Joe Jones: "I want Notts County's abomination of a season to be over"

Being a Notts County fan is never an easy role. We’ve had more ups and downs at Meadow Lane than a rollercoaster for the majority of our history. But it’s safe to say that, like many fellow supporters, I’ve reached the end of my tether here.

Just this week, a Facebook “memory” from four years ago appeared in my feed where I’m proudly declaring that the Magpies had “played four, won four, scored five goals, conceded zero, and will take on Charlton Athletic (top of League One), Sheffield Wednesday (third) and Sheffield United (second) in the next 11 days.” The post ends with “challenge accepted”.

Fast-forward four years and we’re in League Two, losing against the likes of Oxford United, Morecambe, Accrington Stanley, and Cambridge United, failing to beat Dagenham & Redbridge, and perhaps worst of all, being brought down by SALFORD CITY in front of a national audience.

Oasis once sang “Don’t Look Back In Anger”, but how can we not see where we were just a few years ago and not feel anger, resentment and bitterness at where we are now? 

It should have never come to this. At the end of the 2011-12 season, we finished seventh in League One, missing out on the playoffs by goal difference.

Then it all went pear-shaped. Despite having a squad well equipped to push for the playoffs, Ray Trew abruptly decided to decrease funding, and was quoted by BBC Sport on 9 January 2013 as saying: "I am not prepared to increase that sum (said to be £12m since taking over in 2010)."

He added: “The only way I will inject further monies is in the form of loans. If I am being totally honest I am not motivated to even do that currently because I am not being supported by you, the fan base."

Keith Curle left and was replaced by Chris Kiwomya, the first of four consecutive managerial appointments with no English league experience. The likes of Lee Hughes, Alan Judge, Neal Bishop and Jeff Hughes would all be out of the door by the summer, and most of the replacements – save for loanees Jack Grealish and Callum McGregor – were simply not up to the same standard.

We went from fighting for promotion to fighting against relegation, and even though we survived at the end of the 2013-14 season on the final day, the following season was just as much of a slog, though lightning did not strike twice as relegation to the bottom tier was finally confirmed – the marvellous achievements of the 2009-10 season and subsequent hard work were all undone in the space of two seasons.

Although Ricardo Moniz was a decent enough proposition on paper, he simply was not cut for the slog of the English fourth division. The start of the season was difficult enough, and Moniz was rightly, in my opinion, dismissed. 

Now comes the point in this sorry tale which just defies all logic. A team scrapping in the bottom tier of English professional football, and not having a particularly good time of things at that, should be looking to hire a manager with knowledge of the English lower leagues – it’s not like there aren’t many knocking about – to drag this club back up the pyramid, in the words of former Manchester City defender Andy Morrison, “kicking and screaming”.

Instead, what do we get? An Under-21 manager with no experience of the English leagues.

Like many other fans, that was the final straw for me. No amount of PR could sell Jamie Fullarton as a good choice of manager to a group of fans that have seen their club endure a deterioration of health since 2013 to the point that it’s now on its last legs, with three equally unqualified and inexperienced managerial choices preceding it.

Much talk is made of “fair-weather” fans that only turn up for the good times and stay away during the bad times. This is a discussion that takes place among fans every matchday at the pubs and bars in and around Meadow Lane, in the stands, on forums and on social media.

“If you were a proper fan, you’d carry on supporting your club,” an ever-decreasing amount of people will say.

However, it has now reached the point where many fans have just had enough. The decline from League One playoff contenders to League Two relegation threats. The illogical managerial appointments. The public fallouts between fans and boardroom, fans and manager, manager and boardroom, and player and club. The revolving door of players through the Meadow Lane doors. Boardroom members resigning. And of course, the culmination of all this turmoil on the pitch – football that the likes of Mark Stallard have described as ‘not suitable for League Two’ live on air.

I admit I cannot wait for this season to be over and put Notts to the back of my mind for a few months. The club is in a perilous state of affairs, and no amount of emotional blackmailing from anybody over “supporting the club” will convince me otherwise.

Like many other fans, I will support my club in the lower reaches of the Conference if need be, playing derbies against Carlton Town and Alfreton Town. But all I ask for is a team with passion, a manager who knows what he’s doing, and a little bit of harmony behind the scenes. Not utopian perfection, but enough to give the fans reassurance that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

And at the moment, none of this seems to be the case at Meadow Lane. 

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