Cobblers owners were a big reason for Nolan's decision to take Town job

Nolan received various offers to return to management during his four-year stint as first-team coach at West Ham United but he wanted to bide his time before choosing the right club.

Having left the Hammers in the summer, the former Newcastle and West Ham captain was keen on taking over Northampton after speaking to Kelvin Thomas. He also namechecked Jim Rosenthal and Nigel Le Quesne, both of whom have joined the board in the last 12 months.

"From my point of view, and a selfish point of view, I had two owners previously (Notts County and Leyton Orient) where it was quite chaotic around the club but I saw Northampton as a stable club,” said Nolan.

"I've played against them before and the owners know where they need to be. They don't get carried away with wins and they don't get carried away with losses and they are there to support you.

"I got a good feeling when I spoke to Kelvin and when I spoke with Jim (Rosenthal) and Nigel (Le Quesne), they are very down to earth people and it was really important that, if I was going to be a manager and number one again, I'd go somewhere where they wanted to grow with me as a manager and I see this as a great club to do that."

Nolan took charge four games in his first 13 days as manager but he’s now in the middle of two weeks off after Saturday’s game against Barnsley was postponed.

"It's been good to recharge and take stock,” he added. “The first two weeks were a whirlwind and it was really important to have that downtime and get back to some sort of normality.

"It felt like we lived here for two weeks over Christmas so we had some time off but we're back in the thick of it now and we're looking forward to another game on Saturday.”