Northampton Town have signed central defender Chris McCready on a two year contract. The 27 year old former Tranmere Rovers left Crewe Alexandra at the end of last season, his second spell at Gresty Road. Prior to joining Tranmere in 2006, McCready had spent his entire professional career at Crewe, joining the club as a schoolboy and graduating through the youth system. At the age of 14 McCready went to the FA national school at Lilleshall where he played with peers including Joe Cole, he also represented England schoolboys through to under 17 level. McCready made over 70 appearances for Crewe, as well as making 4 appearances on loan at Hyde United.

He rejected the offer of a new contract at the end of the 2005/06 season following the club's relegation from the Championship, and joined Tranmere on a one-year contract for 2006/07 after impressing on trial.

McCready established himself as a regular in the Rovers defence, playing in all but four of Tranmere's league games. He re-joined Crewe on a two year contract in June 2007.

"Chris has impressed us during pre-season," said boss Stuart Gray.

"He is a dominant central defender who has handled some quality strikers well during our pre-season games. Chris has a good pedigree and I know he will prove a good addition to the squad. He is a good age for a central defender and a player who we know will fit in well in the dressing room here."

"I felt we needed another senior central defender and he will increase both the competition and options we have at the back."

Northampton Town also agreed to keep trialist striker Seb Harris at Sixfields until at least the end of December. "We have decided to take Seb for a 6 month period to have a better look at him," said boss Stuart Gray. "He is very raw, but he is full of energy and has plenty of enthusiasm. He has caught our eye with his displays in training and he will be staying with us until the end of the year." 

"He has a lot of good attributes, he has pace and is good in the air and with day in, day out coaching and training here we think he will improve. Seb is a player who is work in progress but we are happy to give him the time to develop and we think there is potentially a good player there." 

"With seven substitutes on the bench this year there will be chances for players like Seb and it is up to him to make the most of this opportunity. Hopefully there will be two or three more signings in before Saturday and hopefully some of the injured lads will be fit for that game as well. We will be looking at less loans this year but of course that depends on how the season pans out in terms of injuries."