Cobblers Preview

Last season ended on a crushing note, being comprehensively outplayed by a better footballing unit, then the main pre-occupation of early summer was whether our pacy winger who can score goals would seal his dream move to Spain. But unfortunately that is where the similarities between the Cobblers and Manchester United end. Ikechi Anya did convince Sevilla to sign him in one of the more surprising transfers of the summer but without the £80 million price tag of the Madeiran show pony.

2009-10 season sees Northampton Town once again in the lowest tier of league football after last season’s relegation from League One, despite a goal difference that hovered around zero throughout the year- surely something of a first. (Best goal difference to still be relegated?) This inevitably saw some of the first team’s better players seek pastures new, most notably Jason Crowe who has consistently been one of the best performers at the club, the only surprise being that he hadn’t moved on earlier. However a good bulk of the squad remains and with some astute additions in the shape of John Curtis and Steve Guinan to add experience to the existing youth as well as Foxes’ reject Billy McKay who has impressed in pre-season and could form a neat blend of pace and power with Bayo Akinfenwa, last season’s chief marksman, hope exists around Sixfields that our stay in League Two may be just a brief sojourn.

If on the field, the squad appears to be coming together nicely under the helm of Stuart Gray, who was sensibly retained as manager despite our fall from the third tier, off the field concerns dominate discussions. Northampton Borough Council’s collective dragging of heels about Chairman Cadoza’s planned retail expansion of the stadium and surrounding area has left many fans feeling frustrated and Cardoza unwilling to plough any more cash into the club until the uncertainty surrounding the area is resolved. For now it seems that “Sixseats” will continue to be the butt of many away fans. Away fans that will be coming from the likes of Burton and Aldershot rather than Charlton and Southampton, a prospect that seemed remote when at the turn of the year, the Cobblers were happily ensconced in their traditional lower mid table position that contented our limited ambition. Gone too are the local derbies with Peterborough making strides under the other Ferguson and Rushden and Diamonds’ fall once their Dr. Marten’s money vanished being as rapid as their rise with it. The “local” rival now is newly arrived Burton Albion, some 70 miles up the motorway. It doesn’t exactly set the pulses racing.

2009/10 will be a season of adjustment and no doubt frustration too, thinking what might have been but as the season draws closer and that horrible day away at Leeds becomes ever more distant, optimism slowly starts to creep in that Gray can bring some sunshine back to Northampton and return the Town straight back into League One.