O'Toole says he's 'forever in debt' to Cobblers' 'brilliant' fans

John-Joe O'Toole will always be grateful for the support he received while at the Cobblers.

Former Cobblers midfielder John-Joe O’Toole says he will ‘forever be in debt’ to the club's 'incredible' fans for the loyal support they showed him throughout his five years at Sixfields.

By his own admission, O’Toole endured a difficult first season at the club and was close to leaving the following summer when transfer-listed by then-manager Chris Wilder.

But the 31-year-old would stay at the club for another four seasons and was a major part of the team that won the League Two title in 2016, scoring 12 goals from midfield.

Whilst there were many factors behind his and the team’s stunning turnaround, O'Toole believes the unwavering support of Cobblers fans played a major role in getting the best out of him.

“The fans from day one were brilliant for me and that’s one thing that I will always be thankful for,” O’Toole said. “Even when things weren’t going well, they stayed behind me.

“It was amazing to have that support and I will forever be in their debt for it. They were incredible from the start.

“Wherever you play, you want to prove to the fans that you’re a good player but after that first season, they only saw it in small doses and they didn’t see what I was about.

“So to still have them behind me, you want to do it for them as much as anything, especially when you’re going away to tough places.

“As a team you want to give them something to cheer about and try and make a good weekend for them and stuff like that.

“You want them to go home happy so that definitely gave me added motivation and I wanted to prove to them what I could do.”

Bar one incident while on-loan at Southend United, O’Toole felt lucky to receive such love from fans.

“I remember getting a bit of stick from a Northampton fan when I was with Southend and I thought ‘I’m never going back there again’ but he was probably the only fan to get on my back,” he added.

“Other than that, they were brilliant with me, even through the bad times when we got relegated and towards the end when I didn’t feel like I was playing well.

“They kept backing me and kept backing the team and I can’t thank them enough for that.”