Whiting promotion to Cobblers board is 'a natural progression'

Whiting’s appointment to the board has been somewhat overshadowed by the news that a supporters’ representative is also going to be a director, but Town chairman Thomas believes it is no less important.

Whiting was appointed chief executive by previous chairman David Cardoza, but has continued to grow and thrive in the role under Thomas and David Bower’s ownership.

“I think it is a natural progression for James,” said the Cobblers chairman.

“He is a local lad, lives in the area and has a young family, and James was here before us and was part of seeing what happened before.

“I think he has done exceptionally well and has grown quite a bit into the role of chief executive, because he had only been a chief exec for a few months before we took over.

“We kept him in that role, and there were conversations at that time about what we would do, and whether we should bring in a chief executive or not.

“But we felt that James was capable and he has definitely proved that.

“He is an absolutely loyal servant to the club.”

And Thomas suggested that he feels the appointment of Whiting is one that could be a long-term one.

“What we like about James coming on is, to us he is seen as a longer-term appointment in terms of a role on the board,” he said.

“He is that local representative almost in a board capacity.

“We are all custodians of the club in our own way, as owners we definitely are, and James will probably outlive us here.

“So with James being in that role we like that sort of medium to long term view.

“None of this is really about the short-term.

“As a club we are pretty strong right now, the structure of the club is quite powerful now in terms of the people who are around.

“From the club staff to the community work we are doing, so we think this is a really good time to strengthen things and I think that is what we are doing with these moves.”