Aidy Boothroyd admits York City’s popular former Cobblers defender Clarke Carlisle is a player he would have loved to re-signed this summer.
Town go to Bootham Crescent on Tuesday night where they will be up against a Ministermen side with Carlisle at the heart of its defence.
The 32-year-old centre-back was a key player last season as Northampton successfully avoided dropping out of the Football League and the club campaigned hard to bring him back in the close season.
But, in Boothroyd’s words, ‘lots of different reasons’ prevented a reunion, and he missed out on adding the experienced defender - who captained the side in every minute of every game in his four months on loan from Burnley - to his roster for the current campaign.
“We tried very hard to get Clarke in the summer and he is a player I really wanted to get in,” said Boothroyd. “For lots of different reasons that didn’t happen and in the end he went to York.
“I don’t think you can look back on these things with disappointment, you’ve got to act quickly and move on to the next one, otherwise you wallow in your self-pity.
“The word leader is used a lot but in Clarke’s case he is the sort of person who infects people with his enthusiasm and his confidence on the pitch.
“He can be having the worst game in the world but he will still organise people and make sure the defenders and the other players are doing their jobs, that’s the sort of person I like.”
The trip to York is the first of three away matches for Northampton, who head to Accrington on Saturday before an FA Cup first-round replay at Bradford City a week on Tuesday.
It will be, Boothroyd feels, a contest against a group of players keen to prove their worth in the Football League following promotion from the ranks of non-league in the summer.
“They’ve made a very solid start and are a couple of points better off than we are at the moment,” he said. “They’ve got an indifferent record at home but they are capable of picking up points there as well.
“York have pace and power about them and a bit of leadership with Clarke in there.
“They will also have a lot of boys who have come with them through non-league (football) and feel they have something to prove in the League.
“They are a team who are on an upward curve so it will be difficult for us but it’s a game we can get something out of.”
Cobblers (probable): Higgs, East, Johnson, Langmead, Charles, Widdowson, Hackett, Tozer, Huws, Akinfenwa, Moult
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