Northampton Town Appoint Chris Wilder as their new Manager

As was expected after Wilder left Oxford United, the Cobblers have confirmed that he is their new manager. As a consequence of that appointment Andy King has departed Sixfields. The former manager at Torquay United, Alan Knill, has been appointed his assistant.

Cobblers Chairman David Cardoza had this to say on the appointment:-

I am delighted to be able to appoint Chris.

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.

Speaking on the departure of Andy King, David Cardoza said:–

We are disappointed that Andy has chosen to leave but we wish him well,” said Chairman David Cardoza.

He did a very good job in difficult circumstances over the last few weeks, and he conducted himself with great dignity and in good humour.

He is a real football man and a very genuine and honest man. He met with Chris Wilder and Alan Knill and typical of the man, he decided it would be better for Chris and Alan to start with a clean slate and so he felt it would be best to leave. We are disappointed but we fully respect his decision.

We are very grateful to Andy and he will always be welcome here at Sixfields.