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The Managers
Roger Ashby April 1992 - March 1997
After playing over 600 times for Kettering Town which included a Wembley appearance in the 1979 FA Trophy Final lose against Stafford Rangers, Ashby started his managerial career with Irthlingborough Diamonds in the United Counties League.
During the early 80's Ashby lead the Diamonds to the UCL Division One title on four separate occasion, the last being in 82/83, as well as winning the UCL league Cup Diamonds in his time at the Nene Park Ashby guided the Diamonds to the semi final of the FA Vase on two separate occasions.
After five and a half years with the Diamonds Ashby moved onto Wolverton Town where he achieved promotion for the club to the Isthmian League, after only 18 months in charge of Wolverton Ashby moved back to Northamptonshire to managed the Diamonds county rivals Rushden Town.
During his time at Hayden Road Ashby guided the Russian's to the Premier Division of the Southern League, this was an amazing feet for the Club as it had been barely seven years since they were fighting with Irthlingborough Diamonds for supremacy of the UCL. After finishing 14th in their season in the Southern League Premier Division the Russian's were demoted back to the Midland Division because the outdated Hayden Road ground was not up to the required standards for the Premier Division.
This demotion was one of the key factors that brought the Russian's and the Diamonds together and after talks which went on during the 91/92 season Ashby returned to Nene Park in April 92 as manager of the counties newest team Rushden & Diamonds, after his success at both teams Ashby was the natural to choice for the job.
After starting life in the Midland Division it only took Ashby two seasons to guide the newly formed club back into the Southern League Premier Division after finishing their first season in third place Diamonds went two better the following season by beating off Valley Sports Rugby by six points to win the Midland Division, a second trophy was added when the Diamonds beat Northampton Spencer 5-0 in the final of the NFA Senior Cup. The following season saw more progression under Ashby as the Diamonds finished their first Season in the Premier Division in a very respectful fifth place, as well as a good showing in the league the Diamonds beat Peterborough United in the final of the Maunsell Cup.
The next step in the Diamonds quest for League Football was achieved the following season when Ashby's Diamonds team fended off Halesowen Town in a tense finale to the season, promotion to the Vauxhall Conference was achieved in front of a then ground record of 4,664 at Nene park on Saturday, May 4th as the Diamonds beat Methyr Tydfil 3-2.
Ashby's final season in charge of the Diamonds did not go well, despite the Diamonds beating Nuneaton Boro' in the Conference Shield, life in the Conference was to much, after a season long battle against relegation Ashby was moved to the post of Sports Development Director after the 2-2 draw at Nene Park against Slough Town on Saturday, March 1st 1997, this defeat left Diamonds bottom of the Conference six points adrift from safety. It was agreed after the Diamonds defeat at Gateshead the previous Saturday that an assistant would be brought in to offer help to Ashby and the team, the man found was ex England and Arsenal midfielder Brian Talbot who took control of first team matters after Ashby's move up stairs after the Slough game.
After taking up his new position Ashby cited immense pressure and excessive criticism as reasons for the change of role in the club.
"The Last few weeks have been very difficult for me. There as been a lot of criticism, especially from outside sources and no one likes that. It's not something I have experienced in management before and it's not something I would like to go through again"
Despite the relegation battle in his last season in charge of the Diamonds, Ashby is today as he was during his time at Nene Park a highly regarded and popular manger, he guided the Diamonds to the verge of the Football League, its a shame the final step was to much for him.
Season Played Won Drawn Lost Points
1992 / 93 60 36 13 11 85
1993 / 94 59 40 14 5 98
1994 / 95 66 36 15 15 68
1995 / 96 56 36 10 11 94
1996 / 97 41 13 9 18 25
Totals 282 161 61 60 310
Brian Talbot March 1997 - Present Day
Before coming to Nene Park Talbot had enjoyed a illustrious career as a professional footballer with Arsenal and Ipswich before turning to football management. Talbot still holds the record for being the only footballer to have won two FA Cup Winners Medals in two consecutive final with different teams, he won medals for Ipswich in 1978 and then with Arsenal a year later, the 1980 final saw Talbot back at Wembley but this time he ended up on the losing time as Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-2. During his time at Highbury Talbot won 6 England caps and appeared in the 1980 European Cup Winners Final against Spanish side Valencia.
When Talbot took command of the team the Diamonds were in dire straights, it was early March and the team had still not adjusted to life in the Conference, with only 13 games left and six point from safety it was Talbot's job to save the Diamonds and keep Max's dream off League Football at Nene Park alive. With a quirk in the fixture list and a frozen pitch over Christmas Talbot's first game in charge saw in take his team to Rockingham Road home of Kettering Town, another twist saw Talbot return to Kettering for the first time since his troubled 4 month spell in charge of the Club alongside Mark English in 1992. In front of over 4,600 fans in a heated derby Talbot saw his team destroy the form book as the Diamonds secured first bragging rights over their county rivals by destroying them 5-1. After that success at Rockingham Road Talbot saw his team slowly climb the table and after another derby win over Kettering, this time 1-0 at Nene Park the Diamonds secured their Conference status with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Halifax Town at Nene Park with two games to spare, Talbot had masterminded the great escape as he saw his team only lose two of their remaining 13 fixtures.
Talbot's first whole season in charge of the team started of poorly with only one pint from the first 12, any thoughts of another relegation battle were put to one side as the Diamonds climb the table, by Christmas they were in the top five trying to chase run away leaders Halifax Town, who themselves had only stayed up the season before with the Diamonds on the last day of the season. The New Year started well with the Diamonds keeping up the pressure on the shaymen. By April Diamonds were up into second place in the league, despite beating Halifax at Nene Park 4-0, a 2-0 lose at the Shay saw the title go to Halifax. Diamonds finally finished the season in fourth place.
If Talbot's first season in charge was a roller coaster tide then the 1998/99 season was to be far more rougher. Despite equaling Wycombe Wanders record of seven straight league wins at the start of the season Diamonds were enable to keep the form going as they started to get caught by Cheltenham and Kettering Town. Diamonds minds had been sided tracked for a large part of the season as they in barked on a FA Cup run which saw them finally knock out in front of 40,000 people at Elland Road against Leeds United in the Third round, even then the Premiership side need a reply after escaping Nene Park with a scoreless draw. With Cheltenham catching the Diamonds fast the clash on April the 12th between the two teams at Nene Park seemed like it could be the title decider. With an early goal from Miquel De Souza Diamonds looked have done enough to secure the three vital points, but twice deep into injury time the Robins scored to grab the three points that would see them reach the Football League. After the sucker punch the Diamonds didn't seem to recover and by losing at Nene Park on the final day of the season against Kettering Town Talbot's men saw themselves finish in fourth place. Talbot admitted that at times in the season the cup run distracted some of his players, in the end the best team had got promoted.
The following season followed the same disastrous pattern of the following season, despite another FA Cup run in which Diamonds reached round three again playing two games against Sheffield United the season again hinge on 90 minutes of football in early April. This time the opponents were Kiddermister Harries under the control of former Liverpool star Jan Molby. The Aggborough Stadium was packed, the home fans saw the harries comfortably beat off the challenge of the Diamonds, in the end they ran out 2-0 winners. For the second year on the trot the Diamonds had thrown away the title in the space of 90 minutes in April. From that pint on the Diamonds season when by quietly and there were no celebrations when they received their runners up medals at Nene Park on the last day of the season.
Talbot stated the reason why Diamonds hadn't got promoted had been down to the lack of goals scored by his front men, he set this right for the 2000/01 by spending almost £300,00 on Morecambe's Justin Jackson and Duane Darby from Second Division Notts county in the pre season, these new signing seemed to do the trick as the Diamond started the season on form climbing to the top of the table by September, the form disastrously disappeared in October and November as the diamonds lost five games on the trot, by the end of December the League again looked lost, Talbot's men were 7 points behind leaders Yeovil Town who still had two games in hand on the Diamonds. Surprisingly Talbot changed things run as the Diamonds went on a 17 game unbeaten run which saw the gap to to Yeovil shrink to nothing, a Duane Darby one man show against the Poppies at Rockingham Road set up Diamonds third Championship decider in the month of April against Yeovil Town at Huish Park.
Almost 9,000 people watched the Conference game of the season, Talbot's spoiling tactics worked and the diamonds left Huish Park with a vital point, with four games to go Diamonds had a slender lead at the top of the table, it was down to Talbot and his team, they answered any criticisms Yeovil could throw at them and won their remaining games, the title was sent to Nene Park via Hereford, Yeovil's game in hand was at Huish Park against their West Country rivals Hereford United, deep into injury time and with the practically the last kick of the game Hereford nicked a winner to send the Diamonds into the Football League and send half of East Northamptonshire, the party at Nene Park lasted into the early hours of Wednesday morning. Over 3,000 Diamonds fans traveled up to the Deva Stadium the following Saturday to see the Diamonds crowded Conference Champions with a 2-1 win over crisis club Chester.
Season Played Won Drawn Lost Points
1996 / 97 13 8 3 2 27
1997 / 98 42 23 5 14 74
1998 / 99 42 20 12 10 72
1999 / 00 42 21 13 8 76
2000 / 02 42 25 11 6 86
2001 / 02 46 20 13 13 73
Totals 227 117 57 53 408
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