A Letter to NTFC

Hello Gareth,

 

I hope you are well.

 

Just wanted to have my say on our managerial situation, I know there isn’t much you can respond with and I appreciate that. I genuinely cannot believe the backing Aidy Boothroyd is getting from Sir David Cardoza. There is a lot of talk about Boothroyd currently and the job he is doing, make no excuses about it, he is doing a very poor job. The recruitment process has been nothing short of shambolic and the same goes for the decision making over the last 6 months or so, in fact since we reached Wembley it seems like Boothroyd has lost his marbles. The start of his downfall was the failure to play Bayo Akinfenwa at Wembley, this clearly had a large effect on the squad and also the supporters, we were beaten before we even took to the field – everyone knew that apart from Boothroyd.

 

I understand from your response last time that what sort of message would it send out if we sacked Boothroyd after he guided us to Wembley….the right sort of message in my opinion. Football is very much a ‘here and now’ business, yes Boothroyd did exceptionally well to save us from relegation – he did this by signing players that helped to build a spine into a side that was spineless, leaderless and woefully short on confidence. Players like Clarke Carlisle & Luke Guttridge had the fight in their belly and the character to get the team out of trouble, it was excellent troubleshooting by Boothroyd and something that was clearly a huge success and appreciated by the club and fans.

 Last season was a huge surprise and largely down to the freak home form. Was it luck? Possibly. I lost count of the games where we performed awfully but stole victory at home. Our away form was obviously horrific and that hasn’t really improved at all this season, despite numerous different systems and personnel being tried. The style last year was poor BUT the results were generally good and enough to get us into the play offs, however we should really have taken automatic promotion but again due to poor tactics away from home we missed out. Fans don’t care about style, we care about results. It is a results business. Win games and fans are happy. Lose games and fans are unhappy.

 The summer recruitment process was nothing short of a disgrace, I understand the manager has tried to change the style for which he needed to change the players available to him – some of those players that have been brought to the club though are not up to the required standard. Gary Deegan is not better than Luke Guttridge. Darren Carter is the equal of Ben Harding (who wasn’t good enough last year). JJ Hooper was a ludicrous addition, clearly his attitude isn’t right and he doesn’t even get on the bench anymore. We haven’t adequately replaced Clarke Carlisle up until recently. The only successful signing was Kevin Amawankaah. Since then we have got players in on short term loans, or short term deals (Matt Heath etc) and expected us to be a force – it is absolutely no surprise that we don’t look like a team and we look like a team of misfits because that is exactly what we are. A team full of loanees, short term deals and deadwood. I’ll be honest Gareth I’m absolutely furious that it was allowed to happen, we had a chance to really push on but we have been taken backwards due to the lack of an actual plan by the manager.

 We are going to have a nice newly developed stadium but what good is that going to be if we drop down to the conference, which is looking likely at the moment – we are joint bottom and have won 2 games all season, just 2!!! It’s our worst start for 32 years or something or other. Don’t get me started on the list of 15 strikers we had to replace Bayo….!

 The fans are still with the club and still support the club, I am sure a lot still support the manager also – that part is misguided in my opinion. I no longer support the management of Aidy Boothroyd. I’ll still come and support the team and won’t be booing or anything as that is detrimental to the on pitch activities.

The argument is usually ‘Who can we replace him with’ – That isn’t down to me, however, go through a proper recruitment process like we did with the Colin Calderwood appointment, speak to people within the game – look to find a manager on the way up as opposed to on the way down.

 I’m just ranting now, apologies. I love Northampton Town Football Club and am desperate for them to succeed, at the moment I just cannot see us getting out of this mess unless we change things.

 

Thanks for listening and I’d love you to show this to Sir David Cardoza so he realises that some fans have strong feelings on the current situation.

 

Neil

Time To Hold Our Nerve

I never made it around to writing part two of my previous post, there were a couple of reasons behind that. 1. I'm lazy. 2. I'm lazy. 3. I'm lazy.

Since writing that post my views have also changed slightly, which is probably a bit of a surprise considering things have got worse for Cobblers since that time. Do I still want Boothroyd to be sacked? No. Do I think he's the right man for the job? No. Can I think of a genuine candidate to replace him? No. Do I love Northampton Town Football Club? Yes.

That last point is one that all fans should ponder, do you love your club? Do you want what is best for your club? Of course you do or you wouldn't support them. It's for this reason that lots of people are reactionary after poor results or performances, they care so much they want it to change, they want their team to be a success and it frustrates them when things don't go well. Does this make them bad supporters? No. Everyone that follows Cobblers is entitled to their own view on things and everyone should remember that we all want the same thing, a successful football club, both on and off the pitch. You don't like the manager? Still support the team. You don't like the match day experience? Still support the team. Times have been much, much tougher for Cobblers, remember the McRitchie era? When Di Stefano almost bought the club? Terry Fenwick? Shrewsbury away? The list of rock bottoms is almost endless, pretty typical for a club our size.

Currently we sit 2nd bottom of the entire Football League, it fucking sucks but we've been here before haven't we and survived just fine. The positive to remember is that we have a genuine future to be excited about, the club is finally going to be able to compete financially thanks to the agreed redevelopment of Sixfields Stadium. People that look at the ground deal from the outside often say throwaway comments such as 'you can't even fill the stadium now' - this is such a blinkered view on things. When Sixfields was built it was modern and a huge step forward for Northampton who up until then were playing their games at Northants County Cricket Club, although the ground had character it was also quite clearly a shit hole and Sixfields was a massive improvement. The problem is that football has moved on since the 90's and creating money through corporate ventures has become imperative. Sixfields does not allow the club to maximise its income due to the limited conference facilities and lack of executive boxes but a redeveloped ground will allow all of those things to become a reality. It's a relatively simple process in terms of working out its importance...More £££ thanks to corporate facilities = more £££ for the team = a better team = more fans coming to watch = more £££ for the club, simple as that.

Will it work? Nobody can truly say either way but it's the best chance the club has had, probably ever, to become a real force in the lower leagues. As a club the ultimate aim must surely be to become an established Championship team, this is of course some way off but it's a dream that we can now genuinely look at and think it may become reality and what a reality it would be. How does this all link in to our current situation? I'll explain...

Things are not right at the moment but changing things now would achieve nothing, absolutely nothing. We need to stick with what we have got and embrace stability as it has been proven that stability actually works in football. In January if things are still poor then perhaps we can re-evaluate things, hopefully by then the injured players, of which 4 are key, will be back firing on all cylinders. Everyone is feeling the pressure, players, the board, the fans and perhaps most importantly Aidy Boothroyd himself. This is a good thing and can benefit everyone in the long run - when the going gets tough, the tough get going. I genuinely think we will come out of this spell a much stronger club overall and that will be huge in the long run. As a club we are still on the cusp of 'take off' and I can sense it is just around the corner, of course there are frustrations about the team currently and the lack of a striker to call upon coupled with question marks over some of the summer signings but when they pull the claret shirt on they need our support. The time is now for everyone to pull in one direction, one way or another.

A Game Of Opinions

There is a large proportion of conflicting views from fans of Northampton Town at the time of writing, some furious with the plight of the football club and some happy to sit back, accept mediocrity and see what happens.

Is there a right or wrong? Personally I think there is and as it happens, I'm right and you're wrong.

For those that know me you'll probably be aware of where my views current sit, however for those that don't - I'm seriously unhappy with the manager and would like to see him relieved from his duties. I was never particularly enamoured by his original appointment as his track record hardly screams 'I am God' and I was well aware of the style of 'football' he chose to adopt at his previous clubs. Having said that there could be valid arguments why he deserves a bit of time....

Make no mistake about it that when Aidy Boothroyd picked up the reigns at Northampton the club was only heading in one direction and that direction was one that kept fans up all night. He saved the club from relegation after the disastrous Gary Johnson era, professionalism and organisation were brought to the club along with strong values and beliefs - coupled with some astute additions to the squad it was a very successful troubleshoot by Boothroyd and I take my hat off to him for that. The following season we made the play off final, on the face of it he's doing a great job, right? Wrong.

It sounds an odd thing to say but was last season really that enjoyable? I can count on one hand the games I actually came away from smiling. Is that a bad thing? If you're successful then fans put up with it despite having underlying concerns and that is exactly how I felt all season. The play off defeat to Bradford actually was a perfect description of how the season felt - we lacked goals at times, lacked creativity and struggled to pass to team mates. Luckily we were a big strong side and bullied teams which led to some good results. But overall, hand on heart can supporters say that last season we ever looked like a play off finalist side? You're a liar if you claim we did.

So what has gone wrong? Well firstly getting rid of Luke Guttridge for Darren Carter is quite frankly a scandalous decision, Carter is a player going through the motions who is living off his brief spell in the limelight earlier in his career, he's got some big fucking ears as well and I never trust someone with big ears. Secondly getting rid of Bayo I can agree with but to not replace him and place all your eggs in the Clive Platt basket is another scandalous decision. I actually like Platt as a player but it is clear for all to see that he is not a goal scorer. Bayo, Guttridge and Carlisle were three huge characters last year for the club and they pretty much pulled the club up into the play offs despite the performances. Take them out of the equation along with Captain Thundercock (Langmead) and the side lacks spine, leaders and bite. 

The players brought in to the club over the summer all smack me as having one thing in common, they are 'yes men'. Boothroyd has got rid of the characters in the side and replaced them with wishy washy players like Ian Morris. The recruitment process has been nothing short of a disgrace. There is only one man culpable for that, step forward Mr Boothroyd.

There is an argument for continuity in football but you have to have the right man at the helm initially and we haven't. We've got a stubborn manager who has started to lose his marbles, the following few quotes should back that up :

'I'm happy where the team is'

A week later...

'We're clearly not where we want to be'

What?!

"I saw that red card coming. You don't react like that, and you don't look for revenge" - Good man management, why not take the player off?

There are lots lots more quotes from the last few weeks that suggest the manager is struggling to cope with the pressure, he certainly didn't help himself yesterday when taking a 0-0 at home against a poor Morecambe side. One thing I struggle to understand is that last season when performances were poor but results were good then people kept banging on about it being a results business, fair enough. Now the performances are slightly better in terms of footballing style but the results are shit, now we're told it needs time as results will come. I thought it was a results business?

Part Two To Follow....

Boothroyd Out?

Should we really be surprised by the start to the season that Northampton Town have made? If you look at the situation without the claret tinted glasses on then a few things flash up and point to us being woefully under prepared for the season.

1. Cobblers went on a pre season trip to Croatia as part of a bonding/fitness exercise. Half of today's starting eleven weren't even on that trip. Seems a waste of money and doesn't seem to have helped in any shape or form.

2.  The team last season made the play off final, granted a lot of results last season were lucky, they must have had something about them as a squad though. Boothroyd chose to break up most of that team which was a mistake.

3. Offering Luke Guttridge an insulting amount of money to stay at the club lacked respect and was a token gesture to appease fans. Boothroyd already knew he didn't want to keep Guttridge.

4. I understand why Bayo was released and it makes sense for the style of football Boothroyd wants to play. Not replacing Bayo is a major error, Clive Platt is not the answer. I actually don't mind Platt - I'd only want him as a bit part player though and not the main man - Aidy needs to realise that Platt is not Jesus.

5. Trying to change the style of play is not going to work. Boothroyd did the exact same thing at Watford and it cost him his job, the same thing will happen here. Play the one way that is a success for you, fuck entertainment, just win games. He is stubborn enough with his team selections and love for players but seems to want to please people by changing style - why? Stick by your guns and grow some bollocks.

6. Stating we have a list of 15 strikers we want to replace Bayo has quite frankly turned out to be an embarrassing statement, we've signed a young loanee from Leicester, was he on that list!?

7. Cardoza saying we will be making some exciting signings. Well we haven't made any! I appreciate everything he has done for the club but fucking hell he doesn't half spin some bollocks to fans.

8. Last season should have been a springboard and a real boost - however the opposite has happened. We should have invested in the squad and built on last year - instead we've spent no money, cut the budget in half and signed cast offs.

9. We have no squad. 22 decent players are needed, we don't have anywhere near that.

10. The love of Ben Tozer is odd - he can throw it further than I can sprint but apart from that he doesn't bring anything to the table.

11. He started Amankwaah at left back today, Tozer right back and Collins centre back. Wrong wrong wrong.

12. Coventry money + play off money = lower budget. Eh.

13. Last season was lucky.

I could go on as there are loads of things to pick holes in, can't really be bothered at the moment though.

The open forum is coming up soon and Cardoza will be there, I'd suggest going along and asking some questions - probably get 'spin' but its worth a try.

We've gone from a team of leaders to a team without one leader! It's utterly infuriating. How do we solve this? I'm not sure but a start would be to sign a striker to replace Bayo and sign a no nonsense centre back who's a leader - or try playing David fucking Artell who fits that mould.

Should we support Boothroyd for longer due to him saving us from relegation and leading us to the play off final? Probably. Am I going to? No. I'd be happy for him to leave now. There are too many warning signs for me and too many mistakes have been made in recruitment. Look at Darren Carter for instance - Cheltenham didn't want him, we sign him on a two year deal! The bloke can clearly pick a decent pass but fucking hell it's so obvious he is going through the motions as a footballer and living on his past 'glory'.

I'm fucked off and I don't really bother with away games anymore, god knows how those that still do must feel? The mental bastards.

Boothroyd is a trouble shooter, that's what people should employ him for. He isn't the man to lead us long term. Lots of people will slate me for suggesting this and harp back to his success last season but stop for a moment and think about last season and remember back to individual games - we were actually poor for a large amount of them and rarely looked like a team deserving of reaching a play off final, let alone promotion.

Unless some signings are made before 11pm on Monday - and all signs point to nobody coming in - then we are fucked

Boothroyd Out.

(Sorry, kind of)

Keep Calm and Don't Be A Twat

Remember when we were all going to die from bird flu? Remember when North Korea were going to nuke the world? Remember when global warming was going to mean a water shortage? All ludicrous over reactions and something I am seeing from numerous Cobblers fans after the debacle at Wembley stadium on Saturday. I am not sure anyone can defend how the team 'performed' on the day but there is a much bigger picture to take into account.

It was one game of football, yes granted at times during the game I Googled pictures of Alistair Slowe and looked lovingly at them wishing he was on the pitch, but even still it was just one game of football that we lost. If we had fallen short and lost in the semi finals then there wouldn't have been an over reaction, if we had just missed out of the play offs there wouldn't have been an over reaction, so why such a big one after the 3-0 defeat? I suspect the manner of defeat is playing a big part in this but some of the comments I have seen are quite frankly ridiculous : 'The players don't care' 'Boothroyd should be sacked immediately' 'They should reimburse the fans' 'It's an outrage' 'I'm not going to watch them again' . Clearly the players do care, they have proven that over the 48 games that proceeded the play off final. Why would anyone contemplate sacking Boothroyd? Listen, I'm not your typical 'lick the managers arse' kind of guy, in fact I think on this very blog I stated I didn't want Boothroyd to take over and possibly called him a boring twat. He has turned the club around and in a very short space of time, I'm not going to preach to people as they are all entitled to their own view, that said if you think he should be sacked it does in fact make you a first class prick. Actually fuck it, I'm going to preach a little bit. What a fucking numpty you must be? It would undo all the hard work and progress that has been made over the past 12 months. Yes sometimes the style is akin to dinosaur football, yes sometimes he makes the wrong decisions regarding team selection - just look at Saturday for a prime example. That all said, the positive stuff he has done for the club far far outweigh the mistakes he has made, which manager doesn't make mistakes? Which player doesn't make mistakes? Fuck me, which human being doesn't make mistakes?

 

There are some right absolute bellends that follow football even more so some right fucking bellends that follow Northampton Town, thankfully they are in the minority and the core of the support are genuinely top people. I'm a bellend myself, hell this blog update is dogshit and proves that I can be a bellend but fucking hell I read some comments from fans and I genuinely wonder to myself if these are the sort of people that have a unsatisfactory ready meal from Tesco and then proceed to take pictures of it, scribe an angry letter to accompany the pictures and demand compensation - all while masturbating over a picture of Lenny Henry. What is it with football that it enables sandals with socks pricks to have a say? I'm fucking livid about the fact we lost 3-0 in the play off final, I couldn't even masturbate on Saturday evening because of it and fucking hell I love to masturbate. We froze at the most important point of the season, we didn't turn up, we were still in bed - use all the bollocks cliches you want to use but in all honesty we were absolute dog turd. We have been dog turd numerous times this season, especially away from home - I've lost count how many times we have come back from an away game saying 'that was fucking dire'. So look at it subjectively (I needed to use a bigish word there to try and claw back some credibility) - It should be no surprise we lost so comfortably on Saturday, it was away from home and the opposition were good, so be it.

This season was always meant to be a transitional season, we exceeded expectations by reaching the play off final, let's be fucking honest if we had actually been promoted we would have been raped, actually raped in the anus, by the decent sides in League one. Fucking hell I dread to think what Wolves would have done to our static defence, let alone those fen dwelling cuntheads from Peterborough - despite our loathing of them their team is still filled with infinitely more quality than ours - mind you they've still got Barry Fry around their club so that kind of detracts from any positivity, how can you employ someone that genuinely shoves hot pukka pies in his arse? (allegedly - before some pc prick pipes up and suggests I might get thrown up in front of a judge).
We've had a decent season, don't ever lose sight of that fact. It seems some fans are more worried that we embarrassed ourselves on Saturday? What an absolute fucktard comment that is to make!! We embarrassed ourselves when we almost got relegated, when we signed Bas Savage, when we lost 7-2 to Shrewsbury, we did not fucking embarrass ourselves on Saturday - we let ourselves down as we can do much better, but embarrass ourselves? Did we fuck. Fans are moaning that it was dead quiet and the fans let themselves down and how much of a disgrace it was, fuck off.  Yes it was quiet but who gives an actual left testicle? True supporters that go week in week out will be well aware of our support and how and when we are noisy etc. I couldn't give a cunt how fans of other clubs perceive us, who actually cares? Some nobheads probably do but not me, I only care about Cobblers and how they perform on the pitch, hence my anger at Saturdays result - but looking at the bigger picture we definitely need to keep calm and not be twats.
We lost on Saturday, we were well beaten, well done to Bradford - a decent club too big for this level. We shouldn't lose sight (I think I've used that statement a few times but fuck it) of how far we have come in 12 months, we almost dropped out of the football league for fucks sake. Yes its galling to come so close and fall at the final hurdle but fucking get on with it! We'll trust Aidy Boothroyd to do some decent wheelings and dealings in the summer and aim to win the fucking league next season.
Life goes on, dickheads.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Akinfenwa?

Adebayo Akinfenwa and Aidy Boothroyd have recently made comments to the press that have sparked wild speculation about the future of Bayo. Depending on which rumour you read, it seems the larger than life striker is set to move on to pastures new (or old if you believe the Gillingham rumour)

Firstly let's have a chat about Bayo, I think it is a fair assumption that he is universally loved by all Cobblers fans, some more than others but there has been a huge over reaction from sections of supporters at the thought he might leave the club, cries of 'lack of ambition' and 'throwing away promotion' have been seen across message boards and local news reports - what most of these fans fail to realise is that Akinfenwa isn't even the best player at the club, the most influential and biggest character without question but in terms of ability, Chris Hackett is light years ahead (Although I appreciate they are different types of player).

You cannot underestimate the contribution Bayo has made to the club in his two spells with us - 72 goals in 168 games is an excellent return, he is also the clubs 10th highest goalscorer in it's history. Those that watch Bayo on a regular basis will be well aware he is about much more than goals, his sheer presence in the side brings about space for others and his ability to bring others into the game is superb - For a guy that is built like 10 brick shithouses sadly he does often move like it aswell, the reasons he doesn't play at a higher level are purely down to his lack of mobility - sometimes too much muscle can affect ones mobility and in this case I believe it to be true for Bayo, I won't be telling him that to his face though unless I have a full Nandos loyalty card with me to soften the blow.

So, should we sell Bayo? In my opinion we shouldn't - the figure we're seeking (£50,000) would give us no real weight in the transfer market and seeking a replacement would be difficult in this short time. One of the rumours suggests Gillingham are offering the two Dannys - Kedwell and Jackman in return for Bayo. This sounds a plausible deal especially with Gillingham unwilling to match the £50,000 - would it be a good move for Northampton, quite simply no. Danny Jackman is ok but we don't really have any requirement for his type of player and he left the club in somewhat awkward circumstances last time he donned the claret and white. As for Danny Kedwell, I have to admit to not seeing him play much but he strikers me as a big fat bastard. At least Bayo is a big fat effective bastard - that said Kedwell has a relatively impressive record for Gillingham (22 goals in 63 appearances). The other suggestion is that Gillingham are only willing to offer £20,000 for Akinfenwa, which is way below the asking price. There are numerous other rumours flying around such as a swap deal with Coventry involving David Bell and Cody McDonald - this one doesn't seem like it has much substance. There is also rumoured interest from Leyton Orient and Milton Keynes Dons.

 

The important thing to remember is that as a supporter it is our job and duty to support the club, that is what we signed up for. No one man is bigger than the club -  although looking at the size of Bayo some may disagree with that statement. On a serious note though whoever it may be, manager, player, kitman, masseuse, none of them are bigger than Northampton Town FC. The club has pulled itself up from the depths of despair last season and are well placed to have a real tilt at the play off places - this in itself is pretty miraculous and you have to thank Aidy Boothroyd for the turnaround and that is all despite his tactical naivety away from home! There is a real issue here that negativity from fans could derail the season - negativity breeds negativity and if it transmits from the stands to the players, which is invariably does at Sixfields, then the season will slip away into mid table mediocrity - not necessarily too much of a bad thing after the last few campaigns, however to be so close yet so far would be mighty frustrating, especially if we've been victims of our own downfall.

Supporters should trust Aidy Boothroyd to know what he is doing, almost all of his decisions have proved right in his time at the helm, the man talks sense and he backs that talk up with actions - something of a rarity in recent times for a Northampton Town manager.
If the manager decides selling Bayo and brining in a couple of players off the back of his sale will benefit the team in the long run then let's roll with it and trust his judgement, afterall he is placing the trust in himself otherwise he wouldn't contemplate selling the top scorer in his squad, it's a risk but perhaps it's a calculated risk.  As a fan let us just sit back and see what happens, don't allow the typical knee jerk reaction that has become a common theme in football, think before you tweet, post, speak, sing, shout, sign - whatever mode of communication you use, trust in the manager of the club to know what he is doing. After he saved us from relegation last season, it's the least we can do, isn't it?