Luton hero jokes ‘I’ve completed football, I’ll retire’ after achieving feat never seen before with promotion
LUTON legend Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu joked he has "completed football" after winning promotion to the Premier League.
The Hatters beat Coventry 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Wembley in the Championship play-off final.
It is the fourth promotion Ruddock has achieved with Luton in their meteoric rise up the football pyramid.
Ruddock, 29, was part of Luton's National League championship-winning side in 2013 and has been a keystone figure ever since.
After beating Coventry the midfielder joked he is going to retire after achieving a feat no other player has managed - promotion from every division in the EFL as well as the National League with one club.
He told Sky Sports: "I think I've completed football, I think I'll retire.
"It's been a journey, I've been through the highs and the lows but at the end of the day you've got to believe in yourself.
"And here I am, a Premier League player with these boys and the fans. I told you we were going to do it. It's going to be a party all summer in Luton."
Ruddock initially joined the club on loan from West Ham in 2013 as a centre-half before sealing a permanent transfer at the end of the season having helped the club win the Conference with 101 points.
In the decade that has followed Ruddock has moved into midfield and made 367 appearances for the club which has him on the verge of joining the ranks of Luton's top 10 highest-ever appearance makers.
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Ruddock's rise even saw him called up to earn two International caps for Democratic Republic of the Congo, and his love for the club still clearly remains.
Upon sealing a contract extension in 2021, Ruddock said: "I love it at Luton, everyone knows that.
"The Kenny [Kenilworth Road] has become my second home and we’ve achieved so much in my time here."
Following promotion to the EFL, Luton stayed in League Two for four years, finally earning promotion to the third tier after coming second in the 2017/18 season.
However, Luton did not stay in League One for long, winning the league in their first season - losing just six games.
Their arrival in the Championship was understandably a huge challenge, with the Hatters only narrowly avoiding relegation in their first season.
Since then they have gone from strength to strength, steadily improving before earning a spot in the play-offs last season, though Huddersfield thwarted their dream last time out.
The Hatters have never before played in the Prem having been relegated from the top flight in 1991/92, the year before the Premier League was introduced.