Thousands of Luton Town fans are celebrating in the streets as their football team staged an open-top bus parade to mark their historic promotion to the Premier League.

The mayor encouraged fans to join in and “paint the town orange” to mark the Hatters’ remarkable ascent up the football leagues.

The team left their ground at Kenilworth Road and made their way to a main square in the town on a bus emblazoned with the words: “Proud of our Hatters”.

Other signs scattered around the town said, “We did it! Back in the big time” and “Going up” as the promotion comes just nine years on from ending a five-season stretch in the National League – the fifth tier.

A large swarm of fans, some with orange spray-painted faces, gathered to get a glimpse of the players and cheer them on as they drove through the town, many waving orange Luton Town FC flags.

Luton were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history after beating Coventry on penalties in the Championship play-off final on Saturday.

A perfect six spot kicks were enough to secure victory for the Hatters, who will now compete in the top flight of English football for the first time since 1992.

The players carried the Championship trophy as their buses slowly drove through the narrow terraced streets surrounding the stadium, their home since 1905, towards the town centre.

The club’s dated grounds, which have a capacity of just 10,356, are in need of renovations costing around £10m to make it fit to host Premier League games.

Read more:
What is next for Kenilworth Road, one of the Premier League’s smallest stadiums?

But the club is expected to receive more than £170m in future earnings for gaining promotion to the Premier League, the richest league in world football.

The Championship play-off final is often dubbed “the richest game in football” due to the huge amount of revenue England’s top clubs generate each season.

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