Nolan has no concerns over Cobblers' budget constraints despite 'incredible' money being spent by League One clubs

Cobblers had a competitive but bottom third budget for 2024/25, well behind many of their League One rivals, with big-spending Birmingham City way out in front. The Blues broke the League One transfer record three times last summer, including spending £10m plus bonuses on Jay Stansfield, before romping to the title, racking up 11 points in the process.

Though Birmingham are now in the Championship, there is no shortage of ambitious, wealthy clubs in the third tier going into 2025/26. Luton Town, for example, are entering their second year of Premier League parachute payments and will reportedly be receiving a fee of more than £30 million.

"It's incredible and it’s not just League One,” said Nolan. “There are clubs in League Two and even in the National League who are breaking budgets. It's difficult but as a manager you need to work around that.

"I've never worried about the budget. Me and Kelvin (Thomas) are really honest with each other in what we see and how we see it. Giving players a lot of money doesn't always work anyway because it can upset the dressing room.

"You have to keep everyone happy and that's what we've got to do. We'll set our stall out, we are Northampton and this is how we structure everything, and we believe we can do it with the budget we've set and get better. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't have taken the job.

"I'm not worried about anyone else but it is phenomenal when you look at the budgets of the two who went up and even those below them. There are clubs who missed out on the play-offs with massive budgets. They spent lots of money and failed to achieve what they wanted.”