Northampton Town manager Keith Curle says achieving promotion to Sky Bet League One is the finest moment he has had in football.
The Cobblers were comprehensive 4-0 winners over Exeter City in the Sky Bet League Two Play-Off Final on Monday night, and Curle has thanked everyone at Sixfields for their belief in him.
“This is my finest moment as a manager, I’ve had some great days as an assistant manager achieving promotion with Queens Park Rangers with Neil Warnock, that is certainly up there,” he said.
“But purely being selfish as a manager, I knew that I needed a promotion and everybody else knew that I needed one, and I have never shied away from that.
“That was one thing I told the Chairman when I joined the club, that I needed a promotion and I needed a club that believed in what I do.
“So fair play everyone at the club because they have allowed me to create an environment and a platform to work, and it is a very enjoyable one.”
The Grecians have tasted Play-Off Final defeat three times in the last four seasons, but Curle was quick to pay tribute to his counterparts.
“I think we need to give Matt credit, Exeter as a football club and also the team – they earned the right to get to the Play-Off Final and as a football club I think they can be very proud,” he added.
“They have a fantastic record of reaching Play-Off Finals, they have been here three or four times now and have built a solid foundation under a very good young manager.
“We needed to make sure we turned up in this Final and it was something that I reiterated to the lads repeatedly and I have to give a lot of credit to the players for taking that all in and performing the way they did.
“There is a lot of hard work to come and there’ll be some big discussions over the next few weeks, but I am happy with the direction were heading in.”
