd place. After a season in League One, they came back to the Championship for the 2014-15 season. They wouldn’t make their return to the Premier League until the 2018-19 campaign.
As for the Hatters, they were just a year away from starting their historic climb from non-league football to the Premier League. They were promoted to League Two for the 2014-15 season, then League One for the 2018-19 season. They spent one year in League One before being promoted to the EFL Championship for the 2019-20 season. As you all know, they’ve finally made their way to the Premier League for the 2023-24 season.
Fun fact: Hatters manager Rob Edwards played for Wolves (2004-08) and managed the Wolves U23 team (2018-19) for brief stints. He also acted as the interim manager of the Wolves for 2 games in the 2016 season after Walter Zenga was sacked by the team where he went 0-1-1.
Prediction: Wolves 1 – Luton Town 1
The Nanner League 
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