Brady carved out a career in the English lower tiers before joining Northampton Town as their under 16s coach in 2016, working his way up to the managerial role last season.

The club were relegated from League One, but Brady kept the role permanently and will now guide the Cobblers' promotion push next season.

“We are nowhere near the finished article,” he told the club.

“There has been a lot of chopping and changing to give us a look at everyone but things will be starting to be trimmed down a little bit now.

“We are still looking at the whole squad and the balance of it, there are still a few things for us to consider and as we move closer to that first game we will start to fix down more of a starting eleven.

“We are getting closer to that but it’s down to each player individually to ensure that their performance is top notch and they are not leaving themselves open to be left out.

“It’s down to the players to cement down a spot and I expect to see that from all of them over the next ten days.

“Nottingham Forest will be a different type of test for us again and there will probably be a lot of work for us out of possession. You would expect them to dominate the ball and it’s how we deal with that and then play on top of that.”

Northampton play Championship club Forest in Brady's first big preseason test tonight at Sixfields.