Northampton Saints were formed by clergyman Reverend Samuel Wathen Wigg, who was a curate of St James Church, hence the club's nickname of Saints or Jimmies.

In 1990 the club gained promotion to the English top flight and, with the likes of Paul Grayson, Matt Dawson and Gregor Townsend, looked set for a promising future.

However, in 1994 Ian McGeechan took over as director of rugby and the Saints were relegated.
They made an immediate return to the top flight, though, and in 1995 entrepreneur Keith Barwell bought the club for £1 million.

Northampton finished second in the League in 1998-99 and qualified for the Heineken Cup for the first time in their history.

McGeechan then left the club and was replaced by Northampton's former outside-half, John Steele, who nearly guided the Saints to an unprecedented double as they reached the Heineken Cup and Tetley Bitter Cup finals.

Northampton lost to Wasps in the final of the Tetley Bitter Cup, but a fortnight later the club won their first major trophy after beating Munster in the Heineken Cup final at Twickenham.

Saints have since struggled to match the successes of 2000 and at the end of the 2007-08 season were relegated for the first time in 12 years.

However, they made an immediate return to the Premiership with a 100 per cent record in National League One and finished eighth in their first season back.