Stuart Gray so far

When Gary was appointed Cobblers` manager on 2 January 2007, his biography was strangely similar to John Gorman; he was a manager closely connected to Glenn Hoddle. He was team coach when Hoddle was manager at Southampton, becoming manager when Hoddle left for Spurs. Gray`s spell at The Dell was short-lived. Gray then coached at Aston Villa and Wolves, where he was again reunited with Hoddle.

Gray came to the club with more management experience than Calderwood and needed to do a job to keep the club in the division. The legacy he acquired from Sammo and Barron was a ship that had been partly steadied. His strike force was up for sale, with Scott McGleish, Andy Kirk and James Quinn placed on the transfer list by David Cardoza. Gray also had a team with the worst home record in the division and a limited budget to bring in any new faces.

Gray brought goals to Sixfields, the Cobblers scored 6 in his first 2 home games, 3 to McGleish and 1 to Kirk, in total McGleish scored 4 in three games under Gray. He was then sold to Wycombe among some disquiet from fans. Super Scotty had been a good servant to the club but age was against him.

Gray moved into the loan market and brought in striker Jordan Robertson from Sheffield United and Gavin Laird, a midfielder from Man City. Before the transfer window closed Gray brought in striker Kenny Ducher from Gretna, Luke Chambers was sold to Nottingham Forest and Mark Hughes was brought from Everton to replace him. Another loanee was brought in Alex Pearce from Reading.

February saw Cobblers lose four matches in a row, the next three games saw them draw and win two. With a lot of changes to the team it was taking time to gel. March saw the team consolidate but still with some inconsistent performances, Simon Cox arrived on loan from Reading adding more firepower to the strike force. April saw a protest march from the fans against the local council and a memorable victory over the division leaders and ensuring a mid-table position.

So the verdict on Gray so far, he has proved himself canny in the loan and transfer market. In particular the loan signings from Reading of Simon Cox and Alex Pearce made a significant difference to the side and keeping the Cobblers in League 1. In signing Mark Hughes as a replacement for Luke Chambers Gray unearthed a young centre-back who was a better player than Chambers. Gray was also able to get better performances from players such as Brad Johnson and give the team more strength and determination.

Lets hope his signings for this season are able to entertain the Sixfields` faithful and consolidate our position in this league.