Tale of two managers as Dyche and Edinburgh convince Chris Long to make Cobblers loan switch

The striker put pen to paper on a season-long loan deal at Sixfields on Friday, and admitted it was an easy decision to make once he had spoken to both Sean Dyche and Justin Edinburgh.

Both the Burnley and Town bosses talked up life as a Cobbler, and Long didn’t hesitate to make the move, which he wasn’t made aware of until Thursday morning.

“Sean Dyche called me in yesterday, and just said to me that I needed to get my games in,” said the 22-year-old, who began his career at Everton and rose through the ranks from a six-year-old in the academy to the first team squad.

“So I am looking forward to cracking on and playing some football.”

Long met with Edinburgh ahead of committing to signing on at Sixfields, and said: “To be honest, when I spoke to the manager he is more or less the reason why I came here.

“I want to work with him, I think he’s a very good manager, and I just can’t want to get started with him.

“It was just the way he spoke, and he spoke highly of me and also the team.

“It just made me feel like I want to play for this manager. He seems like a good manager and I want to crack on with it.”

And the Liverpudlian also revealed the Burnley boss Dyche, who still lives in Northampton and spent two seasons at the Cobblers as he wrapped up his playing career, talked up the move.

“He pulled me in and said Northampton were in for me,” said Long, who spent loan spells at Cobblers’ league one rivals Fleetwood Town and Bolton Wanderers last season, scoring five times in a combined 21 starts and 12 substitute appearances.

“I asked him about it, and he told me he lives in the area and used to play for them.

“He said it’s a good club, and obviously he has connections, so I think that’s why the move went so smoothly.”

Long has undergone a full pre-season with Burnley, and played in three of their friendlies - including Tuesday’s 2-1 win at Preston - so is match-fit and raring to go.

There is a chance he could be involved in Saturday’s pre-season clash with Newport County at Sixfields (ko 3pm), so if he does play what sort of player can the Cobblers supporters expect to see?

“I am a centre forward, a striker,” said Long, who in the past has also played on loan for MK Dons and Brentford.

“I think we are going to play with two up front, so I can feed off one of the big lads and score goals.

“I am fast as well, so hopefully I can smoke some centre backs and score a few!”

The player trained with the Cobblers squad on Friday morning, and was impressed with what he saw, saying: “There are some very good players here to be honest, and I am just looking forward to playing that first game.”

The signing of Long means that Edinburgh has now completed his recruitment as far as outfield players is concerned, with the Burnley man the 12th new arrival of the summer.

The Town boss is still aiming to sign one more player, and he is going to be a goalkeeper to rival current number one David Cornell and youngster James Goff.