Northampton Town Football Club - The Cobblers

Northampton Town History

2006-07 Season

14th in League One
League Cup: 1st round; Queens Park Rangers a. 2-3
FA Cup: 2nd round; Barnet a. 1-4
JP Trophy: 1st round; Brentford h. lost 4-2 on penalties.

Highlight:
3-0 win over Millwall, 23/1/07

Low Spot:
4-1 defeat in the FA Cup 2nd round at Barnet, 2/12/06

Good:
Jason Crowe
Extremely consistent defender who does his job effectively and with the minimum of fuss. Decent on the ball as well.
Mark Bunn
Goalkeeper who emerged from the clubs' youth system to oust Lee Harper from between the sticks which is no mean achievement. Confident and commanding he looks to have a good future in store.

In Brief:
The Cobblers had a poor start after promotion the previous season and a bad run approaching Christmas saw them languishing in 19th position.
After a brief improvement the club then lost 4 games in a row from the end of January which left them back in 19th only one point above the relegation zone.
Then a run of 4 wins in 5 games gave them breathing space and another 3 wins in April pushed the club into a comfortable finishing position.
This represented a decent effort by the club and they look capable of further improvement. How ambitious the club can realistically afford to be might determine what happens next.

Northampton Town FC - Club History

Northampton Town Football Club was formed in 1897 by school teachers from the Northampton and District Elementary Schools Association. The club gained entry into the Football League as original members of Division Three in 1920.

The Cobblers were runners up in Division Three South on two occasions, 1928 and 1950, but could not escape that division and were placed into Division Four when the north and south sections merged in 1958. The club had also reached the 5th round of the FA Cup twice during that period.

Northampton recorded a superb 2-0 victory at Huddersfield Town in the 4th round in 1934 before crashing to defeat at Preston North End and they made it to the same stage in 1950 before losing 4-2 at Derby County.

The 1960's was a truly remarkable time for Northampton Town as the club rose from the fourth division to the first with promotions in 1961, 1963 (as Division Three champions) and 1965. The Cobblers then suffered three relegations in four seasons and were back in Division Four by 1969.

At least having plummeted back into the basement Northampton then managed another decent cup run, making it through to the FA Cup 5th round for the third time. Their reward for reaching that stage was a home tie with Manchester United. There was no giant killing but the game remains memorable as United won 8-2 and George Best scored six.

Northampton escaped Division Four as runners up to Lincoln City in 1976 but slipped to an instant relegation the following season. The Cobblers had made no real impact in the fourth division before storming to the title in 1987, gaining 99 points and scoring 103 goals. This was a fine side that included the attacking prowess of Richard Hill, Eddie McGoldrick and Trevor Morley.

Hill, whose £265,000 move to Watford remains the clubs' highest transfer fee received, had a fantastic season, scoring 33 goals in all competitions from midfield.

Having sold their best players the club returned to Division Four in 1990. Northampton then had to make more drastic cuts to the playing staff after falling into administration and a year later they only escaped relegation from the league with a last day victory at Hereford. The Cobblers then did end up at the foot of the table in 1994.

The club were spared the catastrophe of relegation only because Kidderminster Harriers' ground was deemed not to meet the Football League's entry requirements.

The move to a new stadium, Sixfields, and the appointment of Ian Atkins as manager saw an upturn in fortunes, however.

Northampton returned to the third tier of English football in 1997 after securing promotion in the play offs. The Cobblers were the scourge of South Wales as they defeated Cardiff City in the semi finals and Swansea City in the final. John Frain scored the only goal of the final at Wembley deep into stoppage time.

The following year they made the play off final in Division Two only to lose out to Grimsby Town, again by a 1-0 scoreline.

In 1999, however, the Cobblers dropped back down into the fourth tier. They managed an instant promotion but dropped back into the basement in 2003 and are still striving to move upwards despite reaching the play offs in each of the last two seasons.

Northampton's best effort in the League Cup has been to reach the 5th round, a stage they made in 1965 and 1967. Neither of these runs produced any notable scalps although the Cobblers did thrash Brighton 8-0 in a 4th round replay in 1967 before losing at home to West Brom in the quarter finals.

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