Ex-Cobblers chief looks to the future
Four months after quitting Northampton Town, Jon Brady says he is refreshed and ready to return after being inspired by the enthusiasm of fellow Aussie Ange Postecoglou.
The embattled Tottenham Hotspur boss – whose side languish in the bottom half of the Premier League – first met Brady during England’s 1-0 friendly win over Australia in 2023, when both men were invited to Wembley as guests of the FA.
And after Brady stepped down at Sixfields in early December, Postecoglou invited him to watch the likes of James Maddison and Son Heung-min train at the north London’s side’s state-of-the-art Enfield base.
Speaking of the visit to Hotspur Way, Brady, 50, was full of praise for his fellow Australian.
MAKING HIS POINT: Jon Brady on the touchline as Northampton manager and, Insets, celebrating promotion with the Cobblers in 2023, fourth from right, and Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou
PICTURE: Alamy
Incredible
“It was a real privilege,” he said.
“It’s a world-class environment, and I’m not just talking about the facilities.
“You can see it in the values of the players and the way they attack their work, and how unrelenting Ange is in his ideas about the game.
“What Ange has done over the years is incredible.
“I followed his journey from Brisbane Roar and through the Australian youth teams and into the World Cup with Australia, then over in Japan and then Celtic.
“He’s got an incredible track record that speaks for itself.
“Meeting him and seeing him, he’s not wavered one bit from what brought him that success, and what struck me most was his enthusiasm.
“Every day was like his first day on the job, and it was genuinely inspirational to be around.
“That’s why I’m certain he’ll succeed at Spurs if he’s given the chance.
“If not this season, then I’m sure next season he’ll bring them a trophy.”
Success
Brady is no stranger to success himself.
A nippy winger, he said goodbye to his friends and family at 16 to jet across the world in search of a career in England, only to be rejected by Brentford, Swansea City and Wycombe Wanderers.
“I either had to go home with my tail between my legs, or I had to stick it out because my passion was football,” he recalls.
And stick it out he did, forging a lengthy career in the Non-League game that included winning the Conference title with Rushden & Diamonds in 2001.
Retirement in 2007 was followed by a productive six-year stint managing Brackley Town, and in February 2021, after several years in Northampton’s coaching ranks, Brady landed the top job.
SUCCESS: In his Rushden & Diamonds playing days
Finances
Relegation from League One represented an inauspicious start, but within two years, the Cobblers had won automatic promotion.
Last season, their first back in the third tier, yielded the club’s highest finish and points tally for 16 years.
Overnight, though, the landscape changed.
Into the division surged Stockport County and Wrexham, two clubs with Championship budgets.
Down came Birmingham City, whose intention to make their stay a brief one was signalled when they dropped an incredible £12m on Fulham striker Jay Stansfield.
In an instant Northampton on turned from a modestly aspirational club to one fighting for their lives, and, by December, Brady had seen enough.
“We came back in the summer thinking of pushing on,” he explains.
“But the finances in League One made that impossible.
“We drew up a list of targets and we were nowhere near any of them in terms of wages.
Difficult
“That wasn’t because we got our recruitment wrong or because Kelvin (Thomas, the chairman) didn’t back us.
“He absolutely did.
“It was just because of the wages being offered by the likes of Wrexham, Stockport, Birmingham, Charlton, clubs like that.
“Listen, I don’t want to talk about specific numbers.
“But I would probably say that the wages being talked about were between 30-50 per cent inflated on the previous year.
“It made things incredibly difficult, not just to sign players but to keep the ones we had.
“What this club has done extremely well, and what Kelvin has done well since taking over, is steady the ship.
“The new stand has been built.
“The finances are in good shape.
“Year on year, the club has progressed, and I wanted to continue that progress on the pitch.
“We were unable to do that and, ultimately, that’s why I decided to step down.
“It was entirely my decision.”
Comeback
Brady has enjoyed his time away, enrolling on a host of professional development courses and also spending time at Peterborough United with Darren Ferguson.
Now, though, he is ready to make his comeback.
“Management is my strength and I think my record proves that,” he says.
“If you look at where Northampton were when I took over to where they were when I left, with crowds that were up 55 per cent, we certainly put the club in a better place.
“We’ve also developed a lot of players.
“Mark Leonard, Kieron Bowie, Kion Etete – all loans that came to us from Premiership clubs that have gone on and been sold for a lot of money.
“Jay Williams was in my youth team.
“He’s gone on and got promotion with Crawley and then got sold on to MK Dons.
“Max Dyche has come through the ranks and is in the first-team at Northampton now.
“Caleb Chukwuemeka was someone I found in a college just playing on park pitches.
“We developed him, got him in the first team and then we sold him for close to £500,000 to Aston Villa.
“That’s my passion – developing players and connecting the team.
“I love building a club from one point to another.
“But I’m also at a point where I want to compete – really compete.
“I don’t want to be someone who bounces around that red line at the bottom.”
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