Brady's confident Cobblers can be 'hugely competitive' in League One

Jon Brady believes the Cobblers are well-placed to end their poor recent record in the third tier and this time have a proper crack at establishing themselves in League One.

​Town have now won promotion from League Two five times this century but on each of the previous four occasions they were relegated within three seasons. Last time they went up, under Keith Curle in 2020, they came straight back down.

Significant upheaval between seasons and the loss of big players were key reasons for Town’s past struggles in League One, but this time around it should be different. The club have 15 first-team players under contract for at least another year while recruitment planning for the summer started long ago, which should make for a smoother transition between divisions.

"We are excited about it and we are looking forward to it,” said Brady. “The challenge is to be competitive for League One because the last two times the club were promoted, we were relegated within two seasons.

"I know what we need and where we need to get to and it's important to have sustainability and consistency because we want to be hugely competitive in League One.

"It’s a tough standard and we’ll be up against some big clubs. We will respect everyone but we won't fear anyone and we have a good foundation already in place. We have a strong base of around 14 or 15 players right now going into next season and that gives us a good start.

"We need to build on that with new signings this summer and we need to bring in players who can really make the difference in League One.

"We want to hit the ground running. The club haven't been able to stay at that level consistently but our aim now is to change that.”

Whilst Brady was straight back to work last week as he and his staff put plans in place for next season, he says he is still basking in the afterglow of Town’s promotion triumph.

He added: "You can always enjoy it and look back and reflect on what happened and why not? We have worked so hard for this moment.

"But we are also straight in this week and we’re already preparing for next season.

"We are always looking forward and we're working hard to put a squad together that can be very competitive in League One.”

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