How to arrest the dreadful run of results

the Cobblers have suffered this year?

Before Saturday since the turn of the year we had won 2, drawn 3, and lost 7 (including last week against our biggest local rivals Peterborough - who still won despite having a defender sent off after just six minutes). Even the non football followers amongst you will realise that this is Not Good. And we have plunged down the table from the heady heights of mid table obscurity we enjoyed over Christmas to the position we had reached last week of 'only clear of relegation places on goal difference' state. That is not a comfortable place to be.

So what to do?

Drop underperforming players? No. That was tried and didn't work.

Bring in enthusiastic youth team players? No. Tried that and it didn't work either.

Bring in experienced loan players to shore up the side? No. That was also tried and did not work.

Try a new formation? No. We have tried every formation known to Football Manager Kind but not one of them did work.

Remind the players they need to earn a new contract? No. Tried that and it seemed they overwhelmingly decided they couldn't care less about a new contract with Northampton Town.

OK - Last resort time. Get JJ to promise to stay away from the match. RESULT! Jane misses her football - and The Cobblers go and win 4-0 (and it could apparently have been far more) in what was easily their best performance of the season.




I've had the chairman on the phone this morning begging me not to renew my season ticket. Going by the football I've actually seen this season I admit I'm tempted..............

One minute forty seconds

We hadn't won since 20th December. In our last five matches we have managed to score precisely twice. We were in need of a miracle.

And the miracle appears to have arrived in the shape of a 21 year old loanee striker from Ipswich town by the name of Billy Clarke.

One minute forty seconds was the length of time it took him before he got his first goal on his debut this afternoon. (What the hell was he doing for the previous 99 seconds I would very much like to know? The slacker.) He went on to score a hat trick and inspired the team to actually put 5 past Crewe Alexander.

My side could never be accused of consistency.



And yes - OK - Crewe are indeed bottom of our league, but my team always contrives to lose to the worst sides in our league....that inconsistency strikes again. Just hope Billy Clarke strikes again and again during his loan spell with us.



Oh and the guy in front of us who had bet that we would win 4-1 at odds of 100 - 1 still had the decency to cheer when we scored our 5th goal from the penalty spot...fair play to him!




THREE DAYS LATER

Normal service has resumed. We lost 2-1 at Colchester last night :-(

Once upon a time

were the Cobblers to play Leeds United it would be a Heap Big Deal. But things change.

Last night we played Leeds United for the third time since 7th November.

7th November - FA Cup 1st round at Elland Road. It was on tele, but I did not see it as I was watching the Cold War Kids play at the Astoria, Charing Cross instead. Through the wonder that is texting I did however know that we were 1 nil up within 8 minutes, lost our captain to injury two minutes later, had a player sent off ten minutes after that, and conceded a penalty all before half time. Not a dull first half then. We then by all accounts defended for our lives and saw the match out for a replay.

18th November - FA Cup 1st round replay at our place. I actually watched this from the comfort of Reidski's front room. Had I gone to the match it would have cost me £22 - £3 more than our usual ticket prices - to watch the side that I would be seeing the following Tuesday anyway - and in any event the match was also being televised.

THANK GOD I DID NOT PAY £22 TO WATCH THE RESULTING DEBACLE.

We were absolutely dire and it was painful to watch. We got thumped 5-2 at home, our last goal coming in the 89th minute. (I texted my son at that point to say we had scored with a minute to go so he should not abandon hope.)

True to say I was not looking forward to 25th November - League One home game. I took a mate of my son as my son was working last night and couldn't use his ticket. I jokingly said to this lad on the way there "You're not a secret Leeds United supporter are you? " "No" he replied, "I AM a Leeds United supporter." (Nothing secret there then.) That was all I needed - thought of taking a gloating Leeds fan home after the match - bloody marvellous.

But hey - what do you know? We were superb and deservedly won
2-1.


I would say that it's a funny old game, if I did not have a sneaking suspicion someone somewhere may have said that before.

End of season

Well it is for me anyway, although I know those fans of teams who have made the play offs, or of Premiership sides, or of Scottish teams aren't there yet.

I am very happy as whilst we noted with dismay that Northampton were many pundits tip for relegation this season, we actually finished a very respectable ninth in League One. We have one of the best managers in our league and he is building what looks to be a side very capable of challenging for promotion next season. (Bugger - why have I gone and said that? The astute reader will indeed be down the bookies tomorrow betting on us to get relegated now seeing as how I just tempted fate so brazenly.)

My personal highlight of the season was our stunning win over the league champions to be - Swansea, and in particular the goal scored that day by my player of the season, Danny Jackman....all five foot four of him. Fondly known as Barney Rubble.



I am pleased Forest went up - we seemed jinxed against them, and never managed a win against them in the past two seasons whilst they slummed it in our league, and anyway, I still like Colin Calderwood (who managed us before he went to Forest). And whilst I HATE Peterborough, and LOATH 'Milton Keynes Dons' (aka Franchise United), I am looking forward to stuffing them both in local derby games next season.

I have confessed before to my secret weakness for Man Utd and shall be cheering them on next weekend against Wigan. I really hope they do win the Premiership because their football had been such a pleasure to watch this season - in marked contrast to the vast majority of Premiership games I have seen this year. They are mainly too shit scared of the price of relegation to play free flowing attacking football. I am sure I generalise there a touch.

Talking of Manchester - I can not believe that City really do appear to be on the brink of sacking Eriksson....madness.

But most exciting league this time round by a country mile was of course the Championship. My dad's family come from Stoke and I grew up with them as my second team. (What is it with my chosen football teams and lack of success?)Until yesterday this was Stoke City's finest moment. I am chuffed they have made it - and hope they at least manage to do better than Derby County have done this season. The fact that their final game also meant we have another derby match to look forward to next season against Leicester was a bonus.

Soft spot for Hull City so will be supporting them to join Stoke and West Brom in the Premiership come August. And out of League One I'd like to see Carlisle go up. Failing that Doncaster or Southend, which is another way of saying Anyone But Leeds. Rochdale in League Two because they have never ever got out of the lowest professional league before. And finally but most importantly - Celtic to win the Scottish Premiership......please, please, PLEASE.

Typically

as I was otherwise engaged this weekend my lads turned on the style and won according to both my son, and the score line, very convincingly. Apparently the Huddersfield manager told his team before kick off that we were relegation fodder. I wonder what he said to them after their 3-0 thrashing by said relegation fodder?

Why?

Does it take Orange broadband up to 15 working days to provide Reidski with the internet service he had at his last place. He has the exact same phone number, the exact same broadband equipment, but it will take that long. I don't get it.

Anyway, he might be a bit quiet blog wise till it gets sorted out but he says he is missing you all already.



Also on the subject of Why? I still don't understand why David Beckham is off to play in the States. Well, yes, I do understand he will earn shed loads of money, but surely there is a limit to how much money anyone can spend, even if they are married to a person like the person he is married to. To me, he either wants to make proper use of his footballing skills or he does not. Yet here he is saying how much he wants a recall to the England team. To play for England does he not need to be playing top level football on a regular basis? Can he honestly expect to put in decent performances for England if he is popping back from the West Coast of the US to play? Or do superstars not suffer from jet lag like lesser mortals?

Now I'm off on one.

I hate seeing talented players opt to go and sit on the bench for sides like Chelsea rather than get out and play for some other side, albeit at a slightly lower wage. That is one reason why I am so glad to see Gareth Bale has chosen to go to Spurs rather than Man Utd or Arsenal. He's only 17, and he could have taken the money back in January but he wanted to stay and try and help Southampton get in the Premiership. I hope his career blossoms. Likewise players like Simon Cox and Alex Pearce, both of whom came to us on loan from Premiership Reading and played their hearts out every game - none of this "I am far too talented for this lowly arena" bollocks from them.

Do players who reach the level of Beckham remember what it feels like to play football for the sheer joy of it? Reidski lives for Wednesday evenings when he gets to play 5 a side with a few mates. Him and so many blokes like him for whom the chance of a professional footballing career will only ever be a pipe dream whilst David Beckham goes to swan around in LA. I ask again - Why?



(You are only saved from a prolonged rant by the need for me to get my arse along to my gym class.)

Football on TV

A few weeks ago Reidski and I watched Northampton play Brentford on Sky Sports in a popular town pub. OK, not exactly a high profile match, but featuring as it did our local side I expected the pub to be quite busy and made sure I was in there early to secure a good seat and view of one of the many TV screens. I need not have worried. There was PLENTY of space. I reckon there were probably about a dozen of us in specifically to see the game and one of those was a Scot who really supports Millwall.

Fast forward to last night and same pub, different match. Yes, of course I accept that Liverpool v Barcelona in the Championship League is a much bigger match, and no, I am not surprised that it was standing room only by the time we got there, but what was slightly surprising was the number of people in there who were obviously Liverpool fans.

It was clear that the people crammed in the pub last night did n't just have a general interest in football but were there to support 'Their' team. Most of them had Liverpool shirts on. They hung on every pass in the way that only people who really really care about the outcome of a match can do. However, there was a distinct lack of Scouse accents. I rather suspect (yes, I acknowledge I could be wrong but...) that they were not in fact from Liverpool, but were actually all local.

Geographical fact coming up.

Northampton (which has had a football league side of its own for about 110 years) is 149 miles from Liverpool.

Most of the people in the pub last night were of an age that made me think they probably started supporting Liverpool when they were in primary school and Liverpool were winning everything going in the 70's and 80's. I know that at that age you can fall for a side on the basis of success and that maybe I was just unfortunate to fall for a lower league side.

What I do also know though is that lower league sides face a constant battle to stay in business. We have an average attendance of about 5,000 home supporters. We have a population of about 250,000 people. It seems a shame that a few of the passionate football supporters in that pub last night can't get themselves along to support the local side instead of spending good money on Liverpool replica shirts and Sky Sports subscriptions as that is for most of them I assume the only way they ever get to see 'Their' side play.

Milton Keynes which is about 15 miles from us is a new town and had no football team. They recognised that a town needs league football so they pinched Wimbledon who have now magically morphed into 'MK Dons'. There is so much I could say about that but I would never get to work if I started on that subject right now. (Suffice to say I disapprove strongly.) However, at least they did see the importance of having a league side to a city/town. I don't think there are many people in this town who give a damn about Northampton Town Football Club.

A week is a long time in football

From this dire situation (1 point out of a possible 15) to 7 points out of a possible 9 in the last week. We won 3-0 yesterday. My team are nothing if not totally inconsistent.

We have a striker on loan from Gretna at the moment - Kenny Deuchar -and he scored his first goal for us yesterday. He has scored quite a lot of goals before. In fact he scored 66 goals in 82 starts for Gretna and in the 2004/2005 season he scored 6 hat tricks.

Yesterday he was featured in a regular feature in our programme where players get asked a series of inane questions including "What was your best subject at school?" All the players without exception say PE. Or at least, they all said PE until they asked Kenny Deuchar who replied "Physics." And he must be telling the truth because he is a fully qualified doctor who for his first few weeks with us was having to leave straight after a match to get back to Scotland and do a shift at the hospital he was still working part time in.

Unusual for a footballer to say the least.

And the good thing about having a few days away

in an exotic location is that it means I have lots to write about and can ignore the fact that my football team have picked up just one point from a possible 15 in their last five matches.

Oh dear

First figure given after the team name is number of games played, second is goal difference and third is points gained. The only ones of any real interest are those highlighted although you may need to go quite a long way down the table to find them....


1 Scunthorpe 29 18 52
2 Bristol City 28 14 52
3 Nottm Forest 28 11 52
4 Oldham 28 21 49
5 Yeovil 28 11 48
6 Blackpool 28 13 47
7 Tranmere 29 10 46
8 Swansea 28 13 44
9 Doncaster 27 11 43
10 Carlisle 28 -5 39
11 Huddersfield 29 -7 37
12 Bradford 29 -1 36
13 Port Vale 28 -4 36
14 Crewe 28 -1 35
15 Gillingham 28 -13 35
16 Chesterfield 28 -1 34
17 Brighton 28 -7 34
18 Millwall 27 -2 33
19 Northampton 27 -6 32
20 Leyton Orient 28 -13 28
21 Bournemouth 29 -15 28
22 Cheltenham 29 -16 26
23 Rotherham 28 -3 24
24 Brentford 29 -28 22

Our match was postponed yesterday and for the first time this season Reidski's Millwall went above my beloved Cobblers - and we play each other on Tuesday.

It will be dark when we kick off so no starlings to bring us good fortune.


Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear and very many more oh dear's indeed.

We were going to go to football on Saturday

but we didn't actually manage to get up in time.


I am very glad we stayed in bed for various reasons but primarily for this reason.

Guess we will just have to 'concentrate on the league.'