I remember a few years ago when the Cobblers played at the County Ground and we would always have to wait until September to start playing home games because of the cricket season. Well I was laughing with a few of the Fans Team lads when trying to arrange a game at the Racecourse for our first match of the season. Our problem was no pitches due to the balloon festival! Another thing that will be reminiscent of the County Ground will probably be the bumpy surface too, although it stops there. At least the County Ground had three sides!

At the time of writing, I am not sure if the Fans Team will have played a game or not by the time you are reading this. But the Shoemakers will be back in full swing soon with hopefully a packed out season of games. We now have local derbies against Posh and Leicester to look forward to this season, those games are already pencilled in. Tomorrow we also play in the annual Cambridge Fans Tournament.

Over the summer, manager Ant Collett has tried to keep us all professional and in shape, so pre-season training has been on the cards. It is probably not all the running and weights sessions that you read about the first team doing, but he got a chance to practice some new routines that he learnt in his summer coaching course. Hopefully that will help us to fly the flag for Northampton Town FC up and down the country over the next eight or nine months.

Last season saw fixtures in short supply, we managed ten which was down on previous years. Longer trips and increased travelling and entry costs deterred some fans making journeys, so fixtures suffered. Aside from that, there was plenty of quality and enjoyment for the team. The highlight was the 7-0 victory over Leyton Orient's "Orienteers" in September and the 5-5 thriller at Leicester in February. The latter was featured on Sky Sports when I starred in a Fan of the Week feature on the Big League Weekend. We also made some new links with fans of Halifax, Crewe, West Brom and Watford.

Although wins were also in short supply, we put in some great performances. The 4-1 home defeat by Crewe was less one sided than the scoreline suggested. In fact, the game could have gone either way until the latter stages. Narrow defeats to strong Watford, West Brom and Tranmere sides were probably our better performances of the season. Quite ironic really!

As we enter a new season, I would like to thank everyone for their support with the fans team. Fans team football is solely about building relationships with opposition fans in the football world. The spirit is great on the pitch and I would urge any Cobblers fans to come along and have a watch in the morning before the main game. The standard may not match the afternoon game, but we will try our best to entertain. If you would like an update on our fixtures, they will be announced on www.ntfc.co.uk in the Fans Team section, or email cobblersmark@yahoo.co.uk

Finally, here's to a good Cobblers season all round.

Mark Kennedy
Secretary