Football Season Guide

Northampton Town

In


Lee Burge (Goalkeeper, Sunderland); Akin Odimayo (Defender, Swindon Town); Harvey Lintott (Defender, Gillingham); Ryan Haynes (Defender, Newport County); Sam Sherring (Defender, AFC Bournemouth); Ben Fox (Midfielder, Grimsby Town); Miguel Ngwa (Midfielder, youth); Peter Abimbola (Midfielder, youth); Danny Hylton (Attacker, Luton Town); Jack Connor (Attacker, youth); Kieron Bowie (Attacker, Fulham, Season-long loan)

Out


Liam Roberts (r) Goalkeeper, Middlesbrough); Fraser Horsfall (r) (Defender, Stockport County); Joseph Mills (Defender, retired); Josh Flanagan (Defender, released); Michael Harriman (Defender, released); Sid Nelson (Defender, released); Tyler Magloire (Defender, Blackburn Rovers, Loan ended); Beryly Lubala (Midfielder, Blackpool, Loan ended); Paul Lewis (r) (Midfielder, Tranmere Rovers); Scott Pollock (Midfielder, released); Chanka Zimba (sp) (Attacker, Cardiff City, Loan ended); Benny Ashley-Seal (Attacker, released); Danny Rose (sp) (Attacker, Stevenage); Idris Kanu (sp) (Attacker, Peterborough United, Loan ended); Josh Eppiah (sp) (Attacker, Leicester City, Loan ended); Nicke Kabamba (Attacker, Barnet)

Northampton Town will be hoping to go one better this season after missing out on promotion in most remarkable of circumstances. A 3-1 final day win at Barrow wasn’t enough as they were overtaken on goals scored by Bristol Rovers, who thrashed already-relegated Scunthorpe United 7-0 at the Memorial Stadium. It was a crushing blow from which the Cobblers were unable to recover as they were beaten by Mansfield Town in the play-off semi-finals to miss out on a trip to Wembley. Jon Brady’s managerial capabilities will be tested to the max as they look to bounce back and return to League One. He has lost several players this summer, most notably the influential trio of goalkeeper Liam Roberts, centre-back Fraser Horsfall and midfielder Paul Lewis, who have left to join Middlesbrough, Stockport County and Tranmere Rovers respectively. A busy summer of activity has seen a whole host of new additions too, including the signing of experienced striker Danny Hylton from Luton Town. There could be a new-look back five for the start of the new season with the arrivals of defenders Akin Odimayo, Ben Fox, Ryan Haynes and Sam Sherring. They will all play in front of Lee Burge, with the experienced goalkeeper joining from Sunderland. Brady has managed to hold on to the spine of his team in centre-back Jon Guthrie, central midfield partners Jack Sowerby and Shaun McWilliams, winger Mitch Pinnock and playmaker Sam Hoskins and they will all be integral if the Cobblers are to be successful this season.

Target


Automatic promotion. Despite losing some key players, Brady has recruited well and they are expected to be in the hunt once again.