Kevin Nolan has been named Northampton Town’s new manager on a two-and-a-half year contract. The former West Ham first-team coach has returned to a No 1 role for the first time since being sacked by Notts County in August 2018. Nolan’s first taste of management came as a player-manager at Leyton Orient two years earlier.

The 42-year-old former Bolton and Newcastle midfielder was part of David Moyes’s staff at West Ham for four years but left when the Scot departed the club in May this year and has been keen to return to frontline management. Nolan replaces Jon Brady, who this month resigned after three-and-a-half years in charge. Brady’s assistant, former manager Ian Sampson, has been in caretaker charge. Northampton are 20th in League One, a place above the relegation zone after a 5-0 defeat at home to Charlton at the weekend. They travel to Reading on Boxing Day.

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