Tamworth boss Andy Peaks proud to be linked to top job at hometown club Cobblers

Tamworth boss Andy Peaks is making no secret of the fact that he wants to become a full-time manager, with a job in charge of a Football League team the dream.

But the former AFC Rushden & Diamonds boss admits the time may not quite be right for him to step into the hot seat at his hometown club the Cobblers, despite him being among the bookmakers' favourites to replace Jon Brady at Sixfields following his shock resignation.

Peaks' stock is rising after doing a stunning job in non-League with Tamworth, guiding the Staffordshire side from the depths of a relegation battle in the Southern League Premier Central to the National League in less than three years in charge.

And Peaks has hit the national spotlight in recent weeks, with the Lambs seeing off Sky Bet League One clubs Huddersfield Town and Burton Albion to reach the third round of the Emirates FA Cup, setting up a dream date with Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur.

This week he emerged as one of the favourites to take over the managerial reins at the Cobblers, the club where Northampton-born Peaks started out as an apprentice on a YTS scheme back in the late 1980s.

Peaks is currently third favourite with the bookies to land the Town job, behind Bromley boss and former Cobblers goalkeeper Andy Woodman and Macclesfield boss Robbie Savage.

Ian Sampson is currently in interim charge, and led the team to a 2-1 derby win over Peterborough United in midweek.

Peaks has confirmed there has been no approach to him as yet, but says that the Sixfields job is something that would obviously interest him.

"It's really nice to be linked, it's my home town club, but I think it is a social media thing to be honest, and nobody has contacted me," said Peaks ahead of Tamworth's penalty shootout win following a 1-1 FA Trophy draw at Hartlepool United on Tuesday.

"Given what we are doing at Tamworth, to get an opportunity like that is definitely a conversation I would have if it were to come along.

"But I think they may be looking for somebody with more experience at the level if I am being honest."

The current interest in Peaks is reward for the hard graft the former Duston Upper School pupil has put in as player and manager, since taking those first steps as a trainee under with Graham Carr's squad at the old County Ground.

From there, he enjoyed a long and succesful non-League playing career, mainly with Rushden Town and then Rushden & Diamonds, before moving into management with Northampton Spencer in the United Counties League, and then Diamonds.

After nine years as boss at Diamonds, Peaks made the move to Tamworth and things have really taken off, guiding the Lambs from near the foot of Step 3 in the Southern League Premier Central to successive title wins and promotions to the fifth tier of senior English football.

Tamworth are currently more than holding their own as they sit mid-table in the National League, with the fact they are one of only two part-time clubs at the level making theirs and Peaks' achievements all the more remarkable.

Peaks, who now lives in Kettering, currently splits his time between working four days a week at Tresham College and also managing the Lambs, and admits he would relish the opportunity to make being a football manager his full-time occupation.

"My ambition is 100 per cent to go full-time," said Peaks.

"As much as I enjoy my time at Tresham College working with the learning supports I work with, kids with high needs, I do love that and it is highly rewarding

"I also love managing Tamworth, but at the level I am at now no other manager in our league has got two jobs, it is just too much work to do.

"I am only 54, I am still really, really ambitious and want to kick on again.

"I don't have an agent, but I have had people ringing me and there may be an opportunity at some point for me to go full-time, whether it be with a Football League club, which I would love, or the National League.

"I would obviously be interested in that."