'Since the last time supporters were allowed in, a lot has happened at this football club'

And the Town boss is looking forward to recreating the 'unity and familiarity' between supporters and players that laid the foundations for last season's promotion from Sky Bet League Two.

Cobblers fans last saw their team play on March 7 when Curle's side were beaten 2-1 by Mansfield Town.

The Covid-19 pandemic saw sport shut down, and although teams and leagues resumed in the summer, fans have been kept locked out, until now, with 1,000 supporters expected at Saturday's league one clash with Doncaster Rovers.

Due to all the coronavirus restrictions, Town fans have not been able to see the likes of Cian Bolger, Fraser Horsfall, Alan Sheehan, Jack Sowerby, Christopher Missilou and Benny Ashley-Seal in the flesh, and Curle is keen for them to see what the many new boys at the club are all about.

"Since the last time the supporters were allowed in, a lot has happened at this football club," said Curle, who guided his team to play-off final glory against Exeter City at Wembley in June.

"We have had the play-off games, the play-off final, the start of the new season, the introduction of new players, a new captain.

"We have got a lot of new players at the football club that some of our supporters have only seen at a distance.

"Players who served us very well last season have left and continued their journey, and we now have new players who want to take this club on a journey and be part of the local community, and of this football club."

And he added: "When I first came into the club, and then more so last season, we had a new group of players, a new squad, and to gain that unity and familiarity we needed the fans to come down to see us train.

"We needed them to meet us in the local community when we were doing appearances like that, and gain that relationship, to start that relationship.

"I thought that was the bedrock of our success last season, there was the demands our supporters put on us, but also then the appreciation they showed when they saw players giving 100 per cent of what they were all about.

"That was the foundation for last season, because players found an extra yard and grew an inch when they needed to, and that comes from that familiarity, when the supporters have got that identity.

"Then you get that unity, that we are all on the same page and we all want the same thing."