“I think Aidy has every right to have a dig because he was harshly done to at Coventry. I hope Coventry are a winning team next year and I am certainly not leaving on a bitter note. It's the biggest and best club I have been at in my career and I would have loved to have stayed but getting a longer contract is great security for me and my family and it gives me the opportunity to play competitive football for the next two years.“
The 34-year-old was only offered a year to stay at City on reduced terms after the club's drop to League One and the fact that he couldn't be guaranteed a regular start clearly added to his decision to switch to the Cobblers and drop down to League Two. “Do I think I would have had as much part of Coventry's team next year? Probably not in all honesty because I think I would have been playing a bit part and I would be rather be part of a team from day one,“ said the target man who made 47 starts, 22 substitute appearances and scored seven goals for the Sky Blues.
“I have obviously worked with Aidy before and we got on well. He's always infectious and ambitious and he's got big ambitions for the place and it will be good to join that and be a big part of it at the top end of the division rather than fighting away at the bottom as we were last year.
“I definitely want Northampton to be a winning team next year and hopefully Coventry will get it right next year because I don't think they should be in that division.
“It's going to take a lot of hard work for them but they have got a lot of promising young players and if they can add to that I am sure they will sort themselves out.“
“You can't really take many positives out of being relegated. Richard Keogh is a good friend of mine and he's very disappointed but he's come through it with flying colours on a personal note.
“It was a tough season for a lot of different reasons, especially the offthe-field stuff that was going on, and I think the fans had every right to demonstrate the way they did because what they had been told didn't come to fruition.
“Obviously Thorny had his hands tied a lot of the time, selling players and not replacing them, so it was difficult with a bare squad a lot of the time with all the injuries and a lot was asked of the young lads.
“A lot of responsibility was passed on to them that would have been hard for experienced players to take, let alone young lads. Hopefully they will be stronger for it.
“But I love the club and loved my time playing there, especially scoring goals and winning games when we did manage to do that.“
“All in all I really loved that first season,“ said the player who was hampered by a back problem last year.
“I know it tailed off and we were criticised for being too direct but we were fourth at one point and flying high and bar a few injuries and bringing in a few more players at the right time it could have been a promising year.
“The last year was a struggle and I found myself really fighting for starts but I managed to get a few goals.
“I was out for the pre-season which is always a dreaded sign because you miss so much fitness work and have to play catch-up. But I was in a hospital bed most of the pre-season getting needles in my back and that didn't help. I managed to overcome that in the end and finished the season strongly when we got ourselves into a great position but just couldn't get over the final hurdle.“
“I loved my goal against West Ham, which was my 100th career goal as well, to put it in the top corner with my left foot.
“I really enjoyed going to Bristol and scoring there and me and Juke scoring at Ipswich and taking the three points, so there were some good times.
“I have made some really good friends. I thank the fans who couldn't have done any more in a difficult situation last year. They had their protests but I think the first thing on their mind was supporting the team and they did that all year, home and away, when they were very vocal in some very hard times and deserved a lot more than what they got.
“I am sure they will get behind the team again next year and hopefully be at the top of the division and get promoted.“
“Coventry definitely need some new additions because it is a lot to ask of the young lads to engineer a promotion,“ he said.
“But with the right signings and using the young lads correctly I think a bit of hard work and a solid game plan they could do it.
“I am not saying they can run away with the league because it is not that kind of division. Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday, Preston, Leicester even, have all gone down and not flown back up, so it is a difficult league.
“There are a lot of teams who know the division well and there will be very tough places to go and there will be a lot of teams capable of pushing for promotion and I am sure Coventry will be one of them.
“The Ricoh is such a magnificent ground that if the fans get behind the team and they start winning games early doors then they can make it a really intimidating place.
“But the other side of that is teams going there and looking at the great pitch and arena and upping their game, thinking they want to play well on this pitch today, so I am sure they will have a lot of tough games at home.
“And going away from home can be a bit of a culture shock playing on pitches that aren't as nice to play on against teams who have got a lot of points at home themselves.“
“We were terrible away last year so that's something that has to be addressed.
“I just thought we were maybe a bit too open and concentrated too much on playing football rather than winning the game. We played good football without creating too many chances. A lot of teams who came to us showed us a lot of respect by sitting back and committed people to defending and trying to win on the counter attack and I think if we had more of a defend-first mentality to keep that clean sheet and nick a goal or two I think we would maybe have got a few more points.
“We passed the ball around lovely and speaking to Lukas Jutkiewicz he felt the same * as good as anyone else in the division * but sometimes it's about getting the ball in the box and having shots on target and I don't think we did that enough and that's reflected in the amount of goals we scored.
“You can have all the possession you want across the middle of the park but if you don't put that ball consistently into the opposition goal you are going to struggle and put pressure on your defence, especially if you are committing your fullbacks forward like we did which put a lot of pressure on Richard Keogh and Martin Cranie to keep clean sheets, although, to be fair they stood up well.“
The 34-year-old was only offered a year to stay at City on reduced terms after the club's drop to League One and the fact that he couldn't be guaranteed a regular start clearly added to his decision to switch to the Cobblers and drop down to League Two. “Do I think I would have had as much part of Coventry's team next year? Probably not in all honesty because I think I would have been playing a bit part and I would be rather be part of a team from day one,“ said the target man who made 47 starts, 22 substitute appearances and scored seven goals for the Sky Blues.
“I have obviously worked with Aidy before and we got on well. He's always infectious and ambitious and he's got big ambitions for the place and it will be good to join that and be a big part of it at the top end of the division rather than fighting away at the bottom as we were last year.
“I definitely want Northampton to be a winning team next year and hopefully Coventry will get it right next year because I don't think they should be in that division.
“It's going to take a lot of hard work for them but they have got a lot of promising young players and if they can add to that I am sure they will sort themselves out.“
“You can't really take many positives out of being relegated. Richard Keogh is a good friend of mine and he's very disappointed but he's come through it with flying colours on a personal note.
“It was a tough season for a lot of different reasons, especially the offthe-field stuff that was going on, and I think the fans had every right to demonstrate the way they did because what they had been told didn't come to fruition.
“Obviously Thorny had his hands tied a lot of the time, selling players and not replacing them, so it was difficult with a bare squad a lot of the time with all the injuries and a lot was asked of the young lads.
“A lot of responsibility was passed on to them that would have been hard for experienced players to take, let alone young lads. Hopefully they will be stronger for it.
“But I love the club and loved my time playing there, especially scoring goals and winning games when we did manage to do that.“
“All in all I really loved that first season,“ said the player who was hampered by a back problem last year.
“I know it tailed off and we were criticised for being too direct but we were fourth at one point and flying high and bar a few injuries and bringing in a few more players at the right time it could have been a promising year.
“The last year was a struggle and I found myself really fighting for starts but I managed to get a few goals.
“I was out for the pre-season which is always a dreaded sign because you miss so much fitness work and have to play catch-up. But I was in a hospital bed most of the pre-season getting needles in my back and that didn't help. I managed to overcome that in the end and finished the season strongly when we got ourselves into a great position but just couldn't get over the final hurdle.“
“I loved my goal against West Ham, which was my 100th career goal as well, to put it in the top corner with my left foot.
“I really enjoyed going to Bristol and scoring there and me and Juke scoring at Ipswich and taking the three points, so there were some good times.
“I have made some really good friends. I thank the fans who couldn't have done any more in a difficult situation last year. They had their protests but I think the first thing on their mind was supporting the team and they did that all year, home and away, when they were very vocal in some very hard times and deserved a lot more than what they got.
“I am sure they will get behind the team again next year and hopefully be at the top of the division and get promoted.“
“Coventry definitely need some new additions because it is a lot to ask of the young lads to engineer a promotion,“ he said.
“But with the right signings and using the young lads correctly I think a bit of hard work and a solid game plan they could do it.
“I am not saying they can run away with the league because it is not that kind of division. Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday, Preston, Leicester even, have all gone down and not flown back up, so it is a difficult league.
“There are a lot of teams who know the division well and there will be very tough places to go and there will be a lot of teams capable of pushing for promotion and I am sure Coventry will be one of them.
“The Ricoh is such a magnificent ground that if the fans get behind the team and they start winning games early doors then they can make it a really intimidating place.
“But the other side of that is teams going there and looking at the great pitch and arena and upping their game, thinking they want to play well on this pitch today, so I am sure they will have a lot of tough games at home.
“And going away from home can be a bit of a culture shock playing on pitches that aren't as nice to play on against teams who have got a lot of points at home themselves.“
“We were terrible away last year so that's something that has to be addressed.
“I just thought we were maybe a bit too open and concentrated too much on playing football rather than winning the game. We played good football without creating too many chances. A lot of teams who came to us showed us a lot of respect by sitting back and committed people to defending and trying to win on the counter attack and I think if we had more of a defend-first mentality to keep that clean sheet and nick a goal or two I think we would maybe have got a few more points.
“We passed the ball around lovely and speaking to Lukas Jutkiewicz he felt the same * as good as anyone else in the division * but sometimes it's about getting the ball in the box and having shots on target and I don't think we did that enough and that's reflected in the amount of goals we scored.
“You can have all the possession you want across the middle of the park but if you don't put that ball consistently into the opposition goal you are going to struggle and put pressure on your defence, especially if you are committing your fullbacks forward like we did which put a lot of pressure on Richard Keogh and Martin Cranie to keep clean sheets, although, to be fair they stood up well.“
