Luton legend Alan nets 50 years for Christ

It was football that brought Alan West to Luton and, eventually, the Luton Christian Fellowship. The young player transferred to Luton Town FC in 1973 for the then princely sum of £100,000 after a six-year stint at Burnley FC, and was following his lifelong dream of playing professionally.

“I spent my best days with Luton Town,” Alan says of his nine-year stint with the club. “While I played there we were promoted to the First Division, I became captain of the club and I became a Christian.”

After completing a subsequent two-season spell with Millwall and a stint as a player manager for Hitchin Town FC, Alan was left considering his next steps.

Then came an unexpected question from his church, Luton Christian Fellowship: would he consider going into ministry?

“I was shocked. I'd been thinking I’d become a football coach or manager, but I also had a passion for the local church and for people. I applied to Elim and became the assistant pastor at Luton,” he says.

For a while, Alan kept a foot in both camps. “I was still playing semi-pro football while pastoring.

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