Cardoza sorry to see Akinfenwa leave Cobblers, but says it’s the right decision

The 17-goal leading scorer was released by the club last week having not been offered a new Sixfields deal by manager Aidy Boothroyd.

It’s a decision that has split Cobblers supporters and certainly upset some.

Cardoza admits he is going to miss having the big man around the place, and also revealed that he getting some grief on the home front as well.

“They are going on strike at my house, because the kids are very unhappy about him leaving!”, said Cardoza.

“But that’s football. He is not in Aidy’s plans and Bayo is a decent earner.

“I have a couple of other decent earners as well, and you can’t just have these highly-paid players on your wage bill. But that is not the reason he is going.”
Asked if he would miss Akinfenwa, Cardoza said: “Yeah, definitely.

“He brought so much to the club with his goals and everything else.

“I will miss him, but you move on. As Aidy said, we need to improve and go that bit further, and if that means Bayo leaving then that is the case.”

Akinfenwa could easily have left the club in January when he was the subject of a cheeky bid from a fellow npower League Two club.

It was believed to be an almost derisory offer, but Cardoza was asked if, in hindsight, it might have been better to offload the big striker then?

“Looking back, yes.” admitted the chairman.

“But who was to know?

“Bayo still scored a couple of penalties, and played his part. He was here and he still ended up the leading scorer.”