Brady knows the positions that Cobblers need to strengthen this summer

Manager Jon Brady says he knows the positions that Cobblers need to strengthen this summer as the club set to work on assembling a squad that will be competitive in League One next season.

With 15 first-team players currently under contract, it will be a case of evolution rather than revolution for Brady and his staff this summer, and work has already begun on recruiting key targets for League One football.

"We need to keep the recruitment standard as good as it's been and up the level a tiny bit more to fit into the profile of player that we're after in certain positions for League One,” said Brady. "I think we've done pretty well overall in terms of recruiting for the profile we want and that will again be really important for this summer.

"We have some strong foundations already in place and the players here know our principles, they know the way we play and how we play and they're also flexible and adaptable, as we've seen.

"That's really important and it shows we have a good eye and a good blueprint in terms of how we do things, but a lot of hard work goes into it and this is probably the hardest bit now.

"In the off-season, you don't get the chance to go out and watch players and you have to remember what you saw with your live eyes, you have to look at all the reports given back by our scouts, and you have to go and watch clips of them over and over until you're really happy with a certain player and a certain person.

"There's a lot of work to do now to make sure we get this right because we are going up a level and it's going to be a real tough standard.”

Brady has already identified where on the pitch Cobblers need to strengthen ahead of next season, although the order in which they sign players during the summer will be determined by external factors.

He added: "You don't get the opportunity to focus on a certain position first. We earmark all of the positions we're after and thereafter it's about who's in contact first and when you get an opportunity to speak to a certain agent.

"But we certainly know what positions we're looking at and where we want to strengthen.”