ON THE CASE: Fans split over Curle's Cobblers reign, still plenty to come from Wakely, a couple of Premier League legends and hoping Villa give it a go...

The debate was fuelled by chairman Kelvin Thomas's comments in an interview earlier this week, where he went on record to praise the job Curle has done over the past 17 months or so.

Thomas is delighted that Curle has dragged the team up from the lower reaches of Sky Bet League Two to be play-off challengers this season, and that he has done it while significantly reducing a wage bill that had been bloated by the club's unsuccessful bid to stay in league one in 2018.

'Good housekeeping', as Curle likes to call it.

If you were an outsider looking at the Cobblers' league position alone, then you would also not hesitate to praise Curle for his efforts, but there's no getting away from the fact that is not how a large chunk of the club's match-going fans see it.

The fan base seems split between those who think Curle has done, and is doing, a very good job, and those who are far from convinced.

Those in the camp criticising Curle do so mainly due to the team's style of play, which has on occasions this season veered towards the agricultural, but there is also a belief that the manager is lacking tactical awareness.

Some fans feel Curle tinkers too much, that he makes strange selection decisions, and that his team sit too deep and struggle to manage games effectively - pointing to the several occasions this season (including at Cheltenham on Tuesday) where the team have been hit by late sucker punches to throw away points.

Points that really should have seen them challenging for a place in the top three, rather than fighting it out to finish in the top seven

I have watched the Cobblers all of my life, but as a journalist who tries to be objective, I can see merit in both points of view.

I think Curle has done some great work and that the club, squad and team is definitely in better shape that it was when he took over.

There is also much better discipline around the club, and from my experience at least, the squad does seem to be 'in it together' with all the players pulling in the same direction.

Not always something that could have been said in the not too distant past.

But I can also relate to those concerns over the style of play, as well as a tendency to be a touch too negative when the team is in a commanding position, or has something to hold on to.

All this is nothing new though.

Over all of the years I have watched the Cobblers, since I started standing on the Hotel End in the late 1970s, I think more or less every manager that has been in charge, whether he has been successful or not, has split opinion to some extent.

The likes of Graham Carr and Chris Wilder are rightly held in high regard and have legendary status for what they achieved with those title wins in 1986/87 and 2015/16, but they both had plenty of critics along the way during other campaigns.

Ian Atkins, Colin Calderwood and Kevin Wilson were three managers to win promotion and deserved plaudits, but all had plenty of detractors, particularly Atkins and Calderwood for their style of play.

Atkins was 'too direct', Calderwood 'too negative', especially at home.

Aidy Boothroyd got Town to the play-off final in 2013, at one point winning 10 straight league games at Sixfields, but try and find a Cobblers fan who has a good word to say about him or his Cobblers team now.

The old saying 'you can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time' could have been written with the lot of a football manager in mind.

The discussions over whether or not Curle will be offered a new deal will go on until the situation is resolved either way, and I don't think that will be until the season is over.

That is because that is the way Curle chooses to deal with his players, which is to refuse to discuss contracts, to solely focus on the games ahead and to get the season done .

Once that has happened, then he will sit down with anybody out of contract and talk about the future.

It was certainly what he did at the end of last season, and if he intends to do the same this time around, then I am pretty sure he will expect to be treated, and want to be treated, in exactly the same way.

With regards to Curle's future, I would imagine it is may depend on how the Cobblers finish this campaign, and where they end up in the table following the final day trip to Newport County.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if he has already done enough in the eyes of Thomas and his fellow board members.

As for me, I think he has done a good job in his time as Cobblers boss so far, and if I was pushed to say whether I think he should get a new deal or not, then I would say yes he should.

It hasn't been perfect, but there has been genuine progress in terms of results, and I also think the Cobblers is a club that needs stability, rather than another change at the top.

The merry-go-round of managers following Wilder's departure in 2016 was no good for anybody concerned, and certainly no good for the club as a whole.

Each new manager who came in brought in their own players because they didn't like what the previous manager had left them with, and it led to far too much player turnover, and unbalanced and unhappy squads.

If he stays on, Curle will have the chance to make the Town squad 100 per cent his own this summer, with all of the players, aside from Morgan Roberts, signed by him, and that has to be a positive thing.

Now I don't know what will happen, I don't have any inside information, but what I would say is that it is perhaps time for the board to show some faith in the manager they appointed, and to trust him to do the job they employed him to do.

It was great to sit down and have a chat with Alex Wakely this week, following the announcement that he has been awarded a testimonial in 2020.

A one club man, the testimonial is deserved reward for the 13 years loyal service Wakely has given to the Northants first team, and the fact that he is the club's most successful captain in history.

No other skipper, and there have been many great ones, has managed to land two major titles, but Wakely did just that as he guided the Steelbacks to T20 title success in 2013 and 2016, as well as another final in 2015.

In the past, a player being handed a testimonial or benefit year, was a sign that their career was perhaps coming to an end, or was at least entering the twilight years, but that is definitely not the case with Wakely.

He has plenty of years and runs left in him, and after talking to him this week, it is clear he still has a burning desire to achieve a lot more in the game both on a personal level, and with his beloved Northants.

And at just 31-years-old, he certainly has time on his side.

The Premier League will be launching a new Hall Of Fame next month, and it's fair to say there are plenty of players worthy of inclusion.

It will be launched with the announcement of the first two players to be inducted, and to narrow it down to just two is one hell of a tough job!!

For me, the players would have to come from either Manchester United or Arsenal, the two clubs that dominated proceedings in the 90s and early 2000s.

There is obviously no wrong or right answer when it comes to the first two players to be selected, but I would go for two main men in Sir Alex Ferguson's title-winning machine.

The first pick would be Ryan Giggs, purely for the fact that he has won the competition 13 times, played more Premier League games than anybody else apart from Gareth Barry, and created more Premier League goals than anybody else - an impressive assists total of 162.

My second pick would be Roy Keane. The Irishman doesn't top any stats lists, or goalscoring charts, but for me his influence on that United team was immense, perhaps more than any other player.

I am pretty sure that without Keane, United wouldn't have been the team they were.

And he, like Giggs, would for me walk into any Premier League team from any point over the the 38 years the competition has been in existence.

Sunday sees the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley, with Manchester City taking on Premier League strugglers Aston Villa.

Pep Guardiola's men are obviously big favourites, and there is every chance they are going to win the game, but it's not too much to ask Villa to at least put up a fight and give it a bit of a go is it?

Watford were embarrassed by City in last season's FA Cup Final when they were battered 6-0, and that should never happen.

Now, the omens aren't great as Villa were pummelled 6-1 by City on home soil in the league last month, but surely that means Dean Smith's men can go into this game with absolutely nothing to lose.

Nothing is expected of them, probably not even from their own supporters, so fingers crossed they are positive and at least try and lay a glove on City, rather than just sit deep and defend. waiting for the inevitable.

Guardiola's team doesn't have many weaknesses, but they ones they do have are surely in defence, so why not try and exploit them!

It's easier said than done, I know, and it would be a brave call by Smith, but City have shown this season that they are vulnerable at times, and I reckon Villa might as well try and get at them.

It might give them a sniff of grabbing glory, and it also means if they are going to go down, then they will at least go down swinging!