Carr hopes academy recruitment 'improves a lot' to 'stabilise' Cobblers in League One

Cobblers' former player and manager and current advisor Graham Carr wants to see a significant improvement in the quality of recruitment for the club's academy.

The 76-year-old will have a significant input with regards to which direction Northampton go in next after taking up an advisory role on the club's newly-formed committee.

Academy graduates Caleb Chukwuemeka and Shaun McWilliams made 65 appearances between them last season, but with Scott Pollock missing the whole campaign, few others broke through as Town were relegation to League Two.

"Obviously I would like to see the recruitment for the academy improve a lot because there's a lot of football played in this town and we have 16-year-olds playing at a very high standard of non-league football," said Carr.

"I would want to see the level of academy players improve so when we go up next time - hopefully next season - we will have everything in place to stabilise the club in that particular league."

Strengthening the bond between Northampton's academy and the first-team has been a big reason behind the recent reshuffle off the pitch.

Carr added: "I think it's a big opportunity now because there's so much football played and so many youngsters in the area and I'm sure we can bring players who can boost the academy.

"If we do go up again, we can't be in the same position again where there's no stability to back up the first-team.

"I'd like to see them get more of a chance next season but I also think there should be more players coming from the academy and that's not blaming the coaches - we need to recruit better to make it a strong youth set up."