Justin Edinburgh was sacked as boss of Northampton Town on Deadline Day, the move was not exactly unexpected but now the question everyone is asking, who does Kelvin Thomas go to in order to replace him?
It is vital that Kelvin Thomas gets it right, he has made two appointments since taking over and none of them have worked out. There is added pressure to make sure the correct appointment is made due to the investment from Chinese company 5U Sports, who will be expecting success from the side.
THE CONTENDERS
JIMMY FLOYD HASSELBAINK
The former QPR and Burton Albion boss is seen as a popular choice amongst the Cobblers supporters. Hasselbaink had a dream start to his managerial career in England when he took over at Burton Albion, taking over from Gary Rowett. He was taking over a team already doing well in League Two and he helped along their success as they won the League Two title. Following on from that season Hasselbaink helped lead Burton Albion to the top of the League One table. He left Burton in December 2015, whilst they were still top of League One, and took over at Championship side Queens Park Rangers. At the time they were 11th in the league and just two points off the play offs. He endured a tough start to his QPR career and it took him just over a month to get his first win as Manager, all in all he led QPR to a 12th place finish, some 14 points off the play offs. Hasselbaink did not last long in the following season at QPR as he was dismissed from his role in November 2016 with QPR occupying 17th place.
So, could Jimmy Floyd be a good fit for Northampton? There are plenty of reasons as to why Cobblers fans would like to see Hasselbaink at the club, one of the main reasons is that he knows League One and had success before leaving Burton. He is passionate and is already a fan favourite to take over. He likes his teams to play attacking football as well, something Northampton fans have been longing for ever since Chris Wilder left the club. There are however a few concerns that come with this appointment, he had success with Burton, but he took over a team full of confidence and were already doing well and competing. When he took the QPR job they were not in the same postion as Burton, QPR did not have players full of confidence and challenging for titles. This is a concern as he will be taking over a Northampton Town side who are currently lacking confidence.
STEVE COTTERILL
Steve Cotterill is another name in the frame for the Northampton Town job. Cotterill has a lot of managerial experience spending most of his career as a Manager in League One and the Championship with numerous clubs such as Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Portsmouth. One of his best spells as a Manager came when he was the gaffer at Bristol City where in the 2014/15 season he won the League Two title and the Football League Trophy (formerly the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy now known as the Checkatrade Trophy). Bristol City and Cotterill were the first to achieve this since Birmingham City in 1995. In this season Cotterill was also named as LMA Manager of the Year. Cotterill struggled with Bristol City in the Championship, partly to do with a lack of investment, and was sacked 256 days after he had led them to the second tier of English football. Cotterill has been out of work as a Manager for a while with Bristol City being his last managerial role to date. He has however had a short spell at Birmingham City as Harry Redknapp’s assistant at the end of the 2016/17 season but decided against extending his stay.
At Bristol City Cotterill was known to play a fluid brand of football and was against the long ball approach to the game. Again, this would be something that Northampton fans would love to see their team play, although he likes to play attacking football it has been known for Cotterill to have a shaky defence but adopt the “if you score 3, we will score 4” approach. An entertaining approach, but a risky one too.
PAUL TISDALE
Paul Tisdale is another name that has been thrown in to the ring about the vacant managerial post at Northampton. Tisdale has been at current club, Exeter City, since June 2006 following a successful six year spell as Manager of Team Bath, a University team which made it in to the first round of the FA Cup under Tisdale’s stewardship. Since he has been at Exeter City Tisdale has led them to two promotions and they came in consecutive years. In 2007/08 Exeter were promoted to League Two from the Conference via the play offs and the following season they were promoted to League One after finishing second, therefore going up automatically. Following the success of that season Tisdale was named League Two Manager of the Year. In their second season in League One, the 2010/11 season, Tisdale guided Exeter to their highest ever finish as they came 8th in League One. The following season Exeter were relegated to League Two as they finished 23rd. Ever since then they have been in League Two as a mid table side that will put up a fight for the play offs every other season, last season Exeter reached the play offs but fell short, losing to Blackpool in the final.
Tisdale is known to play a passing style of football, something that could work at the Cobblers, especially because of the central midfielders at the club, this style would suit players such as Matt Crooks and Matt Grimes perfectly. Tisdale has done a remarkable job at Exeter City on limited resources, throughout his time there he has only ever paid one transfer fee. This shows that he is smart in the transfer market and he will look after the Cobblers money if he were given it. Tisdale is another popular choice amongst Northampton supporters due to his playing style and the success he has had on the budget he has at Exeter.
DANNY COWLEY
Danny Cowley is a popular choice amongst Cobblers supporters with his name in the ring before Justin Edinburgh was appointed. Danny Cowley’s managerial career has mainly been spent in non-league with Braintree Town, Concord Rangers and Lincoln City. Cowley has had success everywhere he has been and a big part of that is working with his brother, Nicky, who has been Assistant Manager at every club he has been at. Cowley spent 8 years at Concord Rangers, during that time he got the club from the Essex Senior Football League to the National League South and in his last season in charge he was able to take Concord to the FA Cup 1st Round. In 2015 Cowley took over at National League side Braintree Town and took them to the play offs in his one and only season, in the play offs they lost Grimsby Town over 2 legs. The following season he was appointed Manager of Lincoln City. In his first season he took them to the FA Cup quarter-final beating Premier League side, Burnley, along the way. His success did not stop there, he won the National League title with two games to spare and they returned to League Two. They have had a respectable start to life in League Two and currently find themselves in 13th place after four games.
Cowley would be an interesting appointment and one that would go down well with all of the Cobblers fans. One of the main positives in appointing him is that he has been successful in every job that he has taken. He is also currently managing a team that is doing well so he will be able to inject some fresh ideas in to the team as he knows what is needed in order to be a success. One thing that may be a concern is that Cowley has never managed at this level before, but everyone has to start somewhere.
CHRIS POWELL
Chris Powell is also in the running to become the new Cobblers boss. He has managed in League One and the Championship. He best known for his spell in charge of Charlton Athletic where he was able to get them back to the Championship. Following promotion Powell managed to lead Charlton to a more than respective 9th place finish in the 2012/12 Championship season. The following season was not so successful though with Powell finding himself out of job after getting the chop from the Charlton board with Charlton languishing at the bottom of the table. Another reported reason for the termination of his contract was that he did not play players that controversial owner Roland Duchatelet bought to the club. In September 2014 Powell was back in football, this time with Huddersfield Town but only lasted just over a year after being axed in November 2015. That was the last managerial post the Chris Powell has held, he became Assistant Manager to Nigel Pearson at Derby County in May 2016 and had a brief spell in caretaker charge before Derby appointed Steve McClaren. Powell is known to like to play football with the ball on the floor and is against the long ball approach, keeping the ball on the floor will suit the Cobblers players down to the ground, especially the quick attackers such as Billy Waters and Leon Lobjoit.
Chris Powell fits the bill for the Cobblers in the way that he likes to play but he has been out of the game for a while, other than his short spell as Assistant at Derby. The fact he has been out of the game for a while may concern a few but the fact is, the style that he has used in the past has been proven to be successful, but that was now years ago and the game has changed a lot since.
What do you think? Let me know! Tweet me @JamieDuncan1998
Jamie Duncan Blogs 