Campbell has settled in quickly at Cobblers despite 'toughest pre-season' of his career

The 24-year-old is one of nine new faces to have joined Cobblers so far this summer after he penned a two-year contract last month, opting to reject other clubs in the process. He trained with his new team-mates for a couple of weeks before Town supporters caught their first glimpse of the midfielder in Saturday’s friendly at Brackley Town, which ended goalless.

"It was enjoyable to get out there and it felt good to blow the cobwebs off,” said Campbell. “You can do all the training in the week and feel good about that but it's very different when you play a game. You're around the same lads every day in training, we've worked hard and done a lot of running, it's been really intense, but it was good to get out there and play against strong opposition.

"There was a competitive feel to the game and it was the first run out for all of the lads so they were valuable minutes in the legs and I think it's a good start for all of us and now we can kick on.”

Kevin Nolan promised his players plenty of hard toil in pre-season, and it seems he’s very much kept his word. “It's been tough, maybe the toughest pre-season I've had,” Campbell admitted. “But it’s also been really good and I've enjoyed it and it'll only help us in the long-term.

"The gaffer wants us to be robust as a squad and he wants us to be at it for 90 minutes every game week in, week out. These first few weeks have been valuable for that and I'm looking forward to doing more work throughout pre-season and getting closer to that first game.”

In a summer of such upheaval, which has seen Cobblers stalwarts such as Mitch Pinnock and Aaron McGowan leave Sixfields, pre-season will be vital in bringing the new-look squad together.

"It's important to use this period to settle in and get to know your new team-mates, that's a big part of the process in pre-season, especially as we have a lot of new lads in the squad,” added Campbell. "It's a good opportunity to gel everyone together and the more we train, the better we get to know each other, and obviously the trip to Spain will help bring us closer together.

"I already feel settled and I've gelled really well with the lads. We have a good group here and there's already a good camaraderie and that will only get better as we go on. To be honest the most stressful thing for me has been trying to find somewhere and moving to the area, but I'm planning to move down this week and that'll help me feel even more settled.”

It’s now less than a month until the real stuff starts, and Campbell can’t wait. "It's really exciting,” he continued. “The summer can be long and you feel a bit rusty when you first get back to it, but now it's great to be in the swing of the things and to get that first 45 minutes under the belt, that's a big step.

"We're obviously not where we want to be but we will keep working hard over the next couple of weeks and there'll be more challenging games to build the competitiveness and robustness ready for the season."