The Curious Case of the Cobblers, The Councillor and the Chronicle.

I don't know what my aims are for writing this besides essentially venting my anger at what is a desperate situation. I don't know if it is me trying to genuinely seek answers, or if its me grieving for what now seems like the oncoming inevitable death of something that I love very much. 

To anybody that knows me, they'll know that the thing I love very much is the Cobblers. The often ridiculed, unloved step child of Northampton sporting teams, often held up as living breathing evidence of failure in sport by tweed wearing, Range Rover driving toffs who enjoy status and power rather than honour and decency (my opinion obviously).

Such is the position of the Cobblers within this town, I have come to expect, almost with routine consistency the queue of “businessmen” with questionable acumen lining up to stick the boot in on the thing I love in the hope of making a quick couple of quid. By the way, a spoiler - if a businessmen turns up looking to buy a football club there is a fair chance that they are either an idiot, a criminal or sometimes both.

Let’s not forget Northampton Borough Council, seemingly hell bent on a mission to turn Northampton Town into a continuously grimmer cess pit, fit for ridicule on the national stage. A town centre that would make a great setting for a documentary on how to successfully get a buzz from sniffing petrol, shown at 11.30pm on Bravo in 2001 a channel which was discontinued in 2011, coincidentally as every elected council official should have been as well (you can decide what I mean by that).

But ultimately what can I do to stop the Borough Council, an organisation that from the outside looks as if it is operated in a similar manner to the mafia, or any other organised crime syndicate. They always have, and seemingly will always be a law unto themselves. I also struggle to see how I personally am ever going to hold David Cardoza, or whoever the next poor gullible sod he has convinced to buy the club off him (if they do exist) accountable? Regardless of how weak Cardoza now appears, I am guessing he will probably not see the sort of justice that he deserves.

That’s why I worry about what I am about to say. I want the Northampton Chronicle and Echo held as accountable as the rest of them. This is not an attack on Jeremy Casey, or Jeff Lake, both of which I have a great deal of admiration and respect for, or even the new dedicated Cobblers reporter whose name escapes me. This is a direct appeal to the editor, David Summers. I am very concerned that the lack of reporting of the situation at the Cobblers might be a direct result of David Mackintosh holding a considerable amount of influence over the output of the Chronicle and Echo.

Now I understand that this sounds like we are flying deep into lunatic conspiracy theory territory, but I struggle to see the Chron's logic for the position they have taken over the past couple of years.

A few Chron journalists have said that they were unable to lift the lid of things at Sixfields, but not for the want of trying due to the elusive Cardoza's unwillingness to answer direct questions. However, look how quickly things have unravelled under what I would consider very mild pressure from the Supporters Trust. A relatively muted protest against Cardoza has resulted in the council calling in the £10.25 million loan, the HMRC issuing a winding up petition against the football club, and today a very public statement from the Buckingham Group which seems to contradict Mr Cardoza's version of events. 

Now I would agree that the Trust is probably better placed to lobby the Chairman and that yes, maybe they were better placed to launch the protests that led to the former two aspects. The latter however, was obtained by the Trust simply contacting Buckingham. Why on earth were the Chronicle not doing this?

The Chron seem to have been beaten to every story by somebody else over the course of this saga. Whether it be the Herald and Post’s Tom Reed admirably ringing up business's in India to see if it is them who was supposedly buying us, or fans themselves finding the enigmatic Grossman family on private jets to Paris through Instagram. I would argue that over the course of the past 4 months, the situation at Sixfields, is what the people of Northampton have wanted to read about.

Thats why I find it very very strange that on 21 September 2015, David Mackintosh was the subject of what was titled a "special report" about him adjusting to life living in London. I am not joking, here it is right here, if you fancy giving the Chron some advertising revenue,

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/special-report-new-life-in-a-new-town-for-former-northampton-borough-council-leader-1-6967922

Now, I would hope we can all agree - none of us care how David Mackintosh is getting on living in London. I would bet that his own family don't care how he his getting on in London, they're probably just pleased he isn't living at home anymore knocking drinks on the carpet and building multi million pound bus stations that aren't fit for purpose, or selling priceless Egyptian artefacts and losing our museums they're accreditation, or even opening up Abington street despite heavy public opposition, or leaving his pants on the landing, and so on and so forth.

So why at a time when the hot political scandal of the decade is unfolding out in south west of the town are they running these stories?

Its not the first time the Chron have run questionable "news" stories (vanity stories which are essentially public appearances and not news) on Mr Mackintosh, in fact they have published 11 (including the above) over 2014 and 2015, which I am sure you can appreciate was the two preceding years to his election as MP last May.  

Here they are, if you fancy looking them up

25/03/15 David Mackintosh hands out Saints shirts to disadvantaged children 

8/1/15 David Mackintosh sleeps rough 

1/9/15 David Mackintosh does the Ice Bucket Challenge

27/8/15 Spends day with ambulance service

24/3/15 Opens a MacDonalds

8/10/15 Blindfolded walk up Abington Street

20/2/15 Putting up some signs (seriously)

22/9/14 Looking round the museum (which he would later put at risk)

23/8/14 NOMINATED FOR ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE (in caps as it is my personal favourite)

15/10/15 Mackintosh nominates his favourite curry for a regional award.

I think this is all extremely odd. 

The thing that upsets me is that the Chronicle is an institution in my household, and through all of this I feel that I can no longer trust them. As stated, I expect businessmen to stiff me, I expect the council to stiff me, but I always counted on the Chron to be there to fight the battles we couldn't, to expose these sort of things, to work for the people of the town to ensure that we were correctly informed so that if these situations arose we were ready for them. 

I was prepared to forgive them for a lot of it, as I know that they are understaffed as a result of going to one day a week. The printed medium is a dying art and I can only imagine how stretched they are, but when supporters, with full time jobs that don't involve investigative journalism are doing your job for you, something is very wrong. The Buckingham statement for me, is the final straw.

I do not believe I hold any influence over Cobblers fans. I was once called a shameless self promoter who once put Darren Carter on ebay (whilst I am a shameless self promoter, I never put Darren Carter on eBay that was Neil Egerton and to be fair, it worked). I sometimes get so drunk at Cobblers games I add an extra B in to Cobblers when spelling their name aloud. I might not be the best person to take direction from, but I have began to question the role the Chron play and if they best represent me as a Cobblers fan, and more importantly a Northamptonian. 

I would urge all Cobblers fans to consider if they still represent them as individuals and as a fan base in 2015. 

I would urge everybody to support the good work that Tom Reed does and continues to do at the Herald and Post.

I would urge everybody to support the Hotelenders fanzine, for something more balanced and informative than the clubs website, social media or match day programs.

I would urge you all to join the Trust at www.ntfctrust.co.uk

But I would urge you to consider if the Chron continues to deserve your readership.

I won't write another one of these for a while because I have bored myself, and no doubt bored all of you.

Up the Cobblers

Jake Moore

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Cardoza Q & A

Another week in the soap opera that is Northampton Town and another week of rumours, counter rumours and general shenanigans. 

I was lucky enough to speak to Cobblers chairman, David Cardoza, about the numerous rumours currently flying around. It should really be applauded that the chairman of the football club is so easily contactable and willing to engage with fans - I can't imagine Roman Abramovich providing the same service to Chelsea fans. That said, I can't imagine Chelsea fans have much to moan about. 

David Cardoza Q & A :

Interviewer : What is your response to the rumours that building contractors Buckinghams haven't been paid to the tune of £1.5 million and that Northampton Town have had to let staff go to stave off the threat of administration?

David Cardoza : We have heard about these rumours circulating.  We have located the initial Facebook comment that started this and will be taking legal action against this person as well as anybody else that has carried this on. There can be nothing more damaging to our club than starting these totally unfounded and vicious rumours. These people will be named and shamed in court. We have just appointed a new Chief Exec, head of sales and marketing and various backroom staff. We have more staff on our books than I can remember.

Interviewer : It looks like building work has stopped again, the back walls of the East Stand have only been partially built and nothing has happened since?

David Cardoza : We expect to have this situation resolved this week.

Interviewer : The lack of signings lately is due to money issues?

David Cardoza : What lack of signings! It is only the middle of June. We expect to have 2 new goalkeepers, a centre back, centre midfielder and a new striker. It will be the strongest squad I can remember.

Interviewer : The land behind the East Stand has been valued for far less than originally thought, is that correct?

David Cardoza : Rubbish. We have always known what the land is worth.

So there you have it, a couple of issues cleared up, a couple of more questions need asking....it sure as hell will be an interesting few months.