We look at some of the players that have played for both the Cobblers and Barrow.
Jacob Blyth
Blyth began his career at his local non-league side Nuneaton Griff, where he netted 19 goals in 35 matches before joining Leamington. Once again, he demonstrated his ability to be lethal in front of goal as he found the back of the net on 17 occasions.
After becoming a hot prospect, a host of clubs were chasing his services across the country and Leicester City won the race to sign the forward for an undisclosed fee. Initially, he began his time at the King Power Stadium in the Development Squad and finished his first campaign as the top goalscorer.
Whilst at the Foxes, Blyth enjoyed numerous loan spells in the EFL which proved to be invaluable to his progression into senior football. Most notably, he managed to score three times in 11 appearances at Northampton Town before Burton Albion utilised his ability to hold up the ball up and effectively bring his teammates into play.
The 6’3″ striker has had several permanent suitors over the past few years including Motherwell, Barrow and Macclesfield Town and he implemented his dominance in aerial battles, however, struggled with a variety of injuries. Blyth has worked extremely hard to be able to regain his full fitness and he’s eager to prove his worth.
Neil Doherty
He was with the Birmingham team for two seasons, winning Division two and the League Trophy 1995. During this period, however, Doherty was never a first choice player, and he left having made 23 league appearances for the club.
After a spell on loan to Northampton Town at the end of his time with Birmingham, Doherty joined Kidderminster Harriers of the Conference for the start of the 1996/97 season.
In 1998 played on loan with Barrow, who were briefly back in the Football Conference. He left Kidderminster at the end of the 1998/99 season, and moved to Barrow permanently in August 1999.[2] He played his last few seasons with the club but had noticeable lost pace, and he retired at the end of the 2001/02 season, having made a total of 446 appearances for Barrow.
Jason Taylor
Taylor made over 100 appearances for The Hatters before moving on to Rotherham United and then spent the entire 2009/10 campaign on loan at Rochdale.
After returning to Rotherham to make nearly 150 appearances over the next three years before joining Cheltenham Town and then Northampton Town where he made 51 appearances and won the league two title with the club in 2015-16.
Taylor gained experience in the National League with spells on the books at Eastleigh and AFC Fylde before agreeing a move to Barrow in the summer of 2018.
Following Mark Cooper’s arrival as boss, Taylor signed a new deal with the Club and also took on a Player Coach role for 2021/22.
Steve Arnold
After signing professional with Norwich City, 6ft 5in Arnold made his Football League debut with Stevenage, making 31 appearances while at Broadhall Way.
He twice helped Forest Green Rovers to the National League play offs making 45 appearances, with his most recent club being Shrewsbury Town, whom he joined in July 2018.
The 29 year old played 32 times for the Shrews in 2018/19, becoming the club’s first choice keeper.
Terry McPhillips
Terry had one good season 1988-89 when he scored 25 league and cup goals in a season his club Halifax had to apply for re-election.
He never re discovered that form and a move to Crewe who saw him used as cover.
In between he had a three-match loan period at Northampton where he was used as a substitute on all three occasions and in three different competitions.
In 1996 Terry became academy manager of Crewe Alexandra’s moving to a similar position with Blackburn in 2006. The Blackburn youth team won the F.A. youth cup under him and he was promoted to assistant manager of the first team.
2018 saw him take over as manager of Blackpool after 2 seasons as assistant.