Shaquille O'Neal has supported Northampton Town for years. Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Northampton Town win promotion to League One

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jun 29, 2020 4:47 PM ET

If Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal travels to watch Northampton Town in person next season, he'll be cheering-on a League One club.

Shaq's beloved team secured promotion to the English third tier on Monday with a deserving 4-0 win over Exeter City in the playoff Final held inside an empty Wembley Stadium because of the coronavirus pandemic.

As has been the club's tradition since football returned to the country earlier this month, a cutout of O'Neal wearing a Northampton Town scarf watched the action from the stands:

The cardboard cutouts are filling the stands tonight at Wembley

With Northampton fans @chattyman & @SHAQ

And Exeter having Plymouth manager @rlowe15 and a cat! #EFLPLAYOFFS | @ntfc | @OfficialECFC pic.twitter.com/lLBE8xx2FI
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) June 29, 2020

A deflection helped Ryan Watson open the scoring in the 11th minute. Callum Morton doubled Northampton's advantage in the 31st.

After Exeter City defender Dean Moxey was sent off near the hour mark, both Sam Hoskins and Andy Williams found the back of the net in the closing 10 minutes of a one-sided affair.

Shaq has supported Northampton Town for years:

It's not known when supporters will be allowed to return to stadiums for matches in England amid the virus outbreak.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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