Northampton Town F.C.

Northampton Town

Full name	Northampton Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Cobblers, Town
Founded	1897
Ground	Sixfields Stadium Northampton England (Capacity: 7,653)
Chairman	David Cardoza
Manager	Ian Sampson
League	League Two
2009–10	League Two, 11th
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Northampton Town Football Club (pronounced /nɔrˈθæmptən ˈtaʊn/), (often simply known as Northampton, or by their nickname The Cobblers, after the local shoemaking industry) are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season. They hold the record for the shortest time taken to be promoted from the bottom tier to the top tier and relegated back down to the bottom again, in the space of nine years.

Northampton were formed in 1897, after meetings between the town’s schoolteachers and local solicitor A.J. Darnell. They play their home games at the 7,653 capacity all-seater Sixfields Stadium, having moved in 1994 from the County Ground which they shared with the owners, Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. The club’s main rival is Peterborough United, a rivalry which has endured since the 1960s, although the two teams are currently separated by a division. Other recent rivals include Rushden & Diamonds and Luton Town.^[1] The club's colours have traditionally been claret and white. The current sponsor is local estate agent Jackson Grundy.^[2]

Ian Sampson, who played over 400 games for the club, has been manager since September 2009, after the departure of Stuart Gray.^[3] The current club captain is Craig Hinton, who succeeded Chris Doig in August 2009.

History

Formation and early success

Northampton Town was founded in 1897 after meetings between the town’s schoolteachers and local solicitor A.J. Darnell. The community then focused on football and, in particular, schoolboy football was strong in the county due in part to the enthusiasm of the local teachers. They were, however, dissatisfied with the current arrangement of arranged friendlies between schools, preferring to teach the boys through practical examples and they felt this could be done by forming a town team. At the same time A.J. Darnell travelled to Leicester with the local Rugby team, where he witnessed an exhibition football match between Leicester Fosse and Notts County. This gave him the desire to start his own club in Northampton. Mr Darnell and the local schoolteachers came together through their shared aims and, on 6 March 1897, at the Princess Royal Inn on the Wellingborough Road, Northampton Football Club was formed.^[4] Following objections from the town’s rugby club the team adopted the name of Northampton Town to avoid trouble. The club gained permission to play home matches at the County Ground, home of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, provided that no games were scheduled between May and September; this was to remain their home for the next 97 years.

They then joined the Northants League, now known as the United Counties League, in which their first official game was against Earls Barton FC. They spent just two seasons there, during which time they recouped their first transfer fee, £50 from Derby County for Frank Howard, who was club's first professional player. The Cobblers won the Championship in only their second season. This was followed by a further two seasons in the Midland League, before joining the Southern League in 1901, which saw the club's heaviest defeat recorded, 11–0 to Southampton. National headlines were made in October 1902, when they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park, which was Portsmouth's first ever defeat at the ground, after an incredible 66 matches. In 1907, Northampton employed their first full-time manager, Herbert Chapman. His appointment was a very good one as, due to the contact had built up, he was able to persuade many ex-professionals to join the club and was responsible for the club paying their first transfer fee, £400 to Stoke City for Welsh International Edwin Lloyd Davies. Davies still has the record number of International caps won with 12 and became the oldest player to play for the club, at the age of 42. The transformation was incredible: within two years Northampton were champions of the Southern League and met Newcastle United in the Charity Shield, losing 2–0 at Stamford Bridge.^[5]

In October 1911, the Cobblers signed their first black player, Walter Tull from Tottenham Hotspur who incidentally was the league's first black outfield player.^[6] During his first season he played as a forward and scored nine goals from just twelve games, including four in a 5–0 win over Bristol Rovers. He went on to play 110 games for the club, mainly as a wing half, before he died in the second battle of the Somme, where he was also Britain's first black army officer. On 11 July 1999, over eighty years after his death, an 8-foot-high marble memorial was unveiled at Sixfields Stadium, the centrepiece for the Garden of Rest at Northampton Town Football Club. By the start of the 1912–13 season Herbert Chapman had left Northampton for Leeds City; he then went onto to Huddersfield Town, winning two league championships and setting them up for a third before joining Arsenal, where he again won two league championships before his death in 1934.^[7]

Inter-war period

In 1919–20, the first season after the war, Town conceded a club record 103 goals. Nonetheless, the club was allowed to join the Football League for the following season, in Division Three (South). 1922–23 saw the club become a public company and 8,000 shares were released at £1. The season produced a record crowd of 18,123 against Plymouth on Boxing day and gate receipts for the first time exceeded £1,000. 1923–24 started with the club raising £5,000 to build a stand with a players' tunnel underneath and also improved terracing in the Hotel End. The following season saw the formation of the Supporters' Club. In 1925 the club's first foreign transfer took place as William Shaw was signed from Barcelona. A new ground record was set for the F.A. Cup Third-round replay with Sunderland, 21,148 turned up to see the Cobblers lose 3–0. However, disaster occurred at the County Ground during December 1929, when a fire destroyed three stands, with damage valued at around £5,000. Only one stand was saved although this was charred.^[8] The source of the fire was thought to be in the away dressing room; the Cobblers had earlier entertained AFC Bournemouth reserves. By August 1930, the stands were rebuilt.

In 1932–33, the club created history when brothers Fred and Albert Dawes both scored in an 8–0 win over Newport County. The latter finished the season scoring 32 league goals and even scored all four in a 4–0 win over the Dutch National side while the club was on tour. In 1933–34, the F.A. Cup Fifth round was reached for the first time courtesy of a Fourth round win away to Huddersfield Town who, at the time were top of Division One. The Cobblers lost to Preston North End 4–0 at Deepdale, setting a new ground record of 40,180. In the three seasons prior to the breakout of World War II, the Cobblers finished 7th, 9th and 17th respectively in Division Three (South). In the final match prior to the War, they travelled to Dean Court and lost 10–0, the club's record League defeat. During the war the Cobblers had the record for the first transfer fee received during the hostilities when Bobby King was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a substantial four-figure fee.

Rise and fall

They played their only season of their existence in the top division of English football when they reached the First Division in 1965–66. Northampton had been promoted from the Fourth Division to the First Division in the space of five seasons but were then relegated back to the Fourth Division by 1969–70. During their top-flight season they earned a double against Aston Villa and victories at home over such luminaries as Leeds, Newcastle, West Ham, and Blackburn, the only team they finished above in the table.

1970s and 80s

In 1970, they lost 8–2 to Manchester United in the FA Cup fifth round. Six of the goals conceded were scored by George Best, who received the match ball (signed by Northampton players) as a reward for his performance.

The club managed what seemed like a major coup in 1984 when they appointed Tony Barton, who had won the European Cup with Aston Villa two years previously, as manager. Barton's only season in charge proved severely disappointing however, as the club were never outside the bottom two, and health problems forced Barton's resignation near the end of that season. Success was achieved under Barton's replacement, Graham Carr, who led the club to the Fourth Division title in 1987. A sixth place finish in the Third Division the following season led to hopes that the club might repeat its journey up the divisions two decades previously.

Worrying times

The 90's began badly, with the club relegated to the fourth division in the 1990–91 season. The following season began well as the club looked on course to return to the Third Division at the first attempt. They were top of the table in February, but fell away and finished mid-table. Things then got even worse and the club went into administration in April 1992, with debts of around £1,600,000. Ten players were sacked and youth players were drafted in to make up the numbers; results did not improve. These events sparked the formation of the Northampton Town Supporters Trust, which has a share holding in the club and a representative on the Board of Directors.^[9] The club needed to win the final game of the 1991–92 season to avoid being relegated to the Conference. Over 2,500 made the trip to Shrewsbury Town and saw the Cobblers win 3-2, despite being 2-0 down at half-time. The 1993–94 season got worse for the Cobblers as they finished bottom of the Football League for the only time in the club's history. Relegation was only escaped due the Conference Champions, Kidderminster Harriers not meeting the necessary ground criteria. The club eventually began its move to Sixfields.

The Sixfields era

A new era was upon Northampton Town when they moved to Sixfields Stadium and a capacity crowd ensued on the 15 October 1994, when Barnet were the visitors in a 1–1 draw. Martin Aldridge, who later died in a car accident, was the first player to score at the new stadium. The change of ground did not change the club's fortunes and they finished 17th, despite being buoyed by Ian Atkins taking over as manager from John Barnwell^[10] half way through the 1994–95 season. After two more seasons, in 1996–97, Atkins lead the Cobblers to Wembley for the first time in 100 years, where they beat Swansea City 1–0 in the play-off final in front of 46,804 of whom 32,000 were Northampton supporters. John Frain scored the winning goal from a twice-taken free kick deep into injury time, adding to the club's centenary celebrations.^[11][12][13] The 1997–98 season also saw a Wembley play-off appearance, this time in the Division Two play-off final, which was lost 1–0 to Grimsby Town in front of a then record 62,998 crowd.^[14] Over 40,000 of the crowd were Northampton supporters, which is still a record for the most supporters taken to Wembley by one team. Northampton were not able to progress from the previous year's success because of long-term injuries to sixteen of teir players during the 1998–99 season. The team was relegated to Division Three, despite being not losing in the last nine games of the season. However there were some promising results such as a 2–1 aggregate win over West Ham United in the Worthington Cup.^[15] The 1999–2000 season saw the club bounce back to Division Two, finishing in the third automatic promotion spot. Ian Atkins left the club in October following a poor start to the season; his assistant, Kevin Wilson and coach Kevan Broadhurst took joint charge for the rest of the month. Wilson, the former Chelsea player, was appointed manager at the start of November, going on to win two manager of the month awards.

The following season started promisingly, with players such as Marco Gabbiadini and Jamie Forrester pushing the Cobblers towards a play-off place before the club eventually finished in 18th place due to a large number of injuries in the second half of the season. Kevin Wilson was sacked in November 2001, to make way for his assistant Kevan Broadhurst, who steered the Cobblers from relegation to a remarkable survival with a game to spare after losing only one home game from mid-January. The next season was the worst since the early 90's, both financially and on the pitch. Early on they were forced into a 'Save our Season' campaign to keep afloat until the end of the year. It was required after the collapse of ITV Digital and much publicised takeover attempts by John Fashanu^[16] and Giovanni Di Stefano^[17] had failed and left the club with huge debts. They were taken over by a consortium run by Andrew Ellis who sacked Broadhurst in January 2003, when Northampton were struggling at the foot of the division. He was briefly replaced by former England player Terry Fenwick who was sacked after a winless spell of seven games. This was, at the time, the eighth-shortest managerial reign in English football history. Martin Wilkinson, the new manager lasted little longer, being dismissed in October 2003 in favour of former Scotland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Colin Calderwood.^[18] Calderwood led Northampton to the play-offs in his first season, where they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Mansfield Town after a penalty shoot-out. In the 2004–05 season, Northampton finished seventh, again in the play-offs, where they were defeated by Southend United. Following this, the manager made substantial changes to the squad, bringing in experienced players such as Ian Taylor and Eoin Jess, and they enjoyed a successful 2005–06 league season. On 29 April, the Cobblers clinched promotion to Football League One, with a 1–0 win at home to Chester City. On 30 May 2006, Northampton announced that Calderwood was leaving to join Nottingham Forest as their new manager,^[19] and he was replaced by John Gorman on 5 June. On 20 December, Gorman resigned due to "personal issues" with the side 18th in the table, with Ian Sampson and Jim Barron briefly taking care of first team affairs.^[20] He was replaced by former Southampton boss Stuart Gray on 2 January 2007.^[21] They are currently threatening to sue fans, a similar situation to Sheffield Wednesday under the Chairmanship of Dave Allen.

Club crest and colours

Club Crest

Crest used from 2006–2010	The traditional Crest which the club will revert to from the start of the 2010/11 season

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Records and statistics

Tommy Fowler holds the record for Northampton Town appearances, having played 552 first-team matches between 1946 and 1961. Centre half and former captain Ian Sampson comes second, withd 449 games. The record for a goalkeeper is held by Peter Gleasure, with 412 appearances.^[22]

Jack English is the club's top goalscorer with 143 goals in competitive matches between 1947 and 1959, having surpassed Teddy Bowen's total of 120. Bowen's record had stood since September 1931, when he overtook the total of 110 goals set by striker William Lockett in 1930.^[23]

The highest attendance at the County Ground of 24,523 was recorded on 9 March 1965 in a important 'relegation battle' match in the First Division match against Fulham. The capacity of the new ground at Sixfields is now 7,653 so it is unlikely that this record will be broken in the foreseeable future unless redevelopment takes place. The highest attendance at this ground is 7,557 which was recorded against Manchester City on 3 November 1998.

Players

Current squad

As of 28 July 2010^[24]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Chris Dunn 2 DF Paul Rodgers 3 DF Marcus Hall 4 MF Kevin Thornton 5 DF Craig Hinton (club captain) 6 DF Dean Beckwith 7 MF Ryan Gilligan 8 MF Abdul Osman 9 FW Steve Guinan 10 FW Tadhg Purcell 11 DF Andy Holt (captain) 12 MF Nathaniel Wedderburn

No. Position Player 13 GK Paul Walker 14 DF John Johnson 15 FW Courtney Herbert 16 FW Billy McKay 17 MF Michael Jacobs 19 FW Alex Konstantinou 20 DF Seb Harris 21 MF Alistair Slowe 22 DF Charlie Death 23 MF Liam Davis 26 GK Oscar Jansson (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)

The club also fields a reserve team and a youth team at Under-18 level.^[25][26]

Former players

For details on former players, see List of Northampton Town F.C. players and Category:Northampton Town F.C. players.

Player of the Year (1975–2010)

Year Winner[27] 1975 Billy Best 1976 Jim Hall 1977 Billy Best 1978 Steve Bryant 1979 Stuart Robertson 1980 Andy Poole 1981 Keith Williams 1982 Wakeley Gage 1983 Steve Massey 1984 Wakeley Gage 1985 Wakeley Gage 1986 Russell Lewis

Year Winner 1987 Ian Benjamin 1988 Peter Gleasure 1989 Tony Adcock 1990 Keith McPherson 1991 Phil Chard 1992 Steve Terry 1993 Barry Richardson 1994 Darren Harmon 1995 Neil Grayson 1996 Ray Warburton 1997 Ian Clarkson 1998 Roy Hunter

Year Winner 1999 Carlo Corazzin 2000 Keith Welch 2001 Ian Sampson 2002 Chris Hargreaves 2003 Paul Harsley 2004 Lee Harper 2005 Scott McGleish 2006 Scott McGleish 2007 Mark Bunn 2008 Danny Jackman 2009 Danny Jackman 2010 Adebayo Akinfenwa

PFA Team of the Year

The following have been included in the PFA Team of the Year whilst playing for Northampton Town:

• 2000 Ian Hendon (Division Three)
• 2006 Ian Taylor (League Two)
• 2006 Josh Low (League Two)

Cult Heroes

The following were chosen by fans as the favorite club heroes in the BBC Sports Cult Heroes poll in 2006.^[28]

• 1) Andy Woodman
• 2) John Frain
• 3) Dave Bowen

Board of directors and ownership

• Chairman of Club: David Cardoza
• President of Northampton Town: Bob Church
• Directors: Tony Cardoza, Barry Hancock and Tony Clarke
• Non-Executive Director: Barrie Egan

Managers

As of 30 December 2009.^[29]

Current management team

• Manager: Ian Sampson
• Assistant Manager: Malcolm Crosby
• Goalkeeping Coach: Tim Flowers
• Fitness Coach: Glen Thurgood
• Head of Youth: Sean Parrish
• Head of Centre of Excellence: Trevor Gould
• Academy Staff: Eddie McGoldrick
• Head Physiotherapist: Stuart Barker
• Assistant Physiotherapist: Julie Frost
• Kit Manager: Pat Weston

Managerial History

Below is a list of all permanent managers of Northampton Town since its foundation in 1897. The club's current manager, Ian Sampson, is their 35th in all and was appointed in October 2009, as a successor to Stuart Gray, who was sacked by David Cardoza in September 2009.

Honours

• Southern Football League
  • Champions: 1908–09
  • Runners-up: 1910–11

• Second Division
  • Runners-up: 1964–65

• Third Division
  • Champions: 1962–63

• Third Division South
  • Runners-up: 1927–28, 1949–50

• Fourth Division
  • Champions: 1962–63, 1986–87
  • Runners-up: 1975–76
  • Promoted: 1960–61, 1999–2000^[A]
  • Play-Off Winners: 1996–97^[A]

• League Two
  • Runners-up: 2005–06^[B]

• Charity Shield
  • Runners-up: 1909^[C]

Stadiums

County Ground

Northampton moved to the county ground in 1897,^[30] sharing it with Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. The main stand was situated along side Abington Avenue and was a covered stand with seating to the rear and terracing to the front. The stand survived until 1985, but following the Bradford City Disaster, it was deemed unsafe and demolished, leaving only the terracing. This was then replaced by a small temporary stand nicknamed the ' Meccano Stand ' by fans. The other two stands were at the ends with the Spion Cop, which only reached the goalposts, usually used for away supporters and the Hotel End for the home supporters. In 1965–66, the only time that Northampton Town were in the top flight of English football, the county ground saw its highest attendance 24,523 against Fulham on the 23 April 1966. The ground also saw the lowest ever attendance in the Football League, a crowd of 942 for the 1984–85 match against Chester City. The last game to be played at the ground was a 1-0 defeat by Mansfield Town on Tuesday, 12 October 1994.

Sixfields

The club moved to Sixfields Stadium in 1994.^[31] It is a modern all-seater stadium with a capacity of 7,653 and award-winning disabled facilities. The stadium plan is simple with the west stand seating 4,000, opposite the smaller 1,000-capacity east stand known as the Alwyn Hargrave stand after the Ex-Borough Councillor who helped the stadium become reality. At either end are identical stands that are the same height as the east stand, the south stand usually for away supporters. (Against Chester City on 29 April 2006, the stand was split and supporters segregated to allow the maximum number of home supporters to witness the club's promotion to League One.) The north Stand is known as the Dave Bowen stand, after the manager that took them from the bottom to the top flight of English football.

After successfully attaining a 150-year lease on the ground from the local council, the owners of Northampton Town, David and Tony Cardoza have announced plans to redevelop the whole ground into a 15,000 all-seater stadium, starting with adding executive boxes and a further 2,000 seats to the West Stand whilst expanding the club's offices and facilities. The other stands will then be expanded and joined to create a 'bowl' stadium. The home end at Northampton Town's old County Ground was called The Hotel End, so it is quite apt that the new stadium will also feature its own Hotel End. The new complex will also feature a hotel which will be built behind the Paul Cox Panel & Paint (South) Stand.

These developments have however become tied up with the bureaucracy of the Borough Council and no timescale has yet been announced for the plans to begin. On the 6 August 2009, it was announced that the redevelopment would go ahead but still no time frame has been quoted.^[32]

Training ground

Adjacent to the stadium joining onto the back of the East Stand with its own small stand is the training ground but its main purpose is for athletics for the local club Rugby & Northampton.^[33] It also holds Northampton schools athletics finals.

Footnotes

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Official

• Northampton Town F.C. – Official Website
• NTFC Trust – Supporters Ltd.

News and Statistics

• Northampton Town F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News – Recent results – Upcoming fixtures – Club stats
• BBC Radio Northampton – Interviews and Match Reports from BBC Radio Northampton Sport
• Football Ground Guide – Information on Sixfields Stadium
• Soccerbase – Managerial History
• Historical Kits – Graphical Kit History
• Every match result and League table since they joined the Football League

Supporters Trust

• Fresh Players, New Tactics: Lessons from Northampton Town Supporters Trust published by The Football Governance Research Centre

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