Features

This week, Notts County secured the signing of striker Kyle Wootton from Scunthorpe United having impressed during his loan spell at Meadow Lane this season. The striker signed a two and a half year deal with the fee rumoured to be around £60,000. Many Notts fans were delighted when the news emerged that the 23-year-old was signing on a permanent deal having been subject to much speculation during the Christmas period and the opening of the January transfer window. But just how impress

Usually, at the beginning of the season, managers rotate their squads a fair amount – this was no doubt the same for Neal Ardley. While many fans called for him to settle the squad down, myself included, it is quite natural to switch out players here and there. Sometimes, it’s a little concerning when it’s five or more and when it’s never allowed to settle. Yes, sometimes it’s due to fitness concerns, tactical reasons but you know when there’s too many. For the most of the 2019/20

I should nail my colours to the mast before we start here. I’m firmly on the side of ‘Ardley In’. In the last 10 years we’ve had 15 managers and he’s only the third to last over a year. In that time, we’ve been to the brink of League One play offs and now face our first season in non-league, having to qualify for the FA Cup proper and making our first appearance in the FA Trophy. We will never prove this, but in my mind one of the reasons for that is the lack of stability caused by cha

Michael Doyle 1,2,3,4……… A man who has certainly divided opinion, if a scan through social media is anything to go by. The main signing of the January transfer window, and the man touted to keep our Football League status, he made the perfect start by led by example as Notts won 7 points in his first 3 games, all against promotion chasing sides. We all know what happened after that and, in my opinion, he tried to do too much, taking all the set pieces (not particularly well,

How does it feel losing the World's Oldest Football League club tag? I, like many other Notts County fans, were dreading the thought of losing the title of world’s oldest professional league football club during last season and at times I was more concerned about this than us actually playing in non-league, but what has it actually meant to us? I always saw it as our biggest selling point and I suppose it had a major part to play in the Munto takeover, a takeover that did not make ever

Is the National League competitive? When fans speak about the National League, words and phrases such as “tinpot” get used. Some fans seem to expect that because their club is “big” because of fans, revenue, stadium etc, that they are entitled to not be watching non league football. However as I alluded to in my last article, if you are playing in the National League, you are playing there for a reason. You were either too poor in League 2 the season before, not good enough to gain promotio

Everyone is no doubt entitled to an opinion, no one can take opinions away that's fair enough.  Do I agree with the Neal Ardley out crew? No. Do I see some of the points they make? Yes. Do I believe they expect too much? Yes. Here's my thought process - Ardley arrived at the club last season which can be described as an absolute mess. We had a chairman who couldn’t keep quiet or leave social media alone, which resulted in us losing loan deals from our nearest neighbours Nottingham Forest th

The National League, cha cha cha…….. 10 games in, and what do we think? I guess to keep thing in perspective, we need to look at the starting position, let’s say the end of July. A week before the season started and you should be organised, settled and ready. At that time, Notts still had an owner who was more famous for accidentally putting a picture of his genitals on social media than anything he’d done in football, hadn’t paid the wages for 2 months, we under a transfer embarg

Every team, sport-related or not, needs a captain to lead and guide teammates, to help achieve the best possible outcome at the task in hand. A good captain is experienced, talented and level-headed (amongst other attributes). Before the 2019/20 season began most of us looked to Michael Doyle (aged 37) to lead his fellow teammates through this campaign. Since he is a mature player with experience and talent, he was the perfect candidate for the role. However, following his red card incident

Last season was not a memorable one from a Notts County fan perspective. Relegation to the National League for the first time in our history, thus losing the title as the World's Oldest Football League Club. Hopefully we can bounce back at the first time of asking. But while we are playing in the National League, there's something for fans to look forward to, especially if you are a fan who loves to groundhop. Many fans have been ticking off grounds they have visited during our time in

Notts fans will have to accept less attractive away days throughout the season (a friend of mine currently living in Birmingham has already suggested Solihull Moors). The grounds and facilities will generally be incomparable to that of Meadow Lane’s and Notts fans could bring a home atmosphere to some grounds with a good away following as clubs such as Boreham Wood failed to even average a thousand fans in attendance last season. The only other clubs which debatably have fanbases appro

It’s certainly a fact that a toxic atmosphere within a ground has a negative effect on performances, we only have to remember back to the brief tenure of Jamie Fullarton. At that time, it felt as if a reasonable number of fans were turning up wanting us to lose. Now, I’m not suggesting that was the case this season. In fact, quite the opposite as I think our supporters – in the main – have been really supportive and patient, far more than the performances have deserved. It’s an expensi

The season is over and it's been arguably the worst one in Notts County's history as they tumbled out of the Football League but the pain must subside ahead of the rebuilding job, something which us fans must be mentally prepared for. Pride of Nottingham is taking submissions from fans with their take on the events that have taken place over the season and, most importantly, looking forward - here is a piece by Phil Buxton on how he feels the Magpies - and fellow fans - can do this, based o

After the departure of 12 first team players, with 17 still under contract, we start to look at who should be given more time on our first ever ‘Vanarama tour’. Players underused, and retained this season include: Kion Etete, Pierce Bird, Tom Crawford, Krisitan Dennis, Will Patching, Sam Osborne, Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, Remayne Campbell, Alex Howes and Andy Kellet. You could even include Ross Fitzsimons and Matt Tootle. Firstly, Kion Etete’s future is a hot topic now. The striker

Pride of Nottingham's Liampie has spoken to fellow Notts County fans Melvyn Watson, "Magpie Moomin" and Joe Maskrey about their thoughts on the season just gone. Q1: Do you feel Neal Ardley should remain as Notts County manager? MW: “Stability is required at NCFC so I believe we should keep NA as manager, he is a wheeler dealer in the transfer market and has good contacts, he is passionate about NCFC. Not being able to show authority with senior players that he did not sign, his substi

Notts County have stumbled from season to season with no real plan and no real direction. The club has no identity. There has never been any real stability. Notts have had 28 permanent managers since 1992. With Alan Hardy soon to be selling the club, here’s a list of things that needs to change at Notts if we are to make our way back up the leagues. Training ground and facilities In modern day football, the principle of the training ground is getting more important. A trainin

Notts have stumbled from season to season with no real plan and no real direction. The club has no identity. There has never been any real stability. Notts have had 28 permanent managers since 1992. With Alan Hardy soon to be selling the club, here’s a list of things that needs to change at Notts if we are to make our way back up the leagues. Managerial tactics Not just do the decisions made on a managerial appointment have to be crucial, but when the manager gets the job, th

Notts have stumbled from season to season with no real plan and no real direction. The club has no identity. There has never been any real stability. Notts have had 28 permanent managers since 1992. With Alan Hardy soon to be selling the club, here’s a list of things that needs to change at Notts if we are to make our way back up the leagues. Board level decisions This step is a crucial part of football and is key to the club’s future and whether it progresses or not. Decisio

I’m a huge fan of the work Jorge Grant did when he was on loan with us, and by all counts, he’s a genuinely nice bloke, which is great to hear. In 2016-17, when we were in trouble following the John Sheridan fiasco, he missed only 2 minutes of the last 15 games and was instrumental in pulling us away from trouble. In 2017-18, he played 21 full games (plus an 88 minute game) and came off the bench 5 times, scoring 14 times and making 5 assists as we took our place at the top of the leag

Anyone who enjoys the traditional, historic side of football will have been dismayed at how Notts County, the world's oldest Football League club, has come so close to losing that status in recent years. The Magpies have found themselves dwelling dangerously close to falling into the non-league over the last few seasons, although their impressive campaign in 2017-18 would have surely meant that there was going to be some form of comeback on the cards. One thing that isn’t helping Notts

Sam, Tom, George, William - some familiar names now as then, the boys that made up Southwell City Football Club in 1911. The team photo below was to mark their win in the final of the Newark and District League Challenge Cup. None of them could have foreseen the events to follow, four years of what became to be known as the Great War that would leave 16 million dead across the globe. A postmaster’s son, a baker, a lace maker, a solicitor’s clerk, a professional soldier and a silk

In this featured article I am going to provide some information on the youth setup here at Notts County. I am then going to offer my opinions on If I think it is good enough and compare it to a few different academies in the EFL. I think for such a big club in the lower leagues it’s an important factor within a football club to have a solid base in the academy stages of football. On August 20th this year it was announced that Steve Chettle would be responsible for managing the club’s develo