Brady reflects on a year of all change for Cobblers and himself as the curtain comes down on 2021

Cobblers end 2021 in a better position than how they started it - despite being a division lower
Jon Brady and Colin Calderwood.Jon Brady and Colin Calderwood.
Jon Brady and Colin Calderwood.

Twelve months ago, when Cobblers stumbled and stuttered their way into 2021, Jon Brady’s focus was a long way from first-team matters .

Northampton were about to embark on a 12-game winless run when they welcomed in the new year, a sequence of results that would ultimately cost Keith Curle his job.

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Brady, meanwhile, was into his fourth season as U18s manager.

But in February, with Curle shown the door and Cobblers in need of some direction, things changed.

“At the start of the year, I was obviously still youth team manager and then I was asked in February to take over the first-team and try to help us survive in League One,” said Brady.

“We narrowly missed out, only by three points in the end, but I felt, statistically, we made a difference with what we had at the time and myself and Marc (Richards) got the opportunity to take the team forward in League Two.”

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Due to COVID, Cobblers have now played their last game of 2021 and although Brady and his coaching staff were unable to stave off relegation, there is no doubt that the club enters this new year in a far better position than they did 12 months ago.

For one thing, 13 of their 18 wins in 2021 have come this season.

Brady added: “We’ve obviously acquired Colin Calderwood and James Alger since last season and we’ve also taken some of the academy staff with James (Bolger) the physio and Liam (Jefferson) the analyst stepping up.

“Overall, I’m really, really pleased with where we are and what we’ve created, especially the spirit all around the club because it feels like, with the players, the staff, the fans and the media, we’re all together on this.

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“There is a really good feeling around the place. The staff here, we all live locally and it feels very special at the moment, but now it’s important to keep that going and look to really attack the second half of the season in 2022."