Wilder says his top boss gong is reward for the whole Cobblers squad

The Northampton manager was announced as the top boss in league two on Friday morning, but was quick to emphasise that it was a squad effort.

“Winning the award is recognition of the fantastic month that we had, and we had a decent October as well,” said Wilder, who saw off competition from Oxford United’s Michael Appleton, Accrington’s John Coleman and Newport County’s John Sheridan to lift the gong.

“We understand that awards like this go hand-in-hand with winning games of football, and we have managed to do that and show great consistency over the past two months.

“So I am delighted to accept the award on behalf of the staff, and the players as well, because we all know that it is group effort.

“We have great players at this football club, really good characters, and I have fantastic staff as well.

“We do everything together as a team and this award is obviously for all of us.”

The Cobblers won four out of four in the league in November, beating Mansfield and Yeovil at home, and Notts County and Crawley away, but that only tells part of the story.

Those results, as well as a stunning 2-1 FA Cup first-round win at league Coventry City, were achieved in front of a backdrop of off-field chaos behind the scenes, with the players having their wages paid late in the month.

Wilder and the rest of the non-playing staff went the whole of November without wages, and the very existence of the club was under threat due to a winding-up petition from the taxman, and the fact the club owed the Borough Council £10.25million.

That perilous situation wasn’t resolved until the end of the month when Kelvin Thomas bought the club from previous chairman David Cardoza - a sale that only went through after a remarkable and impassioned plea from Wilder following the win at Meadow Lane on November 21.

The way Wilder carried himself throughout a traumatic period was inspirational not only to his players, but to the club as a whole, and him winning the award is fully deserved.

Wilder isn’t one for looking back though, and he is already planning for the future and building on what has been achieved so far - starting with the league two match at Luton Town on Saturday.

“We are all here to win, and we can’t all win, we understand that,” said Wilder. “But we are going in the right direction, the club is heading in a good direction and is in a good place at the moment.

“The hard work now has to continue and we have to raise our levels, because those teams underneath us will raise their levels, so we have to be one step ahead.

“We have talked to the players about what we can do to be better individually and as a group, because it is a tough competition.

“We have to keep going now and not waste the great start we have had.

“We are doubly determined to have an excellent December, because we have worked really hard to get into this position.

“We don’t want to let it slip away, and games like the one at Luton on Saturday are ones we want to be involved in.”