With the number of pages and posts that have been made on this thread, I am surprised that the Pope, the Queen and Donald Trump haven't featured!

I understand that both the Queen and the Pope are being investigated as part of this but not Donald Trump as he is as honest as the day is long!

I saw on one of the league 1 facebook groups that at least 12 clubs are threatening to take the Football league to court if they restart the season without supporters being allowed in as a lot of them will be bankrupted by this course of events. It could be that we don't see a new season this year if that is the case.

good sentence.

he still contributed nothing last night

Not in the match, but gave one of the best most match interviews I have seen in a while.

Maybe before a new owner is allowed to take on a club they should have to lodge a bond with the League which would cover costs for a season if things go wrong. I know that is not always possible but something needs to be done to ensure clubs are run properly.
I would love to see more fan owned clubs, but it is not an easy thing to achieve with the amount of money needed to run a club. Maybe with Covid things may change and wages and overheads will come down to a level where it makes it easier for Fans to take on clubs and be succesful.

Every successful Cobblers team needs a hard, bald, beardy bastàrd in it - McCormack, Taylor, Dyche, Rennie... I don't care who Curle signs over the summer, as long as someone bald and beardy is at the top of his shopping list we'll do OK.

Yes we don't want some young lean footballer he has to be bald and beardy, I think this should be Curle's main aims in that role. 

Maybe , but even with a 12 point reduction they probably wouldn’t go down and will be in a very strong position coming out of COVID with no debt .
The administration was pre meditated .
Any team doing that should be relegated two divisions .

I think you are right on this and the EFL should take a very close look at it, also it shows how good their fit and proper persons check is. The EFL and the FA are not fit to run football.

I suppose it depends on the nature of the previous comments. Some "supporters" are quite happy to accentuate the negatives all of the time. Often they exhibit behaviour that they would never consider in in any aspect of their life, should they be face to face with someone. Keith Curle was brought in to achieve an objective. On occasions, his method of achieving promotion may not have resonated with some of the support. If they take that as an opportunity to suggest he is inept, or should be relieved of his position, that actually speaks volumes about their lack of understanding.

The good thing about promotion and the news from the club and the council, is that most of those that got it spectacularly wrong, have disappeared. That's because good news to them, is like a cross to a vampire. I'd imagine they are logging in for the obituaries thread. For them, that's the gift that keeps giving.... The overall lesson should be "least said, soonest mended"... 

 Totally agree It would be nice if they could give some credit to the club and the owners sometimes, I know the owners don't always do the right thing but tbh I am very pleased with where we are at the moment as a club. We have a team that has performed well, a manager that is building an identity and owners that have financially backed the club over the last few years. Whats not to like?
Granted a nice new stand would be good lets just enjoy what we have.

This time around the manager and the core of the team will be the same, this could make a huge difference.


Are you sure? At the moment, only 4 of our play-off final winning starting line-up are still under contract next season: Arnold, Goode, Watson and Adams. That's not enough to be the "core" of the team, especially as Arnold has only played about 10 times for the club. There will hopefully be a few more of that 11 staying (Hoskins, Harriman, Oliver etc) but it's by no means a given. And a number of clubs will be sniffing around Charlie Goode too. And as far as I know Keith Curle hasn't yet resigned either. Perhaps you are suffering from post play-off over-optimism. Easily done!

I am not so sure that many clubs will be sniffing around players under contract at our level this summer. I think the amount of freebies available and the lack of funds at most clubs will mean that players under contract that clubs want to keep will be safe this time around.

Quite pleased with the retained list, gives us something to build on for League 1. Nothing about Curle signing a new contract but I am assuming he has as he is talking about who's gone and why.

As I understand things it’s no surprise we don’t know whose staying or going as technically we are managerless as Keith Curle was only contracted to June 30th and the fact a new deal hasn’t been signed suggests he’s off elsewhere....

I took it from interviews with Curle that they were waiting for the season to be over before sorting out his contract then they would follow that with the players. As Curle said it was unfair for players to know their options without knowing who the manager was. I would be suprised if he goes elsewhere unless KT doesn't offer him a new deal. It's his first promotion and I would have thought he would like to see where he can take us to.

Great victory last night, so pleased for the squad who have worked hard this season and certainly the fitness levels in the last 2 games have been immense, so well done to the coaching staff. I am really pleased for Keith Curle, I think most of us have moaned about his tactics at some stage or other and I will be honest I didn't think we would get promotion so well done Keith and hopefully now he has got us promoted he will get an extension on his contract and have a good go at league 1.

Is there a bit of an elephant in the room - we are one of only a handful clubs in English football that has a BAME manager and as such are probably seen as progressive (if only they knew that his tactics are very much from the old school and that’s being generous) - if we were to not offer him a new contract I wonder how that would be seen from a PR perspective? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in favour of tokenism and people should get judged on results not the colour of their skin but ultimately KC has got us into the playoffs which I’m assuming would have been KT’s objective at the start of the season. Now the style of play and tactics are another matter entirely.

Good point, I think it would be difficult for the club to not offer the new contract from a PR perspective, however, from a footballing prospective do you just offer a short extension on the contract he has, say until January and change his target to start playing attractive football and not hoofball. I don't know if that would be an option, but if the club make his targets difficult and not to his liking then maybe he resigns and finds another role somewhere else which takes away the PR problem.

If Curle can turn that performance round on Monday and keep us in these play offs I will be amazed, saying that I really hope he can. If he manages to get us up to League 1 then he deserves his chance to manage us up there but if (as I expect) we lose on Monday then I think we need a new man who can play football and mix things up in charge for next season.

VC, genuinely not sniping but the current owners have protected the club from outside credit pressure which I am sure you will agree is vital for a lower division club? They have changed managers when they are deemed to be failing at considerable cost and backed each new incumbent significantly in the transfer market. Comparatively to the rest of the clubs in the lower divisions I think they have done all that could be reasonably expected. The club has not progressed on the pitch so despite their efforts that is not great and there has clearly been no progress in infrastructure. They want to sell the club so they are not the future. That being said to protect the club from external credit pressure and a 5 million investment in trying to move the club forward on the pitch also deserves considerable credit comparatively, at least that’s what I think. I happen to believe this is also the view of many other supporters which is perhaps why those who criticise KT aggressively struggle to gain significant support? I think your a decent guy (or gal) motivated by a genuine love for the club but I do struggle to understand your damning assessment of KTs tenure without any acknowledgement whatsoever? As a result I find your views a little unfair?

I come from the same standpoint, I fail to see why certain people deem KT as everything that is evil, I can see that he hasn't done everything promised but then I look where investing in teams and managers over the last few years has kept us going at a decent level. Ok we aren't League 1 at the minute but you have to say there has been improvement in the squad this season and we don't look far away, in fact in a few weeks time we may be back to League 1 and needing a further investment in the squad.

The Trust is not a supporters club like Sixfields Travel and the “endorsed” Facebook Shoe Army, it is doing its job.  Too many of the posters on here are far too quick to criticise the Trust and far too slow to seek to hold our owners to account.  Many memories are short and 2014/2015 has been conveniently wiped from mental hard discs.

The club has not commented on the BBC article because it does not want to, by which I mean it does not want supporters to know any detail of what is in progress. We may get another in the KT series of “good progress” updates that tell us nothing and many of you will swallow it hook, line and sinker and think he is doing a great job.  Only a few raise valid questions and the Trust is one of that number.  KT does not like that one bit.  Something about the inconvenient truth.

The BBC article is less than clear but I am going to predict for those who seem to think the building contractors are going to be on site in a couple of months time that you are likely to be disappointed.  I know a few things about property development and a lot about the situation on the East Stand and the land behind it.  My knowledge is up to the beginning of this year plus what little I can make of the BBC article.  I have read all the disclosures made under the FOIA process and my conclusion is that our owners’ strategy is to get the Council to agree that the East Stand will only completed out of profits from the development (probably from the sale of plots) of land behind the stand and beyond.  The £4 million spoken about in 2015 for finishing the stand is a broken assurance.  No profits or the certainty of profits from plot pre-sales with planning permission and there will be no stand.  The club are indebted to our owners and their associated companies for over £5 million and rising.  Full praise to our owners astute financial management and their misguided supporters! Apart from perhaps a finished stand, completed to what standard I dread to think, the realistic prospect is that any profits from the land development will be used to settle the debt leaving the club with very little for its future prosperity.

We could be in for a long wait but yesterday’s story is perhaps a small step forward in what I venture to say will still be a long journey. It looks like the Council has still to approve whatever the deal is (no Cabinet meeting has been recorded minuting approval) and the opposition parties and some Tory councillors may have something to say about the failure of our owners to do what they said they would do when being allowed to buy the club in 2015 and then there is the matter of the Council being under a legal obligation to secure best value for the Northampton tax payers from the sale of public land.  It is not a done deal.

Just because people don't agree with the Trust statement does not automatically mean they are lined up with KT, we can all see what has and hasn't been done and we can also all come to our own conclusions on KT's motives for doing things, it doesn't mean we are right. I think instead of constantly sniping at KT the Trust needs to see what the support as a whole wants and so far I have seen most posters on here and the various FB groups feel that there was no need for the comments from the Trust. I could be wrong and the supporter base is 100% behind the trust and want KT out but I am just not seeing it. I think we all want the saga to end but some of us are prepared to see what happens rather than being constantly negative.

I wonder if the club has thought about putting up a big screen on the carpark and charging people to come and watch it from their cars, a bit like a drive through. They could probably have vendors going round and selling refreshments and make some on that. I have no idea if this is practical or what the costs would be, just thought it may be worth them looking at.

I think the trust have shot themselves in the foot with this one, it seems all they want to do is score points off the current management team, I don't think that is the case but thats how it comes across.

Ironically, in the village of Hook Norton itself is a small independent brewery - Turpin, which you can find in a couple of pubs in the area - namely Banbury, which I find much nicer than Hook Norton.

Have tried a couple of their keg beers, not bad at all. I have been surviving on Potbelly during lockdown, just about to order my 4th case
 

Rock City for me was watching my favs Sleeper - crush on Louise Wener obviously! 
After the gig, was round the side entrance (as you do!) waiting for my mates, when out comes the band with said Goddess! She said "I've seen you before" Photos taken together by German music magazine...no idea if ever published, but made my night! 

Club waiting for EFL to ratify season end deal thingy before embarking on away ticket refunds.

Brixton Academy anyone? 

Yep Brixton Academy was another good venue and The Mean Fiddler, whenever Cobblers played in London always looked out for a band to go and watch in the evening after the game.

Rock city. Nottingham. What a place. Full of ladies trying to outdo each other. It was eye-popping for a young lad. I had gone to see Ozzy one night, and the support band had played, and the DJ was building up the atmosphere. And then said that it was over, because Ozzy wasnt  feeling very well. (p1ssed and stoned probably). The chairs and tables started flying, from the balcony, and the police responded. They came in via the stage, and the dude in charge went for the DJS booth to get the microphone. Big mistake. He was set on, and his mates responded with batons. But they were outnumbered. I was watching this from the balcony laughing. The place was trashed. I walked out with about five packets of fags from the machine that been ripped off the wall. I am not condoning violence in any way, but kinell this was great to watch. A full on brawl on the dance floor.

It certainly was eye popping, I had some great nights in there and saw many great bands, though I think one of the worst nights I had there was watching The Macc Lads, god knows what was flying about but we came out of there stinking. I think one of the best nights was watching The Quireboys