My time at…Northampton Town. Part 1. Some form at last.

 

Following my nightmare season I really wasn’t sure how the final part of the 1999/2000 season was to pan out.

I was in a real no-man’s land. Walsall had loaned me from FC Utrecht and had then sub-loaned me back out. I had never heard of that before, or since. It was a sign of how ineffective I had performed at Walsall. If things didn’t work out at Northampton I would have to return to Holland which was not what I wanted at all.

Northampton were pushing for promotion although it was not a given. I really wanted to play some football and Ray Graydon tried his absolute best to make sure that I went. He had paid a £30,000 loan fee for my services from FC Utrecht from December until the May. He needed to get me off the wage bill to stop my loan becoming a really poor financial transaction.

Kevin Wilson, a former striker in a similar mould to myself took me for the final 10 games or so of the season. He was a fantastic player in his time. Officially, he was Player-Manager.

 Signed on the day of my first match and didn’t have a chance to meet the squad until I met them at the hotel for our pre-match meal in Cheltenham. Because I hadn’t trained with the players I was on the bench and came on for the last 20 minutes or so. We lost the game and it looked like an uphill fight to go up.

My full Cobblers debut was to be at home against Southend United. I nearly got off to the perfect start by scoring in the first few seconds. Carlo Corazzin flicked on a long ball and a volley from about 18 yards was somehow saved by their keeper. We won the game 2-0. I scored the second goal and was pleased to be off the mark.

That signalled something of an upsurge in my own personal form from then on until the end of the season. I ended up with 6 goals from my 10 games on loan which coincided with us gaining automatic promotion. It was one of those spells where everything I touched went it.

Victories against Carlisle, Hull City, Halifax and finally away at Torquay on the final day of the season were enough for an automatic spot. I had formed a partnership with Steve Howard which was to prove to be very effective. We both scored in the famous victory at Plain Moor. We had gone 1-0 down in the Torquay match which meant that the play-offs beckoned although a 2-1 win started off the celebrations.

Before the match, just before we were about to go onto the pitch, Kevin Wilson whispered in my ear that if we won and got promotion then the club could afford to sign me on a permanent basis. He knew that I would be delighted to make my move permanent so that was a real boost before kick-off.

The summer brought about a permanent transfer from FC Utrecht to Northampton Town but it wasn’t all plain sailing in tying it up.