By Chris Kirwan
June 25 2003

Northampton Town’s interest in making Peter Clarke part of their promotion bid may be dwindling. They declared their interest last week, but despite having rich new owners the price tag may too much for them...

The Cobblers expect to complete the signing of former Nottingham Forest centre-back Christian Edwards by the end of the week. The capture of Edwards is in addition to the acquisition of Paul Reid from Rangers for £100,000 earlier in the close-season. With Cobblers club captain Ian Sampson a mainstay at the heart of the Northampton defence for countless seasons they may look to strengthen the squad in other areas.

However, if Everton are prepared to let Clarke leave there would be plenty of other suitors. Steve McMahon is an admirer of Clarke after his successful spell on loan at Blackpool last year.

Despite potentially dropping out of the race for Clarke Northampton boss Martin Wilkinson is keen to link up with the Blues, and is set to meet up with David Moyes (a similar link-up with Lincoln wasn’t exactly a great success). Rumours that Everton are set to plunder the Northampton midfield for former Halifax workhorse Paul Harsley are wide of the mark….

Other news:
-Goodison will be staging the England U21s game against Portugal in early September.
-The Merseyside derby is on Sky, kicking off at 12.30 on a Saturday, the other games being covered are those against Southampton and Blackburn.
-Li Tie says that he's closer to staying at Goodison - Everton Rumour Tracker