'Happiness' is key to McGowan's decision to extend his time Cobblers

The words of Aaron McGowan after the combative defender put pen to paper on a new two-and-a-half year contract at the Cobblers.

The 26-year-old has been at Sixfields since making the switch south from Scotland in the summer of 2021, and has now opted to make the club his home until at least 2025.

It's a big commitment for the Liverpool-born player, particularly when you take into account he currently lives away from his family, but McGowan says the decision was an easy one due to how much he loves his football life in Northampton.

"I feel at home here, and that is probably one of the main reasons I have stayed," said McGowan, who has previously played for Morecambe, Hamilton Academical and Kilmarnock.

"Sometimes you are at a football club and stuff clicks, and you just don't want to leave it, and I felt like that with the position I was in.

"I am happy here, and for me happiness comes before anything else really.

"I have made the sacrifice to live away from my family, and my missus has agreed to that so that's all good!"

Another reason for McGowan committing to the Cobblers is the potential of the team.

Town agonisingly and controversially missed out on promotion from Sky Bet League Two by the narrowest of margins last season, and this term currently sit in third place in the table.

They are currently negotiating a bit of a bump in the road as manager Jon Brady deals with a lot of injury issues and what has been a unrelenting fixture list, but the fact is the Cobblers are still well set to get themselves into league one for next season.

And club vice-captain McGowan believes that first step should be the minimum ambition for what is developing at Sixfields.

"The group that we have got here, you look around and you think 'what are we going to be over the next two-and-a-half years?'," said the full-back.

"I am thinking 'yeah, I want to be a part of this group'.

"There is the quality, and also off the pitch there are the characters and the day to day enjoyment of it, and I believe we can work our way up the leagues and be a success."

McGowan revealed he has been mulling over extending his Sixfields stay since last summer, but the knee injury he picked up at the back end of last season meant talks were put on hold.

Now back fit and firing, McGowan has pledged his future to the Cobblers, and he insists it is a club that is doing things right across the board.

"I spoke to the gaffer about it in the summer, but we kind of both agreed that my personal position, with other stuff going on, with coming back from the injury, etc, that we felt it was best just to park it until I was back fit," he said.

"The conversations then started again since I have been back fit, and from then on it has been smooth sailing and we are all good to go."

McGowan follows Mitch Pinnock and Jon Guthrie as well as manager Brady and his coaching staff in signing new deals, and was asked if that was an indication of how well things are run at Sixfields?

"You can ask the other players the same question, and I don't know whether they would agree or disagree," said McGowan.

"But when you are in a football environment, and you see how other football clubs are ran, this football club is being ran in the right way at the minute, and that is appealing as a player.

"Once you know there is a real stability, and a real foundation, there is ambition and there is, most importantly, a plan, then they are key factors in making the decision I have made."