Ahead of Saturdays game we look at some of the players that have played for both the Cobblers and Portsmouth.
Matt Taylor
Matt joined Portsmouth from Luton Town in 2002. Matt made 178 appearances for for Portsmouth scoring 23 goals. He left Portsmouth in 2008. He joined the Cobblers in 2016 where he stayed for a season making 44 appearances scoring 7 goals. One thriller v MK Dons live on Sky Sports.
Andy Turner (Header Photo
On 3 September 1996, Turner was signed by Portsmouth after manager Terry Fenwick paid a £250,000 transfer fee. Andy made 40 appearances for Portsmouth scoring 3 goals.
He came to the Cobblers win 2003 making just 3 appearances before moving to Northwich Victoria.
Peter Denyer
Peter trained at Chelsea for two years before being taken on by his home town club. Sadly it was at a time that Portsmouth were slipping down the divisions in his four season’s at Fratton Park he played in divisions two three and four.
The full extend of his transfer to Northampton was never revealed but it had something to do with the fact ‘Pompey’ still owed money on the Steve Bryant transfer. However Max Griggs later stated that he provided the £20,000.
Peter was well accepted by the Northampton supporters he was an industrious player with plenty of skill. In a match v Scunthorpe he netted a 14-minute hat-trick from midfield.
The latter part of his stay at Northampton saw him miss a lot of games through injuries.
Steve Bryant
Steve Bryant started his football life as a winger but converted to full-back and had just won himself a regular place in the Birmingham side when he was dropped for no known reason for the F.A. cup semi-final of 1975 v Fulham.
Relationship was never the same after that and after a month at Sheffield Wednesday on loan Steve was signed by Northampton and was in effect Pat Crerand’s last signing. He became a regular member of the Cobblers side and one of the few successes as they fell back to the basement division and applied for re-election.
It was not long before clubs came round with the chequebook knowing the Cobbler’s financial plight.
He moved to Portsmouth spending three years there and helping them into the third division. Steve made 119 appearances for Portsmouth.
Wilf McCoy (Tim)
Wilf McCoy nicknamed Tim after the film actor of the time was a reserve centre half at Portsmouth when Northampton paid £3,500 for his services.
A good solid central defender he was a regular member of the first team until he fell out with the club because he refused to move to Northampton.
Player and club were in limbo for several months, he had to take a job outside the game for a spell until he relented and agreed to the clubs terms, however it never happened.
He made 18 appearances for Portsmouth and 68 for the Cobblers.
Jack Platt
Preston born Jack was a prolific scorer with Kettering in the Southern League but when he moved on to Portsmouth he found it hard to maintain a first team place.
After just 21 games in two seasons he moved on to Northampton and found his goal touch again. During his spell at the County Ground he suffered a kidney complaint that at one stage was so serious that it thought his life might be in danger.
He recovered and started to knock in the goals again so much so that he impressed his hometown club Preston for whom he was on the books earlier in his career. Jack made his league debut at 27 and gave the Lilywhites three years before calling it a day.
Arthur Chadwick
Arthur joined Portsmouth from Southampton and once again he won a Southern League championship medal. He joined the Cobblers in 1904 giving them two seasons but the club struggled throughout his stay.
At the age of 31 he returned to Accrington and spent two seasons there before re appearing in the Southern League again, this time with Exeter City. In 1910 he took over the role of player manager and took them into the football league in 1920.
Chris Burns
Chris made 117 appearances and scored 12 goals fro Portsmouth in the four seasons he was there.
Chris was one of the first players that Ian Atkins signed when he took over at Northampton Town. Despite being a regular first team player and the club having their best start for some time Chris asked for a move stating he could no longer live on the wages of a full time footballer.
Jason Crowe
Jason joined Portsmouth in July 1999 from Arsenal for a fee of £750,000 he made 93 appearances scoring 5 goals.
Jason settled into the Cobblers defence well playing in either wing back positions of central defender and had been brought forward to bolster the midfield. During the transfer window of February 2008 Plymouth made an offer that would have been a record sale for the Cobbler’s buy Jason preferred to stay at Sixfields.
Jason created something of a record when he was sent off on his debut for Arsenal v Birmingham in an F. A. Cup tie of 1998. He came on as a 90th. minute substitution but was dismissed before the final whistle
Steve Perrin
After losing his place with Palace he joined Plymouth and although he only netted six goals in 40 games for them he was sold to Portsmouth for £20,000.
On his release he joined Hillingdon and concentrated on his teaching but Northampton brought him back into league football with an agreement that he would not be called on to play in reserve games.
For some months he was involved in a balancing act once having to drive from London to Sheffield after school had finished for a match and then drive all the way back after a heavy defeat,
He later returned to non-League football and became a teacher.
Michael Smith
On the final day of the January 2016 transfer window, Smith joined League Two club Portsmouth on loan. The move was made permanent at the end of the season for an undisclosed fee. He made 34 appearances for Portsmouth scoring 7 goals. He joined the Cobblers on loan from Portsmouth in 2017 making 14 appearance during 2 goals.
Rob Wollaston
In August 2000 Rob could have joined WBA on loan but instead opted for Nottingham Forest but did not get a first team game.
Rob had a short loan period at Northampton at the start of the 2002 season but failed to impress in his eight games to earn himself a longer loan deal.
Bryn Morris
Morris signed for League One club Portsmouth on 14 January 2019 on a two-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee.He scored his first goal for Portsmouth in a 3–3 draw against Southend United on 16 February 2019. Morris was cup-tied for Portsmouth’s win in the 2019 EFL Trophy Final.