Now then, now then, now then. Before I get into this whole thing, I don’t want to get out of my depth. I’ll say now that I’m not exactly expert in the field of management at Northampton Town Football Club, but being a fan and working there one season, I feel I have some sort of basis to voice my own (albeit sarcastic) opinion.
I got a text from my mum this morning, worded "Want a job, Matt? Cobblers need a new manager!" and immediately I rolled my eyes. My stepdad was saying after they lost 3-1 to Barnet the other day that "He’ll be gone by the end of the week", and he was close, just a couple of days out.
But yeah, turns out that with a "heavy heart" Cardoza (the Chairman of NTFC) decided to sack Gray after the game on Saturday. It’s for the "interests of the club both long term and to try and win promotion this season". Really?
I know the fans haven’t exactly been complimentary of him recently (Yeah, post-match reports on Radio Northampton say a lot about the supporters we have…) but after the win in the Paint Trophy the other day, we were all praising the guy. This sacking has really been on the back of two successive league defeats. Okay, putting it like that it sounds rough, but that’s two league games out of a possible 46. A drop in the ocean. Do the praises count for nothing, anymore?
Now, in my humble and ill-informed opinion, I’d say he still had a place here at the club. We lost four games with him as manager this season, it’s hardly a big deal. Okay, the whole relegation thing’s a bit of a bugger, but still. You can hardly hold him at fault when we’ve got some dodgy defending going on during the games. We have a couple of off days and we say goodbye to the guy who has no control as to how an individual player performs on the field. Argh, it makes no sense.
Although looking at the responses from other, more hardcore Cobblers supporters, it’s been a long time coming. Obviously, if you’ve forked out for a season ticket, you want the team to perform as well as can be. So obviously the first sign things aren’t going to plan, you sack the guy in charge? Give him a chance to find his feet and play with different players, eh? Crikey.
It would be interesting to see whether this was a mutual decision to leave, or merely just the Cardozas trying to get ourselves up to League One again with heavy-handed tactics.
Another thing that would be interesting to see is who will replace him. I’ve heard rumours of former boss Ian Atkins coming into the position, but seeing he left for disappointing us, do you think he’d be welcome at Sixfields Stadium once more?
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