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Notts County have returned to the English Football League after a four-year absence, thanks to a thrilling penalty shoot-out victory over Chesterfield in the National League promotion final at Wembley. The Magpies came from behind twice in a 2-2 draw, with John Bostock and Ruben Rodrigues scoring late equalisers in normal time and extra time respectively. Substitute goalkeeper Archie Mair then proved to be the hero, saving two penalties in the shoot-out to seal Notts County's promotion. The

There are some interesting statistics when looking at the previous teams who have won the National League playoffs since they were introduced for the 2002-03 season. Those 21 finals have seen 8 of them go to extra time (and beyond) while only one of them has been won by more than a 2 goal margin. Exeter, Grimsby, Forest Green and Tranmere all won after losing the previous year’s final while Luton followed consecutive losing finals by winning the league! Almost all losing finalists

Matt Palmer is an exceptional midfield player for Notts County. He's robust, thoughtful, and reads the game well. His ability to complete passes while driving the team forward is outstanding. He's a calming influence in the centre of midfield, a complete footballer in the mould of Neal Bishop's work rate mixed with the ability of Phil Turner. Since arriving at Notts County, Palmer has been paramount to the club's success. Simply put, if you remove him from the line-up, the formation and ins

Notts County’s victory over Chesterfield at Wembley was a special moment for fans of the club. Although they began the game feeling very anxious and struggled to handle Chesterfield, who was a fast and aggressive opponent, the team managed to keep the score at 1-0 and gradually gained momentum. Luke Williams made the right call taking off Adam Chicksen, who didn’t have the best of games. Jodi Jones proved to be more effective and switching him from the left to the right gave the team more e

After a multi-record-breaking (record-shattering?!) season which will hopefully end with a promotion, what would I want our squad to look like next season? With so many great performances and stability running through the club, it's no surprise that I'd want to keep the core of the current squad, but there may be one or two of my suggestions which divide opinion. The easy ones – Macaulay Langstaff, Cedwyn Scott and Sam Austin. Three summer signings who made the move up after being name

July 2022 and it was a chance to look at Notts’ array on new signings for the first time with a short journey to Basford. Yes, it was against a side which had struggled 2 divisions below Notts the previous season, but there were some hugely positive outcomes from this first run out. As supporters, we all want new faces to excite us, that marquee signing which sells a few extra season tickets for those sitting on the fence, but Notts have moved on from the fanfares and Hollywood glamour

Recent results have certainly created a whole raft of opinions about whether the squad is good enough, whether the manager is good enough, is the system right and a lot more, but let’s have a look at where we are. Two seasons ago, we came into the National League in complete disarray and most of us were simply hoping we’d avoid successive relegations.  We managed to get stronger as the season went on, making the playoff final (and I think we’d have had a chance of automatic promotion i

Notts County have had an excellent start to the season with an unbeaten start from the opening seven matches, with four wins and three draws. From a perfect performance against Barnet, where the Magpies came out on top by putting five past the bees who didn’t manage to find the back of the net. Semi-new Magpie boss Ian Burchnall has become a massive fan favourite by taking ‘County’ to the semi-finals of the national League play-offs last season and leading Notts County to a near - perf

Whilst I want to openly acknowledge that Notts requires strengthening up-top off the bat, one player I believe Ian Burchnall needs to commit to giving regular game time during the 2021/22 National League season is Lewis Knight. Arriving at Meadow Lane from Bradford Park Avenue, the exciting forward who has a blistering amount of pace – described during his debut for the magpies by BT Sports as ‘rapid’ looked to be a real handful. I can only imagine how effective he can become with deve

The off-season is a special time for many football fans. The first week is a novelty, but many of us begin wondering what exactly we do with our Saturdays now the Euros have finished.  Such boredom drives inevitable speculation; who's off-contract, who's sought after, who are we linked with. In the era of social media and the internet, there are vast swathes of people demanding that the players who bedazzled in the league last year be signed up instantly, the galacticos of the non-league, i

After a long season, and crashing out of the play-offs in dramatic style, the magpies now look to rebuild for the upcoming 2021/22 Season.  It was made official by Notts County earlier this week that they would keep popular midfielder Michael Doyle.  However, he would now be the head coach to assist Ian Burchnall for the important season ahead.  The Irishman, who is also registered as a player, landed the role at the back end of last season after the dismissal of Maurice Ross. 

This is an article basically to give a shout out to one of Notts County's most consistent performers who doesn’t get much praise on here. When he first arrived here I wrote him off as being too small and lightweight for the physicality of the national league but how wrong could I be? What he lacks in size he more than makes up in passion and fight. Dion never shies away from a battle and stands up to players much bigger than him. He flies into tackles winning the ball and making sure t

What a great bit of business by Notts County in extending Cal Roberts’ contract at Meadow Lane to the end of the 2022-23 season. As a declaration of intent, it doesn’t get much better as he seems to be the talisman and when Roberts plays well, Notts are very difficult to hold. I guess that could be said about several players throughout history but what helps Roberts stand apart is that more than not since he joined us, he has actually played well. It’s fine to have some tricks and

There's been many things unusual about 2020, both from a footballing and non-footballing perspective. One of the many unusual things from a Notts County point of view is that for the first time in any Notts fan's lifetime, Notts have not participated in the FA Cup this year due to an outbreak of COVID cases causing Notts to withdraw from the competition. As it is FA Cup 1st round weekend, an exciting weekend for any lower league football fan, I thought it would be a good time to look b

The play-offs are on. Finally, the National League gave the go ahead for them and the chance for one of six teams to win promotion to League Two for the 2020-21 season. The season was eventually decided on a PPG basis which meant most clubs kept their original position in the final standings bar a few changes. The biggest change of them all coming with Barnet moving from 11th to 7th and a play-off date with Yeovil. The stoppage of the league meant The Bees climbed above Stockport, Soli

(Nearly) 30 years of hurt 4 days, 6 weeks and 29 years ago was the last time Notts County were in the playoffs. Back then the Division 2 playoff promotion spot was won under Neil Warnock. That was the 1990/91 season, over nine years before I was born. Since then only one (arguably anti-climactic) playoff attempt- in the 2017/18 season- was made. It is probably an understatement to say: “The club's results in recent years have not lived up to the high expectations” (Reedtz brothers, 2019). O

The nineties were a mixed decade for Notts to say the least, starting with two trips to Wembley and a return to the top flight. However, the five years after relegation from the first division were marked by bewildering sackings, even more bewildering managerial appointments, a cost-cutting drive overseen by Colin Murphy and, finally, relegation to the fourth division in 1997 (at that time the third division, now known as League Two. I know). This was our first relegation to the fourth divi

Go on, hands up if you thought Kyle Wootton would turn out to be this good when Notts County signed him on loan from a struggling League Two side at the end of August? Granted, one of the things fans have constantly complained about is the lack of a big, strong target man. Someone who can hold the ball up, bring other players into the game, win the headers and generally lead the line in a way which helps the poachers like Kristian Dennis and Wes Thomas find the space to play their own game.

With Notts County piling up with fixtures back in December, the club managed to pick up 10 points from a possible 12; it highlights how beneficial mixing up what was becoming a stale squad can be. The previous month as we all know, Notts struggled to pick up points and fans including our very own Chris and ARLukomski called for the introduction of fringe players. Tom Crawford who hadn't appeared for Notts since the away defeat in 2018/19 to Mansfield, has managed to be called upon and

For any football fan who's seen their team get relegated, one positive once you've got over the initial shock is to think about all the new grounds you can visit. And with Notts having previously never dropped down to non-league in their 157-year history, all these non-league grounds seemed like an exotic novelty to a Notts fan who travels home and away each week. So having completed half a season in the non-league wilderness, let's take a look back on the highs and lows of a non league away day

Where do you start with a review of Doyle's Notts career thus far? A man who was well known to us for being a thorn in our side in recent years as a player at Portsmouth and Coventry, both of which we he forged successful promotions, an outstanding achievement by any professional's standards. We know from first hand experience that he is a player the opposition fans love to hate, which in truth is a huge compliment to the man. His tough approach to the game and ability to wind the oppositio

What a contrast to our previous regimes. For all his rights and wrongs – and I think there were more rights over his tenure – Ray Trew found it difficult to stay away from social media and club message boards, often falling into the trap of over promising some new signing. He also seemed pretty keen to hit the fire button as the revolving door rarely slowed down on the manager’s office. Then, of course, we had the ego which took the club out of the league and almost out of existen