David Kohler is a property developer who was chairman of Luton Town Football Club from 1992 until 1999. Kohler was a property developer when he took joint ownership of Luton Town on 22 May 1990, in partnership with Peter Nelkin. Nelkin was appointed chairman, and Kohler the managing director. One of the new regime's first actions was to lift a ban on visiting supporters; Luton's

Kenilworth Road Kenilworth Road, known affectionately as The Kenny, is a association football, football stadium in the area of Bury Park, Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town F.C., Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The sta ...

ground had been for "members only" since 1986. In 1992 Kohler and Nelkin considered selling Luton Town to boxing promoter Frank Warren, and building a new 25,000-seat stadium to the south of the town. Luton Town was sold in June 1992 to Mike and Sheila Watson-Challis, and Kohler moved up to chairman. The team was losing money quickly, sold many of their best players, and was relegated from Division I in 1992, missing out on the new

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

. A group of supporters took to chanting "Kohler out" behind the main stands. Kohler said that he was prepared to sell at the right price, but a deal headed by the former

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

player John Mitchell fell through. In October 1994, Kohler told Mihir Bose of

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

about his plan for a new stadium.Luton chairman ready for a stretch inside, ''The Sunday Times'', 23 Oct 1994 Sport p22 The multi-purpose indoor stadium would seat 20,000, and feature a moveable grass pitch. Kohler dubbed the plan the "Kohlerdome", and compared it to the

Pontiac Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, the fi ...

, which had hosted matches at that summer's

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. Kohler had only just applied for planning permission for the development, and had yet to purchase the land. After a public inquiry in 1996, outline consent for the plan was given, contingent on widening of the adjacent

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

. In 1997, the new Labour government confirmed that it would not be widening the M1, and consent for the stadium was withdrawn. An appeal to the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

in 1998 was turned down on grounds of traffic congestion. A request to review the stadium decision at the High Court was declined three days after Kohler left the club. By this time, Luton Town was playing in the third-level Division Two, and continued to have to sell their best players. Kohler had already had his house vandalised. He stepped down as chairman in February 1999, after a petrol bomb and matches were posted through the letterbox of his home. Luton Town went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

a month later, while Kohler sought to sell his controlling stake in the club. He sold the club to Cliff Bassett before the start of the new season in August 1999. After ending his involvement with the football club, Kohler remained active in the property market in Bedfordshire, taking over the management of Midland House in Luton in 2006 and purchasing land in

Stewartby Stewartby is a model village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, originally built for the workers of the London Brick Company. The village was designed and built to the plans of the company's architect Mr F W W ...

in 2016 for development.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohler, David Luton Town F.C. non-playing staff Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Chairmen and investors of football clubs in England