A bit about you:
Name: Simon Sidwell
Current home town: Milton Keynes Birthplace: Oop narth somewhere, moved down south when I was very young!
How long have you supported your team? 15 years
Overview of your club:
Favourite thing about your home ground: Sixfields is a basic little ground with all the things you'd expect, when the atmosphere is good, it's great, but can lack a little during the quieter times. The pitch is always in good condition, and you must try the burger van outside!
At the time of writing our Chairman David Cardoza has been trying for years to get the backing of the Council to allow us to improve the stadium's capacity and facilities by building on adjacent land to generate money for these much needed improvements (more seat, corporate boxes, better conferencing facilities etc).
Unfortuantely after years of trying this has just been knocked back by our local Council despite many broken promises and lights at ends of tunnels. Many Cobblers fans are extremely angry at their decision, which means despite Sixfields' undoubted potential. It is a difficult and complex subject, but the reasoning behind it all is largely flawed! A big public meeting -300 strong – in mid January to discuss the state of Northampton in general went some way to show the frustrated feeling in the Town, not just football fans but from a number of groups disillusioned with the Council's inept workings…..
Favourite match played by your team & why: Has to the the 1997 Play-Off final at the old Wembley against Swansea. Fantastic day out and with a 94th minute free-kick to win 1-0. But others could easily identify many more excellent days down the years… beating Rotherham (A) 2-1 in the FA Cup 3rd round replay on a fantastic evening of football, because we knew if we won, we'd be playing Manchester United in Round 4! Also, the 4-4 draw away to Scunthorpe this December just gone is one I'm sure is present in most Town fan's minds (we were 4-1 down!).
Favourite player of all time who played for your club: Neil Grayson. Made nearly 150 appearances scoring 34 times – he would always be the man with passion and drive to haul a team out of a rut, and display skills beyond the club's standards. A truly inspirational player. Left us when he was 33 back in 1997 and the gaffer felt he could not handle 'League 1' level football, and yet up until last season he still played Blue Square Prem football with Stafford Rangers – despite being well into his 40's!
About our forthcoming match against you:
Your favourite current player in your squad and why? Danny Jackman. The wee-man pops up with skills, goals, and has consistency. But it was a former loanee in Sheffield United's Kyle Walker, until he was recalled!
Player in your squad we should most fear and why? Adebayo Akinfenwa. Admit it… you'd hate it if he netted one past you?! The guy is immense – Strong, good touch, holds the ball well, bustles his way past people and you certainly wouldn't cross his path. Keeps scoring goals despite never actually being 100% fit since he joined a year back.
Player in our squad you most fear and why? Steve Howard of course! Any time a former Cobblers player plays against us, it's an unwritten rule that we let them score. He's a danger, but Matty Fryatt's the one we have to watch. I hope he's learnt how to score in one-on-one situations after October's glaring miss!
Up and coming prospect in your squad? There are a few. Striker Joe Benjamin has just gained his first pro deal and is looking very quick, skilful and has the definite edge. Alex Dyer is a young midfielder who's coming to the forefront. Add to that a plethora of younger players such as Liam Davis, Ryan Gilligan, Giles Coke, Abdul Osman and any loan players we possess who are all showing good potential.
Where do you think you’ll finish this season? Mid to low table. We expect a relegation battle, but always end up showing that against teams lower than us, we play above that level. Stuart Gray has managed on a shoestring budget to get the squad pulling out results against better opposition (see Carling Cup in 2008/09 for an example), so this season nothing continues to surprise me!
How do you think you’ll do against us? I'm hoping for another positive result. I didn't think we performed too badly at the Walker's Stadium, certainly held our own, and with a bit of luck (from terrible missed chances!) drawing the game. At Sixfields in 2008, we certainly turned it into a fortress, and hopefully a packed house should enable a fiery derby – 1-1 I'd say!
Any other comments? Northampton are basically in the doldrums. On the field, our inconsistent, but sometime decent performances suit our League position, notably with a threadbare squad. We were down to 13 available players in mid January, prompting us to look deep into the transfer window for more bodies.
But off the field we can only look to other clubs and their facilities and wish we could match that. The resolve will carry us through, and who knows what will happen in a 2-3 years time! However Leicester saw what we were capable of in glimpses – so good luck… though handing us 3 points wouldn't go amiss!