Looking for Mr Perfect...

With the recent departure of Gary Johnson from his position of manager of Northampton Town it has left the Cobblers looking for a new leader. At the moment nobody has a true idea of who that might be, although there are two clear front runners in Colin Calderwood and Nicky Forster. Both of these managers are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of experience, one has got promotions on his CV and has managed 100's of matches, the other is new to management and it is almost impossible to form an opinion on his management style based on cold hard facts.

Having spoken to lots of fans about who they might want, there is no overwhelming favourite this time around, which may be a good thing considering Gary Johnson, or as I affectionately call him - Coco The Clown, was a massive fans favourite for the job after the sacking of Ian Sampson and look where Coco has taken us, almost out of the football league!
What sort of criteria is needed to be the next Cobblers manager? I have heard all the following things listed by fans, young, ambitious, experienced, level headed, play good football, have good connections, excite the fans, have a good name, don't be like Coco, be organised and numerous more. Now to be honest there is no manager with all of that, it's just not possible to find someone that ticks every single box so whoever David Cardoza plumps for is therefore going to be a risk. If he chooses an old experienced guy who has fallen from grace a bit and is looking to resurrect his career then there will be obvious comparisons with Gary Johnson. If he picks a young up and coming manager who has had relative success in non league then there is the risk that he won't be able to handle the pressure of taking a club from the lower reaches of League 2 and turning them into a decent outfit.

 
The current man on everyones lips is Nicky Forster, now he has had an amazingly short career as manager which has totalled just 28 games, 21 for Brentford and 7 for his current club Dover. Is that enough to say he is a great prospect and someone we should trust to turn the fortunes of our football club around? I'm not sure it is, certainly considering Dover are relatively well off at their level and should challenge for honours no matter who is manager, his time at Brentford was a success but it was only on a caretaker basis, there are some massive question marks over his management ability and it would be one helluva a risk BUT maybe that is a risk we need to take?
As for Calderwood, he was a massive success during his spell here last time, yes he played quite boring football but it was effective and something I would be happy to see come back if it meant we started winning games again! The problem with Calderwood is he would split the fan base which is not a good thing, also I think it is pretty clear he fancies the job of Chris Hughtons tea boy at Birmingham.

David Cardoza has such an unenviable task here, perhaps the biggest appointment of his leadership as chairman of Northampton Town, he deserves some success which is probably why he is trying to persuade Calderwood back, the only true manager he has had success with. Get this appointment wrong and we could be facing a derby with Kettering Town next season, providing Kettering make it through the season of course, seems Imran Ladak is doing his best to alienate their supporters, perhaps the curse of Nene Park is striking once again?

We need a manager who is going to buy into the Northampton Town experience, a manager who is prepared to flirt with 50p Lil, a man who is willing to do his Christmas shopping in Poundland, someone who will drink at the King Billy with his leathers on, someone who will moan his arse off at every little thing and someone who doesn't mind being disappointed by broken promises.

Someone who buys into the Northampton experience is someone who will be successful for our football club. Coco the clown never bought into the experience, there was never any connection between the fans in the town and Coco, except for us wanting to through pies at his fat face which is hardly the basis of a good relationship. The new man must also be the worlds greatest football manager otherwise he will get pelters from our impatient fans, so we aren't asking for much are we?!
In an ideal world whoever takes over the helm will just be given the criteria of steadying the ship this season and then having a push for the play offs next season, we have to accept that there will be no quick fix, we are almost at the lowest possible place for a league club to be. We have to be realistic and accept that at the moment we are about as good as Renford Rejects, with the right man in charge we could eventually be as good as The Hurricanes but it is going to take time to sort out this god forsaken mess that Coco the Cunt has got us into. Either way it promises to be an exciting and bumpy ride, strap yourselves in and get ready...

The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game.

In a break from normality this blog update is not Northampton Town related, my love of the Cobblers is not questionable, however I actually fell in love with football as a game itself before I gifted my heart to the Cobblers and I wanted to put into words my thoughts on the current state of the most popular game in the world.
It is a rather poignant time to blog about this as the big news this week is another awful decision by Sepp Blatter and the FIFA hierarchy, I am of course talking about the decision to deny England to wear poppies on their shirts for the friendly v Spain. Wearing a poppy to remember fallen heroes should not be in question should it? I cannot fathom the decisions made by the people at the top of the tree, is Blatter to blame? Should the FA stick two fingers up to FIFA and go ahead and put Poppies on the players shirts despite FIFA's restrictions?

I think this could be a massive opportunity for the English FA to win over disillusioned fans, there is generally a poor view of them by English football fans due to strange decision making and an under performing England team. If the Football Association were to go ahead and say 'fuck it' then they would have the whole support of the country and it would help long term relations between fans, players and officials and could lead to a wave of optimism on the basis that those in charge of the game in our country are still in touch with Joe public. I note that FIFA have advised the referee to postpone the match v Spain if we have poppies displayed on the shirts, so what? Again the FA could earn massive kudos from the public, let the ref postpone the game, refund the tickets of those that have paid to watch the meaningless friendly and offer them a half price ticket for the next home match. In principle it is a beautiful idea but there is not a chance in hell of that happening and you know why? Money. The bastards in charge of football have lost sight of what is right and wrong and can only see huge £££ signs.

Take the decision to take the World Cup to Qatar, FIFA bleat on about taking the game around the world which in a roundabout way does make sense but the Qatar decision was down to one thing, money. Those money grabbing greedy fuckwits at FIFA would probably sell their own penis if it meant they could get a suitcase full of cash. FIFA/UEFA spend too much time pontificating about irrelevant and minor things and fail to deal with some massive issues actually wrong with the game at the moment, namely things such as diving which is at an all time high, technology is something football has been crying out for in the last 10 years or so but still they drag their feet on that front as well. Money is currently turning the beautiful game into an ugly monster and is the route of all evil in our beloved game, certainly in the higher echelons anyway. The wages and transfer fees being bandied around at the highest level are beyond comprehension, they should never have been allowed to spiral out of control and it is something UEFA could have ultimately spotted and done something about, but nothing has been done and it will continue to get worse. The Carlos Tevez saga pretty much sums up everything that is wrong with football at the top level, lower down the leagues I'm thankful that football still has beautiful moments. Tom Bender who suffered a horrific injury while playing for Accrington was inundated with well wishes from football fans, a beautiful thing to see and pleasing that he has made a full recovery. Billy Sharp played for Doncaster days after the loss of his son, that takes some massive bollocks and to see him score a goal and reveal a shirt saying 'That's for you Son' was one hell of an emotional moment and the polar opposite of Carlos Tevez attitude.

I guess I am just annoyed by the way football is going and it makes me even more pleased to support a minnow such as Northampton Town, free from corruption and generally free from the poisoned parts of football, it does however make me sad that Cobblers are shit. I have so much more to say on this matter but wanted to scribe a few bits for now and will improve and write more when I have more time.

A Date With The Manager

Once again just another quick update regarding the recent email correspondence between myself and Northampton Town FC.

Gareth Willsher who is head of media at NTFC has spoken to manager Gary Johnson on my behalf and Gary has agreed to a informal chat over coffee with 3 or 4 fans and myself. This is a chance to help improve relations between GJ and fans and it is a worthwhile exercise. From my point of view, the more communication between club and fans and the more feeling of 'all in it together' can only be a good thing.

Gareth Willsher has asked me to contact 3 or 4 fans who would be appropriate for such a meeting. This is a chance to have an open and frank discussion with the manager of our football club, it isn't a chance to abuse him as that isn't going to achieve anything. Hopefully fans will gain something of an insight into Gary Johnson and an understand of how his mind works and how much he wants NTFC to succeed. Also Gary Johnson should realise from the open and frank discussions that there is no witch hunt and that we all want him to succeed, the only reason his decisions and tenure has been questioned so much is due to the will for the club to be successful.
I have a few people in mind who would be suitable to ask but am willing to consider anyone who would be interested in getting involved. There are no dates set yet, that is something to confirm once attendees are confirmed.
If you want to be involved then either contact me on Twitter - @TheEdgeyMole or e-mail me on kettcobb@hotmail.co.uk.

I must finish by congratulating firstly Gareth for being so open and honest and for arranging this with Gary. Also GJ deserves some plaudits for this as he could easily have run a mile, especially after I and many others called for his head at some point.

I really hope this helps the club in some way as we are all so desperate for NTFC to be successful.

Any thoughts or comments welcomed as always.

Cheers