Northampton Town CEO James Whiting has said the club are still in the market for a striker, after their pursuit of a deadline-day arrival failed.
There were three reported targets for the Cobblers, which never came to fruition, with two on the final day of the window.
Cobblers’ boss Kevin Nolan confirmed earlier this week that one deal failed due to the knock-on effect further up the pyramid, while one player “forgot to sign the DocuSign”.
But Whiting gave a positive update on their long-standing chase for another forward addition, as they look to put the disappointment of the winter window behind them.
Looking At The Free Agent Market
Missing out on an earlier target gave Northampton adequate time to move on to someone else, but the chaos of transfer deadline day ultimately proved true. In fairness, it doesn’t appear like they did a lot wrong in this instance.
Clubs higher up the pyramid do ultimately hold all the power, and can change their mind at any second. And the Cobblers did rapidly move on, as any club would have to have done so late in the window. But errors like not signing documents cannot be foreseen, no matter how disappointing that will have been for Nolan and everyone involved at the East Midlands outfit.
Speaking on the Cobblers Show on BBC Radio Northampton, CEO Whiting gave the latest update.
“The deals we were trying to do deadline day didn’t happen and the window’s closed now so we move on to looking at the out-of-contract market. There’s a lot of players who are out of contract or who got paid up at the end of the window.
“We’re still assessing those options and we can do business if the right players are out there. We’ve had a fair bit of success in that market and the thing with those players is that you can sometimes get them in to train with you because they don’t have a club.”
Cobblers Desperate For Striker
After Ethan Wheatley was recalled by Manchester United, subsequently joining Bradford City later on in the window, the Cobblers’ lack of attacking threat has become even clearer. While Wheatley only managed three goals during his time at Sixfields, any forward loss is a big one when they aren’t replaced.
Despite rescuing a point at Barnsley on Tuesday evening, ending their four-match losing streak, it stretched Northampton’s winless run to nine matches. Only basement side Port Vale have scored fewer than their 26 goals this season, while their defensive record has stopped them from being cut further adrift inside the relegation places.
As it stands, that midweek point at Oakwell reduced the gap to safety to one point. But a handful of their relegation rivals now have a game in hand on Nolan’s outfit. And it doesn’t get any easier, with promotion-chasing Stevenage and Lincoln City making up two of their next three League One encounters. An EFL trophy tie at AFC Wimbledon follows the match against the Boro.
The Cobblers’ hopes of third-tier survival may hang on the signing of a free agent, sooner rather than later.