Big city lights don't bother me

Despite growing up nowhere near London, and having no affiliation with it whatsoever, I support Arsenal. I don’t have any family that support them. Why do I? Because they are the first team I watched on TV, and fell in love with them. But I grew up in Northampton. Which means, naturally, I hold a soft spot for them too. And since I’ve moved away, that spot has increased.

I’ve been to a number of Cobblers games, and if you don’t know them, they are one of those teams that will rarely do anything for a couple of years, then suddenly have a decent season, as was the case two years ago before last season’s flirtation with relegation (that rhymes). They are the Walsall of League Two, if you will. What a drab comparison that is.

Their recent moment in the spotlight was defeating Liverpool at Anfield in the League Cup on penalties in 2010. The respective managers that day: Roy Hodgson and Ian Sampson. One currently manages England, the other resigned from Corby Town. I’ll let you figure out which is which. David N’Gog played (and scored) that game, too. Remember him? It’s rare that Northampton get any glory, but when they do, they get it at Anfield. That Abdul Osman, he silenced the Kop.

Since then however, it has been League Two mediocrity. I remember back in about 2007, when they briefly climbed into League One and were playing the likes of Leeds United and Nottingham Forest. In fact, in 2007/08, they finished 9^th in League One, and Bournemouth got relegated to League Two. How times have changed.

I went to the Forest away game in 2007, when Northampton lost 1-0. It was my first away game, even though I was in the Forest end. I went to the play-off final in 2013, when the Cobblers were completely outplayed by Bradford and got destroyed, losing 3-0. That was only my second game that season.

The season after (ie last season), I didn’t go to a single Northampton match. I don’t know why. Really, I don’t. Last season was when I went to a really random selection of matches (Wigan vs Zulte Waregem in the Europa League, Manchester City vs Watford in the FA Cup, Scunthorpe vs York on the final day of the League Two season). It was a year that Northampton struggled, just avoiding relegation out of the Football League on the final day. Phew.

This year however things have changed. I’ve moved up north to Huddersfield to attend university. And I miss Northampton. It’s home. Don’t get me wrong, Huddersfield is great, and the team is in the Championship, something the Cobblers could only dream of at the minute. But it isn’t my local team. It never will be.

Other people on my course, and they’ve come from Scunthorpe, Rotherham, Derby, Peterborough. They all support their local sides. And when we go to our lecture on Monday, it’s always “good result for Northampton at the weekend” or “bad result for Northampton at the weekend,” and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love to talk about them. I’ve even managed to go to a game this season, going to Mansfield away on John Joe O’Toole Day. I haven’t been to a home game yet, but when I’m home over Easter, it is my number one priority. And I cannot wait.

Northampton Town I’m proud to be.

Who came out of the MLS pre-season the best?

The MLS pre-season came to a close last night, and I take a look at who had the best pre-season, and the worst, ahead of the new season getting underway.

The Houston Dynamo had the best pre-season in terms of results against fellow MLS sides, picking up four wins (vs San Jose, Vancouver, NYCFC and Orlando) as well as a draw against Portland Timbers. They had two disappointing defeats at the hands of USL Pro sides Austin Aztex and Charleston Battery, but yesterday’s convincing 3-0 win over a nine man Orlando City saw Owen Coyle’s side take home the Carolina Challenge Cup title for the third time in their history.

Chris Wondolowski (l) and Robbie Keane (r) lead out their teams at the
Avaya Stadium ahead of San Jose's 3-2 win over LA Galaxy.

San Jose Earthquakes had a pretty solid pre-season by their standards, with their defeat to the Dynamo being the only blemish on their record. One defeat in ten games is a good run to be on at any time of the season, even if it does become before the season has actually started; it means they are able to take some momentum and positivity into their opening fixture, and nothing is more morale boosting than a victory over the reigning MLS Cup champions, a feat they achieved yesterday by defeating LA Galaxy 3-2 in the first game at their new Avaya Stadium.

Vancouver’s only defeat of the pre-season was also at the hands of Houston, going down 1-0. They had some pretty solid performances, and I watched yesterday’s draw with Chicago Fire. Whilst they were second best for the most part, they managed to take the lead against the run of play and it took a 90^th minute equalizer from the Fire to rescue a draw.

For all the so called “big” sides in the MLS, the Seattle Sounders were the most disappointing for me. Defeats to LA Galaxy, Sporting KC and New England Revolution, as well as draws against Sporting KC (again) and Minnesota United meant they ended pre-season with just two wins from a possible seven. And whilst those two wins were convincing (5-0 vs UCLA and 6-0 vs fourth-tier FC Tucson), they were not against relatively difficult opposition. But expect them to kick on when the season comes around.

Clint Dempsey in action vs FC Tucson.

Defending MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy won four and lost the other two of their six pre-season games. Wins against Ventura County Fusion, Georgetown, Seattle Sounders and Shamrock Rovers were not convincing, but they did enough. Defeats to Swedish side Hammarby and San Jose won’t worry Bruce Arena, and they get the season underway on Friday against Chicago Fire.

Kaka and David Villa in their duties as Orlando and NYCFC captains.

The two new franchises, Orlando City and New York City FC, both enjoyed mixed pre-seasons. NYCFC won three, drew one and lost two of their six games, going down to Houston and Danish side Brondby in Manchester. Their draw came against Orlando in a practice for the opening MLS fixture which sees the two sides face off in Orlando. Orlando’s only defeat came yesterday, also to Houston who seemed to beat everybody, whilst they drew with D.C. United, Toronto, BK Hacken, NYCFC and Charleston Battery in a game that got called off after 27 minutes. Their only win was a convincing one though, triumphing 4-0 versus FC Dallas.

The season begins on Friday when LA Galaxy start the defence of their title against the Chicago Fire, and it promises to be a great start to a great, ground breaking season in the MLS.