Aidy Boothroyd has claimed that his Northampton Town clubs beat off Championship clubs in order to sign Clive Platt.
Platt was out of contract at Coventry City but had been offered a new deal by manager Andy Thorn.
Boothroyd, who was at a Coventry school this week appearing as a motivational speaker, told the Northampton Chronicle; "Clive is a player I know well and he the most under-rated player I have ever managed.
“I am always happy to bring players in who are above the level we are playing at and I think Clive is one of those.
“He is very experienced, he is a leader on and off the pitch, he has a fantastic attitude and anyone who can score more than 100 goals and play more than 600 games is someone to respect.
“Wherever he goes he scores his share of goals, but just as importantly he creates a lot more for others and I know we have secured ourselves a very good player.
“He was my number one target in the centre forward position and it’s not often you sign your number one target. We beat off competition from clubs in the Championship, League 1 and League 2 to sign Clive and I am very pleased.”