Northampton Town F.C.
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| Northampton Town | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Image:NTFCnew.JPG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Northampton Town Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Cobblers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1897 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Sixfields Stadium Northampton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 7,653 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | David Cardoza | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | John Gorman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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. They are currently in Football League One, and play at the Sixfields Stadium since moving from the County Ground in October 1994.
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[edit] History
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 goal and on March 6th 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, 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 and only two seasons later 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 later faced Newcastle United in the Charity Shield at The Oval where they unfortunately 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 another two at Arsenal. They usually play in claret and white, and their main local rivals are Peterborough United, a rivalry which has endured since the 1960s.
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 F.A Cup third 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 over Swansea City, and almost made it two successive promotions the following season - but were beaten 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, 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 the 5th August 2006 and his maiden victory came in a 1-0 success at Gillingham on the 19th 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.
[edit] Current squad
[edit] Out on loan
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[edit] 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 (Goalkeepers - Lee Harper and Mark Bunn) (2005-06)
[edit] Club Honours
- 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)
[edit] External links
- Northampton Town F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
- Northampton Town F.C. official site.
- The Hotel End, The Northampton Town FC fans messageboard.
- International Football Grounds Guide: Sixfields Stadium
| Football League One, 2006-2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Blackpool | Bournemouth | Bradford City | Brentford | Brighton & Hove Albion | Bristol City | Carlisle United | Cheltenham Town | Chesterfield | Crewe Alexandra | Doncaster Rovers | Gillingham | Huddersfield Town | Leyton Orient | Millwall | Northampton Town | Nottingham Forest | Oldham Athletic | Port Vale | Rotherham United | Scunthorpe United | Swansea City | Tranmere Rovers | Yeovil Town edit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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