So on Monday lunchtime many Northampton fans got what we have wanted for much of this pre season, a solid centre-back.
David Artell has signed a 2-year deal at Sixfields after his release by Port Vale. Artell arrives at the Sixfields with much needed League 2 experience and he has won promotion from this league as recently as last season with Crewe Alexandra.
He is the leader we have been lacking in my opinion. What he lacks in pace, he makes up for in strength and ariel ability and in my opinion could well bec0me the signing of the off season.
Artell began his career at Rotherham United in 1998 and was part of a Millers team that won succesive promotions from League 2 to the Championship. He left Rotherham for a spell on loan at Shrewsbury Town in 2002-03 making 28 appearances, scoring once. He was a key part of their team that season, following his loan spell he left Rotherham to join Mansfield Town for the start of 2003-04 season.
His stay with Mansfield would last two season's before moving on again.He then joined Chester City and would spend a further two years with them before moving on to join Morecambe in 2007 after being released. He went on to make over 100 appearances for Morecambe and was part of a solid defensive duo of himself and Jim Bentley. Artell then signed for Crewe in 2010 and captained them to promotion via the playoffs at Wembley in May. Despite this he was released by Crewe just five days later, he then signed for Port Vale where he has spent most of pre season but would not accept their revised contract offer. All in all Artell has made 435 appearances at league level, scoring 34 goals. He will no doubt be a candidate for our captaincy and I for one hope he gets it.
This signing all but spells the end of the return of Clarke Carlisle so I would just like to thank Clarke for his contributions last season and wish him well in his future endeavors.
Tuesday night see's the first game of the season take place when we entertain Cardiff City in the Capital One Cup 1st Round. Cardiff will be missing a number of players from their side due to international call ups, so we will not get the chance to give any abuse to the petulant schoolchild character that is Craig Bellamy. It promises to be an interesting game and we have the chance to kick-start our season with a win against higher level opposition, I cannot wait for the real stuff to begin.
Then on Saturday we make the trip to Spotland for hard opener against recently relegated Rochdale in what will prove to be a tough start for the Cobblers we will really get to see if the players are up for the battle which I am sure they are!
So Cobblers fans lets get behind the team and give them our full support throughout the 2012/13 season and who knows hopefully we will be fighting at the right end of the table this season.
Up The Cobblers!!
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