It seems that Northampton Town players do not take the route to management as regularly as some players do. Going back to the dark ages few ex-Cobblers went into the ‘hot seat’. The only one who stands out was Herbert Chapman who was a far better manager than player, winning the League three times with Huddersfield and Arsenal as well as taking Northampton to the Southern League championship. 

Dave Bowen, with no previous management experience, became the first manager to take a club from the fourth to the first division as well as becoming an international manager with Wales. 

Of the side that played in division one few decided management was the next step. Theo Foley coached many clubs and was assistant for a few more but he did manage Charlton where he made £1,000,000 in transfer fees and Graham Carr spent ten years in non-league management before taking over at Northampton where he also made £1 million in transfer fees. Mike Everitt managed teams in the middle-east while Terry Branston took charge of a couple of non-league clubs in the midlands. 

Both Phil Neal and John Gregory had some success in management Phil with Bolton and John with Aston Villa. In recent years Ian Hendon managed Barnet for a short spell and now Leyton Orient. Russell Wilcox is in charge of York having had a successful spell at Scunthorpe. 

However there are plenty of players who wore the claret and white as a player who are now in charge of clubs with the top non-League clubs. Ex-Manager Gary Johnson is in charge of Cheltenham who lost league status last season. Richard Hill is at Eastleigh being responsible as the manager who took them into one step from league football. Malcom Crosby who had a spell as assistant to Ian Sampson is now in charge of Gateshead. Meanwhile Kevin Wilson is managing Brackley in the Vanarama League South. In the Evo-Stick Southern Divisional one Nathan Abbey is joint manager of Arlesley Town together with his brother Zema.