Luton captain Tom Lockyer (right) celebrates his team's promotion to the Premier League from his hospital bed
Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer celebrates his team's promotion to the Premier League from the hospital after he passed out on the pitch minutes after the start of the Championship play-off final against Coventry at Wembley.
After 12 minutes, Lockyer was carried off on a stretcher and taken to the hospital for examination, but his father, Steve, later tweeted a picture of the defender celebrating Luton's 6-5 penalty win from his bed.
Rob Edwards, Luton manager, said: “I am so grateful that he is doing well. Because that's all that matters. That's why I couldn't enjoy the celebration at the end [until he found out].
“[At halftime] the staff were really nice and made sure they told the players he was fine and he spoke and we managed to put everyone at ease. “We do it for the castles” was the message.
The club still doesn't know why Lockyer passed out and the player is being tested.
Lockyer was carried off the field on a stretcher Photo: PA/Adam Davy p>Edwards led Luton to an extraordinary return to the top flight of English football after a 31-year absence and insisted the club “don't go crazy” when it came to spending over £100m in the Premier League.< /p>
“Our advice will not let us end up in the position we were about ten years ago [when Luton were relegated from League Two to the National League with a 30-point deduction],” he said. “We're not going crazy. There will be changes in the set.
“Of course we want to be competitive. We understand that this will be the biggest problem. We got it. All the best managers and the best players are in the Premier League.
“Neymar is available”
“We know how hard it is. Let me try to enjoy this night. We can also enjoy the season [in the Premier League]. What he's really doing is probably securing the club's future for a long, long time because we'll be smart about how we move forward.” He later joked that “Neymar is available.”
Edwards said his own arrival in November after being sacked from Watford “was almost like, 'It's easy, let's keep it up.' I'm so happy for the guys and the fans because they've lived through dark, dark times.”
After the match, he also joked that work began immediately on the gloriously decrepit Kenilworth Road, which will be the Premier's smallest field. league in history and a new stand needs to be built this summer to bring it up to the minimum requirements.
He added: “I think [Kenilworth Road] will be an advantage. This is the basis with which we must deal. We have to do this.”
Fancati Dabo missed in the first round of sudden penalties after 11 successes and Coventry manager Mark Robins said: “Fancati tried to break him and unfortunately for us he came out tall, wide and not so pretty.
“This is part of the sport. He will return from it. You have to say how brave and courageous he was to step forward.
“We must come back strong. If you can't do that, then you're in the wrong sport.”
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