Listen

Description

Wemb-er-leee, Wem-ber-lee we're the famous Northampton and we're going to Wemb-er-lee...

That may as well have been the soundtrack to the Cobblers in the late 90's after Ian Atkins had come in with his "Birmingham mafia" to turn around a bottom-dwelling Town side into one that knocked on the door of the Championship.

Atko talks us through how he came to the club, briefly as a player before taking over from John Barnwell as manager and slowly but surely building the momentum that would take Town to the Twin Towers of Wembley 2 years in the spin. He talks candidly about the characters like Garry Thompson, Carl Heggs and John Gayle he brought to the club as well as some of the unsung heroes that contributed such as Matthew Rush and Ali Gibb.

Taking in classic games such as Cardiff away in the playoff semi-final and Bristol Rovers at home the following year when Sixfields truly was a fortress while also discussing important matches at Fulham and Watford, Atkins paints the picture about how the Northampton snowball grew.

Things didn't end ideally for Atkins at Town and he talks openly about the problems he and the club faced before his departure. There are too many happy memories to be too downbeat however and anyone that was there at Wembley on that beautiful day when John Frain's free -kick sent the shoe army into raptures will find some stories to put a smile on their faces.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.