Northampton Town

They were founded in 1897 and took the nickname Cobblers after the town’s history of shoe-making. They joined the Football League in 1921 — in the Third Division, naturally. They stayed right there for 38 seasons, when after a brief drop into the Fourth Division (now called League Two), they shot up through the leagues starting with the 1960-61 season.

Manager Dave Bowen took them from the Fourth to the First Division in just five years; they spent 1965-66 at the top, finished second to last, and five years later were back in the Fourth Division. No club has since gone so high and then so low so quickly. Bowen’s name now graces a stand at the ground.

And that was that, on the pitch, anyway; they’ve been in the third or fourth tier since 1967!

There have been a few things of note, however, in Northampton Town history:

• In 1970 they lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup, 8-2. George Best got six goals and the game ball signed by the Town players!
• In the 1975-76 season, everybody on the team scored a goal. In the last home game they let the goalkeeper take a penalty to complete the feat.
• The 1986-87 team got 99 points and scored 103 goals while earning promotion from Division Four; they were back down three years later.
• On the last day of the 1992-93 season they only stayed in the Football League by winning, 3-2, away to Shrewsbury Town, after trailing 2-0. All this in front of 2,500 traveling supporters.
• The next season they finished dead last but stayed up because Kidderminster didn’t meet ground requirements.
• 1997 saw their first-ever trip to Wembley for a playoff final; they brought 32,000 fans, at the time a record for a single club.
• In the 2010-11 League Cup, they knocked out Liverpool, winning at Anfield on penalty kicks.
• In 2022, they started the last day in League Two in third place, lined up for automatic promotion to League One. They won their game, 3-1, but got passed on goal differential by Bristol Rovers, who scored seven in their game. The Cobblers, no doubt shaken, went on to lose in the playoffs.
• In 2023, they again went into the last day on the edge — in third by a point. This time they won and couldn’t be passed, thus earning automatic promotion to League One. Whew.

2024–25 SEASON: 19th in League One, 1st Round FA Cup, 1st Round League Cup

2025–26 SEASON: League One (promoted in 2023)

Their traditional rivals are Peterborough, from just up the road, and a more recent rivalry has developed with even more nearby — but much newer and virtually without character — MK Dons. It’s hardly surprising anyone gets too bothered about MK Dons.

Northampton Town Ladies play in the FA Women’s National League Division One Midlands at tier 4. Contact the club for fixture information.

They use the same reggae song that Chelsea come out to. It’s called “Liquidator,” and it seems pretty certain Chelsea started using it first, back in 1969. How it made its way to Northamptonshire is anyone’s guess. Instead of Chelsea, here the locals shout “Cobblers!”

Sixfields Stadium is across the street from a TGI Friday’s and a cinema, and the stadium itself is set down in a low area, meaning you could in theory watch from a grassy hillside. It makes for a fairly impressive sight when first seen from the road.

It holds just under 8,000 people in four all-seater stands, one of which — the East Stand — never got finished. This appears to be because about £10 million that was loaned to the club simply vanished — into the pockets of the soon-to-be-former owners, it seems. So the stand construction was halted, with basically just a roof, the skeleton of unfinished corporate boxes, some seats, and what are by reputation some very inferior facilities underneath. They usually make the away supporters sit over there.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the place is a van called Cobblers Collectibles that parks outside for every home game, selling old souvenirs and programs which no doubt inspire many fond memories among supporters from up and down the land.

Also interesting is their mascot, Clarence the Dragon, who has his own sponsor, Twitter feed and appearances around town. One imagines a Cobbler would have been a less interesting choice.

TOURS: None

GETTING THERE: It’s over two miles from the town center to Sixfields, so just take a taxi out there and get their number for the trip back, taxis being always hard to find after a game. The fare should be less than £10 each way.

PUBS: There’s one at the ground called Carr’s, named for manager Graham Carr, the one who got them the 99 points. There is also a surprising assortment of pubs in town, including the large and comfortable Old Bank, The Fish, the more traditional Black Prince.

GRUB: There’s nothing special at the ground and you’ll find all the usual chains in town.

AROUND TOWN: One groundhopping friend of ours referred to Northampton as “utterly bland,” and another said it was “the generic English town.” It’s the kind of place where a TripAdvisor search of things to see and do in town turns up a museum, a shopping center, a working farm, a historic home, a park or two, and somewhere down the list is the football ground. Somehow, being the home of an eternally third- or fourth-tier football club seems about right for Northampton.

For what it’s worth, there is a rugby club in town, Northampton Saints, who are a much bigger deal than the Cobblers. They play in the top division and have won several major trophies.

Groundhopping at Northampton Town

Northampton Town has been in the third or fourth tier of the English Football League since 1967, so seeing a game at their Sixfields Stadium is truly a trip into a non-glamorous world. In fact, in my experience going to...

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