Northampton Town have confirmed the signing of Chris Lines on a two-year contract.
As exclusively revealed by Bristol Live yesterday, Lines has joined the League Two side after being released by Bristol Rovers.
Lines came through the youth system at the Gas and made over 300 league appearances for his boyhood club across two spells.
Yet he was not regularly involved in the first-team after Graham Coughlan replaced Darrell Clarke as manager - although he brought up his 500th senior appearance in the last game of the season, a 2-1 victory over Barnsley.
The decision to release Lines caused a stir among many Rovers fans, but Coughlan said it was a case of needing to freshen the midfield up.
Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol about his reasons for letting Lines go, Coughlan said: "I just wanted to freshen things up. Linesy's not always been available and I thought it was important that we give him the send-off and that he reached the milestone [500 games] on Saturday.
"I just wanted to get a little bit more strength and power and maybe a little bit more pace and dynamism into the team.
"Linesy's a tremendous player, he's been a tremendous servant and he was a very important player for this football club, but I just thought his time had maybe come, that it needed freshening up."
Northampton boss Keith Curle told the Cobblers' website that he was excited to bring in a player of Lines' experience.
"I am delighted to bring Chris to the club," he said.
"I think his attributes will really help us. He has a lot of experience and he also has a lot quality on the ball and can help to unlock defences. He is a very cultured player.
"He is a midfielder who can create chances and set things up. He also has a quality set play delivery.
"With a number of young players in the squad, we will need our share of experience for those players to look up to and Chris is ideal to fit that bill. He has won promotion four times in his career, he knows what is required and he is hungry for more success.
"Chris has a first class work ethic and attitude, I think he will prove an excellent addition and he very much fits in with the culture we will have within the squad next season."
He joins former Rovers midfielder John-Joe O'Toole at the Cobblers.
