Northampton Town F.C.

Association football club

football clubhouse
Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in EFL League Two, the fourthly tier of the English football league organization.

Reading: Northampton Town F.C.

Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland League for two seasons, before joining the Southern League in 1901. They were crowned Southern League champions in 1908–09, allowing them to contest the 1909 FA Charity Shield. Admitted into the Football League in 1920, they spent the future 38 years in the Third Division South. Under Dave Bowen, the club achieved three promotions from the Fourth Division to the First Division within five years. however, Northampton merely survived for one season in the top tier of English football after delegating in 1966. Northampton then experienced two further relegations in three years to return to the Fourth Division by 1969 – this set a read in English football of moving from the fourth grade to the inaugural tier and back in only nine years. After six seasons of stability in the fourth tier, the golf club won promotion before returning to the Fourth Division after another relegation in 1977. Northampton won far promotions to the one-third tier in 1987 and 1997. Relegated in 1999, they won immediate promotion after securing an automatic forwarding place the following season. however they were once more banish after three seasons of struggle in the one-third tier, before securing promotion out of League Two in 2005–06 after two unsuccessful play-off campaigns. Relegated at the end of their third base season in League One, they won the League Two title in 2015–16, but alone lasted two seasons in League One ahead again being relegated. In 2020, they gained forwarding to League One, but were relegated to League Two once again after a individual season in the third base tier. Northampton are nicknamed the Cobblers, a reference book to the township ‘s diachronic shoe-making diligence, and the team traditionally plays in claret and ashen kits. The Cobblers played at the County Ground from 1897 until 1994, when they moved to the Sixfields in 1994 which has a capacity of 7,798. Northampton ‘s prevailing rivals have been Peterborough United, however, they besides partake smaller competition with Milton Keynes Dons. The club ‘s record appearance holder is Tommy Fowler with 552 appearances between 1946 and 1961, while their leading goalscorer is Jack English with 143 goals .

history [edit ]

formation and early history [edit ]

The baseball club was founded on 6 March 1897 by a group of local school teachers who, together with a local solicitor A.J “ Pat ” Darnell at The Princess Royal Inn, Wellingborough Road, formed the town ‘s first base professional football club. initially, their chosen name was Northampton Football Club, but after objections from the town ‘s rugby club, the golf club was called Northampton Town Football Club. They joined the Northants League and spent two seasons there, winning the backing the second season. They then spent two seasons in the Midland League, before joining the Southern League in 1901–02. Led by player-manager Herbert Chapman the club were champions of the Southern League in 1908–09 and played against Newcastle United in the Charity Shield pit, losing 2–0 at The Oval. [ 1 ]

Inter-war period [edit ]

Chart of table positions of Northampton Town in the Football League. In 1919–20, the first season after the war, Town conceded a clubhouse record 103 goals. however, the baseball club was allowed to join the Football League for the follow season, in Division Three ( South ). 1922–23 saw the clubhouse become a public company and 8,000 shares were released at £1. The season produced a read 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 besides improved terrace in the Hotel End. The follow season saw the constitution of the supporters ‘ club. In 1925 the clubhouse ‘s first gear foreign transfer took invest as William Shaw was signed from Barcelona. A modern earth read 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 open fire destroyed three stands, with damage valued at around £5,000. only one bandstand was saved although this was charred. [ 2 ] The source of the fuel was thought to be in the away dress board ; 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 acquire over Newport County. The latter finished the season scoring 32 league goals and tied scored four in a 4–0 win over the Netherlands national football team while the club was on go. In 1933–34, the F.A. Cup one-fifth round was reached for the first clock time courtesy of a one-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 modern grind record of 40,180. In the three seasons anterior to the break of World War II, the Cobblers finished seventh, one-ninth and 17th respectively in Division Three ( South ). In the final examination catch anterior to the war, they travelled to Dean Court and lost 10–0, the clubhouse ‘s commemorate league defeat. During the war the Cobblers had the record for the first remove fee received during the hostilities when Bobby King was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a hearty four-figure fee .

rise and decrease [edit ]

Northampton were promoted three times in the five years 1960 to 1965. Starting the 1960–61 season in the Fourth Division, they reached the First Division in 1965–66, their merely season always in the clear division of English football. They were then relegated back to the Fourth Division over the next five years, playing in the penetrate tier again in 1969–70. During their top-flight season they earned a double against Aston Villa and victories at home over clubs including Leeds, Newcastle, West Ham, and Blackburn, the latter being the alone team Northampton would finish above in the mesa. Since their relegation from the Second Division in 1966-67, Northampton have played every season in either the third gear or fourthly tier of English football .

1970s and 80s [edit ]

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 advantage for his performance. [ 3 ] For the first base time since becoming a league side the baseball club had to apply for re-election in 1971, they finished the most favor club with 49 votes. In the 1974–75 season, future England International Phil Neal was sold, after 200 games in all competitions for the Cobblers, Liverpool bought Neal for a then club record of £65,000, whilst play in the same side of another future England International, John Gregory. finally during the 1975–76 season, the club finished 2nd in Division Four and were promoted behind champions Lincoln City. They did this without losing a home plot and having every regular player scored during the season, including the goalkeeper, Alan Starling, who netted from a penalty in the penultimate home game against Hartlepool United. In 1976–77, the club were relegated back to Division Four, the temper started with ex- Manchester United assistant director, Pat Crerand in charge, however he resigned in the fresh year. No new coach was appointed, rather a committee was formed dwell of the president, the bus and three elder players. Prior to the depart of the 1979–80 temper, George Reilly was sold to Cambridge United for a then record of £165,000, he had been the club ‘s lead scorer for the former two seasons. New floodlights were installed in time for the 1980–81 season, but they failed during the first gear couple against Southend United and the game had to be abandoned. The club struggled in the bed half of the Fourth Division for the first one-half of the decade, however 16-year-old Aidy Mann became the clubhouse ‘s youngest actor. In 1984–85, the lowest ever league attendance was recorded at the County Ground where only 942 people turn up to watch the Cobblers lose 2–0 at base to Chester City ; this was besides the only ever league attendance under 1,000. In the lapp year, The club managed what seemed like a major coup when they appointed Tony Barton, who had won the european Cup with Aston Villa two years previously, as coach. Barton ‘s lone season in charge proved sternly disappoint 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 surrogate, Graham Carr, who brought in respective players from the non-league in summation to a number of timbre league players to finish one-eighth in his first base season in charge. The 1986–87 temper saw Northampton win the Fourth Division backing, gaining a club record sum of 99 points and scoring 103 goals, 29 of them to Richard Hill, who was transferred in the summer to Watford for a cabaret read fee of £265,000. The clubhouse adjusted to animation in Division Three promptly and fair missed out on a play-off place despite finishing sixth. crucial players such as Trevor Morley and Eddie McGoldrick were sold and the team fell back down to Division Four in the 1989–90 season .

early 1990s [edit ]

The 1990s began badly, with the club relegated to the Fourth Division at the end of the 1989–90 season. The following season began well as the cabaret looked on course to return to the Third Division at the first undertake. They were acme of the postpone in February, but fell away and finished mid-table. Things then got flush worse and the club went into administration in April 1992, with debts of around £1.6 million. 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 contribution holding in the club and a example on the board of directors. [ 4 ] This was the first such exemplify of a supporters ‘ trust take over a football club. [ 5 ] The club needed to win the final examination game of the 1992–93 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 entirely time in the cabaret ‘s history. relegation was alone escape due to the Conference champions, Kidderminster Harriers, not meeting the necessary ground criteria. The club finally began its motivate to Sixfields .

The Sixfields era [edit ]

The club moved to new ground, Sixfields Stadium, in October 1994. The switch of grind did not change the club ‘s fortunes and they finished 17th, with Ian Atkins taking over as director from John Barnwell halfway through the 1994–95 season. [ 6 ] After two more seasons, in the club ‘s centennial season 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, John Frain scored the winning goal from a twice-taken free kick deep into injury time. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] The following season Northampton made the Division Two play-off final examination, but lost 1–0 to Grimsby Town in front of a then record 62,998 crowd, with the greater than 40,000 Northampton fans besides then a record for the most supporters taken to Wembley by one team. [ 10 ] Northampton were not able to progress from the previous year ‘s achiever because of long-run injuries to 16 of their players during the 1998–99 season. The team was relegated to Division Three, despite being unbeaten in the final nine games of the season. however, there were some predict results such as a 2–1 aggregate winnings over West Ham United in the League Cup. [ 11 ] The 1999–2000 season saw the cabaret 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 adjunct, Kevin Wilson and bus Kevan Broadhurst took joint charge for the rest of the calendar month. Wilson, the early Chelsea player, was appointed director at the get down of November, going on to win two director of the month awards. The trace season started promisingly, with players such as Marco Gabbiadini and Jamie Forrester pushing the Cobblers towards a play-off position before the baseball club finally finished in 18th place ascribable to a large count of injuries in the second half of the season. Kevin Wilson was sacked in November 2001, to make means for his adjunct 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 adjacent season was the worst since the early 1990s, 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 coup d’etat attempts by John Fashanu [ 12 ] and Giovanni Di Stefano [ 13 ] 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 concisely replaced by erstwhile England actor Terry Fenwick who was sacked after a winless spell of seven games. This was, at the meter, the eighth-shortest managerial reign in English football history. Martin Wilkinson, the new coach lasted short longer, being dismissed in October 2003 in favor of former Scotland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Colin Calderwood. [ 14 ] Calderwood led Northampton to the play-offs in his beginning season, where they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Mansfield Town after a penalty shoot-out. In the 2004–05 temper, Northampton finished seventh, again in the play-offs, where they were defeated by Southend United. Following this, the coach made significant 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 newly director, [ 15 ] 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 mesa, with Ian Sampson and Jim Barron concisely taking care of beginning team affairs. [ 16 ] He was replaced by former Southampton boss Stuart Gray on 2 January 2007. [ 17 ] The Cobblers were relegated from league one on the final examination day of the 2008–09 season, after suffering a 3–0 kill off at Leeds United and other results went against them. Northampton caused an upset in the third cycle of the 2010–11 Football League Cup, knocking out Liverpool at Anfield. The game was drawn 2–2 after excess time, and the Cobblers beat the team 69 places above them 4–2 on penalties, the winning penalty being scored by Abdul Osman at the ‘Kop End ‘. [ 18 ] Ian Sampson was sacked as coach on 2 March 2011 after a poor run of phase saw the Cobblers fail to win in eight games and baby-sit in a disappointing 16th situation in League 2. Sampson ‘s final game in charge was a 2–3 kill against Burton Albion, the manner of this defeat ultimately costing him his job. Sampson ‘s sacking bring to an end a 17-year association with Northampton, and his commitment to the cabaret has guaranteed his status as a caption in fans ‘ hearts. [ 19 ] David Cardoza moved cursorily and Gary Johnson was unveiled as the new coach on 4 March 2011. [ 20 ] however, things did n’t go well under Gary Johnson : the cabaret slid further down the postpone in League 2 and only equitable avoided relegation at the end of the 2010–11 season. The begin of the 2011–12 season saw no improvement for the Cobblers and Gary Johnson left the baseball club on 14 November 2011 by reciprocal accept. [ 21 ] In November 2011, Northampton appointed ex- Watford director Aidy Boothroyd as their new coach. [ 22 ] After drafting in players such as Ben Harding, Luke Guttridge and Clarke Carlisle, Boothroyd managed to keep Northampton in the league and in the summer set about transforming the club into a club with promotion ambitions. On 18 May 2013, Northampton reached the League 2 play-off final, losing 3–0 to Bradford City at Wembley Stadium. [ 23 ] After a poor people start to the 2013–14 League Two season, Northampton found themselves at the metrical foot of the table, and as of 21 December, they had alone acquire four games. Boothroyd was subsequently sacked. [ 24 ] From the startle of the 2013–14 temper, Northampton shared their Sixfields Stadium with Coventry City with the West Midlands club going through a prolong quarrel with the owners of their previous home, the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. On 27 January 2014, David Cardoza appointed former Oxford United director Chris Wilder as the fresh coach of the club on a three and half-year share. [ 25 ] In October 2015, HM Revenue and Customs issued the club with a winding-up prayer over unpaid taxes. [ 26 ] (See Sixfields Stadium) In February 2016, Northampton Town broke their clubhouse record of eight consecutive wins by beating Wycombe Wanderers 1–0, extending the winning run to nine. [ 27 ] The 2015–16 season was successful and resulted in promotion to League One on 9 April. [ 28 ] A draw at Exeter combined with Oxford United ‘s get the better of at home to Luton Town meant that they clinched the League 2 championship a week late on 16 April. The Cobblers went on to play their first season in the third tier of English football since 2009. In the 2016–17 season, after a 5–0 frustration to Bristol Rovers, Rob Page was sacked and replaced with Justin Edinburgh. [ 29 ] Northampton finished 16th, meaning that they would continue to play one-third tier football. They made it to the Third Round of the EFL Cup, where they lost to Manchester United. [ 30 ] On 26 June 2017 a 60 % stake in Northampton Town was purchased by chinese company 5uSport. The party indicated that they would invest in both the play budget and stadium development. Although the investment was technically a takeover, Kelvin Thomas remained chair and the two parties have acted in partnership since. On 4 September 2017, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was appointed as coach on a three-year deal, replacing Justin Edinburgh who had been sacked after four losses from the begin of the temper. [ 31 ] His first game was against Doncaster Rovers five days late, a home tie which ended in a 1–0 victory for Northampton Town. [ 32 ] He was sacked on 2 April 2018 after Northampton Town went 9 games without a win and was replaced by Keith Curle. [ 33 ] He had his condense extended in July 2020 for a promote two years. [ 34 ] On 29 June 2020, the club were promoted to League One after beating Exeter City 4–0 in the play-off final, despite a check in the season ascribable to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. [ 35 ] This was Northampton ‘s fourth EFL play-off final and it ended in victory, 23 seasons after their only other Wembley win for forwarding. [ 36 ] They made it to Wembley after a second leg rejoinder against Cheltenham Town, after the first stage at Sixfields Stadium they had trailed 2–0 and faced an uphill battle to progress to the play off final examination. however, in the second branch, Cobblers performed the turnaround by winning 3–0 away from family. [ 37 ] however, Northampton were relegated back to League Two in their first season after finishing 22nd in the 2020–21 season. [ 38 ]

Club crest and colours [edit ]

Northampton ‘s has been manufactured by Hummel since 2020. former manufacturers have included Bukta ( 1975–82 ), Adidas ( 1982–83 ), Umbro ( 1983–86 ), Spall ( 1986–88 ), MG ( 1988–89 ), Scoreline ( 1989–91 ), Beaver Sports ( 1991–92 ), Ribero ( 1992–93 ), Swift ( 1993–94 ), Lotto ( 1995–97 ), Pro Star ( 1997-2000 ), Sport House ( 2000–03 ), Xara ( 2003–05 ), Salming ( 2005–06 ), Vandanel ( 2006–09 ), Errea ( 2009–16 ), Nike ( 2016–20 ) and Hummel ( 2020- ). The baseball club ‘s shirts are sponsored by the University of Northampton, since 2013, and PTS Academy, since 2016. previous sponsors have included Chronicle & Echo ( 1985–86 and 1994–95 ), TNT ( 1986–88 ), Costain Homes ( 1988–91 ), Van Aid ( 1991–92 ), Carpet Supacentre ( 1992–94 ), Lotto ( 1995-97 ), EBS Mobile Phones ( 1997–98 ), Nationwide ( 1998-2003 ), Jackson Grundy ( 2007-13 ), Red Hot Buffet ( 2011–12 ), Gala Casinos ( 2012-13 ), and Opus Energy ( 2015–18 )

Stadiums [edit ]

County Ground [edit ]

Northampton Town played at the County Ground from 1897 to 1994 Northampton moved to the county ground in 1897, [ 39 ] sharing it with Northamptonshire County Cricket Club from 1905. The main stand was situated alongside Abington Avenue and was a covered stand with seating to the back and terracing to the front man. The rack survived until 1985, but following the Bradford City stadium fire, it was deemed insecure and demolished, leaving merely the terrace. This was then replaced by a small temp stand nicknamed the ‘ Meccano Stand ‘ by fans. The early two stands were at the ends with the Spion Kop, which only reached the goalposts, normally 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 23 April 1966. The anchor besides saw Northampton ‘s lowest always attendance in the Football League, a crowd of 942 for the 1984–85 catch against Chester City. The last crippled to be played at the ground was a 1–0 kill by Mansfield Town on Tuesday, 12 October 1994 .

Sixfields stadium [edit ]

The club moved to Sixfields Stadium in 1994. [ 40 ] It is a modern all-seater stadium with a capacity of 7,653 and award-winning disable facilities. The stadium design is bare with the west stand seating 4,000, opposite the smaller 1,000-capacity east resist known as the Alwyn Hargrave stand after the Ex-Borough Councillor who helped the stadium become world. At either end are identical stands that are the same height as the east stand, the south stand normally for aside supporters. ( Against Chester City on 29 April 2006, the stand was split and supporters segregated to allow the maximal number of base supporters to witness the club ‘s promotion to League One. ) The north Stand is known as the Sheinman Opticians Stand, ascribable to a naming rights partnership with local Opticians, Sheinman Opticians.

Supporters and rivalries [edit ]

The club ‘s biggest traditional rivals are Peterborough United, a competition which has endured since the 1960s. early meaning rivalries include Oxford United, Milton Keynes Dons, Coventry City, Cambridge United and Rushden & Diamonds. [ 42 ]

Honours and achievements [edit ]

Football League Second Division ( 2nd tier )
Football League Third Division / Third Division South ( 3rd tier )
Football League Fourth Division / League Two ( 4th tier )
Southern Football League
FA Charity Shield

Notes

club records [edit ]

Northampton Town 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. Tommy Fowler holds the record for Northampton Town appearances, having played 552 first-team matches between 1946 and 1961. Centre one-half and former captain Ian Sampson comes irregular, with 449 games. The record for a goalkeeper is held by Peter Gleasure, with 412 appearances. [ 43 ] Jack English is the club ‘s top goalscorer with 143 goals in competitive matches between 1947 and 1959, having surpassed Teddy Bowen ‘s sum of 120. Bowen ‘s read had stood since September 1931, when he overtook the full of 110 goals set by hitter William Lockett in 1930. [ 44 ] The highest attendance at the County Ground of 24,523 was on 23 April 1966 in an significant relegation battle in the First Division against Fulham. It is unlikely that this criminal record will be broken unless renovation takes target at Sixfields. The record attendance at Sixfields is 7,798, for an EFL Cup match against Manchester United on 21 September 2016. [ 45 ]

Players [edit ]

stream team [edit ]

As of 31 August 2021[46]

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

PFA Team of the year [edit ]

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

fad heroes [edit ]

The follow were chosen by fans as the favorite club heroes in the BBC Sports Cult Heroes pate in 2006 : [ 47 ]

Club management [edit ]

As of 29 June 2021 [ 48 ]

Staff positions [edit ]

Board of directors and ownership [edit ]

Executive chairman: Kelvin Thomas
President: Bob Church
Director: David Bower
Non-executive director: Mike Wailing

managerial history [edit ]

Below is a list of all permanent managers of Northampton Town since its foundation in 1897 .

References [edit ]

Notes

Bibliography

Beesley, Mark (December 2005). Northampton Town: A season in the Sun 1965–66. Northampton: Desert Island Books. ISBN 1-905328-01-X.
John Watson, David Walden (October 2000). Northampton Town Football Club. Northampton: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-1671-5.

Media related to Northampton Town F.C. at Wikimedia Commons

Official

Northampton Town F.C. – Official Website

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