Brady to take temporary charge of Cobblers with help from Richards and Sampson after Curle's departure

Jon Brady will take temporary charge of the Cobblers following Keith Curle's departure.

Brady is to step up from his role with the U18s on a caretaker basis and will be assisted by Marc Richards and academy manager Ian Sampson.

Chairman Kelvin Thomas said: "Jon has a wealth of experience both as a player and a manager, he also has a good knowledge of the club and our younger players and we are fortunate to be able to call on him.

"He will be assisted by Ian Sampson and Marc Richards. Both are rightly Northampton Town legends, they have a huge amount of experience in the game and a deep knowledge of and affection for the club and I am sure all supporters will join me in wishing Jon, Ian and Marc well.

"Although supporters might not be able to attend games at the moment, the support they offer is as vital as ever. It has been a challenging season off the field and we can't thank the fans enough for that continued support. We now have a very important 20 games left in the season and we know they'll be right behind us."

Brady has no previous experience of managing in the professional game but he did spend six years at Brackley Town, winning promotion to the National League North in 2012. He then led the Saints to the play-off final the following year but narrowly missed out on promotion after losing 1-0 to FC Halifax.

After leaving Brackley, Brady joined Northampton as U16s coach in 2016 before being promoted to the U18s in 2017.

Neither Richards nor Sampson need any introduction to Cobblers supporters. Both have also been working with the academy and enjoyed successful spells as players at the club. Sampson has of course managed the club previously.