Welcome to NTFC NTFC Supporters Ltd

The Original Supporters’ Trust (1992)

October 2012

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NTFC Supporters Ltd - Trust News

Contents.....

During the last few months of the previous campaign NTFC Supporters Ltd held a drawing competition. The winning picture (shown on the front page of this newsletter) was drawn by 9 year old Kaylee Littlewood, whose fantastic picture of Clarence the Dragon came out on top.

Kaylee is pictured here on the right with last season’s player of the year Michael Jacobs. Well done Kaylee!

Picture courtesy of Pete Norton

3 Welcome from David

Linnell

4 What have the

Trust done for us?

5 Aidy faces the fans

6 Easy Fundraising

7 Club 250

8 Donation and FSF

9 Alex Nicholls

10 Save the dates

11 Cobblers Travel

Here’s what’s inside this

October 2012 newsletter...

Hello and welcome to this year’s edition of the NTFC Supporters Ltd newsletter.

My name is David Linnell and I am the directly elected supporters’ representative on the board of the football club.

It’s been a busy year, both for the Trust and the football club. Over the past 12 months we as an organisation have rebranded our travel club, hosted several open forums, contributed significant money to-wards the refurbishment of the supporters’ bar and raised a lot of money for the club with our popular car boot sales.

In football terms we’ve also seen us plummet towards the bottom of the table, appoint a new manager, witness a huge overturn in players and, finally, the relief of retaining our football league status.

But enough of the past, what of the future? The Trust will continue to represent the views of all Cobblers fans at all levels, and we will con-

tinue to work with the football club in aiming to improve things for the supporters.

As for the next 12 months on the pitch, in Aidy Boothroyd I am convinced that we have a manager who wants to succeed. He has already shown us with the players he has attracted to the club that he has the right contacts and will put the hours in to bring players on by adding value. One only has to look at players who were here before his arrival who have morphed into much better players thanks to his methods.

Aidy is also a firm believer in the Youth System that has brought on local talent like Luke Chambers, Mark Bunn and Michael Jacobs, and for a club like ours this is the way forward. The Trust is proud to have a great relation-ship with the Youth setup and is proud of the contributions it has made to their cause. I am positive that Aidy will be able to provide a nucleus of talent to feed into the first team given time, because time is the important issue here, talent takes time to nurture and mature.

We should look into the future now, leaving last season as one best forgotten, and Aidy has already told us that he will build us a team of which we can be proud, and one that will be vying for honours next season.

Hopefully Northampton will become a team that no opposition team wants to face. We can all do our part by supporting the team home and away.

Let me conclude by thanking you for your membership. Please continue supporting the Trust and enable us to continue our work in supporting our treasured club. It really does make a difference. See you all soon!

David Linnell

Supporters’ Elected Representative

Hello and welcome.....

NTFC Supporters Ltd—Trust News October 2012 Editor: James Averill / Design: James Averill & Paul Hardman Contributors: James Averill, Roger Averill, David Linnell, Cheryl Byrne, Linda Smith Printed By: Raymar Printing Contact us: Representing the interests of Northampton Town Football Club's supporters at all levels. Please address all queries about NTFC Supporters Ltd to: Helen Hickman - Secretary NTFC Supporters Ltd c/o 43 Central Avenue Whitehills Northampton NN2 8EA Helen Hickman - helen.hickman21@gmail.com

October 2012

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Since our last newsletter the NTFC Supporters Ltd board has been working hard on various projects that we hope will benefit our members.

One of the main projects has been the re-furbishment of the Carls-berg Bar which is now known as “Carr’s Bar” following a support-ers vote on renaming. This project has taken up a lot of time and money but I think everyone will agree that it’s a big improvement, helping towards a better match day experience.

We have also re vamped our Travel Club which is now known as “Cobblers Travel” and have subsidised, along with Northamp-ton Town FC, coach travel to the vital away match at Cheltenham last season. This turned out to be a really good day out, helped by a good performance from the team, and we are looking into the possi-bility of repeating this sort of offer later on this season.

We have also held a couple of our regular annual events, the Fish & Chip Quiz at Sixfields and the Race

Night over at Earls Barton. If you’ve not been to the quiz you really should give it a try, you won’t be disappointed, with a quiz that suits every one and some of the best Fish & Chips in this area, courtesy of Mr Sarsons from Silverstone.

The Race Night is run as a benefit for the NTFC Youth set up and again if you’ve not been why not give it a try next time? This year’s Race Night raised about £700 for the Youth set up.

Another regular event is the monthly Car Boot sales. These are held on the last Sunday of each month, at Sixfields, and are a really good fund raiser for us and the NTFC Multi disabled team who collect donations on the buyers’ car parks.

All the money raised by NTFC Sup-porters Ltd goes into the football club in exchange for shares in the club, we recently responded to a request from Andy King and pur-chased over £2000 worth of train-ing ground equipment for the team.

We are always on the lookout for anyone who would like to get in-volved, in whatever way, with NTFC Supporters Ltd, so if you’ve got any ideas or time please get in touch.

Roger Averill

NTFC Supporters Chairman

NTFC Supporters Ltd - Trust News

What we’ve done....

NTFC SUPPORTERS LTD WAS THE VERY FIRST OF ITS KIND.

Since it's formation:

Growth: Supporters’ trusts have been established at over 160 clubs.

Membership: Over 120,000 people are members of support-ers’ trusts.

Finance: Supporters’ trusts have now brought in well over £25 million of new finance into foot-ball and rugby league.

Ownership: 15 clubs are in own-ership or control by supporters trusts.

Partnership: Over 110 support-ers’ trusts now have sharehold-ings in their clubs.

Boardroom: Nearly 60 support-ers’ trusts have directors at their clubs. Over 50% of these are directly elected by the member-ship of the trust.

Reach: Supporters of nearly 70% of clubs in the top five divisions of football in England, and the top four divisions in Scotland have established supporters’ trusts.

Community: Reorientating clubs to deliver active community engagement.

NTFC Supporters Ltd held their latest open forum on Tuesday 11th September 2012 with special guest Aidy Boothroyd. We’d like to thank Aidy for taking the time to come to the forum. Here are the pick of the questions and answers from the evening...

How is Shane Higgs doing?

AB: Shane is doing really well. He’s been back in full-time training for two weeks, and now he needs four or five games, the first of which will be behind closed doors this weekend. But we’ve struck lucky in getting Lee Nicholls in on loan, and it might be that we keep Lee for a bit longer but equally we might not.

Frankly some of us are wondering how you got players as good as Chris Hackett and others to play down at this level.

AB: We have a competitive budget, in the top ten of the division. But I have had to bend a few arms to get the new players in and I have had lots of meetings. I’ve been at Bella Italia so much I’ve got a discount card there now!! I’ve kept the quality that was here and got rid of everything else. I think a lot of our players are above this level, and without wanting to sound arrogant I think I am as well. We have to get out of this level by buying players who are capable of playing in League One. The players saw the same potential in the club that I saw. I think we’re going to get much better, and while there has been progress I want it even quicker.

You sometimes get quite animated on the touch-line, that must gee the players up and get them to play for you?

AB: I was animated on Saturday (vs Wimbledon). I always say to the players: “Your biggest problem is that I think you’re better than you think you are.” We have some terrific talent who need pushing, we’ve started a little slowly but they will get better.

What is your opinion of Bayo Akinfenwa?

AB: I think Bayo is terrific. The fans of this club have had such a poor couple of years, and the Liverpool match and Bayo’s performances have been the only bright spots, so I can understand why he is so popular here. My problem was that to beat North-ampton in the last couple of years, all the opposi-tion had to do was stop Akinfenwa. Now they have a situation where they have to stop Bayo, Clive

Platt and Alex Nicholls. All players respond when they’re pushed and have competition for places. I’m delighted with the way things are turning out. When I bring Bayo on it gets a lift from the fans and the players and everyone steps up a level.

Has Alex Nicholls surprised you with how cool he is when finishing chances?

AB: Not really, I brought him here after all. Alex is a modern player in that he isn’t just a striker, or a winger, he can play a variety of positions. I knew he was capable, but sometimes players get stale at clubs, and I think that’s what happened to Alex at Walsall and he needed a new challenge. While he’s started well and scored a few I think he could have had a couple more, and Alex would be the first to admit that.

What’s the situation with Paul Turnbull, are we trying to loan him out?

AB: I think with Ben Harding, Luke Guttridge and Ben Tozer in midfield, and the fact I can put John Johnson and Chris Hackett in there, then Paul is down the pecking order. Paul is a great guy, he works his socks off, comes in to training and he tries hard. He has an option to go out on loan but we get nothing out of it, so we might as well keep him here. He won’t be getting another contract. I think the lads playing currently are better, but that’s my opinion.

Have you set yourself any goals with regards to where we finish?

AB: What I say to you people here in this room, the papers and the players are all completely different. So if I say we aim to finish better than last year is that alright for you? (laughs)

How is Seth Nana getting on with his injury, and will he be in contention when he’s back from injury?

AB: He’s about 5 weeks away now, but then again we’ve been saying that for about 15 weeks! He has a condition which quite a few black players have in that when he has a ligament injury it takes longer to manipulate it back to where it should be. He’s a terrific lad who always has a smile on his face and he’ll definitely be in contention when he comes back.

We’ve started matches just hoofing it, but we look better when we play football. Why don’t we play football from the beginning of the match?

AB: It’s a fair point. But what some people forget is that teams come here and set up differently against us. For example Wimbledon just wanted to stop us playing. It’s a huge compliment but it doesn’t make for a great game, and it is going to happen more. I want us to play differently, sometimes with width, sometimes direct and sometimes passing the ball.

Do you all set targets for how many points you should get from games?

AB: The players set three-game targets and I ask them what they think they should get, and they’ll come back with an answer. But I set targets for every six games. After 12 games we’ll have another meeting and discuss how we’re doing. We know what we’ve got to do points wise, and I want us to pick up points as we’re getting better.

Ishmel Demontagnac arrived with something of a chequered history. Were you wary of bringing him in?

AB: Ishmel is a lovely kid. He did get a bit moody in the pre-season matches but sometimes players want to do so well they try too hard, and he got too uptight. I thought he was really positive when he came on against Plymouth, and when you have a player like that he will get a purple patch at some point and we will unleash him. He’s a naturally gifted footballer; after all he has played in the Pre-miership. But what he hasn’t got yet is consistency. He’s moving up to the town with his girl and his baby so that will help settle him.

Have you considered loaning out some of the younger players?

AB: Maybe later in the season when we don’t have quite so many midweek games. Lewis Wilson is someone who would benefit from a loan spell, but I think he will be a very good player. Dean Snedker could do with some experience as well, maybe getting beaten up a bit lower down would do him some good.

What’s the situation with you Aidy?

AB: I really like it here. I live an hour away and I get to see my family every day and I enjoy coming into work. I think we’re at the start of something really special. I jumped from Colchester to Coventry too early and I wish I’d never done that. I want to finish what I’ve started here. We all want something to smile about.

Aidy faces the fans....

October 2012

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NTFC Supporters Ltd - Trust News

You can help NTFC Supporters Ltd raise money by simply using the above website whilst doing your on line shopping.

How it works:

We provide a FREE service where you can shop with your favourite online stores and at no extra cost raise funds for NTFC Supporters Ltd. You still shop directly with each retailer as you would normally, but simply by using the links from the site first, each purchase you make will generate a cash back donation to NTFC Supporters Ltd.

For example, spend £25 with WHSmith on Books and 2.5% will be donated. You will have raised £0.63, at no extra cost to your purchase. Make any purchase from Amazon and 2.5% will be donated. Insure your car with Aviva and raise £30.00, or purchase a mobile phone from O2 and earn £17.50, and so on.

You can shop with 2000+ Brand Name retailers and to raise funds you just use the links from our site first - it's that simple!

If you ALREADY shop online, why not help NTFC Supporters Ltd at no extra cost from purchases you would make anyway? Save money

Many retailers give exclusive 'Internet-only' discounts, special offers and even money saving 'e -vouchers' to members, so as

well as raising funds, you can also use the site to save money.

What next?

The service is as easy as 1-2-3 and it's FREE!

Here’s what to do: 1)

Go to easyfundraising.org.uk and then click “Support a cause”. On the “Find your cause” page type in NTFC Supporters Ltd, then click Find. After that just complete the registration form. Registration is completely FREE.

2)

Next, login using your username/password.

This is how the system recognises who you are

and which cause benefits when you make pur-

chases.

3)

Finally, click any of the retailer links provided

and then shop just as you would normally.

That's all you need to do - apart from remem-

bering to return to the site next time you are

going to shop online!!

Providing you login and use the retailer links

provided, easyfundraising will track all your

transactions and pay NTFC Supporters Ltd the

appropriate donations. These will then be dis-

played in your easyfundraising account (which

you can access online)

Don’t forget to visit www.ntfctrust.co.uk for all the latest news

We also have active accounts on the social network sites Facebook and Twitter. Check them out!

Club 250 is probably one of the world’s best kept secrets, especially where Cobblers fans are concerned. It has been in existence for many years and really stemmed from the Helpline which was set up in the dark days of the past.

The basics are that each member pays £5.00 per month by Standing Order through their bank for a chance in a monthly prize draw for a prize of £100 or £40. There is no restriction as to the number of entries you can have, some have 2 or 3, and all draws are done via a random number generator.

All profits from the Club 250 are for the benefit of the Cobblers, I run the draw taking nothing for expenses, and last year for example we passed £2000 over to the NTFC Supporters Ltd which went directly to the football club.

There is always room for new members and if we could get sufficient new members we could then increase the monthly prizes allocated. So why not consider joining us as a way to helping the club with the bonus of a chance of a prize each month? Contact me on dvd.lnnl2@gmail.com for a bank standing order form.

David Linnell

Club 250 Organiser

Latest from Club 250....

October 2012

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NTFC Supporters Ltd - Trust News

NTFC Supporters Ltd received a message from assistant manager Andy King asking for a donation from the Trust to help fund the cost for training equipment. The Cobblers are currently training at the Northampton Saints and our donation of £2002 went towards securing some portable goalposts for the club.

The Trust presented the cheque to the club prior to the AFC Wimbledon game on Saturday 8th September 2012.

Pictured with David Cardoza are (l-r) Trust Chairman Roger Averill, Supporters’ Elected Representative David Linnell and Trust Secretary Helen Hickman.

Picture courtesy of Pete Norton

News from the FSF....

Nine out of every 10 football supporters think ticket prices are too high, according to a survey by the Football Supporters’ Federa-tion (FSF).

More than 4,000 supporters from 130 differ-ent clubs completed the FSF’s 2012 National Fans’ Survey. 73 per cent of respondents strongly agreed that season ticket prices are too high and 19 per cent agreed slightly. Three out of every 100 disagreed and thought prices were not too high.

Four out of 10 respondents said that they had attended fewer matches in recent seasons with more than half of those putting the blame at the door of ticket prices.

While only one in every five fans has ever made a complaint to their club, of those that have, one in every three complaints relates to ticketing prices, arrangements, or availability.

Despite the current economic climate many Premier League clubs have raised season ticket prices. According to a national newspa-per survey West Bromwich Albion are the only team to have cut season ticket prices, down by 11 per cent.

Malcolm Clarke, chair of the FSF, said:

“There’s a huge amount of wealth swilling among Premier League clubs thanks to TV rights or sponsorship deals and there’s no

excuse to keep charging the prices they often do.

“It’s about time that match-going fans were rewarded with lower prices rather than hav-ing to fork out as much as £50 or £60 to watch their team at some grounds. That’s just for ‘normal’ seats too – not a prawn sandwich in sight.

“But it’s not just the top-flight where fans face high prices – those in the Championship and beyond can face similar hurdles in follow-ing their teams. We look on with envy at the prices our continental cousins pay in leagues like the Bundesliga.

“We’re not asking the football industry to do something out of the goodness of its heart, self-interest should play a part too as those huge TV deals will disappear if stadiums begin to look empty.

“The game is playing Russian roulette when it comes to attracting younger fans who might start voting with their feet to become “pub only” fans, or even turn their backs on the game altogether.”

The FSF’s survey also looked at supporters’ opinions on many other subjects including everything from the match day experience to views on goal-line technology, experiences of racism or homophobia, and how fans watch football.

The survey found that:

92 per cent think fans should have the choice to sit or stand

80 per cent agree that TV technology

should be used to help referees

74 per cent are in favour of a salary cap in football

59 per cent have watched a game illegally on the internet

51 per cent have watched an illegal TV feed in a pub

47 per cent have experienced treat-ment they consider unneces-sary/unfair from stewards

45 per cent have missed a game be-cause it was moved for TV

32 per cent have experienced treat-ment they consider unneces-sary/unfair from police

23 per cent have lost money on tick-ets/travel due to matches being moved for TV

19 per cent have seen or experienced homophobic abuse in the past year

18 per cent have seen or experienced racist abuse in the past year

11 per cent have a 400+ mile round-trip for home games

80% of fans think technology is a must in football

Alex Nicholls.....

Just over a year ago the Trust created their Twitter account. The social media website is a great way of quickly relaying information to a lot of people. Since joining we’ve had a great response, and at the mo-ment the Trust account is followed by over 500 people. One of those following us is new signing Alex Nicholls, so we got in touch with our new striker for a quick Twitter interview.

Have you got any pre-match superstitions?

Nope I try not to be superstitious. I used to be really bad but it started to affect me so I managed to put a stop to it.

You're a footballer using Twitter. Why did you decide to join?

I joined because I like to stay in touch with what's going on around the world and also enjoy having banter with the lads!!

Lots of the players are Nandos fans. Have you joined the Nandos club and if yes, how long was it before they took you out for chicken?

I’ve been invited to eat with the Nando's crew, it was after the Cogenhoe game so maybe about 2 weeks into pre-season! It didn't take long!

Are you a striker who will set themselves a goal target for a season, or do you see how things pan out?

I’ve got a target but I'll keep it to myself, all I'll say is that I'm very determined to score goals that will push us up the league

Finally, what would you say are your strengths on the football pitch?

Pace, work rate and goals

Welcome to the club Alex, have you settled in well?

Settled in great thanks, they’re a real good set of lads with a lot of talent so here's to a successful season!

You had a contract offer from Walsall in League One. What per-suaded you to drop down a division and join the Cobblers?

The enthusiasm and ambition of the manager was the biggest reason behind me signing for the club!!

Have you moved to Northampton or are you commuting? What do you think of the town so far?

I commute and it takes me about 55 minutes so it’s bearable. I’ve been into the town quite a few times though and seems a nice place.

It sounds like Aidy really put the squad through their paces in pre-season. How did it compare to your other pre-season campaigns?

Yes pre-season was tough, the week in Croatia was the hardest I’ve ever done. It made it 10 times harder being 35 degrees!

You scored on your debut in the cup upset against Cardiff. It couldn’t have gone any better could it?

It could have gone better by scoring more than one as I'm hungry for goals this season, but the result was the main thing

A SHORT

WITH

You can follow the Trust,

like Alex, on Twitter at

www.twitter.com/ntfc_trust

October 2012

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NTFC Supporters Ltd - Trust News

Save the dates....

October 2012

Cobblers Travel.... Monday 2nd January 2012 was a very important date for us as it saw the re-naming of the former Trust Travel to become Cobblers Travel.

And the changes don’t stop there, as we are now using executive buses from Yorks for our trips away this year. These top quality buses come with TV screens and a DVD player, Air Conditioning, toilets, and coffee and tea making facilities.

Our aim is to give supporters a full day out with stops en route to the match at a place of interest. For ex-ample on the way to Cheltenham last season we stopped at Evesham where people were able to enjoy this very pleasant Cotswold town with its array of shops and pubs and riverside walks. It was a glorious day and we picked up a point as well.

Stops this year include a visit to the lovely High Street in Rochester on the way to Gillingham, and a visit to

Windsor on the journey down to Aldershot.

On the longer trips we organise quiz-zes and games to amuse everyone on the journey and are also able to offer a range of hot drinks and a tuck shop.

We are also holding a number of family days on some of our trips. For example on the way to the Bristol Rovers away game, there will be a sightseeing stop in Bath for those who do not wish to go to the match, perfect for a partner or member of the family. They will be dropped off before and picked up after the match. We will also be holding a simi-lar day on the visit to Oxford in No-vember, which can be combined for those who wish to do a spot of Christmas shopping in the city centre.

This year we have also continued with our loyalty card scheme, mean-ing the more often you travel with us the more money you can save in the

long run, eventually culminating in a free trip!

We are a very friendly bunch – all age groups - and if you are a single travel-ler then you are made more than welcome. We have several pick-ups across the town with final pick-up at Sixfields.

Why not try us for the next away

match – you won’t regret it.

Email: travel@ntfctrust.co.uk

Phone: 07840 355864

Web: www.ntfctrust.co.uk

Facebook: Cobblers Travel Club

Cheryl Byrne

All members of NTFC Supporters Ltd are being entered into our annual prize draw. Last year we had great success with our ‘win a season ticket’ draw, and this year we are offering more fantas-tic prizes:

To be in with a chance of winning you must be a

member of NTFC Supporters Ltd.

To join the Trust you can either email Stuart

Taylor—stuart.taylor1@btinternet.com

Alternatively you can go to www.ntfctrust.co.uk

and fill in the application form on there.

Membership fees are:

Life Membership: £50.00

Annual Membership

Adult: £7.00

Over 60 years old: £4.00

Under 16 years old: £4.00

Family (up to 4 Members): £12.00

Aldershot Match – Saturday 22nd December 2012

Pre-match

Three-course meal and premier hospitality for 2 people

Reserved car parking for 1 vehicle

Entertainment from the match day host

Cash bar facility

1 guest to escort the team on to the pitch and have a photograph with the Captains and Match Officials

Complimentary programme and teamsheet per guest

Matchday competitions

Entertainment from a special guest

1 guest to present match ball to the referee with photo opportunities*

*subject to referee's agreement on the day

During the Game

Executive West Stand seating

Half-time refreshments

After the Game

Presentation of commemorative gift

Photographs of your experience forwarded to you after the day of the game

Aldershot Match – Saturday 22nd December

2012

Pre-match

Three-course meal and pre-mier hospitality for 2 people

Reserved car parking for 1 vehicle

Entertainment from the match day host

Cash bar facility

Complimentary programme and teamsheet per guest

Matchday competitions

Entertainment from a special guest

During the Game

Executive West Stand seating

Half-time refreshments

12

NTFC Supporters Ltd—Cobblers Travel 2012/13 Email: travel@ntfctrust.co.uk

Phone: 07840 355864

Web: www.ntfctrust.co.uk

Facebook: Cobblers Travel Club

Travel to all Cobblers away matches on ex-ecutive Yorks coaches.

Pub stops for all weekend games, excellent facilities, loyalty card to save you money on future trips,

AND

Competitive pricing