Supporters of Luton Town Football Club will learn with genuine regret that the club have, on the eve of the opening of another season, lost for good the invaluable services of their popular goalkeeper, J. T. Mitchell, who has faithfully served the Town for five seasons.

Joe Mitchell (pictured) came to Luton from Sheffield in 1913 after five seasons with the United club, the second season which Luton had in the Second Division of the Southern League, and is one of the few pre-war professionals of the club whose regular services have been at the disposal of the Blues under war conditions.

Securing employment at Messrs Kent's after the end of the 1914-15 season, Mitchell has continued to assist the Town club between the sticks with a record of regularity unsurpassed by any of the local players, and the news of his departure will occasion general surprise, for he had almost come to be looked upon as a fixture.

It seems however, that for the last two years Mrs Mitchell's health has given cause for great anxiety and, acting on medical advice, Joe has decided to remove to his home surroundings in the hope that the change of scene and atmosphere will have a beneficial effect on his wife.

Mitchell was home in the Sheffield district for the August holiday week and, while there, came across two other old Luton players who joined the Blues in the same season he did – Billy Frith, a former United clubmate, and Frank Rollinson, who had six years with Sheffield Wednesday. It was during this visit that he completed arrangements for returning north.

He finished up at Kent's on Friday night [August 16th , 1918], and left Luton by the midnight train for Sheffield, where he is expected to take up in munitions the class of work he was accustomed to before entering football as a whole-time profession.

Mitchell's loss will be felt not only in Luton football circles, but also by Kent's cricket team, who have had in him a stalwart of marked all-round abilities.

[The Luton Reporter: Tuesday, August 20th, 1918]

Mitchell's arrival in June 1913 represented the only fresh signing for Luton Town but he was described by The Luton Reporter at the time as “an undoubted capture”. He was not a has-been, as was so often the case when a club in the position of Luton secured a player from one of the leading clubs. On the contrary, he was a young man, 24 years of age, and he should be in his prime as a footballer, for he had had only four years experience of professionalism.

“Standing 5ft 11¼in, he weighs about 12 stone, and it used to be urged against him that he was rather lacking in bulk, but he is said to be filling out well, and everyone who has seen him play speaks of him as a really first-class goalkeeper.

“The United estimate of him may be judged from the fact that the player was on their transfer list at £250. It need scarcely be said that Luton are paying nothing like this for him, but still they are paying in cash more than was paid for any player last season, and even then the United club retain a financial interest in the player's future, if Luton should later decide to transfer him.

“As a matter of fact, taking the amount of the transfer and the player's wages into account, Mitchell is the most expensive goalkeeper Luton have ever signed on. There can, therefore,hardly be any ground for criticism of the directors in this particular transaction.”