Thomas praises Cobblers players for their 'unbelievable support' during coronavirus crisis

Cobblers' players have been hailed by chairman Kelvin Thomas for their 'tremendous togertherness' and 'unbelievable support' during the coronavirus pandemic.

Town's squad only returned to training this week, nearly three months on from when all matches were suspended by the EFL and lockdown was enforced by the UK government.

The financial challenges created by the pandemic has led to lengthy and often unsuccessful talks between the PFA - the trade union for professional players in England - and clubs over wage cuts and deferrals.

But there have been no such problems at the Cobblers, where players and staff members were quick to forgo their bonuses and appearance fees for reaching the League Two play-offs, a move that was praised by both Thomas and supporters.

And the Town chairman has also been impressed by the attitude of the squad and in particular their desire to get back out onto the pitch in the current climate.

"From the moment we started talking about going back to work, our players have been unbelievably supportive and they've been so together and they've just got on with it," he said.

"There's a tremendous togetherness within the squad and they really feel like they have an opportunity now and they're ready to go.

"It's been pleasing to see because I think a few other clubs have had some issues with players and made comments about the medical side of things but I can't say our players have had any problems - they've been the complete opposite.

"They just want to get on with it and they've taken the challenges head on. The squad have been tested a couple of times and they've been training in small groups and now they're ready to get back to contact training and play some games."

One man missing from training this week has been physio Ignacio Herrando, who was the only person to return a positive result for coronavirus in the first round of testing.

“I think Nacho is frustrated more than anything because he’s obviously in the medical community and he feels he’s been extra careful during the lockdown,” added Thomas.

“But it’s one of those things and it just goes to show that it’s something that can impact anyone and I think we have to expect there’ll be some other challenges further down the line.

“Players could get symptoms or could test positive and we’ll have to deal with it if and when that happens but the attitude from Keith (Curle) and the whole club is ‘we’re in the play-offs, let’s get on with it’ and that’s how we’ll approach it as we go along.

“We’ll take care of everyone and we’ll make sure everyone is safe but we’ve also got a job to do. There’s a lot of people who are a lot worse off than us right now - both in football and generally - so we see it as an opportunity more than anything else.”