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Northampton Town F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Northampton Town | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Northampton Town Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Cobblers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1897 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Sixfields Stadium Northampton (Capacity 7,653 (expanding to 15,000)) |
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| Chairman |  David Cardoza |
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| Manager | Stuart Gray |
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| League | League One | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006-07 | League One, 14th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Northampton Town Football Club is a football club based in Northampton, England. The nickname of the club is The Cobblers after the famous shoe industry in Northampton. For the 2007-2008 season, Northampton Town continue to ply their trade in Football League One after promotion in 2005-2006.
The team 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. The Cobblers are currently sponsored by local estate agent Jackson Grundy.
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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 City in 1912, and went on to win the league championship four times: twice at Huddersfield Town, and twice at Arsenal.
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.
From the 1930s to the 1950s Northampton Town had attempted to rise from the regional Third Division South, but rose only twice and were immediately relegated. The creation of the Fourth Division spurred a brief substantial rise that culminated in the only season (1965-66) of their existence in the top division of English football. 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.
A financial crisis at the club lead to the foundation of Britain's first Supporters' Trust.[1]
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.
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.
On December 20, Gorman resigned due to "personal issues" with the side 18th in the table, with Ian Sampson and Jim Barron briefly taking care of first team affairs. He was replaced by former Southampton boss Stuart Gray on January 2, 2007.
Gray is so far enjoying a successful spell at Northampton, making encouraging signings in his first few weeks. The club looks to be going from strength to strength, finishing 14th at the end of the season, 12 points clear from the relegation zone. Gray is currently in the process of building a more youthful squad at Northampton.
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- 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)
- 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)
- 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 - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
- BBC Radio Northampton - Interviews and Match Reports from BBC Radio Northampton Sport.
- Football Ground Guide - Information on Sixfields Stadium.
- Soccerbase - Managerial History.
- Historical Kits - Graphical Kit History
- Every match result and League table since they joined the Football League
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