The life of Albert Joseph Darnell, solicitor, coroner and well-respected all-round sportsman, begins the trail of Northampton Town’s chequered and often colourful 100-year history.

The story began when ‘Pat’, as Darnell was affectionately known, was invited to travel to Leicester with Northampton boys in October 1896 for a game which acted as a curtain-raiser to a Leicester Fosse v Notts County Division Two contest. Hooked by what he saw, Darnell instantly set about making enquiries about establishing a professional club.

At the same time, Wellingborough schoolteacher Arthur Jones was moving in the same direction and the pair’s drive helped bring together a meeting on March 6, 1897.

Fellow pioneers were master tailor David Stanton, later landlord of the Cock Hotel; WI Westmorland, the headmaster of St Matthews School, Len Swain of the NFA and Charlie Gyde, the landlord of the Princess Royal and soon to be club treasurer.

‘Darnell’s first battle came with the local rugby club, who objected to the soccer team sharing its name. The battle went to the FA in London where it was agreed the football team would be known as Northampton Town. The club grew quickly and whistled through the Northants and Midland Leagues in four seasons to become a Southern League side.

This was not such plain sailing, with the Cobblers relying so heavily on amateurs and for two consecutive seasons (1905/06 and 1906/07) they finished bottom. Promotion and relegation depended on voting, and the persuasive tongues of Darnell and Jones ensured the Cobblers did not drop to the second division.

The pair were a complete contrast; Darnell a quiet, thoughtful, unruffled character and Jones a . bombastic, full-blooded individual who met each problem head on.

The appointment of Herbert Chapman as manager in 1907 proved decisive, with the championship achieved two years later and from that point, to the outbreak of the First World War, Northampton Town were a force to be reckoned with in the Southern League.

But at any point up to 1922, when the club became a limited company, their existence depended on guarantors. Had any of those pulled out, the Cobblers could quickly have been history. The club’s pioneers did more than just play nursemaid during the infancy of Northampton Town Football Club…