Northampton Town Podcast Gillingham 2-2 Cobblers – Cobblers fight back to draw 2-2 with Gillingham while other results don’t go completely against us.
Super League Fan Power
This last week has seen us all fall out of love with football just a little bit (or completely in Neil’s – and a lot of others’ case) and the pod this week reflected that with Jefe in particular so eloquently stating thoughts on the proposals for the European Super League. What Jefe said should resonate with every football fan and if the ESL proposals have done any good it’s in reinforcing the reason that we love the beautiful game.
It’s about more than feeding a business to keep it ticking over. At the top of the game it’s about more than feeding billionaires to get richer. It’s about that moment we first walked through a turnstile, that sense of community between people from every background, the smells, the joys, the tears, the nerves that football gives us.
So what now? We simply cannot let this go and let those six owners get away with their greed and selfishness. We can’t let them forget the decisions they took. We can’t sit back and let things happen to our football clubs. And this is where the discussions on opening up the topic of fans as board members should come back into play.
Kelvin Thomas rebuffed the idea this week but what the outcry and emotions this week has given us, surely now is the time to channel that passion into the actual decisions made at board level that directly impact the future of our clubs and communities…the people and families that will be around long after chairmen, managers and players have moved on.
We’ve seen protests outside the grounds of “The Six” this week that forced those clubs’ owners into a rethink and suddenly the power of the fans has increased enough for us to wonder what else can be done.
Let’s not underestimate ourselves. We all have so much energy for our clubs and whether it’s tackling racism and online abuse, funding of the women’s game, making the game accessible to all through cheaper ticket prices, investing in grassroots or a whole number of issues affecting the game we love, there’s no reason why fans’ voices should be overlooked again.
The joy of seeing fans inside a ground again this weekend – ironically a game between two of “The Six” – brought so many emotions. Every breath of a close miss or that cheer when the goal went in was fantastic to hear. We’ve had the game ripped away from us in the last twelve months and reduced our enthusiasm for watching non Cobblers games to close to zero simply because there’s nothing tangible to see on screen as to what a goal means to people.
We, the fans, are the most important part of any football club. We’re the ones that pass on our love to family and friends. We’re the ones who form communities with people who we’d never usually even talk to because we both watch a team kick a ball around for ninety minutes. We’re the heart and soul of the game. So there should be no reason as to why we can’t open discussions about getting our voices back in the decision rooms of our clubs.
Join the NTFC Supporters Trust
A lot has been said over the past week about how football isn’t the game it used to be.
When Northampton Town was founded on 6th March 1897, it was done so by a group of local school teachers and a solicitor. You have to wonder what those people would make of what has become of the club they created and the sport in general.
The owners of the Super League elite got it completely wrong. They forgot who their football clubs really belong to. No amount of money or stocks and shares can take a club away from it’s community and the people who love it.
We saw how fan power can turn the tide and stop the owners of our football clubs from ruining the game that was created, not for money, but for the entertainment of the masses.
The protests that were seen outside Stamford Bridge, The Emirates, Old Trafford and Anfield showed the passion that we, as a nation have for the game and our clubs. Organised by supporter’s clubs and Trusts, the protests blew up to include many people who are not known for being actively involved with these organisations.
While you may not agree with everything the Northampton Town Supporters’ Trust has done in the past, the Trust is the only supporters’ group that fans of the Cobblers have who’s purpose is to fight for the good of our club and the people who support it.
You can join the Supporters’ Trust at this link – https://www.ntfctrust.co.uk/join-us
CONTACT IACTM
- Visit our website https://cobblerstome.com
- Tweet us https://twitter.com/CobblersToMe
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsallcobblers
- Email us itsallcobblers@gmail.com
- Join the Fan Club https://www.patreon.com/cobblerstome
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It’s All Cobblers To Me is a Vibrant Sound Media production for the fans of Northampton Town Football Club.
Charles is the founder and main presenter of the award-winning It’s All Cobblers To Me podcast.
He began the podcast after going self-employed in 2018 as a podcast producer and voiceover artist. The original thought being that It’s All Cobblers To Me would be a place to try out new things – like a test podcast of sorts.
As well as being Cobblers mad, Charles is also a ultramarathon runner and has a blog about that that he tries to keep up to date as often as he can.
