Northampton Town
Also written as Northampton.
The club
Northampton Town were founded on 9 March 1897 and have played at Sixfields Stadium since 1994, capacity 8,203. The club are the Cobblers, after the town's shoemaking trade, and play in claret and white.
Recent seasons
Northampton were relegated from League One in 2020/21, finishing 22nd. They responded with two strong League Two campaigns, fourth in 2021/22, which was not enough for automatic promotion, and third in 2022/23, which was. Back in League One they finished 14th in 2023/24 and 19th in 2024/25. In 2025/26 they finished bottom of the division, 24th of 24 with 35 points, and were relegated to League Two along with Exeter City, Port Vale and Rotherham United. Lincoln City won that division on 103 points. It is the club's second relegation from League One in six seasons.
Honours and landmarks
Northampton's highest league finish is second in the second tier in 1964/65, which took them into the First Division for 1965/66, the only top-flight season in the club's history. Record attendance is 24,523 against Fulham at the old County Ground on 23 April 1966, during that First Division campaign. The record at Sixfields is 7,947 against Birmingham City on 15 March 2025. Tommy Fowler holds the appearance record with 552 first-team matches between 1946 and 1961. Jack English is the record scorer with 143 goals, 135 of them in the league, between 1947 and 1959. Record fee paid is £165,000 to Oldham Athletic for Josh Low on 30 July 2003. Record fee received is £1m plus add-ons from Brentford for Charlie Goode on 19 August 2020.
Notable scorelines
Record victory: 11-1 against Southend United at home in the Southern League in 1909/10. Record defeat: 0-11 against Southampton away in the Southern League in 1901/02. Both predate the club's Football League membership; no Football League record win or defeat was separately established.
Head-to-head notes
Northampton do not publish all-time head-to-head records and none were established for any 2026/27 League Two opponent. The one meeting already fixed against a club from a higher division is the EFL Cup first round tie away to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on 8 August 2026. The two sides have already met this summer: Leicester won a pre-season friendly 3-0 at the same ground on 11 July 2026. Leicester were relegated from the Championship in 2025/26 with 46 points and are a League One club this season, so the gap is one division rather than two. Northampton also meet Newport County at Sixfields on 5 September 2026, both clubs having spent last season near the bottom of their respective divisions.
Right now (2026/27)
Chris Hogg was appointed manager on 18 May 2026 on an initial two-year deal, taking over from Kevin Nolan, who had been in charge since 2024 and oversaw the relegation. Hogg had not managed before. He was assistant head coach at Milton Keynes Dons from August 2021 to December 2022, then at Oxford United from March 2023, at Bristol City from November 2023, and at Norwich City from June 2025 to November 2025, leaving Carrow Road when Liam Manning was dismissed.
The summer recruitment was almost entirely free transfers and loans. Janoi Donacien arrived from Chesterfield, James Maxwell from Doncaster Rovers and Harvey Saunders from Tranmere Rovers, all on free transfers on 1 July 2026. Matty Warhurst joined from Manchester City for an undisclosed fee on 21 July and Connor Evans from Milton Keynes Dons on a free on 22 July. Goalkeeper Zach Jeacock came in on loan from Lincoln City on 15 June until the end of the season, and Logan Briggs on loan from Leicester City on 2 July. Going out, Cameron McGeehan joined Barnsley on 1 July and Nesta Guinness-Walker joined Aberdeen on 8 July.
Pre-season has been tight rather than convincing: 0-3 at Leicester City on 11 July, 0-0 at home to Coventry City on 18 July, a 3-1 win at Southend United on 22 July, 0-2 at home to Birmingham City on 25 July and 0-0 at Cambridge United on 28 July, with Solihull Moors away on 1 August. Three clean sheets in five and two goals scored across the four matches against Football League opposition.
The EFL Cup first round tie at Leicester City is on 8 August 2026. The League Two campaign opens at home to Swindon Town on 15 August, then Crewe Alexandra away on 22 August, Gillingham away on 29 August, Crawley Town at home on 1 September and Newport County at home on 5 September.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northampton_Town_F.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Northampton_Town_F.C._records_and_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Northampton_Town_F.C._season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_EFL_League_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_EFL_Championship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_EFL_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hogg
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.