There is only one place to start this time around, the return of a cult hero...
Frank Bruno, Godzilla, Gigantor, The Tractor, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom, yes i am of course talking about Bayo. I have heard him called all of those things before at games, probably sums up some of our fans more than anything else of note, felt I'd share those names with the world though.
There is no doubt that the return of Adebayo Akinfenwa has captured the imagination of Cobblers fans with seemingly 90% over the moon and 10% wishing we hadn't gone back for sloppy seconds. My personal opinion is that a club of our size and current position would find it impossible to find someone else that can bring what Bayo brings to the table, and no i don't mean four bargain buckets and twelve chocolate gateaux.
With Bayo you have got someone who can hold the ball up, who can score goals, who can relieve pressure from the defence and it takes two defenders to stop him therefore leaving space for other players to take advantage of. He won't move around the pitch much but surely Gary Johnson would have known that before signing him? Without question i am pleased to see Bayo back and he will make an improvement on our forward line from last year.
The biggest issue when we had Bayo before was not having a Plan B, this time i trust GJ to have one, otherwise it is quite likely we will fail to gain promotion, again.
I appreciate i haven't mentioned Bayo and his fitness issues.....he played 44 times for Gillingham last season, what is to discuss?
Regarding other additions to the squad, it seems pretty certain Nana will return. He will be a good player to have in the squad however I'd be a little worried if he was intended to be in the starting eleven.
I've also heard Ben Tozer is supposedly having talks with NTFC, which in my opinion is good news. Tozer got a lot of unfair flak from our support, he definitely is a decent player at League 2 level. Perhaps Johnson sees Tozer as a future defensive midfielder, where he excelled in the last couple of games. Either way he will be a good addition if he decides to join.
Michael Mcindoe has held talks with NTFC and is a player of unquestionable talent, lets hope the package we have offered him fits the bill and he signs on the dotted line.
There seems to be a certain part of our support that are hoping for Gary Johnson to fail, maybe it is because of his P*sh connections, maybe it is because he is a porker, however i am pretty sure it is because some people blame him for us almost losing our League status.
May i take this opportunity to suggest we all get behind Gary Johnson and the team, it can and will make a difference. Johnson inherited a team and squad already on a downward spiral, he didn't help things by throwing his 'grenades' around the changing room, but as he said himself, he's never been in that position before. It was all new to him and he dealt with it the way he felt best, if you ask him now he will admit he made mistakes. He is a proven manager at this level, trust in his judgement on players and the style of play and support the club fully and it can and will be a fun, successful season. I appreciate you never can please everyone, christ you get some w*nkers that moan when they have won the lottery!
Gary Johnson is by far the best manager Northampton Town are going to get at this level. When Johnson was announced as our manager i had an e-mail from the club secretary at Wolverhampton Wanderers simply saying 'What a coup for Northampton' , this pretty much sums up most of the feeling inside the footballing fraternity.
Now i didn't intend for this end on something of a Gary Johnson love in, no doubt people will be thinking i'm in love with the man and that he is my Buddha but......I just want my club to be successful and my opinion is that if Johnson can't take us to the promised land then who can?
Hope i haven't bored anyone too much there, feel free to leave comments as i've enabled those now....I will do a more improved interesting blog tomorrow when i have a little bit more time.....but felt i needed to give the fans something.....by fans i do of course mean my Mrs who is probably the only person who reads this and then tells me 'at least you tried'. Plus i must dash as i want to watch Louis Theroux Miami Mega-Jail.....
UTC and after today don't forget to FTP.
Sunday 29 May 2011
Saturday 21 May 2011
Welcome.....
Hello and welcome to my thoughts, musings and general bollocks on all things Cobblers.
Most likely is that you are reading this because you're either bored or i've hounded you on a social media site to view it and make me feel worthwhile, so thanks for that, I knew I could count on you.
If you want to know anything about me then here is a brief overview. I am 28 years old, work in Insurance and have supported Northampton Town since early 1990's, before that time i was made to support the same team as my father, Oldham Athletic. Luckily i suppose, i saw their 'wonder' years in the newly formed Premiership, good times and I saw many good games and top players however it never felt quite right. I started going to watch the Cobblers and fell in love, literally fell in love with a football club, felt a bit queer, but it was definately love. I mean don't get me wrong, i didn't danger wank over NTFC or anything, but then you don't masturbate over the one you love do you? Anyway....
My first blog was intended to be a 'Don't Panic' to all NTFC fans....
So last season didn't quite pan out as we had all hoped, we had the massive high of beating Liverpool at Anfield and way too many lows. Perhaps the worst was being 3-0 up against Hereford at home only to lose 4-3, thankfully i was on holiday in Florida at the time. I must admit when finding out that scoreline i was insanely rude to a lady at Walmart, however she was American and probably deserved it.
After that result we kind of continued on a decline and not only did we flirt with relegation out of the Football League, we had a full on marital affair with it.
99% of fans were saying we need a total overhaul of the squad after last seasons nightmare......Gary Johnson seemed to agree and he released most of the squad. My personal opinion is he got every single keep or let go decision spot on. You could argue the case for a couple of them but there is no room for sentiment in football and you can't let sentiment cloud your judgement.
Take Leon McKenzie for example....he scored important goals for us and had a fantastic goal ratio....coming to the end of his career and had built a good rapport with the fans, sentimental decision would have been to keep him on.....non sentimental decision is to get rid of him, he won't play enough games and we can't afford to carry anyone in our small squad.
Abdul Osman and Liam Davis might think themselves a little bit unlucky, however when the chips were down these guys cared so little they were merely potatoes in a field. Certainly in Osmans case anyway, Davis perhaps a little less but then he only seems to start playing when his contract is running out and he is also rather injury prone.
They are the only contentious ones in my opinion, none of the others can really complain about being released and I still think Gary Johnson got all decisions spot on.
So who will come in and make up most of the squad, quite simply none of us have a clue. There is no real need to panic though, for the past few seasons we have had a big turnover of players, perhaps not to this magnitude but we almost lost our Football League status so by the grace of Martin Smiths left foot, it was needed. People may argue for stability, but surely we have failed with this bunch so if we go for stability then we will fail again?
I am hearing numerous fans asking why we have only signed one player so far and how we won't have a squad for next season.....are these the sort of fans who wake up in the morning and think 'i'll probably get run over today' ? Honestly, it is the 21st May, there is plenty of time before the players report back for pre season.
Most players that are being released from clubs at the moment still technically have contracts till July 1st, hence massives of signings being announced by all clubs around that time. Also i would say there is no point in GJ panicking and signing the likes of me and you just so we have a squad to keep some clueless fans happy. That said if you happen to ever read this GJ, i am ready and available, think of me as a similar player to Super Kevin Thornton, just a little fatter and less fit.
So my plea to my fellow NTFC fans for the moment is to not panic, sit back and enjoy the summer and enjoy the rumours flying around and have some trust in our manager that he actually knows what he is doing, afterall, he is the first proven manager we have appointed in a long time. If you still want to panic then i suggest you get drunk, twice. Then once more. Then phone the Samaritans.
I'll update some more thoughts in the next few days, this is a start though, let me know your thoughts. If you like this blog then great, tell people and get them to read it, if you hate it then great, tell people and get them to read it.
Cheers!
Most likely is that you are reading this because you're either bored or i've hounded you on a social media site to view it and make me feel worthwhile, so thanks for that, I knew I could count on you.
If you want to know anything about me then here is a brief overview. I am 28 years old, work in Insurance and have supported Northampton Town since early 1990's, before that time i was made to support the same team as my father, Oldham Athletic. Luckily i suppose, i saw their 'wonder' years in the newly formed Premiership, good times and I saw many good games and top players however it never felt quite right. I started going to watch the Cobblers and fell in love, literally fell in love with a football club, felt a bit queer, but it was definately love. I mean don't get me wrong, i didn't danger wank over NTFC or anything, but then you don't masturbate over the one you love do you? Anyway....
My first blog was intended to be a 'Don't Panic' to all NTFC fans....
So last season didn't quite pan out as we had all hoped, we had the massive high of beating Liverpool at Anfield and way too many lows. Perhaps the worst was being 3-0 up against Hereford at home only to lose 4-3, thankfully i was on holiday in Florida at the time. I must admit when finding out that scoreline i was insanely rude to a lady at Walmart, however she was American and probably deserved it.
After that result we kind of continued on a decline and not only did we flirt with relegation out of the Football League, we had a full on marital affair with it.
99% of fans were saying we need a total overhaul of the squad after last seasons nightmare......Gary Johnson seemed to agree and he released most of the squad. My personal opinion is he got every single keep or let go decision spot on. You could argue the case for a couple of them but there is no room for sentiment in football and you can't let sentiment cloud your judgement.
Take Leon McKenzie for example....he scored important goals for us and had a fantastic goal ratio....coming to the end of his career and had built a good rapport with the fans, sentimental decision would have been to keep him on.....non sentimental decision is to get rid of him, he won't play enough games and we can't afford to carry anyone in our small squad.
Abdul Osman and Liam Davis might think themselves a little bit unlucky, however when the chips were down these guys cared so little they were merely potatoes in a field. Certainly in Osmans case anyway, Davis perhaps a little less but then he only seems to start playing when his contract is running out and he is also rather injury prone.
They are the only contentious ones in my opinion, none of the others can really complain about being released and I still think Gary Johnson got all decisions spot on.
So who will come in and make up most of the squad, quite simply none of us have a clue. There is no real need to panic though, for the past few seasons we have had a big turnover of players, perhaps not to this magnitude but we almost lost our Football League status so by the grace of Martin Smiths left foot, it was needed. People may argue for stability, but surely we have failed with this bunch so if we go for stability then we will fail again?
I am hearing numerous fans asking why we have only signed one player so far and how we won't have a squad for next season.....are these the sort of fans who wake up in the morning and think 'i'll probably get run over today' ? Honestly, it is the 21st May, there is plenty of time before the players report back for pre season.
Most players that are being released from clubs at the moment still technically have contracts till July 1st, hence massives of signings being announced by all clubs around that time. Also i would say there is no point in GJ panicking and signing the likes of me and you just so we have a squad to keep some clueless fans happy. That said if you happen to ever read this GJ, i am ready and available, think of me as a similar player to Super Kevin Thornton, just a little fatter and less fit.
So my plea to my fellow NTFC fans for the moment is to not panic, sit back and enjoy the summer and enjoy the rumours flying around and have some trust in our manager that he actually knows what he is doing, afterall, he is the first proven manager we have appointed in a long time. If you still want to panic then i suggest you get drunk, twice. Then once more. Then phone the Samaritans.
I'll update some more thoughts in the next few days, this is a start though, let me know your thoughts. If you like this blog then great, tell people and get them to read it, if you hate it then great, tell people and get them to read it.
Cheers!
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