The Hotel End

Tickets gone on sale today.
Would be amazing to sell out the stadium but these sort of games never seem to go the way of the team celebrating  ;D

Shirts available in Feb too apparently.

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2022/january/tranmere_tickets_1221/

Shame that the shirt colours that they are proposing are incorrect.  ;D

Can't wait to get the shirt, even if there is doubt whether they are the original colours. The colourised image of the original team photo will do for me.
As for this match, we'll get a good crowd in and big it up which usually means the inevitable defeat.

I haven't seen the shirt. It should be sky blue and chocolate. What colour is it?

That is the issue, sky blue and chocolate is incorrect.  ;)

Rather than being all smug about it, why don't you just explain yourself?

I still want maroon.

Has this been confirmed yet? I saw something about this a while ago but never actually saw if the current historians (or even the previous one) had properly challenged it.

There are no coloured photos of the original kit, so we can't say for certain what colour it was, but for years it's been documented as sky blue and chocolate so let's just run with that and celebrate. :)

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Northampton_Town/Northampton_Town.htm#:~:text=The%20new%20team%20adopted%20the,up%20to%20the%20Midlands%20League.

The pictures in both this and Frank Grande's book do not indicate a possibly different colour from claret and white.
The only reference to chocolate and blue are from 'dodgy' colourised photo's.

I'm sure that site (or at least one very similar) used to have it as chocolate and brown. I did always wonder why such a huge change was made after one season. I assumed it was due to having someone's second hand kit in the first year.
Its been widely believed that chocolate and brown were the clubs colours for a long time so surprised no one has corrected the club before if indeed true.
I am choosing to believe it for one solid reason.... I like the kit  ;D

Evers is bound to have one hanging at the back of his wardrobe.
Ask him.

Yes I recall that site did have it as chocolate brown and blue. And I agree the kit is bloody great so let's embrace it. I'll be buying one for sure.

My grandfather told me about the chocolate and sky-blue while I was still in infant school. He was born in 1899, so I'm inclined to believe what he told me. One caveat I would add, he was told that the club played its first competitive match in chocolate and sky-blue (possibly first two matches), but then switched to claret and white. As to the photos you referenced, there is no conclusive proof they were taken prior to a (competitive) ball being kicked. Personally, if people were talking about chocolate and blue during the early 1900s, it seems more than likely that it happened.

Not sure if this helps but I found it in a text I was browsing when I was on a kibbutz in Tel Aviv: 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be sky-blue: and there was sky-blue 4 And God saw the sky-blue, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the sky-blue Day, and the darkness he called brown. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a garment in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the garment, and divided the waters which were under the garment from the waters which were above the garment: and it was so. 8 And God called the garment the first Cobblers home kit. Thus it was and they were sore afraid'.

Fair enough, still not convinced. ;)
But I wonder where did they come from and/or why we wore chocolate and blue, if we did, when the municipal colours were already identified as claret and white?

They'd used up all the claret and white cloth to make the new uniforms for the Northamptonshire Regiment that had been formed a few years before and shipped off to the North West Frontier.
Because they didn't have any money they just asked the local haberdashery what cloth they had on the cheap. They had just relocated from Coventry to Northampton so had loads of sky blue material and rolls of brown material she'd bought on an impulse in the sales and hadn't been able to shift until NTFC came along.

Notts County, Villa, Derby, Grimsby have all wore blue and choccy brown tops in their time. It is cos the sky is blue and earth is brown and the great legend Arbuthnot Latham once said 'when you feel blue mix with the colour of blood and pee-pee to honour the shrewd nature of being human'. He wos smart that fella.

 ;D

The Northamptonshire Reg was in existence in the 1700’s! The Earl of Northampton fought at Crecy in the 13th Cent with a strong contingent from the County and were known as the Pillagers.😎

Alas no. The (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot was in existence it didn't become the Northamptonshire Regiment until it formed with (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot in 1881.
Pedantic maybe but the devil is in the detail.


Also taken from Wiki so could be complete b0llox but its another slow morning at work!
Oh and for full clarity I made everything up in my original post. Just in case there are people who believe everything they read on line on here.

My old school rugby team's colours were chocolate and light blue therefore I dislike them. Daventry Grammar by the way.

Which school house were you in?

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/cobblers-125th-anniversary-shirt-now-live-3551537

Ordered mine. Wish P&P was free though as cant get back to a game for a few weeks

Can't wait to get one on Satdee. Great shirt.

Love it.
Ordered it.
What a great fund raiser for the club 😂

Is there an away one?  :P

What about the ones with supporters names sewn into them that we were supposed to be getting for letting the club keep our lockdown season ticket money?

They are sewn in I believe. Yours might be under the left arm pit!  ;D

More like the “right tit”.

I have received my shirt today but cannot find my name printed on it anywhere even though I donated the balance of my season ticket money like many others. I would advise anybody who bought one to check carefully if their name is there.

I will double check just to be sure and then I will contact the club on Monday to let them know I am not happy and to ask what can be done - yes I know they won't re-do them - so I will be looking for some financial recompense.

Not happy.

That's nice. Class.

 ;D

Also the quality of a £2.99 Thailand (or should that be Leicester?) sweat shop production for the £45!
Can you pass that on to em, or do I need to contact Tom?  ;)

I was really impressed with the quality.
Football shirts are grotesquely over priced but thats the same for any club

I saw a couple on Saturday that had enough material to have had most of the population of the country printed on them... 8)

I'd prefer one without the names printed on.

Imagine the mode of transport to away games in those early days.

Some of the "models" on Twitter looked like they'd ordered theirs at least two sizes too small !

I couldn't see mine either but a helpful lady, Charlotte replied to my email with a black line under my name!  Try emailing her charlotte.hyams@ntfc.co.uk

Why didn’t they put them in alphabetical order?
Just saying!

When I see lists of names in alphabetical order I think of War Memorials, children who died at the Aberfan Colliery Disaster, tragedies like that. This is a celebration of 125 years of NTFC.

I do like this shirt and it’s true to size. The only thing I’d say is that it is 100% polyester and offers no technical benefits to the players i.e. moisture wicking or anything. Wonder if the players get the same product?

Blimey fella,  looking at a dictionary or an index in a reference book must be quite a traumatic experience for you?
I spent the first year of my working life filing stuff - I don’t think you would have made it through?!

Thanks for replying. I have checked again this morning and have found my name now so I owe the club an apology. Luckily I never contacted them. My excuse for missing it the first time is that there are a lot of names and I am an old fart whose eyesight isn't what it was !!

It's so you can play a fun game looking for your name

Have you ever thought of running the line? You'd fit right in.

Time to start thinking about this, a real 6 pointer if there ever was one
Our record at home isn't horrible

Cobblers v Tranmere record in the last 25 Years

(Home matches only)


Won 3

Drawn 2
Lost 2

Our home record vs their away record this season

         P   W   D   L   GF   GA   GD   Points
Cobblers          16   10   2   4   22   10   12   32
Tranmere          16   4   7   5   10   12   -2   19

Too soon - as many a manager have quoted the famous saying "we are taking it one game at a time". So after today we can start thinking about Walsall and after Tuesday night Tranmere.

My name isn’t on it but if it was I’d probably be in the armpit.

😂

So you were the guy near me at ‘dale apparently sniffing his shirt?😎

https://twitter.com/NicolaPalios/status/1498991586763587589
"As a small mark of solidarity with #ukraine @TranmereRovers will be playing their match against @ntfc on Saturday in the yellow away shirt, with blue shorts"

Great gesture from Tranmere.

Our brown and blue is poignant too.
The blue, the skies which will be clear over Ukraine again one day once this $hithouse (brown) dictator has been taken down by the decent people of Russia.

1-1

Tested positive yesterday  :( Not too sure about the new rules. Guess I have to be responsible and stay away Saturday?

Absolutely. No need to guess. The rules are personal responsibility for your own actions. The very basis of any advanced society.

Sorry.

Ok, I'll settle for being advanced.... I guess

Bad luck Clarity.  I too experienced Omicron possibly from the Walsall game and had as far as I could tell had a cold. I then tried a lateral x 2 but they were negative! A few days later I tested positive with a very faint red line against the T. Apparently this signifies very low infection and second lateral test was taken a day later with an even fainter red line visible hardly visible to the eye. Under these circumstances the NHS web site suggested not to pressure the NHS system for a PR test but merely isolate. By day 5 and Day 6 I was clear inspite of Hawk Eye daughter. Keep taking Lateral Tests upto Friday and if the cursed red line has gone after two consecutive tests that's good news

Yes fingers crossed, was hoping for more bums off seat footie

Tranmere fans not too confident, many wanting to see the back of Micky Watermelon 🍉.

Battle of the Fickle on Saturday...The top titans of clueless v hopeless, can't v won't... Haven't worn the anniversary shirt yet, will do Saturday, but seeing it on others, sick of it already!

Happy 125th!

Made me both grimace and chuckle 8)

Looking forward to the occasion but fearful of it all going wrong in front of a big expectant crowd. Have heard there will be 'clappers' on the seats. I don't mind a clapper but I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea.

Loved ‘em - good idea tho’  anything to get bums of seats!

Looks like a big crowd Saturday, West Stand nearly sold out judging by the online ticket office

Whoopee cushions, or drawing pins would work? 🤔

🤣

What a surprise our only stand worthy of League football is sold out!

Sure the North Stand will be as always, loud & proud!  ::)

2 teams in poor form that currently occupy automatic promotion places and have the best defensive records in the division. We only won 1 of the "4 easier games" and have 2 points from the last 3 whereas Tranmere have only 1 point from their last 4 games. Tranmere have scored 3 fewer goals than us and only 7 teams in the division have scored less than them. Their poor run of form seems to have coincided with losing midfielder Spearing to injury.
In 17 away games Tranmere have won 4 (all 1-0 at Carlisle, Oldham, Exeter and Crawley), drawn 7 and lost 6 scoring 12 and conceding 16. So a total of only 28 goals scored in the 17 games and 6 of those were in their recent 2-4 defeat at Newport County. In 11 of the 17 games there has only been 1 goal or less, they have failed to score in 8 away games including all of the first 5 and only scored more than 1 in 3 games. They have kept 7 clean sheets and conceded more than 1 in 4 games so it is unlikely to be a goalfest. In Tranmere's 20 visits we have won 10, drawn 5 and lost 5.
Tranmere have been playing 442 so will JB switch to a back 4 to match them up and ditch the 3 centre back formation. Ryan Watson did not last long there and has moved on but Sam Foley is still there but not making the starting 11.
Referee is Stephen Martin and I think this will be his first visit to our magnificent stadium and will be only his 4th Division 2 game this season as he has been officiating mostly in The Championship. In 24 games he has issued 70 yellows and 4 reds.

Commemorative progamme for tomorrow. £5. If pre-ordering, another £5.95 p&p ffs!

Tapping into the fanbase...or tapping up?

Just to be on the safe side, you need to isolate for 6 months.

Should be close to a 7,000 crowd although Tranmere only sold 540 but can pay on the day. We don't always deliver on the pitch on occasion days and we've not been at our best recently. This would be the ideal day and game to roar back into form.

                   Roberts
McGowan, Horsfall, Guthrie, Koiki
           McWilliams, Lewis
      Hoskins, Lubala, Pinnock
                   Appere

I'd go back to what worked well before, obviously no Etete to play off but Appere looks capable. Ideally I would rest Pinnock and play Lubala on the left, just because I think he needs a break and looks knackered midway through the second half. But it seems he has to play with his set pieces and nobody else to play behind the striker. Magloire has done nothing wrong and would maybe consider playing him in midfield with Lewis ahead, but that would be a risk.

Good idea

What is your opinion on the game tomorrow?

#Borisforever

Following last night's result, this is now a second v fourth clash. Forget the 125 celebrations, we need to win this. COYC...

Happy Anniversary NTFC (soon).

I want the present of 3 points today with at least 2 goals scored!

I think it is inevitable.

I've been a bit tied up with things this week so apologies if this has already been said but is there anything happening before kick off today? I know they have the parade of former players at half time bit wondered if there was anything on prior to the match to make it worth getting there early.

All we are saying is give us a set piece….BOOM…BOOM!!

Double horse!

Has to be said our set piece threat has been absolutely lethal this year.

If we could just learn to score the odd goal from open play then we'd
be pissing the league.

Shows what a poor division is this year. We're 2nd despite some dodgy results and not actually being that potent up front.

Told you FGR would blow up

I’d take blowing up at 8 points clear with a game in hand. A bit like when we blew up under Graham Carr!

here we go....

Get in! Big 3 points. We don’t like making it easy.

thank fook for that

Great result. Well deserved..

That wind made a huge difference second half, I could swear it was much stronger than the first half. Their first goal was a lucky ricochet that fell right into the path of their man who couldn't miss. JB reckons the penalty was soft, but I couldn't tell from where I was. Two great headers from Horsfall and a goal similar to Hoskins against Col U from Pinnock meant we just about held on.

Tim was asking JB if talks were ongoing to extend Horfall's contract into next season but it would appear we are going to have to go up for that to happen. I think he's good enough for the Championship.

On a personal note I was bloody cold today and I shall be glad when it warms up a bit - and it would really be nice to watch a game that isn't spoiled by the wind.

Penalty looked very soft to me. Looked like a dive and they were looking for a penalty all game.
Considering he let a lot of physical ‘tackles’ slide against Appere, to give that penalty felt harsh.

Feel like JB needs to make changes sooner and make them tactically.
Once we went 3-0 up I’d have been inclined to bring Magloire on for Hoskins, to sure us up at the back with the wind against us. And maybe stick someone like Eppiah on who could help hold things up for us up top and keep the ball.

But a good 3 points.

Entertaining game, even if I was praying for bad light come the end

Recently we are doing that !

So pleased that Brady reverted back to the 4-2-3-1 formation that has served us so well this season when we've had the right hold up player available. Appere revels in that role, as Ete did before Christmas...

What's also very telling is that McGowan, Kioki, Lewis (false9/10) and Pinnock (wide) are sooooo much better in this structure than they are in the back 3/5 system. That system killed our creativity...

For me, if Appere is fit then its 4-2-3-1 every time. If he isn't, then we have to go with 4-4-2. Ironically Kabamba could probably just about play that role as well, certainly better than any of the 'number2 strikers' we have but of course he's out on loan.

Excellent game today, really enjoyable and entertaining. Long may it continue. The Horse was the only real candidate for mom, Pinnocks goal was great, Sowerby...makes such a difference. VERY undervalued player.

Loved their freekick which lead to our corner which lead to our first goal. Not a single Tranmere player could be assed to chase the overhit freekick so we broke away quickly. Bloke in front said 'its like their players said, you kicked it over there, you go and get it!' After I said that was the worst free kick I've seen this season. Very funny, I guess you had to be there!!!

I got told the penalty was for a handball, which I might have missed. If it wasn't, and was for a push or foul it was insanely soft. Think you could have arguably had one earlier when Koiki got on the wrong side of his man though.

The wind was the dominating force in the game, both teams struggled with it blowing against them, we just scored one goal playing into it and that was the difference.

A good first half but a weaker second half performance again, although how much of that was due to the conditions is up for debate. Nevertheless, Mitch's goal was sublime. We were left hanging on at the end but it just added to the drama and I really enjoyed both the match and the anniversary celebrations as a whole.

Does anyone have a list of all ex players that were there at HT?

Here they are being introduced. Just up now on our YouTube channel

https://youtu.be/jo7rR1TMfr0

Trevor Gould
Barry Tucker
Steve Phillips
Wakeley Gage
Ian Benjamin
Peter Gleasure
Graham Carr
Phil Chard
Ian Sampson
Ray Warburton
Scott McGleish
David Buchanan
Steve Brown
Ian Atkins
Steve Massey

I may have missed 1 or 2 off. I'm sure others can help.

Mark Bunn was there too.

Beautiful stuff.

Oh yeah, blinding bit of nonsense at the end over who had the ball before a free kick but the referee stepped in and stopped it, killjoy

Great 3 points although we tried our best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory towards the end. Thought the penalty was very soft but didn't think there was a lot wrong with the goal they had disallowed. Another 3 points next week at Carlisle will keep us well on track. If only we'd got the wins in the 3 previous "easier" games we'd be almost level with Forest Green.

A well deserved 3 points although it got a little uncomfortable at the end. Tranmere got a lucky ricochet for their first goal and having seen a rerun the penalty decision looked very soft in fact Appere was getting worse treatment and their defenders were not getting penalised. Obviously teams are aware of our set piece threat but they don't appear to have an answer for it and it was a fine finish by Pinnock for the third, also it was with his right foot.
I cannot agree that JB should have made his substitutions earlier, would you really have wanted to take Appere and Sowerby off earlier?. Great to have Sowerby back and Appere run himself into the ground and made the goal for Pinnock. I see somebody thought we should have brought Eppiah on for his hold up play but Appere is better at holding the ball up front and Eppiah is better with the ball at his feet running at defenders, also it would have been difficult to bring Eppiah on as he was not on the bench.
Maybe Magloire could have come on a little earlier to stiffen up the defence and having Zimba back on the bench now gives us another option.

Kabamba - 0 goals in 9 games for Woking. We are lucky they haven't sent him back.

Eppiah was injured in training on Friday btw. Out for two or three weeks.

For those who might be a tad superstitious or looking to fate...
Realised my partner hasn't seen us lose, home or away since Hartlepool away at the beginning of October.
She'll be at Carlisle next week and Mansfield.
Possibly, a greater addition to the squad than Rose!  :D

Big win yesterday

Good win yesterday and agree with others here that we looked much better playing 4 at the back. Tranmere made it difficult in the second half but only really got close due to the ridiculous penalty decision. Ironic, really that he fell for a dive in the box, having had the courage (few refs do) to book 2 Tranmere players for blatant diving earlier in the match

Hopefully she doesn’t know our squad well enough to know that’s not a huge compliment  ;D

;D

She's the greatest. Ms Cooliomeister.

You go to bring her on the coach?

Is that his 3rd injury in 6 weeks?

Driving up to Carlisle and staying over.
Coach for Mansfield - given the place is a hole, unfriendly one at that...and Hucknall seems good!

She can thumb it...I bought the tickets!  ;D

Comments on Tranmere forum say that apart from FGR we were the best side to play them at home but they thought we were not as good on Saturday without Etete.

Oh well. 6 points is still 6 points?

 ;D

I thought that the first half performance reflected our form prior to Swindon so that was very encouraging. They continued that form long enough to score a third. The last 25minutes was tense to put it mildly and was puzzled by some of the subs. Bez looked very ineffective and we appeared to lose control in midfield particularly after losing Sowerby. Perhaps it was the conditions which put us on the back foot?  Overall we deserved the points but importantly we discovered our mojo again by reverting to 4 -2 -3 -1 plus our former style .

Now for Carlisle which should attract mega away attendance; if Frosty(Switzerland) can make the effort to travel to Sixfields last Saturday, pretty sure some of our UK fans can make the effort this coming Saturday.

We were particularly good at Tranmere - beginning till end!

Fingers pointed at JB and Bez by the looks of it.

What changes would you have liked to of seen out of interest?

A few people sitting near me were getting firmly on my tìts towards the end of Saturday's game. We were undoubtedly weakened when Appere and Sowerby came off but with both of them returning from injury it was the right call. Brady certainly didn't deserve the pelters he got from this set of foul mouthed numpties about what a f***ing idiot he was. Would they rather we saw that game out a bit more comfortably or be missing both players for the next few matches....? ::)

I think JB has since come out and said Sowerby hasn't put in a full training session yet but wanted to play.

I guess we should have recruited more wisely in January.

https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2022/march/plaque_125/

Great thing to do…

You start wearing blue and brown. You're working for the clampdown.