Chris Wilder has been appointed manager of Northampton Town
Northampton Town have appointed Chris Wilder as the club's new manager on a three and a half year contract.
Chris began his managerial career at Alfreton Town in October 2001 after a long and distinguished playing career which started at Southampton and concluded at Halifax Town 15 years and 11 clubs later, including a brief loan spell at Sixfields under Ian Atkins.
He returned to Halifax as manager in July 2002 and led the club to the Conference play-off final despite their well-documented financial problems. He remained at The Shay for six years before making the move to Bury as Alan Knill’s assistant.
He moved to Oxford United in December 2008 following a six-month stint at Bury. He immediately turned around the club’s fortunes, taking the club back into the Football League via the Conference play-off final win over York City at Wembley at the end of his first full season.
Under Wilder, Oxford ended each season with a higher finishing position than the previous campaign aside from last season when they equalled their previous position of 9th in League 2.
He won 121 of his 269 games in charge of Oxford, tasting defeat just 78 times.
"I am delighted to be able to appoint Chris," said Chairman David Cardoza.
"I know it has been a frustrating time for our supporters and I apologise for that but I make no apologies for taking our time and making sure we made the right appointment.
"We were in the capable hands of Andy King so we took our time, assessed our options, spoke to a lot of people in the game and all the reports we got on Chris were excellent.
"We were looking for a manager who has the experience required to guide us out of our current position and one who is ambitious and driven enough to take the club forward in the medium term and Chris is the perfect choice.
"The fact that he served Oxford and Halifax for so long shows what a good job he did at both clubs.
“I would like to say a big thank you to Oxford Chairman Ian Lenagan who has been an absolute gentleman through this whole process. These situations have the potential to become quite unpleasant but he has been very professional.
"He has been a tough negotiator but we finally reached a compensation figure that we were both comfortable with and I wish him and Oxford United the very best of luck in their promotion push.
"Chris will be able to strengthen the squad before the transfer window closes and that is now the focus of our work."
Wilder has appointed Alan Knill as his assistant. As a player Knill represented Southampton, Halifax, Swansea, Bury, Cardiff, Scunthorpe and Rotherham. He has also managed Rotherham, Scunthorpe, Bury and Torquay.