Proud Jon Brady vows to keep 'giving everything' to Cobblers ahead of 200th game in charge
Cobblers boss Jon Brady says his resolve and determination is ‘stronger than ever’ ahead of his 200th game in charge of the club.
The Town manager will hit the significant landmark when his side visit Stevenage for an important League One fixture on Tuesday evening.
The Aussie, now 49, has unquestionably done a fantastic job since being appointed nearly four years ago, initially as caretaker in February 2021 before he was made permanent boss at the end of that campaign.
Cobblers missed out on promotion from League Two on goals scored in Brady’s first season but they completed the job 12 months later and then last year he guided the club to their highest league finish in 15 years. He’s the fourth longest serving current manager in the whole EFL and will bring up his double century at the Lamex tomorrow night.
"I was grateful to the club and to James (Whiting) and Kelvin (Thomas) for offering me the opportunity at the time,” said Brady. “I think what I’m proud about during my time as manager is that we have progressed year on year.
"We reached the play-offs in our first year, we won promotion in our second season and then in the third season we finished 14th in League One with 60 points and there have been a lot of constraints during those times – especially now with all the injuries.
"We have faced adversity going all the way back to the first year when we missed out on promotion on goal difference by a single goal, but I like to think that the one thing we have done during our whole time here is connect the club to the fans.
"That has been a huge thing for all of our staff, including when Col (Colin Calderwood) was here. We all felt it was important to have players who play for the club and not themselves and the staff really give everything for the club and the football club is number one.
"I feel we have gained a connection. We are now in the toughest League One with a lot of injuries. We don’t make excuses and we keep trying to be positive and we keep working hard and the one thing we want to show the fans and the town is that we’re resilient, we always fight and we never give up.
"We will give it absolutely everything we’ve got and our resolve as players and as staff is stronger than ever, but the challenge is getting harder and harder.”