Cogenhoe United's club shield was derived from the Coat of Arms, of the De Cogenhoe family, who were the village squires from 100 AD. The original colours were red and silver cross pieces with diamonds, however the club adopted blue and gold as our colours.

The early days of Cogenhoe were not documented and are now obscured by the mist of time. Inter village friendlies gradually led to membership of the now extinct Central Village League. As typical with village football, a variety of pitches were 'home' until in 1950 the first game, against Northampton Yeomanry, was played on the then new playing field.

After some modest success, United ceased to exist sometime after 1958, to be reformed as the current club for the 1967/68 football season. Competing in the Central Northants Football Combination and by 1978, the club had progressed from the Second Division into the Premier Division. In a six year period thirteen winners' and six runners-up trophies were won.

Development of facilities became paramount to enable promotion into the United Counties Football League. The club secured the lease on 3.6 acres of agricultural land from the Marquis of Northampton and Compton Park was now on the map.

New purpose built facilities were developed together with a new spectator stand which gained us promotion into the UCFL, for the season 1985/86. The first competitive match at Compton Park was our final match in the Central Combination, when The Cooks defeated Bugbrooke St.Michaels, 1-0 with Jason Moore scoring the historic first goal. Compton Park was officially opened when Ron Atkinson, then manager of Manchester United brought a team to play in the inaugural game.

On 17th August 1985, Cogenhoe United played their first UCFL game losing at home to Mirlees Blackstone. The club were forced to apply for re-election and Dave Conlon took over the helm in the summer of 1986. The Cook's gained promotion to the Premier Division at the end of Dave Conlon's first season finishing runners-up to Baker Perkins. Stephen Brockwell who succeeded ex-Liverpool and England full back, Phil Neal, as President ensured facilities were met and promotion was gained.

A youth policy was adopted beginning a trend of supplying local quality players to the senior team, with Darren Harmon and Darren Bazeley progressing into the professional game. Matthew Murphy also made this progression via Corby Town.

The Cooks entered the F.A. Vase for the first time in 1988/89 and at the end of the season, Brian Foley stepped down as Chairman after 21 years loyal service. This achievement was recognised and Brian was elected Vice President of the United Counties Football League.

Derek Wright took over as Club Chairman and immediately set up a major fund raising campaign to ensure floodlighting was erected in 1992, and ensured senior status was maintained. This was achieved to mark the club's Silver Jubilee in that year.

Cogenhoe United Under-18's side was elected to the Northamptonshire Senior Youth League in 1991/92 and won the Championship at the first attempt. This was followed with the excellent news that further land was obtained for youth pitches to be developed.

The first team entered the F.A. Cup for the first time in 1994/95.

After an extremely successful 13 years at the helm, Dave Conlon retired as manager in 1997/98 season and Steve Forbes took over the reigns with Dino Cirrelli assisting.

In the subsequent three seasons Steve and Dino guided the team to further success culminating in the most successful season campaign in The Cooks history. Runners-Up in the UCFL Premier Division, Winners of the UCFL Knock Out Cup and Buckingham Charity Cup plus Runners-Up in the Daventry Charity Cup. In the Northants Senior Youth League, the club's Under-18's were not to be outdone by winning the League Knockout Cup and finishing Runners-Up in the League.

After a 3 year spell in charge Steve Forbes stepped down and former Cobblers & Rushden and Diamonds midfielder Aidy Mann took over team affairs. Aidys first season in charge saw the team finish a credible third.

Another former Northampton Town midfielder was appointed as First Team Manager. Adam Sandy took the hotseat and linked up with former Cooks legend Dino Cirelli to become his assistant. They finished the 2003/04 season in sixth place and Runners-Up in the Daventry Charity Cup. Dino Cirelli retired at the end of the season.

In the following season, 2004/05, Dave Jones stepped up from Reserve Team Coach to assist Adam and the season became a very successful affair. The last game of the UCFL season finished with The Cooks playing Potton (1st vs 2nd) in a winner takes all game. Cogenhoe only required a draw to clinch our first UCFL title and the game ended 2-2 making sure the trophy came to Compton Park.

During the 2005/06 season, Cogenhoe acheived their best ever run in the FA Cup. The Cook's eventually lost in extra time, in a replay, to Chasetown 4-3.

In 2006/07, The Cooks equaled their best run in the FA Vase by going out to Causeway United, after extra time, in the fourth round. At the end of the season, the club announced the appointment of Darren Collins as 1st Team Manager as Adam Sandy resigned.

Collins, like his predecessors Sandy and Mann, was a former Northampton Town player and had gone on to claim legendary status at Rushden & Diamonds in their glory years, stayed at the helm for three seasons where he was assisted by Danny Liquorish. They put a consistent squad together and finished 9th, 9th and 8th during this period, but the sad and untimely death of Liquorish in November 2009 was followed by the resignation the following summer of Collins who moved to become assistant to Jon Brady at ambitious Brackley Town, who were just beginning their upwards momentum.
Andy Marks took over for the 2010/11 season, having turned things around at UCL Division One outfit O.N Chenecks and earning the chance to manage at the higher level. He had five seasons in the Compton Park hotseat and after a somewhat disappointing 15th in his first year, he then managed a constant improvement in the club’s league placings. 2011/12 saw them end in 12th and the following year it was an 8th place finish while what turned out to be his final season saw them finish 5th and reach the final of the Northants F.A Hillier Senior Cup for the first time in their history. Their opponents at Sixfields were Daventry Town, then of the Southern League and it was the higher club that lifted the trophy as two late goals gave them a somewhat flattering 3-0 win on the day. His final season saw him assisted by Anton Sambrook and he matched last season’s 5th spot
Marks stepped down in the summer and his assistant, the former Banbury United player Anton Sambrook took the reins. He enjoyed a very good season in the dug-out and led his side to 5th place for the third season running, while they also reached the semi-final of the League Cup where they were beaten by the big-spending Division One Champions Peterborough Sports.
Daventry Town were to play a big part in the Cogenhoe United history as we headed into 2016/7 as Andy Marks returned to management at our county rivals as they took a two-division voluntary relegation to UCL D1 and he lured virtually all the Cogenhoe squad to Elderstubbs. As is often the case this led to another massive local re-shuffle as Tom Chapman took his first management role at Compton Park, bringing with him the whole of the now-folded Northampton Spencer squad where he had been assistant to Ben Stone. His first season saw the Cooks struggle near the bottom but the start of 2018 saw a massive upturn in form in which they were to go 8 games unbeaten to end the season in a respectable 13th. Chapman had struggled to get a regular assistant and we saw a couple of Cooks legends help him out along the way with both Darren Collins (several times) and Colin Cooper (once) taking dug out duties.
Chapman started the 2017/18 season with former Cooks Neil Champlovier (assistant) and Jamie Wright (player-coach) to help him out but things didn’t totally go to plan. Wright was injured very early on and wasn’t seen again, while injuries and too many players making themselves unavailable for games meant the side was changed every week and piled the pressure on the Cooks gaffer. After a home defeat to Harborough Town in October 2017, Tom resigned out of the blue with the Cooks fourth from bottom, but still in the F.A Vase. Jake Stone stepped up from the reserves as caretaker-manager as was eventually persuaded to take the role on full-time with the Vase run continuing and an eight-game winning run helping us to finish as the UCL’s highest Northamptonshire club in 8th spot. The F.A Vase ended at home to Wolverhampton Community Sporting 2-3 in the 3rd Round proper, but those wins at Histon and Great Wakering Rovers will go down as some of the best results in the club’s history as they equalled their best ever run.
Hopes were high as we entered 2018/19 as Jake brought his experienced brother Ben in as his assistant and things started well for the team. Ryan Dove was now one of the leagues most deadly finishers and he had bagged 28 goals in 28 games before his season was fished early by a serious eye injury picked up at work. The F.A Vase ended early despite beating Leighton Town convincingly as an oversight meant their first ever expulsion after playing loanee Jack O’Connor, which, unbeknown to the club, was against the competition rules. Two great wins over Kettering Town (2-1) away and Peterborough Sports saw us reach the semi-final of the Northants F.A Senior Hillier Cup before the crashed out away to AFC Rushden & Diamonds, now coached by Tom Chapman. We finished 7th in the league, but only two points off fourth place, as we continued to improve our standing. It was also a very successful season for the other two teams as the reserves won the Reserve League Cup to top off a great first season for manager Craig Hayward, while the Youth Team brought local and national interest with their F.A Youth Cup run. Under the leadership of Darren Long and Chris Hewett they equalled the club’s best ever run before going down 2-1 at home to Premiership club Crystal Palace in front of a bumper crowd. The run saw them knock-out Coventry City in the previous round with a superb performance at Compton Park and we had the chance to hear Chairman Derek Wright and manager Darren Long on Radio Northampton as the club gained more publicity. The cup run did distract the boys from their league campaign, but they did lift the League Cup with a stunning second half performance against Irchester United as they ended up convincing 6-0 winners on the day. They also reached the final of the Jaymann Shield but went down 3-2 in a very entertaining game to all-conquering Bugbrooke St Michaels.
The shock resignation of Jake Stone and the announcement that he was taking the entire first-team squad to Wellingborough Town meant a quiet summer turned into anything but for the committee and they found themselves searching for a new manager again. The wait wasn’t a long one though as Gary Petts and former Cogenhoe player Joe Rich ticked all the boxes in their interview and we welcomed them aboard for the 2019/20 season, bringing Rob Gould back to Compton Park as their coach. We made a slow start to the new era, but Petts soon started to turn things around as he settled his squad, plus the addition of a few younger players making their way through the club ranks had seen some much improved performances, but sadly this all came to an early end in March when football had to be suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic that took so many lives around the world. There had been talk of the league being decided on points per game, but instead the step 5 season became null-and-void.

2020/21 started later than usual as football was allowed to return as we saw a dip in Covid cases, but it was on everybody's minds that this may be another season that failed to reach its natural conclusion. A Tuesday night start saw us make the long trip to play Kirkley & Pakefield in the F.A Cup and two extremely late goals gave us a 2-1 win in Lowestoft. League form was improved on the previous year with Nat Ansu on fire in front of goal and the F.A Vase had seen us progress through three rounds before we headed into another national lockdown in early November. On 12th of December we were allowed back into action, but only in the F.A competitions and on a wet afternoon in Norfolk we crashed out 0-5 to a better prepared Mulbarton Wanderers team and following a sad period after Christmas that saw 10,000s of people lose their life to this deadly desease, the F.A brought all football at level to an early finish once again at the end of February.

Cogenhoe United Football Club

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