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'''Northampton Town Football Club''' are a [[Football (soccer)|football]] team based in [[Northampton]], [[Northamptonshire]], [[England]]. |
'''Northampton Town Football Club''' are a [[Football (soccer)|football]] team based in [[Northampton]], [[Northamptonshire]], [[England]]. The nickname of the club is ''The Cobblers'' after the famous shoe industry in [[Northampton]]. |
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For the [[2006-07 in English football|2006-2007]] season, Northampton Town are plying their trade in [[Football League One]] and play their home fixtures at the [[Sixfields Stadium]] since moving from the [[County_Cricket_Ground%2C_Northampton|County Ground]] in October 1994. |
For the [[2006-07 in English football|2006-2007]] season, Northampton Town are plying their trade in [[Football League One]] and play their home fixtures at the [[Sixfields Stadium]] since moving from the [[County_Cricket_Ground%2C_Northampton|County Ground]] in October 1994. |
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Revision as of 13:45, 25 March 2007
| Northampton Town logo | |||
| Full name | Northampton Town Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Cobblers | ||
| Founded | 1897 | ||
| Ground | Sixfields Stadium Northampton | ||
| Capacity | 7,653 | ||
| Chairman | David Cardoza | ||
| Manager |  Stuart Gray | ||
| League | League One | ||
| 2005-06 | League Two, 2nd (promoted) | ||
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Northampton Town Football Club are a football team based in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. The nickname of the club is The Cobblers after the famous shoe industry in Northampton.
For the 2006-2007 season, Northampton Town are plying their trade in Football League One and play their home fixtures at the Sixfields Stadium since moving from the County Ground in October 1994.
They usually play in claret and white, and their main local rivals are Peterborough United, a rivalry which has endured since the 1960s.
History
Early days
Northampton Town was founded in 1897 after meetings between the town’s schoolteachers and local solicitor A.J. Darnell. At the time 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 and whilst there 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 March 6 1897, at the Princess Royal Inn on the Wellingborough Road, Northampton Football Club was formed. Following objections from the town’s rugby club the team were forced to adopt 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, providing that no games were scheduled between May and September, and this was to remain their home for the next 97 years.
Northampton Town joined the Northants League and spent two seasons there before moving on to the Midland League. Only two seasons later they joined the Southern League in the 1901-02 season. In the 1908-09 season manager Herbert Chapman helped the Cobblers to be crowned champions of the Southern League, and they later faced Newcastle United in the Charity Shield at The Oval where they lost 2-0. Herbert Chapman left to manage Leeds United in 1912, and went on to win the league championship four times: twice at Huddersfield Town, and twice at Arsenal.
20th century
In 1910, Northampton Town bought Walter Tull from Tottenham Hotspur. Tull was the second professional black footballer in English football, and stayed with Northampton Town until the outbreak of the First World War, when he volunteered for the British Army. The road which leads to the modern Sixfields Stadium (where Northampton play) is called "Walter Tull Way", in his honour.
Northampton Town have spent one season of their existence in the top division of English football, in 1965-66 when they were relegated from the First Division after just one season. 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 finished bottom of the Football League's new Division Three in 1993-94, only avoiding relegation to the Conference because Kidderminster Harriers did not have a satisfactory stadium to join the Football League. Manager John Barnwell was sacked soon afterwards to make way for Ian Atkins, and the club began to move forward. In 1996-97 they won promotion to Division Two, thanks to a playoff final victory at Wembley over Swansea City, and almost made it two successive promotions the following season - but were beaten 1-0 by Grimsby Town in the Division Two playoff final. The club went down a year later and Atkins resigned, but promotion was earned at the first attempt under new manager Kevin Wilson.
Since 2001
Kevin Wilson was sacked in November 2001 to make way for his assistant Kevan Broadhurst, who steered the Cobblers to Division Two survival. But Broadhurst was sacked in January 2003 with Northampton struggling at the foot of the division, and was briefly replaced by Terry Fenwick, who in turn left after just seven weeks to make way for Martin Wilkinson. Wilkinson lasted little longer, being dismissed in October 2003 in favour of former Scotland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Colin Calderwood.
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 7th, again in the play-offs, where they were defeated by Southend United. Following this, the manager made substantial changes to the squad, and they enjoyed a successful 2005-06 league season. On April 29, the Cobblers clinched promotion to Football League One for 2006-07, with a 1-0 win at home to Chester City. On May 30 2006, Northampton announced that Calderwood was leaving to join Nottingham Forest as their new manager, and was replaced by John Gorman on June 5.
Gorman signed 4 new players in pre-season; Sam Aiston, Andy Holt, Joe Burnell and James Quinn all arrived at Sixfields on free transfers. Gorman's first match in charge ended in a 2-2 draw at Crewe Alexandra on 5 August 2006 and his maiden victory came in a 1-0 success at Gillingham on 19 August 2006.
After a 0-0 draw at home to Bradford City on October 13, The Cobblers had the worst home record of all the top five divisions, recording no wins, two draws and five defeats, despite impressive performances. Bizarrely, at the same time the club had the best away record of all of League One, joint with Nottingham Forest, recording four wins, three draws with no defeats.
Success away from home continued, with a new club record being set on October 21 2006 for the longest unbeaten away run in the league, after a 1-1 draw at Brighton. The run eventually ended the next away game at Scunthorpe United, exactly 8 months after their last away defeat, at Mansfield Town.
On December 20, Gorman resigned due to "personal issues" with the side 18th in the table.
On January 2 2007, Northampton announced that former Southampton boss Stuart Gray had been appointed as the new manager on a 2 and half year contract, caretaker managers Ian Sampson and Jim Barron will stay on as first team coaches.
Gray enjoyed a successful first game on the 6th January when Northampton came away from Tranmere Rovers with a 1-1 draw. Gray also turned around the fortunes of the club when playing at Sixfields, a 3-0 victory over Millwall was to be the club's fourth home victory of the season, and a third consecutive home win. After imbeding the January window signings, the club looks to be going from strength to strength and a 2-1 victory at Bradford City on 17th March 2007 put the club in a comfortable 15th placing.
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Player Records
- Most League goals in a Season - 36 - Cliff Holton - (1961-62)
- Most League goals in Total - 135 - Jack English - (1947-60)
- Most League Appearances - 521 - Tommy Fowler - (1946-61)
- Most Clean Sheets in a Season - 25 - Lee Harper and Mark Bunn - (2005-06)
Club Honours
- Southern Football League Champions (1908-09)
- Third Division (South) Runners-Up (1927-28), (1949-50)
- Second Division Runners-Up (1964-65)
- Third Division Champions (1962-63)
- Fourth Division Runners-Up (1975-76)
- Fourth Division Champions (1986-87)
- Division Three Play-Off Winners (1996-97)
- Division Three Third Place (Promoted) (1999-2000)
- League Two Runners-Up (2005-06)
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 and fixtures
- BBC Radio Northampton - Interviews and Match Reports from BBC Radio Northampton Sport.
- Football Ground Guide - Information on Sixfields Stadium.
- Soccerbase - Managerial History.
- Fan Sites
- The Hotel End - The busiest Northampton Town Messageboard with 1,700 members and over 480,000 posts since September 2003. Members include fans from Peterborough United, Mansfield Town and non-league outfit Rushden and Diamonds.
- Sixfields Boys - Alternative Messageboard with 250 members and over 40,000 posts since February 2005.
- A Load of Cobblers - Popular blog from Northampton Town supporter Danny Brothers who is exiled in Southampton.
- NTFCUnofficial.com - Independent News Website with Fans Discussion.