The Owls

[consilio]

Full article here

Cobblers statement in full - 'Untrue accusations cause harm to club'

Published Date: 02 June 2010

The statement in full, as posted by Northampton Town Football Club on the Hotel End website:

On the whole we like and appreciate the value of this message board. We can find out what fans are happy/unhappy about, and what issues are currently important to our supporters.

We also appreciate that criticism is part and parcel of the football

industry. We have no issue with that. Fans will have their opinions on who is doing a good or bad job, and their own opinions on players, manager, staff and Chairman. We fully accept criticism and the opinions of supporters. That is the heart and soul of any message board.

However, when those opinions turn into accusations, in our opinion a line is crossed.

Despite the Chairman doing the in depth Q&A session on this messageboard last year, a few posters seem to have forgotten most of the facts laid out in those answers and we simply can't keep allowing accusations, untruths and lies that are harmful to the club to be posted in the public domain.

No one has any problem with the truth, but the untrue accusations have and are continuing to cause the club harm (although no doubt the posters who make those claims will not see it).

If any poster wants to post accusations against the club, our Chairman, Directors, personnel or employees in the future then please ensure you are fully able to back up your accusations with the necessary evidence in a court of law.

Our solicitors will be asking the administrators of this board for contact details of 2 posters from the 'sinking ship' thread and we do intend to take legal action against them.

This is a fans message board and we have no intention of intervening again but we will take action again without warning should the practice of posting false allegations against the club, our Chairman, Directors, personnel or employees continue.

The club apologies for having to take this action but lies and malicious gossip on a public message board will not be tolerated because of the damage it can cause to our business and our integrity.

In the meantime, and without prejudice to the legal action we will be taking, the club is offering the posters called Manwork, Random and anyone else the chance to meet, email or call us to discuss the issues they have and to try and inform them of the issues we face. There are obviously a number of misunderstandings that need to be addressed.

No questions are off limits, no topic cannot be discussed and we will answer all questions openly and fully. The club will not post on the board again, only to update all users every 30 days to say if anyone has been in touch and has met with us.

The contact details for any poster who wishes to meet with us are 01604 683777, gareth.willsher@ntfc.tv or Gareth Willsher, Head of Media, Northampton Town Football Club, Sixfields Stadium, Northampton, NN5 5QA. Once we hear from any interested poster we can arrange a mutually convenient date and time. Please note that with staff movements email is our preferred method of communication.

We look forward to reading the opinions of supporters on a range of issues on this messageboard in the future, but we will continue to act robustly where untrue accusations that damage the club and our personnel are posted in the public domain.

Thank you for reading this message and for your support.

Northampton Town Football Club

[Brownlad]

If any poster wants to post accusations against the club, our Chairman, Directors, personnel or employees in the future then please ensure you are fully able to back up your accusations with the necessary evidence in a court of law.

Our solicitors will be asking the administrators of this board for contact details of 2 posters from the 'sinking ship' thread and we do intend to take legal action against them.

Nice one Northampton Town.

*****.

[BRUCE LEE]

AND they're signing Jeffers.

Edited June 2, 2010 by BRUCE LEE

[Tea Baggins]

flipping pathetic!

[Brownlad]

THERE'S SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES!

[Wise_Owl]

[bebby]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northampton_Town_F.C.#The_Sixfields_era

[close]

Northampton Town F.C.

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Northampton Town Northampton Town crest

Full name Northampton Town Football Club

Nickname(s) The Cobblers, Town

Founded 1897

Ground Sixfields Stadium

Northampton

England

(Capacity: 7,653)

Chairman David Cardoza

Manager Ian Sampson

League League Two

2009–10 League Two, 11th

Home colours

Away colours

Current season

Northampton Town Football Club (pronounced /nɔrˈθæmptən ˈtaʊn/), (often simply known as Northampton, or by their nickname The Cobblers, after the local shoemaking industry) are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in the Coca Cola League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season. They hold the record for the shortest time taken to be promoted from the bottom tier to the top tier and relegated back down to the bottom again, in the space of nine years.

Northampton were formed in 1897, after meetings between the town’s schoolteachers and local solicitor A.J. Darnell. They play their home games at the 7,653 capacity all-seater Sixfields Stadium, having moved in 1994 from the County Ground which they shared with the owners, Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. The club’s main rival is Peterborough United, a rivalry which has endured since the 1960s, although the two teams are currently separated by two divisions. Other recent rivals include Rushden & Diamonds and Luton Town.[1] The club's colours have traditionally been claret and white. The current sponsor is local estate agent Jackson Grundy.[2]

Ian Sampson, who played over 400 games for the club, has been manager since September 2009, after the departure of Stuart Gray.[3] The current club captain is Craig Hinton, who succeeded Chris Doig in August 2009.

Contents

[hide]

* 1 History

o 1.1 Formation and early success

o 1.2 Inter-war period

o 1.3 Rise and fall

o 1.4 1970's and 80's

o 1.5 Worrying times

o 1.6 The Sixfields era

* 2 Club crest and colours

o 2.1 Club Crest

o 2.2 Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

* 3 Records and statistics

* 4 Players

o 4.1 Current squad

o 4.2 Former players

o 4.3 Player of the Year (1975–2010)

o 4.4 PFA Team of the Year

o 4.5 Cult Heroes

* 5 Board of directors and ownership

* 6 Managers

o 6.1 Current management team

o 6.2 Managerial History

* 7 Honours

* 8 Stadiums

o 8.1 County Ground

o 8.2 Sixfields

* 9 Footnotes

* 10 References

* 11 External links

[edit] History

For Northampton Town's statistical breakdown season-by-season, see List of Northampton Town F.C. seasons.

[edit] Formation and early success

Northampton Town was founded in 1897 after meetings between the town’s schoolteachers and local solicitor A.J. Darnell. The community then focused on football and, in particular, schoolboy football was strong in the county due in part to the enthusiasm of the local teachers. They were, however, dissatisfied with the current arrangement of arranged friendlies between schools, preferring to teach the boys through practical examples and they felt this could be done by forming a town team. At the same time A.J. Darnell travelled to Leicester with the local Rugby team, where he witnessed an exhibition football match between Leicester Fosse and Notts County. This gave him the desire to start his own club in Northampton. Mr Darnell and the local schoolteachers came together through their shared aims and, on 6 March 1897, at the Princess Royal Inn on the Wellingborough Road, Northampton Football Club was formed.[4] Following objections from the town’s rugby club the team adopted the name of Northampton Town to avoid trouble. The club gained permission to play home matches at the County Ground, home of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, provided that no games were scheduled between May and September; this was to remain their home for the next 97 years.

They then joined the Northants League, now known as the United Counties League, in which their first official game was against Earls Barton FC. They spent just two seasons there, during which time they recouped their first transfer fee, £50 from Derby County for Frank Howard, who was club's first professional player. The Cobblers won the Championship in only their second season. This was followed by a further two seasons in the Midland League, before joining the Southern League in 1901, which saw the club's heaviest defeat recorded, 11–0 to Southampton. National headlines were made in October 1902, when they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park, which was Portsmouth's first ever defeat at the ground, after an incredible 66 matches. In 1907, Northampton employed their first full-time manager, Herbert Chapman. His appointment was a very good one as, due to the contact had built up, he was able to persuade many ex-professionals to join the club and was responsible for the club paying their first transfer fee, £400 to Stoke City for Welsh International Edwin Lloyd Davies. Davies still has the record number of International caps won with 12 and became the oldest player to play for the club, at the age of 42. The transformation was incredible: within two years Northampton were champions of the Southern League and met Newcastle United in the Charity Shield, losing 2–0 at Stamford Bridge.[5]

In October 1911, the Cobblers signed their first black player, Walter Tull from Tottenham Hotspur who incidentally was the league's first black outfield player.[6] During his first season he played as a forward and scored nine goals from just twelve games, including four in a 5–0 win over Bristol Rovers. He went on to play 110 games for the club, mainly as a wing half, before he died in the second battle of the Somme, where he was also Britain's first black army officer. On 11 July 1999, over eighty years after his death, an 8-foot-high marble memorial was unveiled at Sixfields Stadium, the centrepiece for the Garden of Rest at Northampton Town Football Club. By the start of the 1912–13 season Herbert Chapman had left Northampton for Leeds City; he then went onto to Huddersfield Town, winning two league championships and setting them up for a third before joining Arsenal, where he again won two league championships before his death in 1934.[7]

[edit] Inter-war period

In 1919–20, the first season after the war, Town conceded a club record 103 goals. Nonetheless, the club was allowed to join the Football League for the following season, in Division Three (South). 1922–23 saw the club become a public company and 8,000 shares were released at £1. The season produced a record crowd of 18,123 against Plymouth on Boxing day and gate receipts for the first time exceeded £1,000. 1923–24 started with the club raising £5,000 to build a stand with a players' tunnel underneath and also improved terracing in the Hotel End. The following season saw the formation of the Supporters' Club. In 1925 the club's first foreign transfer took place as William Shaw was signed from Barcelona. A new ground record was set for the F.A. Cup Third-round replay with Sunderland, 21,148 turned up to see the Cobblers lose 3–0. However, disaster occurred at the County Ground during December 1929, when a fire destroyed three stands, with damage valued at around £5,000. Only one stand was saved although this was charred.[8] The source of the fire was thought to be in the away dressing room; the Cobblers had earlier entertained AFC Bournemouth reserves. By August 1930, the stands were rebuilt.

In 1932–33, the club created history when brothers Fred and Albert Dawes both scored in an 8–0 win over Newport County. The latter finished the season scoring 32 league goals and even scored all four in a 4–0 win over the Dutch National side while the club was on tour. In 1933–34, the F.A. Cup Fifth round was reached for the first time courtesy of a Fourth round win away to Huddersfield Town who, at the time were top of Division One. The Cobblers lost to Preston North End 4–0 at Deepdale, setting a new ground record of 40,180. In the three seasons prior to the breakout of World War II, the Cobblers finished 7th, 9th and 17th respectively in Division Three (South). In the final match prior to the War, they travelled to Dean Court and lost 10–0, the club's record League defeat. During the war the Cobblers had the record for the first transfer fee received during the hostilities when Bobby King was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a substantial four-figure fee.

[edit] Rise and fall

They played their only season of their existence in the top division of English football when they reached the First Division in 1965–66. Northampton had been promoted from the Fourth Division to the First Division in the space of five seasons but were then relegated back to the Fourth Division by 1969–70.

[edit] 1970's and 80's

In 1970, they lost 8–2 to Manchester United in the FA Cup fifth round. Six of the goals conceded were scored by George Best, who received the match ball (signed by Northampton players) as a reward for his performance.

The club managed what seemed like a major coup in 1984 when they appointed Tony Barton, who had won the European Cup with Aston Villa two years previously, as manager. Barton's only season in charge proved severely disappointing however, as the club were never outside the bottom two, and health problems forced Barton's resignation near the end of that season. Success was achieved under Barton's replacement, Graham Carr, who led the club to the Fourth Division title in 1987. A sixth place finish in the Third Division the following season led to hopes that the club might repeat its journey up the divisions two decades previously.

[edit] Worrying times

The 90's began badly, with the club relegated to the fourth division in the 1990–91 season. The following season began well as the club looked on course to return to the Third Division at the first attempt. They were top of the table in February, but fell away and finished mid-table. Things then got even worse and the club went into administration in April 1992, with debts of around £1,600,000. Ten players were sacked and youth players were drafted in to make up the numbers; results did not improve. These events sparked the formation of the Northampton Town Supporters Trust, which has a share holding in the club and a representative on the Board of Directors.[9] The club needed to win the final game of the 1991–92 season to avoid being relegated to the Conference. Over 2,500 made the trip to Shrewsbury Town and saw the Cobblers win 3-2, despite being 2-0 down at half-time. The 1993–94 season got worse for the Cobblers as they finished bottom of the Football League for the only time in the club's history. Relegation was only escaped due the Conference Champions, Kidderminster Harriers not meeting the necessary ground criteria. The club eventually began its move to Sixfields.

[edit] The Sixfields era

A new era was upon Northampton Town when they moved to Sixfields Stadium and a capacity crowd ensued on the 15 October 1994, when Barnet were the visitors in a 1–1 draw. Martin Aldridge, who later died in a car accident, was the first player to score at the new stadium. The change of ground did not change the club's fortunes and they finished 17th, despite being buoyed by Ian Atkins taking over as manager from John Barnwell[10] half way through the 1994–95 season. After two more seasons, in 1996–97, Atkins lead the Cobblers to Wembley for the first time in 100 years, where they beat Swansea City 1–0 in the play-off final in front of 46,804 of whom 32,000 were Northampton supporters. John Frain scored the winning goal from a twice-taken free kick deep into injury time, adding to the club's centenary celebrations.[11][12][13] The 1997–98 season also saw a Wembley play-off appearance, this time in the Division Two play-off final, which was lost 1–0 to Grimsby Town in front of a then record 62,998 crowd.[14] Over 40,000 of the crowd were Northampton supporters, which is still a record for the most supporters taken to Wembley by one team.[citation needed] Northampton were not able to progress from the previous year's success because of long-term injuries to sixteen of teir playersduring the 1998–99 season. The team was relegated to Division Three, despite being not losing in the last nine games of the season. However there were some promising results such as a 2–1 aggregate win over West Ham United in the Worthington Cup.[15] The 1999–2000 season saw the club bounce back to Division Two, finishing in the third automatic promotion spot. Ian Atkins left the club in October following a poor start to the season; his assistant, Kevin Wilson and coach kaven Broadhurst took joint charge for the rest of the month. Wilson, the former Chelsea player, was appointed manager at the start of November, going on to win two manager of the month awards.

The following season started promisingly, with players such as Marco Gabbiadini and Jamie Forrester pushing the Cobblers towards a play-off place before the club eventually finished in 18th place due to a large number of injuries in the second half of the season. Kevin Wilson was sacked in November 2001, to make way for his assistant kaven Broadhurst, who steered the Cobblers from relegation to a remarkable survival with a game to spare after losing only one home game from mid-January. The next season was the worst since the early 90's, both financially and on the pitch. Early on they were forced into a 'Save our Season' campaign to keep afloat until the end of the year. It was required after the collapse of ITV Digital and much publicised takeover attempts by John Fashanu[16] and Giovanni Di Stefano[17] had failed and left the club with huge debts. They were taken over by a consortium run by Andrew Ellis who sacked Broadhurst in January 2003, when Northampton were struggling at the foot of the division. He was briefly replaced by former England player Terry Fenwick who was sacked after a winless spell of seven games. This was, at the time, the eighth-shortest managerial reign in English football history. Martin Wilkinson, the new manager lasted little longer, being dismissed in October 2003 in favour of former Scotland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Colin Calderwood.[18] Calderwood led Northampton to the play-offs in his first season, where they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Mansfield Town after a penalty shoot-out. In the 2004–05 season, Northampton finished seventh, again in the play-offs, where they were defeated by Southend United. Following this, the manager made substantial changes to the squad, bringing in experienced players such as Ian Taylor and Eoin Jess, and they enjoyed a successful 2005–06 league season. On 29 April, the Cobblers clinched promotion to Football League One, with a 1–0 win at home to Chester City. On 30 May 2006, Northampton announced that Calderwood was leaving to join Nottingham Forest as their new manager,[19] and he was replaced by John Gorman on 5 June. On 20 December, Gorman resigned due to "personal issues" with the side 18th in the table, with Ian Sampson and Jim Barron briefly taking care of first team affairs.[20] He was replaced by former Southampton boss Stuart Gray on 2 January 2007.[21] They are currently threatening to sue fans, a similar situation to Sheffield Wednesday under the Chairmanship of Dave Allen.

Edited June 2, 2010 by bebby

[latemodelchild]

I wonder if the things they said are anything like the stuff that was said on here? Having read what our custodians at the time got upset about it'd be interesting to see what tipped n'hamptons people over the edge.

Sueing your 'customers' is never going to lead to a happy place now is it?

[PeteG_1984]

I'll refrain from saying what I really think of them just in case (despite me mistakingly believing I lived in a free country).

However, the reason they are taking action appears to be things being stated that falsely represent the club and could therefore damage their reputation. If reputation is important enough to take legal action against fans, do they not think this could also have an adverse effect?? (as proven by another similar example which I will not name).

[Pulixifer]

AND they're signing Jeffers.

http://www.teamtalk.com/northampton-town/6185389/Cobblers-chief-rubbishes-Jeffers-talk

[Brownlad]

I'll refrain from saying what I really think of them just in case (despite me mistakingly believing I lived in a free country).

However, the reason they are taking action appears to be things being stated that falsely represent the club and could therefore damage their reputation. If reputation is important enough to take legal action against fans, do they not think this could also have an adverse effect?? (as proven by another similar example which I will not name).

you mean like that time the rumbleing idiots who were in charge of our club thought they were onto a winner by taking action against some of their own fans?

That ended well anyway.

[wednesdaywizard]

http://www.teamtalk.com/northampton-town/6185389/Cobblers-chief-rubbishes-Jeffers-talk

"You might see more players like that coming down to this level this summer, though."

What? really REALLY shít ones?

[barmyowl1212]

Our solicitors will be asking the administrators of this board for contact details of 2 posters from the 'sinking ship' thread and we do intend to take legal action against them.

I see their point though, They are more of a small yacht than a ship like ourselves. Those fans must have been wearing those cobbler specs.

Edited June 2, 2010 by barmyowl1212