Luton Town’s ex-Spurs prospect Josh Keeley aiming to make ‘mad’ new home a fortress

Goalkeeper Josh Keeley is excited to call Luton Town’s “mad” Kenilworth Road home and reignite his ambition to play Premier League football after his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur.

Keeley joined the Hatters on July 19 for a fee in the region of £1million after a three-year spell on Spurs’ books.

The 22-year-old Irishman never played for the north London club but, after successful loans at Barnet and Leyton Orient, holds a strong belief that he can become a top-flight keeper ahead of his competitive debut for Luton in Friday’s League One opener at home to Wimbledon.

“Being in the club for three years was amazing for me – obviously I got a taste of being around the first team and what is is like to play in the Premier League,” Keeley told the PA news agency.

High expectations

“I used to train with the boys all week, so I know and I have got a gist of what it is like.

“Hopefully in the foreseeable I get myself back there (in the Premier League).

“Luton have very high expectations. Obviously being a Premier League club (in 2023-24), we have got every aim to get promoted to the Championship first and then after that we can worry about going up again.

“This season is important. It starts this week, everyone is looking forward to it and hopefully we can push for promotion.”

Keeley arrived at a Luton team reeling from back-to-back relegations, but off the back of his own stellar 2024-25 campaign.

The ex-St Patrick’s goalkeeper flourished at Orient in League One, keeping 16 clean sheets to help them make the play-off final at Wembley – where they lost 1-0 to Charlton – and the FA Cup fourth round.

Keeley made headlines with his cup exploits, remarkably scoring against Oldham Athletic in November before starring in a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City, but talks over a new deal at Tottenham this summer stalled and he decided to find a permanent home.

Mad place

Ex-Luton player and currently Spurs first-team assistant goalkeeper coach Dean Brill sold his old club to Keeley, who ended up making his debut in a 0-0 pre-season friendly against Tottenham last weekend.

Keeley added: “It was kind of a quick turnaround for me during the week, so I didn’t get to say bye to everyone, but yeah, I got to say bye to everyone (on Saturday), so that was good.

“Obviously I spoke with Dean Brill, the goalie coach. He played here as well and he sold it to me.

“He told me it was a great club and the people here are very good people.”

Now Keeley has signed up to help Luton’s bid for an instant return to the Championship, he is determined to make Kenilworth Road a fortress again – starting with Friday’s visit of Wimbledon.

“I have heard a lot of things over the last couple of years, that it is a bit of a mad place to come,” Keeley said.

“My mates always used to say to me, because a few of them support Premier League teams, they have Luton away next week and they’d all say they’re not looking forward to it, so it can definitely be a fortress.”

The Hatters’ often raucous stadium, where the unusual entrance for away fans at the Oak Road End is on a row of terraced houses, was built in 1905 and has a capacity of 12,056.

He added: “It can definitely be a place where people will struggle to come and get points from, so hopefully we can make it that way.”

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