Ahead of Saturdays game v Doncaster we look at some of the players who have played for both.
Stuart Robertson
Stuart joined Doncaster from Nottingham Forest where he signed when he was just 18 years old He spent two seasons with Nottingham. He made his debut for Doncaster in a 1-0 win over Swindon Town in October 1966.
Stuart scored his first goal for the club in a massive 7-0 win over Aldershot Town in 1969. In his 5th season he played five games at centre forward, scoring twice in those games.
In six seasons at Belle Vue he saw promotion to division three as Fourth division champions. Two seasons later Doncaster were back in the fourth division.
Northampton did well to capture his signature and he was one of the key signings made during that poor season of 1972-73. Stuart or ‘Robbo’ as he was affectionately known became an integral part of Bill Dodgin’s side helping the Cobblers into division three.
Dodgin left, and Crerand resigned midway through the 1976-77 season, the club decided not to appoint a manager but instead set up a ‘committee’ to run club affairs until the end of the season. Stuart was part of the committee but the club were still relegated back to the fourth division.
Johnny Petts took the hot seat and brought in two different centre halves but Stuart won his place back.
In 1978 he won the ‘Player of the season trophy’ and quipped that this was the kiss of death and he would be released the following season, sure enough he was.
John Marquis (Header Image)
In February 2014, Marquis joined The Cobblers on a loan deal expected to be for the remainder of the 2013-2014 season.
He made his Cobblers debut the same night, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 against Torquay United, who he had played for in the first half of the season.
He returned to Millwall early, on 13 March 2014, before re-joining the Cobblers two weeks later on 27 March 2014.
John scored his first Cobblers goal on 12 April 2014, in a 1–0 win v Burton Albion. Marquis scored in the last game of the season, a 3–1 win over Oxford United. His final tally for the 2013–14 season was fourteen appearances and two goals.
In June 2016 Marquis joined Doncaster on a two year deal. He quickly established himself in the first team and formed a striking partnership with a future ex-cobbler Andy Williams.
He spent 3 years with Doncaster making 134 appearance scoring 61 goals beef moving to Portsmouth in 2019.
Adebayo Akinfenwa
He was with Doncaster in 2004 and made 9 appearances and scored 4 goals.
On 18 January 2008 Akinfenwa signed a deal with the Cobblers until the end of the 2007-2008season. He made his debut against Swindon Town, where he came off the bench to score a late equaliser in a 1–1 draw. He then had the same impact in his home debut, scoring the equaliser in a 1–1 draw against Leeds United.
Despite not featuring in the following game against Yeovil Town, he started the next home match against Gillingham, and scored two goals in a 4–0 win. He scored three further goals that season.
On 30 May 2008, Akinfenwa signed a new one-year contract at Northampton despite declared interest from Leyton Orient and Grimsby Town.
He started the 2008–09 season well, scoring twice in three matches by the end of September.
Akinfenwa ended his stay at Northampton in May 2010. He had been offered a new deal but Northampton could not agree a deal with him within an agreed timeframe.
He returned to the Cobblers on 25 May 2011, after new Cobblers manager Gary Johnson brought him in to “capture the imagination of the supporters”.
He scored his first goal against Bristol Rovers on 16 August. On 10 November 2012 in a match against Accrington Stanley, Akinfenwa scored his first, and to date only, professional hat-trick.
Three years later, with Northampton struggling financially, Akinfenwa auctioned off the shirt he wore in this match and donated the proceeds to a supporters’ trust, raising £440, Northampton Town released him at the end of the 2012–13 season.
Keshi Anderson
Keshi joined Doncaster on a months loan in September 2015, he made his league debut just days later v Sheffield United. In October, the loan was extended until January 2016.
However the loan was cut short as Anderson suffered a broken leg in a match against Rochdale, and returned to Palace. He joined The Cobblers in January 2017 making 14 appearances scoring a hat-rick in his first game.
Ron flowers
Ron Flowers came to prominence with Doncaster boy’s side. He joined Wath Wanderers at the time, a Wolves Nursery side, signing for Wanderers in 1952.
He made his debut v Blackpool heading in a goal, which started him on his way to over 500 appearances for his club.
In the fourteen years he was there he won three league championship medals and a F.A. Cup winners medal.
In 1976 Ron had lost his regular first team place and accepted the chance to join Northampton as player coach.
The club had fallen down to division Three and Tony Marchi had taken over as manager. He tried to bring in many new players whilst moving some of the more established out. The club finished 18th, Marchi was sacked and Ron was given his job as player/manager.
Barry Richardson
Barry was taken on by Sunderland and allowed to join Scunthorpe because of the amount of goalkeepers the club had on their books.
Unable to hold down a regular place there he went into non-league football but returned via Scarborough where he was the reserve team keeper.
Theo Foley brought him to Northampton where his antics earned him the nickname Psycho. Sometimes he was a match winner other times he suffered from lapses of concentration.
He had been retained for the 1994-5 season but John Beck then manager of Preston paid £20,000 for him, fifteen months later he paid the same fee again when he was manager of Lincoln.
He gave the Imps’ five seasons before a loan spell at Mansfield was followed by a move into non-league football with Doncaster. Halifax and Gainsborough. With his last club he missed a game due to work commitments, the manager Phil Stant, later to have a short spell at the Cobblers, went in goal and conceded three goals.
His comment of ‘If our regular keeper had been between the sticks we would have conceded six’, made Barry’s mind up to quit the game, He became goalkeeper coach to Doncaster during the 2005 close season until 11th, January 2008, and during that time was called upon to play two Associate members cup matches,
Byron Webster
Byron signed for Doncaster on an initial two-year contract for an undisclosed fee on 5 August 2009.Webster made his Doncaster debut in a 1–0 victory away to Notts County in the League Cup first round on 11 August 2009.
17 March 2011, Webster joined the Cobblers on loan until the end of 2010–11.On 17 May 2011, Webster was released by Doncaster and on the same day Northampton signed him permanently on a two-year contract.
Byron made 11 appearances for the cobblers in his time with its before he moved to Yeovil.
Marty Blair
Matty joined the Cobblers in January 2014 on a one-month loan. He made his debut the following day in a 2–0 home defeat to former club York, before scoring a 76th-minute equaliser for Northampton in their 1–1 away draw with Cheltenham Town.
His loan was ended on 5 February 2014, three days ahead of when it was due to expire, having made three appearances and scored one goal the Cobblers.
Blair rejected a new contract with Mansfield to sign for newly relegated League Two club Doncaster Rovers on 24 May 2016 on a two-year contract. He made 48 appearances and scored 3 goals in 2016–17.
Joseph Mills
Mills joined Doncaster Rovers on a one-month emergency loan deal on 19 October 2010, making his debut the same day in a 3–2 defeat by Derby. He made a total of 18 appearances and scored 2 goals in his year at Doncaster.
Mills joined the Cobblers in August 2020.
Enda Stevens
Stevens signed on a one-month loan deal from Aston Villa with Doncaster Rovers on 28 November 2013. He made 13 appearances for Donny before joining the Cobblers in October 2014, he made just 4 appearance for the Cobblers and scored q goal.
Ricky Ravenhill
Ricky joined Doncaster in January 2002 on a free transfer. He went on to stay there for four years, making 137 appearances scoring 9 goals. Including making one loan spell with Chester City in 2006.
In January 2014 Ricky joined the Cobblers he made 37 appearances in his 1 and half season there.
Ian Gilzean
Ian had a loan spell with Doncaster from Dundee in 1993 he did however only made 3 appearances.
He joined the Cobblers in 1993 where he stayed just for a year making 33 appearances scoring 10 goals before leaving for Ayr United in 1994.