Cobblers chairman "comfortable" with £1m loss

Kelvin Thomas was previously chairman of Oxford United before taking over Northampton in 2015

The chairman of a League One football team says he is "comfortable" with the prospect of a £1m deficit in his club's budget.

Kelvin Thomas took over at Northampton Town in 2015 and saw the team promoted last season.

He said he was determined to make sure the Cobblers did not overspend which some other teams had done.

He also said progress should be made soon on the East Stand at Sixfields.

Speaking to BBC Radio Northampton Mr Thomas said: "I've seen people say we've got the worst budget in the division - 'it's not a League One budget'.

"We've got the [EFL budget benchmarking] information in front of us and we're 18th in the division. We were tenth last year and we got promoted.

"We're budgeting to lose just over a million quid and that's to come eighteenth. It sounds crazy, but David [Bower, co-owner] and I have talked about it and we're comfortable in that million range", he added.

He was speaking on Tuesday after the club's 4-0 defeat at Derby County.

He pointed out how the Rams had overspent and had "almost gone out of business".

"We don't want to be, in a year's time, where we can't pay the bills. We're looking to over-achieve on our budget," he added.

Northampton Town's new East Stand for 2,000 supporters

With fans looking for some progress in the long-running East Stand saga, Mr Thomas sought to reassure them things were moving forward.

Development of the stand has been dogged by legal issues and was part of a land deal that was the subject of a judicial review earlier this year.

It was eventually ruled the deal between West Northamptonshire Council and a company owned by the football club was legitimate.

Then the construction firm due to build the stand ceased trading.

Mr Thomas added: "We're committed to finishing the stand which we said all along we would. We didn't expect all these delays.

"We're still doing the contracts with the council. I've got a meeting with the council on Monday and I think we're in the final detail stages of the contract.

"We are talking to three builders currently, and [are] at the final stages to hopefully make an announcement pretty soon about who that's going to be."