WREXHAM'S RISE? A LOAD OF COBBLERS!

Sixty years ago, Northampton enjoyed their sole top-flight campaign, following three promotions in five years

- Ed McCambridge

Next term, Wrexham aim for a fourth promotion in a row to reach the Premier League, and secure arguably the greatest rise up the divisions. Yet this coming campaign marks the 60th anniversary of Northampton Town's rise from the depths of the fourth tier to the top flight in the space of just five seasons. Few are the underdog stories that can top such Cobblers.

The man behind the miracle was manager Dave Bowen, a former Arsenal and Wales captain, who led his country out at the 1958 World Cup.

When Bowen took the Northampton reins in 1959, the club languished in the Fourth Division but they soon began to climb the Football League. First, came promotion from the Fourth Division in 1961. Two seasons later, they won the Third Division. Then, most remarkably, they were runners-up to Newcastle in the 1964-65 Second Division to seal an unlikely place in the top flight.