Cobblers Courting Republic of Ireland Striker..

After the recent acquisition of Clive Platt Aidy Boothroyd is looking to add further fire power to his forward line with the purchase of Roy O'Donovan. Boothroyd has managed O'Donovan before during his time in charge at Coventry City and is a big admirer of his talent, in fact it was Boothroyd who brought him to the Ricoh Arena from Sunderland back in 2010. O'Donovan has perhaps not progressed in his career as expected and needs a new challenge, something the Cobblers manager hopes to offer him. With one year left on his contract at Coventry the signing of O'Donovan would come at a price, Coventry are willing to sell for around the £50,000 mark and that price is well within the reach of Northampton due to the impending sale of young starlet Michael Jacobs.

There is still a question mark over the goal scoring ability of the Irish striker, with his only real successful spell in England was during a loan spell at Hartlepool United, prior to that his only recognisable record was at Cork City where his goals to games ratio was close to 1 in 2, which is exceptional. Aidy Boothroyd will be attracted to the versatility of O'Donovan who can play as a striker but can also play on the right or left of midfield if required and with a small squad planned, Cobblers are going to be aiming for players who can play in different positions.

On the subject of transfer targets there seems to be growing rumour that the signing of Chris Hackett is all but wrapped up and set to be announced when his contract with Millwall officially expires, that rumour could just be conjuncture from supporters desperate for news.

A lot of transfer movement at Northampton is reliant on Michael Jacobs moving on to pastures new and also other players that have been rendered obsolete finding new clubs, the aim from David Cardoza and Aidy Boothroyd is to build a team capable of not only winning promotion but capable of winning the league, while they won't publicly admit it, the club is going to give it a real go this season and hopefully supporters will be fretting over automatic promotion instead of panicking about non league football. The club hit rock bottom last season and now is the time to fight back, an exciting season is sure to ensue and the next month will add to that excitement with expected signings including some exciting names.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.