Boss Curle’s belief the key to Goode returning to the Cobblers

Central defender Charlie Goode this week signed a three-year deal with the Cobblers, making the switch from Sky Bet League Two rivals Scunthorpe United for an undisclosed fee.

Despite seemingly not being in new Iron boss Paul Hurst’s plans, the 23-year-old was in demand elsewhere.

Several other clubs were interested in offering the player a new home, including a couple in league one.

But he has chosen the Cobblers, and one of the biggest factors in that decision was the belief that Keith Curle has in the player.

Goode was out of favour at Glanford Park last season, with then boss Stuart McCall sidelining him at the turn of the year.

Curle stepped in and took Goode on loan at the PTS Academy Stadium, and despite a difficult debut as Town were thrashed 4-0 at home by Colchester United, it proved to be a match made in heaven for both sides.

Goode went on to play the remaining 16 games of the league two season, impressing at the heart of defence and also filling in at right-back on occasion.

And he clearly did enough to catch Curle’s eye, as the Town boss has now paid money to make the player his 11th signing of the summer.

Goode appreciates that belief in him, and is looking forward to a long working relationship with his new manager.

“Over the past year or so, I have been at a club where there has been a lot of change of manager,” said Goode, who has seen five different bosses in charge at Scunthorpe in little more than a year (Hurst, Andy Dawson, McCall, Nicholas Daws, Graham Alexander).

“It has been difficult, because a new manager might come in and not take to you like some do.

“But since I met Keith in January we have got on really well.

“I came here and I would like to think I did a good job for him, and he wanted me to come back.

“A manager who believes in you, and wants you, is a massive thing for me, and the intent the club has shown has made me want to come here,”

That faith from Curle proved crucial as Goode weighed up his options this summer, and so did the fact that the player liked what he experienced while at the Cobblers last season, on and off the pitch.

“There was a little bit of interest, with some from league one clubs as well, but at this place I know how things work,” said Goode.

“I know a lot of the players, the manager, the staff. I got on really well with them and they all took to me as well.

“I got a little bit of an insight into how big a club this is and where it should be, and I think I would like to play a part in them getting back into league one.”

Promotion has been the buzzword around the PTS for most of the summer, and that is definitely something Goode also wants to achieve.

He isn’t going to start making rash predictions about where the Cobblers are going to finish next season, but he is determined to try to ‘make it a season to remember’.

Asked about his expectations for the campaign ahead, Goode said: “It is hard to put a target out straight away.

“But as an individual player I want to come in and I want to play every game.

“I want to carry on where I left off from last season, and I want to be fighting in and around promotion.

“Whether that is in the play-offs, or the top three, I want us to finish as high as we possibly can and make it a season to remember.”