Cobblers legend hails commentator's 40‑year service

A Northampton Town legend has congratulated a BBC commentator for 40 years of broadcasting.

Adebayo Akinfenwa, who played for the Cobblers for two spells between 2008 and 2013, recorded a special message for Tim Oglethorpe, who currently commentates on Town matches for BBC Northampton.

Oglethorpe started his career commentating for Kettering Town at Sutton United in the FA trophy first round in the 1985/86 season.

Akinfenwa said: "Congratulations on 40 years in the game. I was shouting out from the rooftops that I played the game for 21 years, you've been in the game for 40 years. Here's to 40 more years."

Oglethorpe, who also writes features for a national newspaper, says his connection to Northampton Town remains deeply personal.

"If you're going to cover a football team 40 to 50 times a season, you have to really care about what [the team] are doing," he said.

"So I have an emotional investment in the Cobblers."

Former manager Chris Wilder, who led the club to the League Two title in 2015-16, praised his "dedication and commitment" while ex‑defender Clarke Carlisle described his decades of service as "remarkable".

Looking back on his early days, Oglethorpe described the nerves he felt before his first broadcast, remembering sitting in front of a landline, waiting for it to ring so he could deliver his debut report for BBC Radio Northampton.

"I was terrified, I'd never done radio before, and I had this landline phone in front of me," he recalled.

"I knew it was going to ring at some point and I'd have to do my first piece."

Oglethorpe admitted he never imagined he would still be commentating decades later.

"If you'd asked me at the start of that Sutton game on that Saturday afternoon if I'd still be going 40 years later, I'd have said no chance. It's funny how these things work out."

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