Thomas feels 'vindicated' by judicial review after 'wild, unfounded accusations' made against club

Cobblers chairman Kelvin Thomas admitted it was a ‘massive relief’ when a High Court judge ruled clearly and decisively in the council’s – and by extension the club’s – favour in the judicial review brought against them by Cilldara.

After countless delays, arguments and much toing and froing, WNC and the football club were finally given the green light to move forward with the deal when Judge Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that the correct process had been followed.

"The reality is that it was a massive relief for the football club and for us personally,” admitted Thomas. “It felt good because it justified what we’ve been doing.

"We know there are people out there who have made some pretty wild, unfounded accusations against us as a club and against us as staff and as owners but we were very confident that we had done nothing wrong and we were confident that the council had followed the appropriate processes, even if it was frustrating at times.

"There’s always going to a bit of nervousness when it comes down to one person’s decision but the verdict came back and it was pretty clear that everyone had done everything right and above board and now we can move forward as planned.

"The judge’s job is to rise above all of the noise – and there was a lot of noise around this deal – and look at the facts and the process and if you read her judgement, it was quite stinging and there wasn’t much doubt in her mind that the right process had been followed and the decision was correct.

"There was a lot of noise up to the decision but then it was very, very quiet after the decision and that was testament to the fact that it wasn’t the decision that some people wanted. For us, it was vindication.

"Cilldara have some pretty significant legal fees to pay and the judge also confirmed after the ruling that we would get a percentage of our costs paid, which is pretty unusual for an interested party, but that just showed the strength of the judge’s feeling.

"It was a very, very good moment for the football club when that decision was handed down.”

Nevertheless, the numerous delays over the last few years have come at a cost.

"The frustration is that the delays have cost the club money, absolutely,” Thomas added. “Where it’s cost the club the most money is probably in land values.

"We'll know more in the next few weeks when Buckinghams get back to us but construction costs from 18 months ago have probably levelled off and maybe even slightly improved, but land values have definitely gone down and everyone’s well aware of that.

"I would say it’s a significant difference but it is what it is and we’ll deal with it as we move forward.”