Striker Revell backing Page to bounce back from Cobblers sacking

The 42-year-old was relieved of his Sixfields duties on Monday after fewer than eight months in charge, with the 5-0 hammering at Bristol Rovers proving to be the final match in his short reign.

The defeat at the Memorial Stadium was the Cobblers’ ninth in 11 matches in all competitions, and the decision was made by chairman Kelvin Thomas to make a change at the top to try and halt the team’s slide down the Sky Bet League One table.

Page had only taken over as boss of the Cobblers in the middle of May, leaving Port Vale to take over the post left by Chris Wilder who quit the club and went to Sheffield United.

Revell was one of Page’s first captures as Town manager, with the striker being tempted to sign on at Sixfields on atwo-year deal in the summer, and the former Milton Keynes Dons man is disappointed things haven’t worked out for the Welshman.

But he is confident he will soon be back in a job.

Asked if he thinks Page will bounce back from his dismissal as Cobblers boss, Revell said: “I hope so.

“For me he has been really good to me, with certain things that have happened, and he has been excellent to me as a person.

“I really hope he does come back, because I think he is strong enough, he seems that way, and he is young enough to probably learn from what his mistakes have been.

“I should imagine he will say he has made mistakes, because we have gone on this poor run and you have to look at yourself, just as all of us have. We have all looked at ourselves this week.

“But I hope Rob goes on, because he is a genuine guy.”

Revell says it ios hard to put a finger on the reason for the team’s fall from grace over the past two or three months, with the Cobblers slipping from play-off contenders to 16th in the table as their results have slumped.

But he insists there was no change in approach from Page behind the scenes during that time.

“I don’t think things changed,” said Revell.

“We went to Sheffield United and were in the game at 0-0, and in the first 20 minutes we played well but I thought we needed a goal, and it didn’t quite fall for us.

“They got a block in, or the keeper made a save, and at 0-0 Matt Taylor has a free-kick tipped over that back in August might have gone in the top corner.

“Then at the other end, with the way things have gone, in the last minute we clear our lines but the ball drops to the guy in front of goal and he can ‘t miss.

“It is not a hard luck story, because you make your own luck, but you look at that and think in August that clearance would have gone for a corner, or the ball would have gone straight to Smudge (Adam Smith), and that is the difference in football.

“The Bradford game was disappointing, but the manager came out and said we need to organise better, and maybe that is what we need to do.

“Maybe we need more people on the pitch to organise things.

“But it is very difficult when you are on a run of games, and you want to win, and everybody is trying so hard to get a result that maybe sometimes it can go the other way and players perhaps do things they are not supposed to.”