My Matchday experience is probably similar to many, season ticket holder in West Stand Upper just to the South Stand Side of centre. I just go to enjoy a good day out and meet up with mates and forget about all the other crap I have to put up with in daily life, and I am enjoying it much more this season than the last couple. My language has certainly been a lot better as though who sit round me can testify to! Typical matchday is picking up a couple of mates getting in the Tull and having something to east and drink and putting the world to rights before going to the game, sometimes join in with the singing but certainly love it when something controversial happens on the pitch. As for the ground and the Chairman, it would be nice to see the East Stand done, but only if it is knocked down and done properly and Kelvin Thomas, in my opinion, apart from not sorting the stand out has done okay. We could certainly be in a much worse position than we are.

This team reminds me very much of Ian Atkins team and they also had a reputation for picking up a lot of cards, but we have been an easy target for a lot of teams over the last few seasons and I for 1 am glad that we are standing up for ourselves. Yes Goode made a meal of it but how many times do we have to put up with it from the opposition. If the referees were better at their job then we wouldn't have it as they would challenge it but the standard is so poor at the minute that I think players from all teams over exaggerate on occasion otherwise you wouldn't get a decision.

We have to sign another centre back because we will not get away with Harriman and Martin playing there for long , as commendable as they have been . Williams seems to be right out of the picture sadly .
Goode’s sh*thousery is funny but he has to be careful of his reputation because it’s happening all of the time now .
We have a great team spirit though and it’s good to see .

I thought Harriman has looked comfortable as centre back on the strength of the last 2 performances and was quite impressed with Martin last night after not thinking much to him  as a wing back. I would say that we could get by with these 2 as cover if the right player isn't available, though I would be tempted to get Williams back and in the squad.

Easy to say that now my old buddy.

Sure it has picked up and no doubt the run in the cup has helped with finances to bring in ‘better players’
This league is terrible and fair play to Curle he has turned it around but by Christ the football is horrible to watch at times but seems effective.

The time is now to get behind him and the team and if he doesn’t get us out of this division I guess this thread will come alive once more

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Not so sure the football is terrible, I much prefer watching a team winning than and playing like we are now than losing and playing tippy tappy football. Last night it was good to see the performance from the young Aresenal lad and it was also great to see the team working together so well.

Indeed...."new plans".....so they are available to a chosen few! Seems that the East Stand completion is still dependant on money from the land (land first then stand, rather than council stance of stand then land!)
With all the focus on the East Stand, it seems the other things such as Conference Centre and Hotel ands even wider ground enhancements have fallen by the wayside, it is just purely about finishing the stand.

Will we still have an 8000 capacity ground with some executive boxes?

Anyway....an update is an update I guess, so at least its something.

To be fair the plans were available to anyone who wanted to go last night rather than a chosen few, as it was open to all supporters. I wish I had gone now as I was thinking about it but didn't in the end.

It would be nice to here the opinion of anyone who was there on what they thought to them.

Yep...taxi from the New Oxford in Salford!   

Can't beat the New Oxford, great pub not been in for a year or so.

The NBC have gone way and above what's expected of them with their  dealings with our succession of outsider speculators,  why should they say or do anything?
They've categorically stated there's nothing stopping Thomas from doing whatever it was he proposed he would do, but to date hasn't.
If he thinks waiting for a massive unconditional payout that could easily see the club yet again get shafted and left with nothing to show for the land, then I'm 100% behind OUR council, who care about our future who'll be with us and helping out long after Thomas has cashed in.
Let Thomas show his hand first, after all what's he got to hide?

Whatever your take on who is in the right or wrong on this situation I wouldn't call allow someone to walk away with £10 mill going above and beyond. If NBC had done there job properly in the first placed and monitored the release of funds at manageable amounts instead of letting them have it all then we wouldn't be in this position.
I get that you don't like KT but whichever way you try and spin this NBC are not in the clear.

Just to help matters, I am bored at work today and found this average attendances for 2018/19 and 2019/20 so thought I would see how it looked

Team                2018/19       2019/20      
Swindon Town        6427           7361      Up 14.5%
Northampton Town  5100           5081      Down 0.5%
Exeter City                4418           5031      Up 14%
Port Vale                4430          4886      Up 10%
Crewe Alexandra     3761          4694      Up 25%
Grimsby Town        4430          4562      Up 3%
Mansfield Town        5000          4321      Down 13.5%
Carlisle Utd        4721          4281      Down 9.5%
Cambridge Utd        4338          4143      Down 4.5%
Newport County        4386          4020      Down 8.5%
Colchester Utd        3521          3705      Up 5%
Cheltenham Town   3134          3473      Up 11%
Oldham Athletic        4364          3432      Down 21.5%
Stevenage                2714          2732      Up 0.5%
Forest Green        2775          2628      Down 5%
Morecambe        2033          2421      Up 20%
Crawley Town        2290          2247      Down 2%
Macclesfield Town    2316          2090      Down 10%

So it doesn't look as if we have dropped too much in average home gate

Personally I think yes the football may not be great at the minute but we are winning and certainly playing a lot better than the last 3 seasons, so I am happy to go every week and enjoy it for what it is. Me I just enjoy the day out with mates and if the result and performance are crap well there is always next week.

Some interesting takes.

Personally, I thought Crewe were easily the best side we've faced this season. However, being best at playing football and best at stopping the opposition are two very different things.

Since being our manager, KC has been criticised a lot on this website and on social media for 'worrying about the opposition' too much. Saturday was perhaps the best example to date as to why consideration of the oppositions strengths and weaknesses is probably more important than setting a team up week in week out to do the same thing. To be fair to KC, we've seen a few times in recent times where this approach has paid dividends, the Plymouth home game being a prime example.

Crewe played some really fanciful stuff, and could easily have been ahead at half time based on chances created. That said, if they defend like they did for our 3 goals (superb volley aside, allowing a runner to escape so easily for our 2nd goal is unforgivable at any level of football), then they've only got themselves to blame. They missed a sitter at 1-0 down, and the shot that struck the post just prior to half time should have been a goal.

However, I felt in the 2nd half we were the superior team and once we had scored the 4th goal, we were pretty comfortable. So overall, a well earned and well deserved 3 points, albeit the score did without doubt flatter us.

How good is Alan McCormack? If he carries on like this, he will be a first pick alongside Ricky Holmes in any of our best  X1's going back a fair number of years. We've not seen him enough yet, but what I have seen from him so far I'm struggling to think of a more complete central midfielder that's played for us in the last 30 years. He really is THAT GOOD and I have little doubt we'd be top of this division if he'd played in every game. His fitness is absolutely key to us this season, with him in the side we are probably 20% more effective than without him.

That double tackle will live in my memory for as long as I live, from a Cobblers perspective. Its right up there with other special moments (goals aside) like Hegg's skill v Bristol Rovers, Bayo's train like run, Dougie Hodesgons tackle at Luton. It was brilliant!

Roll on the next few weeks.

I agree with all of this, I think McCormack is the best thing to happen to us in a long time and believe if he plays without injury for the rest of the season then we will go up.

I also thought Oliver had a cracking game, his strength on and off the ball was amazing and a revelation, I didn't realise he had that sort of performance in him.

I must say I think Lines is struggling as I think Adams is. Personally I would like to see them both dropped from the starting line up for the next couple of games and bring in Pollock and Anderson and lets see if performances improve.

I didn't hear anything in the West, but, if it was the Salford fans instead of the police reporting it had occurred why didn't they go in and make arrests or eject them. Lets face it there were only 150 of them so it wouldn't have been a problem.

I do think that Curle was a safe option for the owners as he is unlikely to get us relegated but also unlikely to take us very far. If all they want to do with the club is keep it ticking over then I assume they will stick with him. I personally would like to see our owners come to a decision on where they want the club to go and head in the direction of bringing in a decent Director of Football who knows the bottom 2 divisions well and then promote Brady to manager, on the understanding that we will be looking to promote our youth players into first team roles. Then using a good mix of youth and experience to achieve a successful team. This could if done correctly see us in a position long term where we are developing youth to sell on to help the clubs finances.

Exeter is fan-owned which fits in, I believe, with Beds aspirations but requires in my view some significant input from someone or some group. It does not appear so far as I am aware that there is enough energy behind our Trust to achieve this and sometimes it needs desperate times to stir up that energy. Our current owners do not seem willing to release the club until they have at least recouped their losses from the land. Perhaps when they have we should be ready to pursue a fan-owned club.

I do not believe we can just sit and hope a billionaire arrives to throw money at the club and at any rate that often doesn't work out well.

I agree, and to be honest I probably wouldn't want a billionaire to take us on unless he was already a fan. Still I will continue to do the euromillions and hope my missus lets me spend it on The Cobblers if I win 

What do you think is best then?

I would like us to look closely at the model Exeter have achieved, when we were down there last season I thought it was a great set up and something to build on. I also think we should look at a progressive model of bringing through good youth players and having a manager (or director of football) in a long term position to follow the philosophy through for a long period of time.


I think once we get the basics right then we can grow as a sustainable league 1 team and eventually a championship side. How we get there is the difficult one. I believe it would need The Trust or another similar group of fans to push local businesses for financial support but with the majority of the club owned by the fans. I believe what Beds is saying has some merit but I just don't agree with the constant slating of the chairmen and owner and the figures that have been thrown about without foundation a lot of the time.


In fact I think most supporters want the same thing for the club but all we ever seem to do is go round and round in circles on here arguing about the same things.

Firstly, our income is £4m plus, and it is that, that  pays the players and covers the clubs running costs.. You sound surprised?
Secondly,  why are you still under the impression that Thomas has any plans to build up our clubs infrastructure? He has no plans and will not be doing anything anytime soon! Surprised you again, haven't I?
Milton Keynes Don's will be turning over £1m tonight v Liverpool, they are doing just fine.
As for building up our support base,  being a supporters run club, solid in the community playing at an atmospheric stadium would build up the core support by a third in a very short time and allow us to challenge in L1, leading to a bright future...
I find it amazing how you hang on to every word of  uttered by passing speculators and defend the belittling nonsence spouted by them, then get angry at anyone who tries to put you to rights.

I didn't say Thomas was going to build the stand I said that why wouldn't he if it as simple as you make out.

I also didn't say the Franchise wasn't doing okay, I said that they weren't getting home crowds of 20k plus, which you believe are possible with catchment area.

I didn't say we couldn't build up our supporter base, I said that it isn't as simple as you make out.

I am also not hanging onto every word that as you put it speculators say. I just don't believe it is as easy as you claim.

We all want a club that is going forward and progressive. I have posted previously how we need to be self sufficient and run more by supporters and also have a future vision for the club. What I am stating is that it isn't as simple as you make out and it has to be done correctly. It can be done with the involvement of the right people with the right determination.

Most of us want this for our club and I think it is really bad that you attack people as being pawns and sycophants of KT we aren't! I and many others just think that you haven't thought it through logically and accurately.

A football club that has a £4m income from TV, skysports, league affiliation payments etc.  Has plus 5000 regulars and a huge untapped catchment at its disposal, you will find just about runs itself. No PhD required as
there is nothing special in getting in a tried and tested manager, giving him a fair player budget based on these incomes, then just sit back, job done.
This is how we opperate on this very basic level, as we are not progressive, have no plans to improve our ground or increase our support base and have settled for playing in a tiny archaic ground devoid of modern infrastructure that doesn't allow us to compete with all our local rivals in the division's above.
Thomas's land facilitation enterprise and the general lack of progression at Sixfields is unrecognisable from the football club of Northampton that we all want and need.

Can you breakdown what exactly we get from each of the above to give you a £4 million income

How Much TV Money
How much Skysports Money
How much from League affiliation
How much through the turnstiles

Without knowing exact or near enough figures then you are just spouting the usual bull, if it was as easy as you say then why does KT not just do as you ask, because according to your ideas it is a simple job and I would guess he is not a stupid man and, let's face it if he gave us a developed East Stand and a succesful team then nobody would care if he made millions off the land surrounding. The problem is you never follow up with any facts for your figures which make it very difficult for people to take you seriously.

As for untapped potential, you only have to look at Franchise FC down the road to see that the potential isn't there because if it was they would have gates of 15 to 20k home fans every other week as they have the sadium infrastructure anda big enough catchment area. Lets face it a lot of the people living in and around Northampton and satellite towns work and come from the London area and as such if they are into football they already have teams.

I am not saying things don't need to change at The Cobblers because they do, but it needs to be done the right way not just by making up things that simply aren't true.

I think overall the squad is stronger, unfortunately the area we haven't improved and if anything it looks like we are really going to struggle is up front. We are really lacking a proven goalscorer, Williams will get 10 to 15 given the chance but as for the others I would be surprised if any of them get above 5 goals this season. Hopefully I am proved wrong but our forward line worries me immensely.

I don’t agree with much of this - the criticism of a young promising player is not only unfair but is callous and poor judgement. True Jay had a difficult time against their no 10 who was a very good player but he stuck to his task well to the extent he combated no10’s effectiveness very well. Proof of that was the 2nd half performance of keeping the score to 2-0. Well done Jay!
I thought Smith had poor service but he seems at odds with those around him.

I thought the service to Smith in the first half especially was quite good, plenty of crosses coming over. Smith just seemed to be struggling to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe is understanding with the rest of the team will grow as time goes on, but last night I would have replaced him for Williams early 2nd half to give us a chance at clawing it back.

I don't agree we defended ok. I thought Jay Williams was given the runaround by their number 10 and they were running straight through our midfield pretty much at will. I wish we had players that had this approach as it causes havoc.
Not only has Smith got to start getting on the end of Nicky Adams crosses he has to start holding the ball up and bring others into play. He often uses his chest to try a difficult pass or flick it on to nobody. He is also a moany childish t wat when things don't quite go his way

I agree with this, I took my 13 yr old daughter last night it was her first game and she loved it but said she thought Smith needed subbing off he wasn't as good as the others on the pitch.

Deep joy, another plastic club.

I thought Salford had worked their way through the leagues, therefore not plastic, a rich club maybe but not plastic. I don't think too many Cobblers fans would be complaining if we had their sort of money.

Personally I love a day out in Manchester, some great real ale pubs and new beers, and a pint of Joey Holts to finish the day.