Northampton Town chairman Cardoza reveals Akinfenwa transfer activity

But Cardoza said the club never had any intention of selling a player who is their leading goalscorer, and who added to his tally at the weekend with a 16th goal of the current campaign.

Akinfenwa has been constantly sought by other clubs throughout his time at Sixfields, with Crawley Town making a six-figure bid for the player 12 months ago.

Npower League Two promotion candidates Gillingham were strongly linked with Akinfenwa’s services, and looked to capitalise on his short contract by making a reduced transfer bid.

But Cardoza has hinted there was more to the situation than met the eye.

“The Bayo situation rumbled on for some time and there was obviously a lot more going on than we said,” Cardoza told the club’s official web site. “We’re delighted to have kept him, we had no intention of selling our top goalscorer.

“We brought in a couple of players as well and we’re looking strong. Aidy has got everything he needs to hopefully get us to where we want to get to.”

Keeping Akinfenwa beyond the transfer window was seen as crucial to the club’s chances of mounting a promotion bid, and as well as keeping players the club also recruited, signing forward Roy O’Donovan and utility defender Lee Collins.

Such acquisitions have helped to pad out a small squad and although they will have come at a cost, Cardoza is happy enough with the all-round progress the club is making to have funded such moves.

“I hoped we would but I didn’t think so,” he said. “We’re perfectly placed now for an exciting couple of months. It’s been a good season of progress on and off the field.

“We’ve made some good progress off the field, with hopefully more good news to come and the team has gone from strength to strength on the pitch.

“We’re averaging good numbers on the group tickets and more people are coming to watch us because of our home form - there should be some big attendances coming up, which are important to our cash flow.”