Cobblers set to hold more talks with 'three or four' managerial candidates

With no game this weekend, and given the inevitability of relegation to League Two, the club hope to move the process on and be in a position to announce a new permanent manager soon after the final game of the season.

Bromley boss and former Northampton goalkeeper Andy Woodman is rumoured to be on Town’s list of candidates, while the likes of Ryan Lowe, Darren Moore and Darrell Clarke are all out of work and could be under consideration.

Technical director Colin Calderwood, who has lost all five of his games as interim manager, is heavily involved in the search for a new boss and he confirmed there will be more conversations in the coming days.

"There'll be more talks this week,” he said. “It's always ongoing and it's step by step but we're moving in the right direction. Even if it looks like nothing has happened, there's progress in lots of ways in the background and we'll be talking to three or four guys.”

Providing an update in the matchday programme ahead of Monday’s game against Wigan, Cobblers CEO James Whiting wrote: “The process to appoint a new manager continues in the background, and as Kelvin (Thomas) said in his recent update, it is important we take our time to get the process right and an appointment is expected at the end of the season.

"We have identified our targets and we believe we will have a wider pool of candidates available at the end of the season than there is at this time. We believe it is important to make an appointment that benefits the medium to long term future of the club and we would rather wait to get that right.

"For now, we are putting our full support behind Colin, Sammo, the rest of the staff and the players for the rest of the season. We know confidence has suffered but we will stick together and work hard to turn results around as soon as possible.”