1897-2016

Northampton Town Football Club, nicknamed the Cobblers were founded

on 6th March 1897, when a group of local school teachers got together
with the well known local solicitor, AJ "Pat" Darnell in the Princess Royal
Inn, Wellingborough Road, Northampton to form the Town's first
professional football club. Problems were encountered before a ball was
kicked, when the Rugby club objected to the club name; Northampton
Football Club. Arbitration was sought at the Football Association and the
club were to be called Northampton Town Football Club.
Northampton Town Football Club joined the Northants League (U.C.L.), and
spent just two seasons there during which time they recouped their first
transfer fee, 50 from Derby County for Frank (Wall) Howard, who was
club's first professional player, and later became a gateman at the County
Ground! 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 the 1901-02 which saw the clubs heaviest
defeat was recorded, 11-0 to Southampton, on a brighter note the F.A. Cup
Proper was reached for the first time, a game which was lost 2-0 to
League side Sheffield United in front of a lock-out crowd of 15,000, the
gate receipts totalling 399.
National headlines were made in October 1902, when a 1-0 win was
recorded over Portsmouth at Fratton Park, this was Portsmouth first ever
defeat at Fratton Park, after an incredible 66 matches. The going was
tough to start off with in the Southern League and the Cobblers twice
finished bottom, mainly due to players being snapped up by league clubs,
who were able to pay better wages.

During the 1904-05 season, Northampton used their first substitute in a

friendly game against Port Vale. Len Benbow was injured, and permission
was granted for him to be replaced by Herbert Chapman, who became the
first ever Manager at the club, although on a Player/Manager basis. His
appointment was certainly a wise one, with 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 who still has the record number
of International caps won (12) and was the oldest player to play for the
club (42). The transformation was incredible, within two years
Northampton were champions of the Southern League (1908-09) and met
Newcastle United in the Charity Shield, losing 2-0 at the Oval.

1909-10 saw the Cobblers achieve their two biggest wins in the Southern
League, 11-1 against Southend United and 10-0 against Croydon
Common, they went onto to finish 4th that season and followed that up by
finishing Runners-up to Swindon Town in 1910-11.

October 1911 saw the Cobblers sign their first black player, Walter Tull
from Tottenham Hotspur who incidentally was the leagues first black
outfield player. During his first season he played as a forward and scored 9
goals from just 12 games, including 4 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 in the first World War where he
was Britain's first black army officer. On July 11th 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, 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 he died in
1934.

After the war and the resumption of Southern League football in 1919-20,
the Cobblers conceded 103 goals which is the only season to date that the
club have conceded over 100 goals, however re-election was avoided by
three points and were ready to start life as a Football League club, joining
Division Three (South). On Christmas day 1920 The Cobblers won 5-2 at
Gillingham, the next away league win was not achieved until September
6th 1922, a 3-0 win at Gillingham (again!) a run of 33 away matches
without a win. 1922-3 saw the club become a public company and 8,000
shares at 1 were released, a then record crowd of 18,123 was recorded
for the Plymouth match on Boxing day and gate receipts for the first time
exceeded 1,000.

1923-24 started with the club rasing 5,000 to build a stand with players
tunnel underneath and also improved terracing was installed in the Hotel
End. In 1924-25 and incredible an unenviable record was set when 9
penalties were missed during the course of the season, which also saw the
formation of the Supporter Club. The following 1925-26 season witnessed
the clubs first foreign transfer, ex-Scarborough player William Shaw was
signed from Spanish side Barcelona, having scored 31 goals from 38
games the previous season.

1927/28 saw a record Division Three (South) victory, 10-0 against Walsall)
which helped ensure that 102 league goals were scored that season
finishing 2nd, behind Millwall. On Boxing day, there the club entertained
Luton Town at the County Ground, and at half time were trailing 5-1,
however the second half proved to be more successful for the home side
who put five past their visitors to win the match 6-5. Spare a thought for
Luton's Jimmy Reid, who despite scoring 4 goals still finished on the losing

side. 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

Disaster occurred at the County Ground during December 1929, when a

fire destroyed stands A, B and C, of which the damage was estimated at
5,000, only stand D was saved although this was charred. The source of
the fire was thought to be in the away dressing room, the Cobblers had
earlier entertained AFC Bournemouth reserves. The stand had been rebuilt by February 1930.

1932-33 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, 5 FA Cup goals, and even scored all 4 in a 4-0 win over
the Dutch National side whilst the club was on tour. In 1933-34 the free
scoring Albert Dawes was sold to Crystal Palace for a then club record fee
of 1,650, and the FA 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, not bad for a mid table Division Three (South)
side. The Cobblers finally bowed out to Preston North End 4-0 at Deepdale,
setting a new ground record of 40,180.

New manager, Ex-England International Syd Puddefoot joined prior to the

end of the 1934-35 season and helped the club win nine out of their
remaining twelve fixtures. The following 1935-36 season, the club broke
their record transfer fee when they bought James Bartram from Falkirk for
1,000. However, this was later offset by another record transfer fee
received again from Crystal Palace, this time 3,000 for Fred Dawes, the
brother of Albert who was transferred two seasons earlier.

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 1938
signed John Parris from Luton Town who was the first ever black player to
play for Wales. In the final match prior to the War, the Cobblers travelled
to Deans Court and lost 10-0, the clubs 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.

After the War, the club finished 13th in Division Three (South) with Archie
Garrett scoring 26 league goals before joining Birmingham City for a then
club record of 10,000 during the early part if the following 1947-48
season. A player who would go onto become the clubs all time leading
scorer joined the club, his name was Jack English, the son of Jack English,
former manager between 1931-35, as did a certain Mr Dave Bowen, who

would go onto have a very long association with the Cobblers and also
become the Manager of Wales.

In 1948-49, the club thankfully avoided re-election on goal difference, but

the following 1949-50 season, the clubs fortunes had changed
dramatically for the better and runners-up spot was achieved behind Notts
County. The Cobblers also reached the 5th round of the FA Cup, creating
new attendance records, firstly at the County Ground, when 23,209 were
present in the Third round tie with Southampton and secondly 38,063
turned up at the Baseball Ground in Derby, where the home side ran out
4-2 winners. Cup success continued the following season when the
Cobblers reached the 4th round, this time losing 3-2 away to Arsenal in
front of a mammoth crowd of 72,408, the highest crowd that any Cobblers
team has played in front of.

1952-53 Northampton Town Football Club finished 3rd in Division Three

(South), just two points behind the winners, Bristol Rovers. The Cobblers
scored 109 goals in the process.

1957-58 was The Cobblers last season in Division Three South, which also
saw an amazing FA Cup third round 3-1 win at home to Arsenal, and then
losing by the same scoreline to Liverpool at Anfield. The Cobblers finished
the season 13th, just one place below the cut off point and were elected
to Division Four.

However, the clubs stay in the Fourth Division only lasted for three
seasons, the 7,000 re-arrival of Dave Bowen from Arsenal, in 1959 as
Player Manager was to be the start of a truly remarkable decade. The
Cobblers finished 3rd in Division Four in 1960-61 and were promoted to
Division Three, incidentally, this was the season that club first had
floodlights installed and also saw the first league encounters with local
rivals Peterborough United.

1961-62 saw Laurie Brown transferred to Arsenal for 35,000 and the
Cobblers finish 8th in Division Three with Cliff Holton scoring a club record
of 36 league goals. Tommy Fowler played the last of his record breaking
552 games for the club in the 2-2 home draw with Lincoln City.

In 1962-63 The Cobblers were crowned champions of the Third Division

scoring 109 goals. Five players reached double figures, the top scorer was
Alec Ashworth with 25 league goals in just 30 matches, he was then
transferred to Preston North End in the close season for an estimated
20,000. Frank Large joined the club in the March from QPR, beginning the

first of three spells with club in which he scored 96 goals in just over 250
appearances.

1963-64, the Cobblers signed Bobby Hunt from Colchester United for
25,000 and finished 11th in Division Two. The following season saw
Northampton Town Football Club finished Division two runners-up in 196465 by just one point from Champions, Newcastle United, Cobblers
goalkeeper, Bryan Harvey saved seven penalties during the season,
including two in one match against Southampton, which were taken by
Terry Paine, England's penalty taker at the time.

1965-66 is the only season that the Cobblers have ever spent in the top
flight of English football. A County Ground record of 24,523 supporters
witnessed the penultimate home Division One fixture with Fulham which
was lost 4-2 and relegation followed shortly to Division Two, which
prompted Manchester City Manager Joe Mercer to state "The miracle of
1966 was not England winning the World Cup, but Northampton reaching
Division One". Barry Lines made history by becoming first player to play
and score in all four divisions for the same club. A new transfer record was
set, when the club paid 27,000 to take Joe Broadfoot from Ipswich Town.
Incidently, the Cobblers only double that season was against Aston Villa,
and therefore as our paths have never crossed since then in the league,
they are the only club that we have a 100% record against, Played 2, Won
2!

1966-67 was another season to end in relegation, this time to Division

Three. It was hard to fathom out why the club was relegated, perhaps the
twelve cartlidge operations played a large part. In 1967-68 the club just
managed to avoid relegation to the Fourth Division, finishing 18th. By
1968-69 the cycle was complete and the Cobblers finished 21st, despite
having an outside chance of promotion with 10 games to go, and were
relegated to the basement division. Rising from top to bottom and back
down again, just as quickly, all in the space of a decade.

In 1969-70 the Cobblers played a staggering nine matches in the F.A. Cup,
which culminated in a Fifth Round 8-2 home thrashinng by Manchester
United. The genius George Best scored a double hat-trick, coming off the
back of a six week suspension!

For the first time since becoming a League side the club had to apply for
re-election in 1971-72, thankfully they finished the most favoured club
with 49 votes, closely followed by Crewe Alexandra and Stockport County
with 46 votes. However, re-election had to be applied for again the
following season when this time 43 votes were gained. A strange
occurrence of the season saw the biggest gate of the season recorded for

a match which did not involve the Cobblers, 11,451 turned up to

Birmingham's Trevor Francis score the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win
over Luton Town in the League Cup second round second replay!

1974-75, a star of the future is sold, after 200 games in the claret colours
of the Cobblers, Liverpool buy Phil Neal for a then club record of 65,000,
whilst playing in the same side of another future England International, a
certain John Gregory.

1975-76, the Cobblers finished 2nd in Division Four without losing a home
game, and were promoted to Division Three behind Champions Lincoln
City, who were also undefeated at home. 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.
On the downside Gary Mabee was forced to retire from football through
injury at just 20 years old, he had scored 13 goals the previous season.

1976-77 brought relegation back to Division Four, the season started with
ex-Manchester United Assistant Manager, Pat Crerand in charge, however
his resignation was accepted following a 2-0 defeat at Brighton just into
the new year. No new manager was appointed, instead a Committee was
formed consisting of the Chairman, the coach and three senior players.

Both the incoming and outgoing transfer records were broken during the
1979-80 season, prior to the start of the season George Reilly was sold to
Cambridge United for a then record of 165,000, he had been the clubs
top scorer for the previous two seasons whilst winger Mark Heeley was
bought from Arsenal for 33,000. New floodlights were installed in time for
the 1980-81 season, but they failed during the first match against
Southend United and the game had to be abandoned. There was also little
success on the pitch, the club finished 10th, and the following season
matters worsened when the club finished 22nd and again had to apply for
re-election, which was successful.

1982-83 brought a little improvement, 15th position was achieved, with

Bristol City being the unlucky opponents when the club put 7 goals past
them on a Sunday afternoon. The reward for beating Wimbledon and
Gillingham in the FA Cup was a lucrative home tie with Aston Villa, which a
full house of just under 15,000 witnessed a superb volleyed goal by Mark
Walters, who later went on to play for England, to give Aston Villa a 1-0
victory.
The club seemed anchored to bottom section of the Fourth Division,
finishing 18th in 1983-84, where 16 year old Aidy Mann became the clubs
youngest player and 23rd in 1984-85, which included the lowest ever

league attendance at the County Ground. A mere 942 diehard supporters

turn up to watch the Cobblers lose 2-0 at home to Chester City, the only
ever league attendance under 1,000. The club appointed Graham Carr an
ex-player to manage the club for the final seven games of the 1984-85
season which produced six wins and a draw.
Graham Carr was relishing his first Football League management position
and prior to the start of the 1985-86 season he bought in several players
from the non-league in addition to a number of quality league players
which was the tonic that the club needed and 8th position was gained.
The club won a cash prize for being the first in the Country to score 50
league goals, which was achieved before Christmas. The County Ground
lost the main stand, which had been condemned following the fire at
Bradford City, a small stand was erected which was nicknamed the
"Meccano Stand" due to the amount of scaffolding that surrounded it.
The Cobblers picked up where they had left off the previous season and
the 1986-87 Fourth Division Championship was emphatically won, gaining
a club record total of 99 points and scoring 103 goals, 29 of them to
Richard Hill, who was transferred in the Summer to Watford for a club
record fee of 265,000. The club adjust to life in Division Three quickly
and just miss out on a play-off place despite finishing 6th. The then record
signing Tony Adcock was signed from Manchester City as part of an
exchange deal for Trevor Morley, Tony Adcock's part of the fee is 85,000.
The 1988-89 season saw the Cobblers struggle, mainly as a direct result of
selling the best players in the previous season and letting Eddie
McGoldrick join Crystal Palace for 200,000. The following season the club
were relegated to Division Four, but did manage a FA Cup upset by
beating Coventry City in the third round, 1-0 with then record gate
receipts of 47,292. The club looked on course to return to the Third
Division at the first attempt, they were top of the table in February, but
with only 3 wins coming in the final 18 games, the club finished a
disappointing 10th.
Things worsened for the club financially, and went into administration in
April 1992, with debts of around 1,600,000, ten of the clubs players were
sacked and youth players were drafted in to make up the numbers,
needless to say the results did not improve. These unhappy 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.
History was made at the County Ground in the match with Hereford
United, they finished the match with only seven players, four had been
sent off, despite this obvious disadvantage the match ended 1-1. It was a
sign of things to come and the club needed to win the final game of the
season to avoid being relegated to the Conference. Over 2,500 made the
trip to Shrewsbury Town and were distraught at half-time with home club
leading 2-0. What happened after the interval was nothing short of a
miracle, the game finished 3-2 in favour of the Cobblers, the winner being
a fortuitous goal which came off of the incoming Pat Gavin and rolled into
the net following an attempted clearance from the goalkeeper.

Despite the warning bells from the previous season, the Cobblers finished
bottom of the Football League in 1993-94, the only time in the club's
history that the have finished bottom of any division since joining the
Football League. Relegation was only escaped due the Conference
Champions, Kidderminster Harriers not meeting the necessary ground
criteria.
Tuesday 12th October 1994 was the last ever match at the County
Ground, a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Mansfield Town. This was the start of
a new era, Northampton Town Football Club moved to Sixfields Stadium
and a capacity crowd on Saturday 15th October 1994 witnessed the first
match at the new Stadium, a 1-1 draw with Barnet. The first player to
score at the new stadium was Martin Aldridge. The change of ground did
not change the clubs fortunes, and by Christmas the club were in danger
of finishing bottom again.

In a desperate attempt to climb away from the foot of the table the
Manager John Barnwell was replaced by Ian Atkins, he set about his task
quickly and had guided the club to 17th by the end of the season.

In his first full season in charge improvement was made and 11th position
was achieved, with only 44 goals conceded from 46 games. Jason White
was acquired for 35,000 from Scarborough and finished the season as
top scorer with 16 goals. The League Cup 1st round, 2nd leg at home to
West Bromwich Albion produced record gate receipts of 52,373.
Promotion parties for both Preston and Gillingham were put on hold as the
Cobblers won at Deepdale and held Gillingham to a draw, in addition to
beating Wigan at Springfield Park in the final match of the season to deny
them a play-off place.

1996-97 saw the Cobblers appear at Wembley for the first time in 100
years, beating Swansea City 1-0 in the play-off final in front of 46,804
(32,000 Northampton supporters!) with John Frain scoring the winning
goal from a free kick deep into injury time, which added to the clubs
centenary celebrations. Again, only 44 goals were conceded from 46
games which resulted in Town finishing 4th. Record gate receipts of
59,464 were recorded for the Play-off semi-final with Cardiff. Neil
Grayson top scored with 12 goals which included the fastest ever hatrick
from a Cobblers player, in just five minutes against Hartlepool United.

1997-98 again saw a Wembley appearance, this time in the Division Two
play-off final which was lost 1-0 to third placed Grimsby Town in front of a
then record 62,998 crowd, over 40,000 Northampton supporters, which is
a record, the most supporters taken to Wembley by one team). Just 37
goals were conceded from 46 league games, the lowest total since joining

the Football League. David Seal was bought from Bristol City for a club
record 90,000 in at the start of the season and finished top scorer with
14 league and cup goals, in addition he was also the leading goalscorer
for the reserves with 12 goals from 10 games which helped win the
Reserve League. The clubs average attendance of 6,392 was the highest
since the 1975/76 season.

1998-99 was a season littered with injury problems, no fewer than 16

players suffered from long term injuries, which completely decimated the
squad from start to finish. On the final day of the season the "Cobblers"
were unfortunately relegated to Division Three, despite being undefeated
in the last 9 games of the season. On the positive side a memorable 2-1
aggregate win was recorded over West Ham United in the Worthington
Cup before bowing out to eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur 3-1, after
taking the lead. The match produced then record receipts of 102,979, a
figure that was overtaken by the January 2004 FA Cup 4th round tie with
Manchester United. The club was awarded the enterprise award from the
Avon Insurance Combination Reserve League, for efforts in promoting
reserve team football locally and nationally. The clubs transfer record was
broken for the second successive season, 90,000 was paid to Hartlepool
United for Steven Howard, with up to another 45,000 due on
appearances and goals.
1999-2000 season saw the club bounce back to Division Two, finishing
third and holding the third automatic spot for promotion, a run of 6
consecutive wins in the final 6 matches made outright promotion possible.
Ian Atkins parted company with the club in October following an
indifferent start to the season, his assistant, Kevin Wilson and coach,
Kevan Broadhurst , took joint charge for the remainder of the month.
Kevin Wilson was appointed manager at the start of November and
recorded four wins and a draw in his first month in charge, earning him
the Division Three manager of the month award, he followed that up in
April with his second manager of the month award. Personal success was
achieved by Ian Hendon, who was voted in the PFA team of the season for
Division Three.
Promotion to the higher division allowed the club to make changes to the
playing staff over the summer, something it hadn't done during the
season. Carlo Corazzin, Sean Parrish and Simon Sturridge were allowed to
leave on free transfers and Marco Gabbiadini (Bosman), Christian
Hargreaves (Bosman) and Jamie Forrester (a then club record signing at
150,000 from FC Utrecht) were brought in as replacements. The Cobblers
made a good start to life in Division Two and flirted with the play off's
during the early part of the campaign before slipping away to finish a
disappointing 18th. A series of injuries after Christmas depriving the club
of a number of the senior players and stretching the already paper thin
squad.
The club bought in Gerard Lavin, Daryl Burgress, Paul McGregor, Derek
Asamoah and loan players Sam Parkin, Rob Wolleaston and Ian Evatt at
the beginning of the campaign but a crippling injury crisis saw the

Cobblers make a disappointing start to the new season. Kevin Wilson was
relieved of his duties at the end of September 2001 following a 3-1 home
defeat against Blackpool. Shortly afterwards Kevan Broadhurst was
appointed as Caretaker Manger and following an upturn in the club's
fortunes he was confirmed as full time manager in October 2001. His task
was immediately made harder by news of a transfer embargo, one that
would run for the course of the season, preventing him from strengthening
what was already one of the smallest squad in the entire Football League.
Mixed fortunes were experienced in the remainder of the year but things
were to improve greatly in 2002. Despite finding themselves nine points
adrift of safety in mid-January a remarkable run of promotion form, with
only one defeat at Sixfields, saw the Cobblers secure their safety with a
game to spare. Mission impossible had been accomplished and
Northampton Town finished a remarkable five points above the relegation
zone.
Over the summer Kevan Broadhurst managed to strengthen the squad
with eight new faces. He managed to compliment experienced players like
Lee Harper, Paul Rickers, Nathan Abbey, Paul Trollope and Jerry Gill with
promising youngsters Darryn Stamp, Greg Lincoln and Paul Harsley. The
season was little over a month old when the club was forced to launch a
'Save our Season' campaign in a bid to see out the remainder of the year.
The SOS appeal was required after the collapse of ITV Digital and much
publicised takeover attempts by John Fashanu and Giovanni Di Stefano
had failed and left the club with a big deficit to make up in the budgets.
Supporters rallied and managed to raise over 230,000 to keep the club
afloat with a string of fundraising events, the total was still some way
short of the target of half a million pounds which was required by the end
of January. In December 2002 a consortium headed by Andrew Ellis took a
majority shareholding in the club and Chairman Barry Stonhill stood down.
On the pitch the side had made a reasonable start to the season but
suffered from a lack of consistency. In November 2002 Kevan had been
pipped to the Manager of the Month award by Wigan's Paul Jewell, a
disastrous run of results followed which ultimately cost him his job in
January 2003. He was replaced by former England, Spurs and QPR
defender Terry Fenwick, who had previously managed Portsmouth. Terry's
spell in charge of the side proved to be the eighth shortest managerial
reign in English football history, after a winless spell of seven games he
was relieved of his duties and replaced by Martin Wilkinson as Caretaker
Manager for the remainder of the season. The change could not keep the
Cobblers in Division 2, but Martin was appointed permanent Manager in
April 2003.
Colin Calderwood replaced Martin in October 2003 and the Cobblers are
looking to bounce back to League 1 (Division 2) as soon as possible. May
2004 saw the club suffer play off heartbreak with a penalty shoot out semi
final defeat, and 12 months later similar heartbreak followed with a 1-0
play off semi final at Southend (again a penalty) but with Chairman David
Cardoza at the helm, the club can look forward with excitement and
optimism. The claret and white juggernaut began to move in 2005/2006,
with the club securing automatic promotion to League One. A 1-0 victory
over Chester at Sixfields on April 29 2006 saw wild celebrations begin. A
squad with a backbone of strength and experience in the shape of Sean

Dyche, Ian Taylor, Eoin Jess and Scott McGleish had steered the Cobblers
away from the clutches of League Two. However, just as the celebrations
died down, Calderwood decided to accept the position of Nottingham
Forest's new manager, meaning John Gorman would lead Northampton
Town in to League One. Gorman resigned for personal reasons in
December 2006, with Stuart Gray his replacement.
In his first full season (2007/2008), Gray led the Cobblers to a top half
finish in League One, a final placing only bettered twice in the previous 41
years. Sadly that success was not sustained the following season, with a
last day defeat at Leeds condemning the club to relegation back to
League 2. The 2009/10 season started with the team struggling to find
consistency, and Gray left his post in early September 2009. His successor
was club legend Ian Sampson, the club's second highest appearance
maker of all time, who was appointed after a spell in caretaker charge. In
September 2010 he oversaw one of the biggest results in the club's
history, beating Liverpool at Anfield in the Carling Cup. Sampson left the
club in March 2011 after 17 years service as player, coach and manager.
He was replaced by the former Yeovil Town, Bristol City and Peterborough
United boss Gary Johnson on a two and a half year contract. A win over
Stevenage in the penultimate game of the season secured the club's
Football League status. Johnson left the club by mutual consent in
November 2011.
Aidy Boothroyd was named as Johnson's replacement, and he arrived with
assistant Andy King, steering the club to safety in 2011/12. He enjoyed a
fine first full season, leading the team to a Wembley play off final where
they sadly lost to Bradford City in front of more than 47,000 fans. In July
2013 Coventry City Football Club agreed a 3 year deal to play their home
games at Sixfields on a temporary basis. Boothroyd left Sixfields in
December 2013 after a 4-1 home loss to Wycombe Wanderers meant that
the Cobblers spent Christmas 2013 at the foot of the Football League.
Chris Wilder was appointed his replacement in January 2014, assisted by
Alan Knill. Wilder kept the club up after a successful battle against
relegation thanks to a 3-1 win over Oxford United on the final day of the
season. His first full season at Sixfields saw the Cobblers secure a midtable finish.