Thomas felt SAC were the 'right people' to take Cobblers forward after decision to sell majority stake

Thomas spent more than 10 years as chairman, initially coming in at a time of great peril for the club, before stepping down earlier this month as SAC completed their takeover.

On Thursday’s Cobblers Show, he explained how the deal came about, why now, and why he still wants to remain involved (you can listen to the full episode here)...

When and how did it come about?

“It was quite a while back. We’ve had some serious discussions over the last year and it was around the time SAC were talking to Colchester. I know Robbie (Cowling, Colchester owner) well and we chatted. He said he was talking to these Brazilian guys who are really good people but he had found a different group that he might end up picking.

“He said we should speak to these guys and then we had a mutual contact through an agent. He called me and said SAC might be interested in Northampton. We did some digging and we recognised they were well-funded and then we started discussions. This was probably around February time.”

Why now?

“We recognised that the increased in costs was going to be a challenge. Nigel (Le Quesne) and David (Bower) are obviously very capable financially but I don’t think it was something we all wanted to fund consistently, especially at the level that it became. It was £3million last year and we felt it was too much.

“It was a realistic view and it was also about finding the right people to take the club forward. With Sports Alpha, we feel we have managed to do that. They’re a good group of guys who are very well-funded and who are looking to take the club forward.

“I think there will be more consortiums and more groups interested in football clubs. There are individuals in Sports Alpha Capital who could buy Northampton Town themselves with pocket change, let’s be honest. It’s becoming a burden on individuals and that’s why it’s good to have a group like SAC come in and take off the pressure on individuals.”

Why keep 30%?

“These things are never straight forward and Sports Alpha didn’t want to come in and rock the boat and change everything. They felt we would be useful, especially during the transition, and they do have an option to buy the other 30 per cent.

“We weren’t looking to throw them the key and leave them to it. We were happy to stay a part of it and stay on the board and help them along the way. It was a bit of a win-win.”