A strong start to the season for Northampton Town has created a real sense of pride for the local community, even more so with a local management team driving the Cobblers towards success this season.
The team, led by manager Jon Brady, have all lived in Northamptonshire for many years. Although Australian by birth, Jon is an adopted Northamptonian. In his coaching career, he successfully managed Brackley Town between 2009 and 2015, winning seven trophies and breaking numerous records as manager of the club, becoming the longest serving and most successful manager in their history. He joined the Cobblers as Under 16 coach in 2016 and was promoted to Under 18 coach in 2017. He became caretaker manager of the first team, supported by Ian Sampson and Marc Richards, in February 2021, before being appointed the permanent manager in May.
Jon’s assistant is Colin Calderwood. Vastly experienced, Colin, who also lives in the county, returned to the club last summer having been Assistant Head Coach at Blackpool, where he helped the Tangerines secure promotion to the Championship. He arrived at Bloomfield Road in October 2020 and played a key role as the Tangerines rose up the table after a difficult start to the season to win promotion via the play off final at Wembley in May 2021 following a third place finish in League One.
Prior to that, as a manager, Colin led the Cobblers to promotion in 2006 before doing likewise at Nottingham Forest. He has also been assistant manager at Newcastle United, Birmingham City, Norwich City and Brighton & Hove Albion. All of this followed a top-class playing career that saw him represent the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, as well as Scotland at international level, appearing at Euro 96 and in the 1998 World Cup.
The first team coach is Marc Richards, another who lives locally. Marc is a former Cobblers striker and promotion winning captain, who scored 63 times for the club in over 210 appearances over two spells, was assistant to Jon Brady when working with the under 18 squad, before stepping up to assist Jon with first team duties in February 2021, being appointed first team coach in May 2021.
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