EFL club name academy player of the year – only to release him after relegation

Northampton Town’s immediate future has been made even bleaker by releasing their academy player of the year after their relegation.

The Cobblers are set for a summer of turmoil after finishing bottom of League One and have been without a manager since March.

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Northampton sacked Kevin Nolan following a run of just one win in their last 16 league matches, but were only three points off safety.

However, interim boss Colin Calderwood was unable to stop the rot, and the Shoe Army lost all of their remaining 10 games of the season.

Northampton’s horrendous run of form ensured that the club finished rock bottom of League One, six points adrift of Rotherham United, despite being relegated 24 hours AFTER the Millers.

Calderwood’s side’s final match of the campaign even saw them blow a two-goal lead at home to Plymouth Argyle en route to a 3-2 defeat.

EFL club release academy player of the season

Northampton fans won’t even be boosted by the possibility of the club building their squad for League Two around academy stars.

Archie Murray, who was named the Cobblers’ Academy Player of the Season on Sunday, announced he’d been let go the day before.

“After over 12 years at [Northampton Town], my time has unfortunately come to an end,” the player wrote on Instagram.

“Thank you to everyone involved at the club for supporting me over the years, onto the next…” alongside a red heart emoji.

Murray was involved in Northampton’s pre-season commitments last summer under Nolan and featured in their first two matches.

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He played the final 11 minutes of a 3-0 loss in a behind-closed-doors friendly to Cambridge United, with the two clubs swapping league divisions a year on following the U’s promotion.

Yet Murray was never allowed to cut his teeth at the top level once the season started, despite Northampton’s struggles.

The midfielder wasn’t named in a senior matchday squad once, with interim boss Calderwood insisting last week that the academy is set to be a big part of the club’s future.

“We are still hoping to get an academy player on the bench, but there is no guarantee, and it has to be deserved,” he said on Friday.

“We want to open it up to the younger players, and the academy is a big part of the club moving forward.”

Northampton, who are captained by Sean Dyche’s son Max, a product of the club’s youth set-up, currently operate a Category 3 academy.

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Against Plymouth on Saturday, Murray’s fellow academy midfielder, Mateo Moon-Arnaez, was named on the bench.

The 17-year-old was an unused substitute, but another academy product, Neo Dobson, did make his first appearance of the 2025/26 campaign late on.

“Mateo has done well through the academy,” explained Calderwood. “He came up and joined us for training as a reward, and we wanted to get him involved. There’s always peaks and troughs for young players, and he’s had a bit of a trough, which is just natural, but we have to make sure we open the door, and there’s an opportunity.

“When they drop back down to the academy, it has to be normal that they go up and down. Coming up to the first-team doesn’t make them a player because there’s still a lot of work for him to do. He’s experienced a little bit today, and ideally I would have loved to get him on the pitch, but the sending off didn’t help.”

“It’s also nice to see Neo back,” added Calderwood. “He’s had a very difficult season in terms of injuries but it was great to get him on the bench and we have to try and blood one or two of these boys a little bit more.

“They have to earn it, then earn it again, and then earn it again. They can’t think sitting on the bench is the ultimate goal or being in the team is as good as you can get. The opposition today were an example of the level you can get to, but there’s a level above that and you always have to be striving to be better.”