Cobblers ready to embrace the League One challenge ahead of fixture release day

The Sky Bet League One fixture list is set to be unveiled tomorrow morning but whatever combination of games are thrown up, the Cobblers already know the scale of the challenge that awaits them over the next nine months.

Their promotion to the third tier almost felt a bonus back in June, particularly after the pandemic hit and threatened to curtail the season there and then, but now the dust has settled on that unforgettable night at Wembley, it’s time to focus on a new and very different challenge.

The Cobblers have picked an interesting but exciting time to return to League One. A record eight former Premier League teams feature in the division this season, ranging from Sunderland to Portsmouth to Ipswich, Charlton Athletic and Hull City.

There are other ambitious clubs too, such as local rivals Oxford and Peterborough, so while there will be some tough tests and no doubt difficult days, there’s also plenty to look forward to.

It’s now 12 years since the Cobblers spent more than two successive years in the third tier and the bookmakers, who released their odds for the new season this week, believe Keith Curle’s men are in for another short stay; only Wimbledon (40/1) and Rochdale (50/1) have longer odds for promotion than Northampton (33/1).

But Curle has already defied the odds once this year when masterminding his side’s extraordinary play-off success two months ago and he’s rightly confident of doing so again when the new campaign kicks off with a Carabao Cup tie against Cardiff City next month.

“We want to compete and we want to express our personality on the pitch – wherever we go, whether that’s an Accrington Stanley or a Sunderland or an Ipswich,” said the Town boss.

“We’ve got a personality and we want to take our gameplan to the opposition because we’re going to be competitive in every game we play.

“Other clubs may have bigger stadiums, bigger fanbases and bigger budgets but for 90, 95 minutes on the pitch, we will compete. The size of your budget doesn’t guarantee you results.

“There are some fantastic clubs in this division but they’re in this division for a reason and we will compete against them for the points on a Saturday every week.

“We will have fundamentals in place for every opposition we play against but again, it’s about showing our personality as a football club because we want to continue that upward curve.”

So far, Curle's recruitment has been slow and steady. Four new faces have arrived but while all four look solid additions on paper, none quite set pulses racing like Charlie Goode or Nicky Adams did this time last year.

However, as Curle has alluded to many times, he’s willing to take that extra bit of time to ensure he brings in the right characters.

It’s also a slightly different challenge facing managers this season. Due to the late start, the fixture list will be even more crammed than usual with 11 games to be played in midweek, in addition to the various cup competitions.

Assembling a squad to deal with those demands will be crucial to success.

Curle added: “We need to have that flexibility of being able to have players in the squad that can change formations and change positions within those formations as and when needed.

“There are certain players that we know won’t be able to play Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday for a long period of time so this season is going to be a squad game.

“A team goes out and performs on a Saturday or a Tuesday but we pick from a squad.”