In a week where German magazine Der Spiegel’s Football Leaks allegations have rocked football, Cobblers play Lincoln City in the FA Cup, giving fans a chance to reconnect with the sport’s authentic heart, writes Tom Reed.
Town are doing ok in climbing the money mad football league ladder but Saturday’s Round 1 clash at Sincil Bank is a world away, real cup football in a real football ground with the chance of a run and that oh so slim chance of glory.
I’ve travelled round the County watching the qualifying rounds and by doing so have an understanding of what an achievement it is for the smaller non-league clubs to have got this far. Of course, Town were drawn top of the table League 2 Imps but that means we can relish a tussle between two decent league sides on a great day off from the division.
Cobblers are actually above Lincoln in the form table but the Imps, managed by the capable Cowley brothers, have only lost 3 times this season. Everything is set for a full-blooded cup clash in Lincolnshire. Tickets are a fairly reasonable £15 and you can pay on the day so don’t be tempted by farting around shopping this weekend and get up there and support the lads.
Lincoln aren’t unbeatable and with a £36,000 prize for the winners this is a tie that Town, with money tight. could do with taking.
Town progress in Checkatrade but boycott continues
We rarely discuss or report on the B Team ridden Checkatrade Trophy but note that Cobblers have progressed to the next round. There were a thousand odd in at Sixfields against Fulham B apparently which is a very paltry sum but maybe a few too many. The B Team Boycott continues for fans who see the bigger picture that Premier League teams should be developing youth players in their own competition.
The fact that they also have prime access to our own youth via the Elite Player Performance Plan adds insult to injury. The youth products like Shaun McWilliams etc can be considered as ones that got away from the vultures. Note that the younger McWilliams brothers are with the Aston Villa academy not Town’s.
If Northampton get to Wembley in this competition it may well be a day in the North London pubs for the boycotters who will see it through to the end.
A famous prostitute, The British Virgin Islands and a change in NTFC ownership
Interesting news this week when football finance expert Kieran Maguire noted that the controlling company of the Cobblers had been sold to Belle De Jour Ltd, a British Virgin Island entity. Quite why the company appears to be named after the 1967 film in which a young woman who can’t reconcile her masochistic fantasies with everyday life so works in a high class brothel is open to conjecture.
Yet, being a film by the surrealist master Luis Bunuel it might be a good fit for a club that is often mind boggling to understand. Not sure why a League 2 football club needs to be registered in the British Virgin Islands or that it fits with the transparent ownership ethos that Brian Lomax and co insisted on when setting up the first ever Supporters’ Trust either.
