Boss Brady hails Hoskins' influence off the pitch and his 'phenomenal' form on it after new deal

​Jon Brady has hailed Sam Hoskins’ influence off the pitch and his ‘phenomenal’ form on it after the long-serving forward reaffirmed his commitment to the Cobblers by penning a new three-year contract this week.

The Town manager has always been a huge admirer of Hoskins, even back in the days when he watched on from afar as youth team coach, and the two have struck up a strong bond since Brady took over from Keith Curle in February 2021.

“No praise can be too high for Sam on or off the field,” said Brady. "He is a real leader in the dressing room and someone the younger players look up to. We made him club captain at the start of the season to reflect the influence and standing he has within the group.

"I think everyone at the whole football club is delighted to keep him. Us as staff and his fellow team-mates are and I think all the fans will be delighted that Sam's extending his stay at the club.

"It's fully deserved and I've totally enjoyed working with him. He can be a grumpy so-and-so on the training pitch at times but that's only because he demands such high standards from himself and that's a really good thing.

"I've just loved working with him and you saw at the weekend against Cheltenham. Yes, he goes and scores that fantastic goal, but right at the very end of stoppage-time he's running from one side of the pitch to the other and then all the way back to shut down their wing-back.

"That just epitomises Sam and his attitude. He doesn't get above his station and he's so humble in his approach.

"Although he's a goalscorer, his work ethic and his attitude to work for the team is brilliant. It's really, really good and you love that as a manager and I'm looking forward to working with Sam for a lot longer.”

It also speaks well of the club that Hoskins is happy to stay given his sensational form of the past 12 months. He scored 22 league goals last season and already has three this.

"I think he's got 29 goals in his last 54 games, which is some going, and there probably are other clubs who would be interested in him and rightly so,” Brady added.

"There has been a little bit of interest in him this summer but we're delighted to tie him down and I'm very pleased that there won't be anymore speculation about Sam – unless someone wants to come in and pay many millions for him!

"It's brilliant news for the club and his stats speak for themselves. To score the goals he has done in the last year or so is phenomenal at any level and long may it continue."​