Jon Brady reflects on a year in charge of the Cobblers

Jon Brady admits he 'never once thought' managing the Cobblers would be his full-time job as he celebrates a year in charge of the club.

Brady stepped up from his position as youth team head coach to replace Keith Curle as interim manager on February 10, 2021.

He could not stave off relegation from League One but Cobblers did improve under Brady and he was given the full-time job at the end of the season.

That has proven a wise decision with Northampton now third in League Two and right in the mix for promotion back to the third tier.

"I never once thought that doing this would be my future," Brady admitted. "I only stepped in to do my very best for the football club at the time.

"It's been a bit of a whirlwind. But I feel the most important thing is that we have got a great group of staff and a great group of players and we have built a strong connection with the supporters.

"That's the most important thing we have done because this is our club and I want everyone to feel part of it - fans, players, staff. We're all together and it's 'us' and it's 'ours' and that's the way I want it to be.

"We're building greater connections and that's been the most important thing for me, and then obviously we need substance on the pitch.

"We have a group of players that work very hard. Yes, we do have off days, I understand that, but in the main, we give everything we've got to the cause and that was also really important.

"We want to continue to build and improve and just keep trying to move forward, but we're also in the moment and focused on Port Vale on Saturday."

The mood around the whole club has improved noticeably since Brady replaced Curle, something he immediately spoke about after taking charge.

He added: "I have the utmost respect for Keith. He got promoted at this football club but all I wanted was to build that connection with the fans and bring a group of staff together that were local so it meant a lot to them.

"I then wanted to bring in players who have a huge level of care about what they deliver on the pitch and all in all I feel we have done that.

"Now it's about continuing to grow those connections and making them even stronger. Even on our worst days, our fans can be proud of us because we don't give in and we work as hard as we can.

"We're trying to build a better way of playing but first and foremost, you need to win games and at the moment we are winning more than we lose."