In Aidy Boothroyd’s press conference to preview Tuesday night’s trip to York City, it was suggested to the manager that Clarke Carlisle was the vital signing in the club’s successful fight against relegation last season.
Boothroyd, in the true style of a diplomatic football professional who knows never to burn a bridge, neatly sidestepped the question.
“Clarke was very important to us last year,” he said, before quickly adding: “As was Matt Duke and Toni Silva. Chris Weale did a job for us too.”
Journalists are not subjected to such diplomacy and so it can be said without any deliberation that Carlisle is the main reason the Cobblers being a Football League club this season.
Boothroyd was knee-deep in the Sixfields salvage operation when he recruited Carlisle on loan from Burnley in January.
The defender arrived with a reputation as a leader of men, and he did not disappoint as a captain and as a catalyst for survival.
He was exactly what they team needed at that point, somebody who would grab games and team-mates by the scruff of the neck and grind out the points required to stay up.
But as good as Carlisle was, he had his faults.
Every player has weaknesses to go with their strengths, and as well as being fully versed in the positive things Carlisle brings to the table, Boothroyd will surely have an active working knowledge of the negatives.
The game will not be won or lost on the performance of one player.
But Clarke Carlisle is a huge player for any team in league two football, and he proved that last season.
Now the Cobblers need to prove that they have moved on from that dark era and are capable of winning difficult away games with their latest selection of players.
They will get plenty of opportunity for that, with three such fixtures in the next seven days. York - and Clarke Carlisle - are first.
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