BIG INTERVIEW: Nicky Adams on his 'special times' at the Cobblers, and why it was the right time to leave

The 34-year-old decided the time was right to head back to the north west to spend more time with his young family, and he put pen to paper on an 18-month deal with Sky Bet League Two outfit Oldham Athletic.

It was a tough decision for Adams, who has relished his two spells in the claret and white, but the lure of a better quality of family life was too much to resist.

Chron sports editor Jeremy Casey caught up with Adams to chat about his career with the Cobblers and his reasons for leaving, as well as a few other things, including his thoughts on how his two Town managers, Chris Wilder and Keith Curle, compare, and what he will miss most about life at the PTS Academy Stadium...

IT WAS TIME TO PUT THE FAMILY FIRST...

'I love football, but I don’t love anything more than my family...’

And in the end it was that understandable lure of quality family time that led to Nicky Adams ending what has been a pretty strong love affair with the Cobblers last month.

After two stints in the claret and white, more than 100 games, six goals, a bucketful of assists and two promotions, the 34-year-old left Town to join Oldham Athletic.

It was a move that saw Adams move back home to the north west, and that means the regular ritual of virtually full weeks away from his young family are now over.

“Everybody knows my family are here, my missus and the kids, and they are a big part of my life. I have been away for a long time again, and it is good being home and being with them every day,” said Adams, who went on to explain his weekly routine while a Cobblers player for the past 18 months.

“I used to stay down in Northampton a couple of nights a week, and then drive at times but it is near enough a three-hour drive, so sometimes that would be six hours in the car,” said the Bolton-born playmaker.

“Last season wasn’t too bad because I had Scotty Wharton to travel with, but this year I have been on my own a lot of the time, and with the Saturday-Tuesday games there has been no break.

“So most weeks I would be leaving home on a Monday and wouldn’t be home again until the Saturday night, so it is difficult with my missus being at home with the kids on her own for five or six nights a week.

“Keith (Curle) was great and tried to give me as many days off as he could, but it has been difficult.”

That said, Adams hadn’t entertained any thoughts of leaving the Cobblers until just before Christmas, and a meeting with manager Keith Curle.

Asked when it first became a possibility he may depart, Adams said: “I was injured for the first month of the season, and at that time a few people contacted my agent and made enquiries, but none of that interested me.

“I told Keith ‘I want to stay here and I want to play in League One for the club’, because that was taken away from me last time under different circumstances.

“I owed it to the club and I owed it to myself to play some games for the club in League One.

"So I didn’t think about leaving before the first window shut, but the last six months travelling wise has taken its toll, and although I love football, but I don’t love anything more than my family.”

He went on: “There was a lot of player turnaround, a lot of new players coming in that aren’t used to the level, and when that happens it takes time for things to settle.

"So I understood there were going to have to be games where we would have to set up a bit more defence-minded, and Keith knows I will do that job for him if he wants me to do that.

“He knows that’s a given and everybody knows what they will get from me, but I want to attack, and I want to go forward. So me and the gaffer discussed it and around Christmas time he said to me ‘there are going to be games when you don’t play’, and I understood that.

“There were then a few enquiries over the past few weeks, although they didn’t really suit me, but as soon as I got the opportunity to get back home to my family that seemed right.

“I also got offered an 18-month contract, and the way things are with Covid and my age I couldn’t really turn that down.

“I went to see Keith and he agreed, and said what I had given him as a player, and what I had given the club, he would never stand in my way and told me to go and enjoy some quality of life with my family.

“I will always hold the club in high regard anyway, but the way the manager and Kelvin (Thomas) the chairman have dealt with me has been brilliant.”

The move to Oldham brought to an end a very productive time at the Cobblers for Adams, and he said: “I have nothing but special memories of the place, with the two promotions and playing for the club in League One.

“There were some tough losses at times, but overall they were special times at a special place.”

Those tough times included the club nearly going bust in his first spell, and having to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic in his second.

“In tough times you find out what people around you mean to you, and I have been fortunate to have been involved in two special groups at Northampton,” said Adams.

“The first time the club nearly went out of business, but we stuck together and then Kelvin came in and saved the club, and he has been great with me.

“I even gave him grief on the phone at Wembley and he loves all that! He will be gutted at the moment he can’t be with the boys, but he has been great for Northampton.

“And the season just gone was another special group.”

So, has Adams got any favourite moments from his time as a Cobbler?

“From the two seasons I was there, I have too many unbelievable experiences to pick from,” he said. “Recently there was the win at Wembley, but the second leg win at Cheltenham stands out.

“It was the way we did it, to come back from two goals down which had never been done before, and although there were no fans there it was on Sky and it just meant more people watched it on the telly.

“We got so many plaudits for the way we played in the second leg and in the final.

“It was an unbelievable achievement for the club, with the only downside being the fans couldn’t be there to see us do it, as they have been brilliant in my time there.

“But both teams I played in, we had two unbelievable groups of players and staff, and look where it took us.”

And what about the best players he played with during his stay at Sixfields?

“I don’t want to say names, because both groups of players were great,” declared Adams. “I am still friends with the lads from the first time, we were such a close group, and then the lads

from last year were great as well. So you can’t really pick lads out because both groups were superb.”

So, his life as a Cobbler is over, but Adams promises he will always follow the club, and hasn’t ruled out coming back again one day - although with another team.

“I will of course be a fan of Northampton now, “ he said.

“I also think I have a few years left in me so hopefully I will come back as a player before I am finished and see everybody again.”

And if he does, there is no doubt he will get a very warm reception.

ADAMS' PRAISE FOR WILDER AND CURLE

Nicky Adams says the two promotion-winning managers he worked with at the Cobblers are cut from the same cloth.

The 34-year-old was a key man in both the 2016 Sky Bet League Two title-winning team, and the side that won promotion via the play-offs last summer.

The first was under the management of Chris Wilder and the second with Keith Curle in charge, and Adams is full of praise for both men, and their management styles.

Wilder’s qualities are clear for all to see, as after succeeding with the Cobblers he has gone on to take Sheffield United from League One to the Premier League, winning stacks of plaudits along the way.

Curle may currently not be quite so celebrated outside of those who appreciate his efforts at the PTS Academy Stadium, with the play-off win at Wembley in June the first promotion of a managerial career that began 18 years ago.

But Adams is a big fan of both men, and says they have got plenty in common.

“They have got similar traits,” said Adams, who left the Cobblers last month to sign for League Two side Oldham Athletic.

“They both have that old school mentality of knowing what they want, but it is good because they know when to be serious and when to switch it off.

“They know what the lads need, and they are just good people.

“I have been blessed to have two good managers at Northampton, who have been really good to me and it has been a pleasure to work for them both.

“They are two big names in football, and I had brilliant times with them at the club.

“Chris said to me when I left, that if I ever needed anything he and Alan Knill, who I have known a long time, are not far away, and it is the same with Keith.

“You want to play for those type of managers.”

ADAMS DELIGHTED TO AT LAST HELP 'TOP MAN' CURLE TO PROMOTION

Nicky Adams’ second spell with the Cobblers was also his second under the stewardship of Keith Curle, as he also spent three years with him at Carlisle United.

Adams classes Curle as ‘a friend’, and said: “It was quite an emotional send off between Keith and I in the office when I left.

“When I was at Carlisle and we lost in the play-offs, I felt like I had let him down because I didn’t get that promotion that I had promised him.

“But I promised him again at Northampton and I helped him do it this time.

“We were friends anyway, and being a big part of helping him to get that first promotion was really pleasing, as was the way he spoke about me when I left.

“He is a top, top man, he is brilliant with all the lads, and that is why everybody speaks so highly of him because of the way he treats his players.”

So what is it about the way Curle handles his players that makes him stand out from others?

“Keith is somebody who understands people,” said Adams, who says he has been impressed by Oldham boss Harry Kewell in his first few weeks at Boundary Park.

“He was a player and played at the top level, he was an elite footballer.

“He loves his family and that is a big part of it for him, he loves people being with their families.

“So if players need days off or need anything they can always go and ask him and he looks after the lads so much.

“That said, he has that side to him where you don’t want to cross him!

“I used to tell the lads that he is quite chilled now, because I have seen him lose it with some big, big fellas and sat there thinking ‘I wouldn’t like this to go off now!’.

“But he is a good man, and Westy (Colin West, assistant manager) as well and all the staff, they are great people.

“They have all had top careers but they are just genuine people, and they are good at what they do.”

KIT MAN ADAM INSPIRED MAGICAL PLAY-OFF FIGHTBACK

Nicky Adams admits the thing he is going to miss most about not being a Cobblers player any more is the people at the club... and one special person in particular.

Adams’ second successful stint at the Cobblers came to an end last month when he left the club to sign for Oldham Athletic.

The 34-year-old enjoyed some great times on the pitch, but admits it is the people behind the scenes who ensure the club is so close to his heart, with much-loved kit man Adam Moreton top of that pile.

“I am going to miss everybody at the club, right down from the chairman to James (Whiting), Nick (Ancell), all the staff,and obviously the manager and my team-mates,” said Adams.

“But there is one person I am going to single out, who is a special, special person who I am going to miss.

“He is a friend of mine for life, and he is the heartbeat of the club, and that is Adam (Moreton). He is like my brother, and I love him.

“I am going to have to come back down and see him, because when I left I didn’t get the chance to, and the boys told me he was upset.

“He is the heartbeat of that club and is the main man.”

Adams went on to reveal that it was Moreton who played a crucial role and helped inspire Town to their stunning play-off semi-final second-leg win at Cheltenham in June.

Town were 3-0 winners at Whaddon Road to overturn the 2-0 first-leg loss at the PTS, and Adams said: “Not many people know this, but when we lost to Cheltenham in the first leg Adam was really upset.

“He had never been to Wembley, and he was so upset and it broke my heart seeing him like that.

“So we had a team meeting and said ‘we are going to do this, and we are taking him to Wembley’.

"I think everybody has seen the videos of him dancing, and things like that are so special for me and the lads, to see him that happy.

“He is proper football man and I love him to bits, but when I see him I am still going to put him in the headlock because he knows he gets away with murder!

"He honestly gets away with so much because we love him so much!”