This is our final table - aside from our special guest's. All was written before the first game of the season and this one features our Tony Hateley's prediction. Much like the one's before we see similar teams included in the relegation zone, with the addition of Tranmere Rovers. We also see Leyton Orient included in the play-offs, a surprising gamble for me and one which after today's result seems one likely we will have to watch out for. We here at Pride of Nottingham hope you enjoyed this development and series of features, why not compare the tables? Let us know your thoughts!

1. Wolves
2. Sheff Utd
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3. Peterborough
4. Bristol City
5. Gillingham
6. Leyton Orient
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7. MK Dons
8. Port Vale
9. Crawley
10. Bradford City
11. Notts County
12. Coventry
13. Swindon
14. Walsall
15. Preston NE
16. Crewe Alexandra
17. Brentford
18. Colchester
19. Rotherham
20. Oldham
------------------------------------
21. Shrewsbury
22. Tranmere
23. Carlisle
24. Stevenage

Please keep tuned for our special Guest!

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The final league tables are slowly being published, Super Ram's kindly taken part in this. His table see's Bristol City gaining promotion along side Wolverhampton Wanderers, the play-offs are being thought out by some pretty strong contenders. With the likes of Coventry who appear very likely to be docked points - Manage to stay a float. Oldham, Carlisle, Colchester and Stevenage have been tipped for relegation by Super Ram. We have one more table and then hopefully our special guests! Please keep tuned for more news here at Pride of Nottingham - Let us know your thoughts!

1 Bristol City
2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
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3 Brentford
4 Peterborough United
5 Swindon Town
6 Notts County
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7 Walsall
8 Sheffield United
9 Leyton Orient
10 Gillingham
11 Bradford City
12 M.K.Dons
13 Tranmere Rovers
14 Crawley Town
15 Preston North End
16 Crewe Alexander
17 Port Vale
18 Rotherham United
19 Shrewsbury
20 Coventry City
------------------------------------
21 Oldham Athletic
22 Carlisle United
23 Colchester United
24 Stevenage

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Pride of Nottingham would like to thank Jurgen Halligan for providing us with these excellent fan action shot.

So what does an old codger Rams fan make of Notts County's previous season and prospects for the next one? Well here goes, my honest thoughts on the team who are second in my affections. The 2012/13 season began promisingly enough with Notts even briefly claiming top spot in September and the only real disappointment being the league cup defeat by eventually to be promoted league 2 side Bradford City. Notts season began to fall apart in November with the surprising and shocking news that your legend Lee Hughes was to be allowed to leave and with no replacement.

Then just before Christmas, there was the embarrassing home defeat in the FA cup to Rotherham United, another team to gain promotion from league 2.

Notts home form was now beginning to cause concern and it was only the tremendous record away run that was keeping the team near the top of the division and this came to an end with a 2-1 loss at Leyton Orient.

This defeat was soon followed by the sacking of manager Keith Curle. I don't think this was much of a surprise, his tactics and team selection were being widely criticised by fans and the team in general appeared to have lost purpose and direction.

The appointment of Chris Kiwomya as interim manager, soon to be made permanent, did little to raise the mood of Notts fans and any hopes of a play-off place eventually disappeared.

The poor home record and performances in the winter months saw attendances fall and led to a broadside from chairman Ray Trew who seemed to have become disillusioned and disheartened.

Chris Kiwomya did manage to lift fans spirits a little in the final few matches with the introduction of promising youth players and a tremendous last day victory away at champions Doncaster but the season was hugely disappointing in both league and cup matches.

The outlook for Notts fans did not seem overall very rosy though;

A winding up court order added to the gloomy mood of Notts fans even though it was dismissed in 60 second.

The announcement by Ray Trew that the playing budget was being cut by 30% added further concern for the Notts faithful.

Behind the scenes there were accusations of coaching staff behaviour, leading to sackings.

On top of everything else going on at Meadow Lane there was the player unrest;.Judge, Bishop and Jeff Hughes all eventually leaving.

The mood of Notts fans was very mixed and mostly pessimistic as the close season began very quietly. There were no new signings only players leaving and question marks over the future of the remaining players. There was even talk of relegation.

Throughout the summer months CK has remained upbeat and very positive. After an initially slow start to his rebuilding CK has managed to get important players to re-sign and added a good mixture of experienced and younger players to his squad with Dumbuya, Fotheringham, Hayes, Bell, Howarth and others. Individually, some of the signings may not get Notts fans jumping but collectively I think a really good squad is taking shape.

An excellent pre-season abroad and more particularly at home has all but replaced the end of season doom and gloom. CK is winning his doubters over and Ray Trew seems to have his enthusiasm restored.

There was more good news with the chairman changing his mind over the 30% cuts and also the mention of 2 more imminent additions to the playing staff.but the rift with the supporters club needs settling quickly(and quietly).

It's going to be a long hard season, starting at Bramall Lane and the fixtures wont get any easier with relegated Wolves, Peterborough and Bristol City expected to be amongst the pacesetters. There is also the possibility that the promoted clubs could continue their momentum. If you also look down last seasons final positions beyond teams like Brentford and Sheffield United the fixtures list looks even more daunting.

There is still a lot of work to be done and there will be a lot of twists, turns and set backs but if CK can get the best out of players, like Arquin, and there are not too many injuries, well the future looks very bright.

If management, players and fans all unite and pull together I think a top 6 finish is a real possibility.

So far four writers have written their thoughts on last season, they've included a prediction for the final finishes also. Here's Joe J's final standings, it's a very hard league to predict now and as you can see he's go for Shrewsbury, Colchester, Stevenage and Gillingham to lose their places within the Sky Bet League One. Bristol City and Sheffield United have gained automatic promotion, whilst the play-offs contain a surprise. It will be fun to compare how each writer is doing mid season and no doubt even more so at the end! Enjoy catching up on others. You Pies!

1 Bristol City
2 Sheffield United
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3 Rotherham
4 Wolverhampton Wanderers
5 Bradford City
6 Preston North End
------------------------------------
7 Peterborough United
8 NOTTS COUNTY
9 Oldham Athletic
10 Tranmere
11 Brentford
12 Crewe Alexandra
13 Leyton Orient
14 Walsall
15 Crawley Town
16 MK Dons
17 Swindon
18 Coventry
19 Carlisle
20 Port Vale
------------------------------------
21 Gillingham
22 Stevenage
23 Colchester
24 Shrewsbury

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So here we are, what originally felt like an eternity has finally come to an end, the season is due to start just this week! Finally, we will be able to see our beloved Magpies competitively once again! As has been mentioned before, last season followed the standard Notts template of recent years, that is hitting the ground running and being in the promotion places for the first couple of months, before running out of throttle towards November and finishing somewhere between upper-middle and mid-table. Last season fell apart a lot quicker than usual however, and though we rallied towards the end.

However notching up a spectacular win against Doncaster away, it was too little too late.

Where did it all go wrong then? Three things, in my humble opinion: the humiliating and morale-sapping FA Cup defeat to Rotherham, which left us short of much-needed funds for the second half of the season, Lee Hughes' departure, and the failure to replace him adequately.

The results were clearly visible on the pitch - I lost count of the times I wrote about us having no penetration, no eye for goal and other similar phrases in the match reports. It was so frustrating, and despite our good rearguard, we just couldn't get those all-important goals in, which resulted in loss of points and, ultimately, the slide down the league table.

Once the season was officially over, more trouble seemed on the horizon: Alan Judge, who carried the star player mantle once Hughesy left, departed himself, on a free transfer to first club Blackburn Rovers. Skipper Neal Bishop, so hard-working and inspirational for us, also left the club, and perhaps most embarassingly of all, Jeff Hughes left the Magpies for... Fleetwood Town of League 2. The message was clear for all: "Players would rather drop down a league than stay with Notts".

However, things have recently turned a corner. We have managed to secure some impressive signings: Mustapha Dumbuya has international football experience, Mark Fotheringham was immense against Galatasaray, Danny Haynes is young and has a good goalscoring record, David Bell was a regular for Coventry City, and Andy Howarth is also showing promise despite previously negative reviews.

In addition, Alan Sheehan deciding to stay on is very pleasing - aside from the fact he's a top player, it shows that maybe Notts County isn't that bad an option that players need to drop down a league to get more out of their careers!

All in all, it's been a make-or-break pre-season for Notts, and the board and backroom staff seem to have handled it well. I'm feeling a lot more positive than I was just two months ago, that's for sure!

As for a prediction, I'm going to play it safely and say we'll finish in the top half, but as we Meadow Lane faithful all know, even if we're ten points clear by the end of December, it doesn't matter, because if you're not in that position by the end of April, then it counts for nothing.

So let's hope this season is an exception - in a good way - and we can maintain good form all the way until the end of the season, and then who knows!

1st. Wolves

2nd. MK Dons

------------------------------------

3rd. Peterborough

4th. Bristol City

5th. Preston

6th. Brentford

------------------------------------

7th. Sheffield United

8th. Bradford

9th. Notts County

10th Crewe

11th. Gillingham

12th Swindon

13th Coventry

14th Stevenage

15th Leyton Orient

16th Port Vale

17th Tranmere

18th Rotherham

19th Crawley

20th Walsall

------------------------------------

21st Oldham

22nd Carlisle

23rd Colchester

24th Shrewsbury

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If we couldn't do anything with arguably the best player in the division in Judge last season, how were we to fare without him and, yet worse, with very little cash to spend?

The lack of transfer activity at the start of the summer heightened concern, particularly when a discarded Aston Villa trainee in Malcolm Melvin and an unwanted journeyman in Andy Haworth became our first two signings - and the only two for a while.

But suddenly things changed. The arrival of striker Danny Haynes, and the belief Kiwomya and the fans have in him to go and do the business and be that missing marksman we so desired last term, had a lot to do with it.

But moreover, impressive performances in difficult pre-season fixtures against Galatasaray, Rayo Vallecano and Ipswich Town shifted lots of the gloom. As did the immediate scoring form of Haynes and more surprisingly Yoann Arquin. He who couldn't be arsed last season has returned from international duty on fire, scoring two absolute belters in his two pre-season appearances to earn draws with Vallecano and Ipswich.

Fellow new boys Mark Fotheringham, Mustapha Dumbuya and David Bell have looked assured, while the likes of Bartosz Bialkowski, Dean Leacock and Gary Liddle have picked up where they left off last season - in resolute mode.

Suddenly our first eleven - which for the season's opener with Sheffield United should, for me, consist Bialkowski; Dumbuya, LIddle, Leacock, Sheehan; Labadie, Boucaud; Arquin, Campbell-Ryce, Bell; Haynes - looks a decent bet for a play-off push. And suddenly Kiwomya's work in the transfer market commands respect. Especially if he can continue to get out of Arquin the talent he clearly has on a regular basis.

Now everyone is looking at the Blades encounter - which has brought even greater excitement as it opens the entire new football season live on Sky Sports on Friday evening - with great optimism. It seems everyone thinks we will win.

I, too, am convinced we can get something at Bramall Lane - though most likely a point, which will definitely be a good one.

They are under new management, an untested, untried one at that, and will have suffered from great cutbacks after a second successive play-off failure.

But the Blades are too big a club to be down for too long and they, along with Wolves, Peterborough, Preston, Bristol City and last season's surprise package Brentford will contest the promotion battle. I also fancy MK Dons to rejuvenate and make a push.

As for Notts - I'm still not entirely sure. I've tried to work out an outcome during the course of this article but there are still too many question marks over many at the club.

Kiwomya, despite impressing me with his summer business - not least bringing in Mick Jones and Andy Watson to the backroom staff - remains very unproven. It is difficult to know how he will fare with a full gruelling campaign and the notably thin patience of Notts supporters.

Also, are the new boys going to be able to step up and replace proven senior players like Hughes, Judge and Bishop?

Can Haynes handle the expectation of being the leading man for the first time in his career?

There are more, not least how we will fare with one or two injuries as the back-up brigade certainly don't look up to it… in defence, Haydn Hollis, in midfield, Andy Haworth and up top, Enoch Showunmi and the woefully out of form Francois Zoko, inspire next to no confidence.

So for once I will stave off a Notts prediction, only to say it will no doubt be fun and games once again.

One of the main ones was probably the loss of Lee Hughes, and the failure to bring in a replacement. Losing our cult-hero really was very disheartening for the fans. Then again, Keith Curle’s tactics were questionable on a number of occasions – playing one up front at home, sitting too deep, not getting forwards; it just seemed to fall apart.

Keith Curle eventually got the sack in February and the players’ attitude quite frankly stunk after that. Many of them didn’t seem to care, and appeared as though they just couldn’t wait for the season to end so they could leave.

It looked like our season was going to fizzle out into a series of gutless, hopeless defeats but then Chris Kiwomya began to give our promising youngsters a chance. Although at first results didn’t improve, performances certainly did, and the penultimate home game of the season against Colchester United was a really big day for the club. A number of youngsters played and impressed in that match, and it was topped off with young Romello Nangle getting his first ever senior goal in his first senior appearance. A 1-0 win at eventual Champions Doncaster followed before we ended with an encouraging performance in a 2-2 draw with Coventry.

As far as player movements were concerned over the summer, Alan Judge’s departure was inevitable and no surprise. He leaves us with some great memories and goes with our best wishes. Neal Bishop’s departure didn’t come as a big surprise either. I was quite sad to see Bishop leave the club mainly because that made him the last player from that amazing 2009-10 campaign to leave the club. He was an important part of that side in the midfield, and he always gave his all. Sadly towards the end of his time with the club, his outspoken Tweets got him into hot water with some fans and in the end it kind of soured his relationship with them. Sad to see, but nevertheless he goes with my best wishes too.

One player who many were surprised to see leave was right back Julian Kelly. He’s deffinatly talented and on his day a fantastic player. Unfortunately, he appeared to be made of glass. He was constantly injured or carrying a knock during his time at the club, and to be honest I think letting him go made sense. If we’re tightening our belts we can’t really afford to be paying somebody who is constantly on the treatment table.

The loss of Julian Kelly may not be such a big problem though with the capture of Mustapha Dumbuya. Dumbuya played for both Portsmouth and Crawley Town against Notts County last season. I saw him on all three occasions he played against us, and I was really impressed with him every time. That must say something as I rarely take much notice of opposition players during a match, but his hard work and constant runs forward were noticeable. He must have covered every blade of grass every time. He’s impressed the fans with his hard working performances so far in pre-season and hopefully that’ll carry on into the new league campaign. He’s deffinatly a good capture for the club.

Former Charlton striker Danny Haynes appears to have been the Magpies most popular summer signing. He’s already netted two goals in his first two games against Rayo Vallecano and Ipswich Town. He comes highly rated by fans of his former clubs and he had a pretty impressive record at Championship level last season. He is a bit injury prone, but if we can keep him fit and get the best out of him, Haynes could prove to be that 20 goal a season striker we were crying out for last season.

Speaking of strikers, Yoann Arquin has impressed a lot of fans this pre-season. Despite being the club’s top scorer last season many people were un-impressed with Yoann. He seemed to lack interest and hunger a lot of the time and to be honest most people were surprised to see him stay at the club.

Arquin has been away in America playing for Martinique in the Concacaf Gold Cup, and he’s returned to Notts seemingly a different player! He’s netted two fabulous goals in the last two friendlies and suddenly appears to have a new desire and better attitude about him. He has a natural talent but we just need to get it out of him consistently. If we can do that, Yoann could prove to be a very dangerous player for us because on his day, he’s capable of causing any defence in league one problems.

Winger David Bell has also joined the club after leaving Coventry City at the end of last season. He looked a dangerous player in the two games against Notts last season and has also looked good in the friendlies, fingers crossed he can do well this season.

Andy Haworth is another new signing. He’s only here on an initial six month deal but despite a lot of people dismissing him on the news of his arrival, he’s had an excellent pre-season – scoring a few goals out in Finland and looking pretty dangerous going forwards in the home friendlies.

We have a small, but talented squad here at Notts County. We all know from last season how good Bartosz Bialkowski is in goal and Fabian Speiss is a competent number 2. Defensively we’re also very strong with new signing Dumbuya along with Captain Dean Leacock, Manny Smith, Alan Sheehan, Haydn Hollis, and midfielder Gary Liddle who played much of last season in the centre of defence very well.

In midfield we have wingers David Bell, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Greg Tempest and forward Francois Zoko can also play on the wing, while in midfield we have Gary Liddle, Andy Haworth, another new signing in Mark Fotheringham – who has been described as a younger, better version of Neal Bishop, a host of youngsters, Andre Boucaud and of course Joss Labadie. He struggled to get into the side for much of last season and was sent out on loan to Torquay United, where he netted 4 goals in 7 games to help the club in their fight against relegation. He came back to Notts a different player, scoring a memorable free-kick against Doncaster Rovers and showing potential to be one of Notts’ main stars this season.

With Danny Haynes, a seemingly revitalised Yoann Arquin, Francois Zoko, Enoch Showumni, Tyrell Waite & Romello Nangle up front, we have what looks like a very dangerous attack, it’s just a case of getting them firing on all cylinders. The youngsters have been very impressive.

There’s no doubt that this year League One is going to be even tougher than it was last season. At the minute I think the play-offs are a pretty tall order for Notts but we’re certainly capable of a top half finish. If we can be in the top half come the last few months of the season who knows what might happen!

As far as league one itself is concerned, I don’t think you can look beyond the relegated clubs for promotion. Wolves have by far the biggest budget in the league and getting Wolves out of league one shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for former Millwall boss Kenny Jacket. They’re certainly my favourites for the title, with Darren Fergusson’s Peterborough United to come second. Posh’s poor start to last season effectively cost them their Championship status, as they finished the season in promotion form, only being relegated with virtually the last kick of the last game.

Bristol City should also be up there with Sean O’Driscoll at the helm and what look like some impressive new signings on paper, and of course Sheffield United. The Blades have just missed out on promotion for the last two seasons now and will be more determined than ever to get back to the championship. They may have a rookie manager in David Weir, but Weir has years of experience playing at the highest level, and he was always known as a very hard worker on the pitch. If he can implement that side of his own game onto his new side the Blades will deffinatly be a force to be reckoned with.

Preston North End had a strong squad last season but it just didn’t happen for them. However they have Simon Grayson in charge now. He successfully guided Leeds United to the championship in 2009/10 and has made some impressive signings over the summer, in particular Kevin Davies. They could be dark horses for automatic promotion. They’re certainly play-off contenders.

And of course there’s Uwe Rossler’s Brentford – last season’s beaten play-off finalists. Brentford were one of the best sides we played last season, and they had the best home record in the division. They should be in the play-off mix again at least.

I think Crewe Alexandra could be dark horses for the play-offs. They have a great young manager and a hungry, talented young squad. They had an impressive first season back in league one last season and with their potent attack and fast flowing style of football, they could cause a lot of sides problems this season.

When I think about relegation candidates, the first club that comes to mind is Colchester United. Their league position has been getting worse for the last four seasons now and with one of the smallest budgets and smallest squads they could be in for a long season. Carlisle, perhaps surprisingly also struggled last season and don’t appear to have done much business over the summer.

I don’t think any of the four promoted clubs will go back down. Martin Allen’s Gillingham look quite strong. They’ve managed to keep to bulk of last season’s title winning squad and have made some impressive summer signings – most notably Cody McDonald from Coventry City.

Rotherham United have also kept most of their side together. They have a nice new stadium, plenty of money to spend and the experienced Steve Evans at the helm. They could be looking towards the top half along with the Gills.

Port Vale were the country’s leading scorers last season and we all know what Bradford City are capable of, those sides should all be fine.

I won’t predict a final league table because I don’t know enough about a lot of clubs, there are always a few surprises at both ends of the table but I’ve given you the sides I think will be the ones to watch at both ends.

One thing’s for sure, it promises to be a very exciting 2013-14 league one season. For Notts it should be a season of bedding the youngsters in and improving on last season’s 12th place. Chris Kiwomya is a good coach with great enthusiasm, and I think we can push for a top ten finish.

There’s a feel good factor amongst the fans, the new kits selling well (I love the home kit! The away not so much), and fans appear to be buying into the clubs philosophy of bringing through the younger players and building towards a brighter future.

So, roll on Friday night. We are capable of getting a result at Brammel Lane. We mustn’t go there with any fear. If we believe we can win there and play to our strengths we’re a big match for them.

We’ll need the black and white army in the stands to be our 12th man this season and get behind the team from the very first whistle. Sing loud and proud!

As Ray Winston would say - let’s get on it boys!

COME ON YOU PIES!

1st. Wolves

2nd. Peterborough

------------------------------------

3rd. Preston North End

4th. Sheffield United

5th. Brentford

6th. Bristol City

------------------------------------

7th. Rotherham United

8th. Crewe Alexandra

9th. Notts County

10th. Gillingham

11th. Leyton Orient

12th. MK Dons

13th. Crawley Town

14th. Oldham Athletic

15th. Walsall

16th. Coventry City

17th. Bradford City

18th. Swindon Town

19th. Stevenage

20th. Port Vale

------------------------------------

21st. Tranmere Rovers

22nd. Carlisle

23rd. Shrewsbury Town

24th. Colchester United

Please keep tuned for more!

Compare | Notts-Joe - ncfcdrapes - Joe Jones - Super Ram - TonyHateley - Special Guest

1. Bristol City

2. Peterborough United

------------------------------------

3. Sheffield United

4. Notts County

5. Brentford

6. Wolves

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7. Preston North End

8. Walsall

9. MK Dons

10. Coventry City

11. Swindon Town

12. Crawley Town

13. Bradford City

14. Colchester United

15. Gillingham

16. Tranmere Rovers

17. Crewe Alexandra

18. Port Vale

19. Shrewsbury Town

20. Leyton Orient

------------------------------------

21. Carlisle United

22. Rotherham United

23. Oldham Athletic

24. Stevenage

Pride of Nottingham is very excited about this series of features, please keep tuned for other writers which include a special guest.

Compare | WeymouthPIE - ncfcdrapes - Joe Jones - Super Ram - TonyHateley - Special Guest

I started promoting Pride of Nottingham around December, it wasn't a good time for a site with our title. It received some eyebrow raising comments early on but even then I felt that we could come good.

If I think back, for myself the point it became concerning was when speculation started spreading around with regards to Lee Hughes future.

The passion from this point just seemed to be draining, the players seemed to have lost hope and when this happens any prospect for promotion must really be questioned but even then I still had hope right up to the very end.

For me the pitch is a poor excuse especially if other teams manage to play okay on it. I would point the downward spiral to mental awareness and perhaps Keith Curle's tactical decisions in which we saw countless times a striker replaced for a midfielder in games we was narrowly winning or drawing. Also noticeably the players lacked to take a chance and some seemed to be scared to have a go at goal, such as Hamza Bencherif at Swindon (although to be fair other players too).

It got to the point it looked like the players just wanted to have the season over, the fans cried out for entertainment and it just became a depressing atmosphere.

Into 2013/2014 things look better, as Chris Kiwomya is assembling a pretty good squad. The only release I questioned – Julian Kelly, a player who I felt could have been worth the gamble on fitness but what do I know about football?

Signings such as Danny Haynes, Mustapha Dumbuya, Mark Fotheringham and David Bell tick boxes for expectant fans. With Andy Haworth showing promise after being written off by some of our own fans and fans of former clubs.

Friendlies – It's been exciting on this front, after a fairly quiet period. Galatasaray was a very impressive performance by all involved, Mark Fotheringham earned his contract in this game, no question! He was flawless and shows the spirit of a team midfielder who wants to win games.

Our previous friendly against Rayo Vallecano much the same, free flowing football and quick paced attacks. We didn't seem afraid to try something, which in games is all you need – along with luck of course.

The tour in Finland regardless of the structure of the teams we played or the quality of the sides for me is important, the fact Chris Kiwomya wanted to get the players bonding and to have fun, it can't be faulted and it seems to have paid dividends with morale being high.

Before the signings, I must admit I was getting concerned – much like I was when Chris Kiwomya took over but he's earned the word 'faith' and I put my trust in any future decisions.

This leaves me to discuss the upcoming season which isn't far away now at all, I'm very excited about this as I stuck to my promise and purchased a season ticket. I also plan to attend as many away games as I can but not everybody can and I feel very fortunate that I can.

Whilst a section of fans were thinking relegation ahead, I was thinking mid table, around the 12th position. Having had time to reflect on the friendlies, see the players and take into consideration that the teams we've played are of a better standard of football it's looking more rosy for us.

I definitely feel that we can achieve a play-off place, if we can pick up big results I do not see why we can't push more but ultimately this will fall down to the character of the players and the hope that we the fans can encourage them or pick 'em up when they're dropping their heads. I would love to see a repeat of the Galatasaray game, the support was second to none.

If we can bulk our squad a little more, with strengthening to the midfield and centre backs for rotation/cover, we will have a squad capable of challenging anywhere from around 4th up.

The pitch looks good, the fans are optimistic which leads to a really good go this season.

Question asked by weymouthPIE; Overall how pleased have you been with the progress Notts County FC has made on and off the field since you've been at the helm?

I am one of these guys who is never satisfied. I always want better and I want better for Notts. So to answer your question - no I am not. Yes we have come a long way I believe but we still have some way to go

Question asked by MuddyPatchPie; Do you have any plans to sell the naming rights to the stadium to generate income and if so would you stipulate that "Meadow Lane" is part of the name?

Yes we would sell naming rights to Meadow Lane providing it generated a sum which I considered suitable. We would endeavour to keep Meadow Lane as part of this

Question asked by MuddyPatchPie; When you first purchased Notts County you must have had a long term plan. Are you still on track with that?

Yes overall we are on the course to the targets I set.

Question asked by MuddyPatchPie; Can you reveal one from the past and one for the future Notts related secret to wet our appetites for next season?

There are none really that come to mind from the past. We do have 2 more targets in our sights – 1 being a midfielder who is an International and the other is a striker

Question asked by TonyHateley; I understand if you can't answer this Mr. Trew but my question is when Keith Curle was sacked did you consider approaching Steve Cotterill or Neil Warnock to return to the club in any capacity.

No to both. Firstly, Steve left my employment and whilst I cannot deny he did a good job during his time with us I felt he let me down and for that reason I wouldn’t give him another chance. We could never satisfy Neil demands on salary and for that reason I did not want to insult him and therefore no approach was made.

Question asked by TonyHateley; What has been your happiest moment since taking over and what was the worst moment.

Without a shadow of doubt the best moment was gaining promotion from League 2. The worst was the equaliser Man City scored in the FA Cup to force a replay. I really thought we would hang on for the win

Question asked by TonyHateley; I am sure there have been lots of players that the club have tried to sign in your time and have failed for whatever reason, which player do you most regret slipping through your fingers.

I have saying in that should not not regret the ones you didn’t sign only some of the ones you did

Question asked by Super Ram; Since The Rams were relegated from the Premier League, after one disastrous season, us Derby fans have had to be very patient, with the spending constraints imposed by our owners. We at last seem to have a team capable of making a serious promotion challenge. You have also 'tightened your belt' with Notts. My questions are - How are Notts progressing financially after all the steps you have taken and how long before Notts fans can look forward to their own serious promotion push. I also realise some fans may not like your answers.

I did say on record at the end of the last campaign that I was reducing the playing budget by 30%. However I have not done this and my reason really was I felt I had to give Chris Kiwomya every chance to succeed. I think we are 1 or 2 players away from making a serious bid for promotion.

Question asked by Joe Jones; What plans do you have in place to attract "sleeper" fans, ie those who have an affinity towards Notts but don't attend games, or haven't attended any for a while?

I wish I knew the magic answer to this question. We are always trying to think outside the box to not only attract stay away fans but to seduce new fans both young and old. I think the easiest way would be to give them a team capable of promotion and one that plays attacking attractive football.

Question asked by Joe Jones; How can we ensure that the club has enough home shirts in stock all season for every fan to purchase one if they so wish? Many fans were left empty-handed last season after the home shirts ran out by the end of 2012. For a football club not to have any current season home shirts on sale either in the club shop or official website is frankly unheard of, and this needs to be addressed.

I would rather be in the position of having no stock to sell than a shop full of shirts we have to sell off at huge discounts. Unfortunately with our current provider there is a minimum order of 1000 shirts and one has to take a view if we can sell this quantity or not. Our current agreement expires at the end of this season and we have started negotiations now with our current supplier and 3 other well known brands. It will be a stipulation of ours that we can order in batches of 100. Hopefully this will rectify the situation to everyone's satisfaction

Pride of Nottingham would like to thank Mr Trew for kindly agreeing to do this Q/A and to take the time to answer, it's very much appreciated by our community. I would also like to say a big thank you to the members who put questions forward for this feature, I enjoyed reading the questions as this progressed.

Mobile Users please visit | Gallery

Pride of Nottingham would like to thank Kirk Ward for providing us with these excellent action shot, we wish him all the best with his budding photography. You can see more of Kirks work by visiting his Photography's Facebook Page.

Pride of Nottingham hopes you enjoy the photos, many thanks to Andy and Jimmy for use of their photos.

To Derby and Back for Jimmy and Jack - Article | Photos for Mobile

There were a lot of other factors though that helped the sudden, rapid growth of soccer and indeed other field sports. Some may appear insignificant but were nonetheless vital and helped speed up the development process.

The invention of the lawnmower by Edwin Beard Budding in 1827 (patented 1830) was one such occurance, replacing the very laborious use of a Scythe and making the preparation of playing areas much easier.

Advances were also made with the actual balls used, Inflated animal bladders(usually pig), later encased by leather were most commonly used. These balls didn't keep their shape very well and bounced unpredictably. In 1855 Charles Goodyear, an American patented a method of vulcanising rubber and thereby paved the way for standardised, stable balls.

The spread of the railway network in the U.K was also important, providing a speedy and relatively cheap mode of transport to all classes of the population.

The one single factor that changed the British way of life and accelerated the changes in sport was the passing of the 1850 Factory Act which restricted the working week to 60 hours and all work had to stop at 2pm on Saturdays.

Now the working classes had free time on Saturday afternoons to spend as they pleased, which led to the traditional 3pm kick off time.

Soccer's popularity quickly gathered pace in the second half of the 18th century with new clubs being formed all around the U.K, particularly in the newly industrialised areas of The Midlands, Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Football was also developing north of the border and Queens Park formed in 1867 and Scotlands oldest club were invited to take part in the first F.A Cup competition. They were invited to take part due to withdrawals by other clubs but had to withdraw themselves due to lack of funds

Queens Park even played in the final twice in 1884 and 1887, losing both times to Blackburn Rovers (2-1 and 2-0) and were instrumental in the formation of The Scottish Football Association in 1873.They were also the winners of the first Scottish F.A.Cup final beating Clydesdale 2-0 1873/4

The Scottish F.A. barred its members from participating in The F.A. cup in 1887 and apart from a brief spell in the 1980's when Gretna opted to play in The English League system until returning to the Scottish League in 2002, no Scottish team has entered since.

The early years of the F.A. cup were dominated by the Sourthern elite clubs made up mostly of well off ex public school and university members, whereas the members of clubs in the North and Midlands were mostly poorly paid, and working class.

Although soccer was still strictly amateur, a number of clubs particularly in Lancashire were attracting the better players, including a lot from Scotland, with the offer of a job and under the counter payments. Compensation for loss of earnings while playing for a club was allowed but often abused.

The stranglehold of the Southern amateurs was loosened in 1881/2 when Blackburn Rovers reached the F.A.cup final losing 1-0 to the Old Etonians.

A programme from this match was sold by auction at Sothebys in May 2013 for £36250, a world record for a football programme.

The following season, 1882/3 saw the southern dominance finally broken when Blackburn Olympic beat Old Etonians 2-1 after extra time.

The practice of payments to their players by some northern clubs disgruntled some of the southern 'Gentlemen' and led to the expulsion of Accrington from the cup in 1883 and a years suspension for Preston in1884.

The F.A, in an attempt to assert its authority and stop the spread of professionalism, introduced many new rules including the banning of non English players.

The majority of Northern clubs were however in favour of professionalism so in October 1884 37 clubs at a meeting in Manchester broke from the F.A. and formed The British Football Association.

Fearing further mass defection to The B.F.A by more of its members the F.A. eventually gave in and legalised professionalism on 20/7/1885(thus making The B.F.A.redundant)

The Amateur Football Defense Alliance, later The Amateur Football Alliance was founded in 1907.

After the acceptance of professionalism it became necessary for clubs to arrange fixtures on a regular basis, rather than just take part in cup games and occasional friendlies, so they could pay their players.

With this in mind William McGregor, a director of Aston Villa wrote a letter to his committee and several other clubs on the 2nd of March 1888 suggesting a league competition which would provide revenue from guaranteed fixtures .

A meeting was arranged at Andertons Hotel, London for the 23rd of April 1888 (the eve of the F.A. Cup Final) This was quickly followed by a second meeting in Manchester at the Royal Hotel on 17th of April when The Football League was formally created.

No southern clubs showed any interest at this stage, so the original league membership comprised 6 teams each from The Midlands and The North. These were Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers

The first season kicked off on the 8th of September with each team playing all the other teams twice, once home and once away, but the point system (2 points for a win or one point for a draw) wasn't agreed upon till later in the season.

Preston won the very first league competition without losing a game, and also went on to achieve the first league and cup double when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0 in The F.A Cup Final at The Kennington Oval in front of 22000 spectators.

A second division was added in 1892 when the rival Football alliance was absorbed, with the addition of amongst others, Nottingham Forest, The Wednesday(later Sheffield Wednesday) and Newton Heath(later Manchester United)

Now the first division comprised 16 clubs and the second division had 12.

Automatic promotion and relegation was introduced in1898 replacing the previous 'test match' method of deciding who stayed up and who went down.

The Football League continued to expand over the years (this will be covered in future articles) but by 1958 there were 4 national divisions.

In 1981 3 points were awarded for a win and play offs were introduced in 1986/7 along with automatic promotion and relegation between division 4 and The Football Conference league.

In1992/3 the top 22 clubs in the Football League broke away to form The Football Premiership but reduced to 20 in 1996.

This now left a Football league membership of 72 clubs evenly split over 3 divisions-The Championship and Leagues one and two.

The Football League is the oldest such competition in the world and also organises 2 knockout cup competitions - The Football League Cup and The Football League Trophy.

The Football League Operations centre is in Preston with commercial offices in London.

Liverpool hold the record as winners of the Football League when Division One was the top flight of English football with 18 titles.

Manchester United had won the title 7 times before adding another 13 titles in The Premier League.

The next article will be a summary of events relevent to soccers development up to the end of the 19th century and Footballs first superstar.

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Previous Article | Introduction of the F.A Cup

Nottingham City council eventually leased a plot of land to Notts and a new home stadium was quickly erected.

The stadium, 'Meadow Lane', would become the centre of football within Nottingham, as the ground en-counted historic moments, such as the World War II bombing, many matches and legends of the game.

Moving onto the early 1990's then Chairman, Derek Pavis, set about plans to modernise the stadium. Over the years, the ground had witnessed a few characteristic additions but largely remained unchanged.

After the Bradford City Stadium fire, when sadly 56 deaths occurred, plus over 250 injuries and the Hillsborough disaster, the Taylor report required football clubs to abide by health and safety regulations. This brought about a swift move towards many English football teams being required to modernise their ground.

Meadow Lane was subsequently redeveloped in the early 90's.This saw the Meadow Lane End, County Road Stand and Spion Kop demolished and new modern stands replacing the former one's, as the Family Stand (Hayden Green Family Stand), Jimmy Sirrel Stand and the Spion Kop stand were rebuilt in a matter of months. Revamp cost the club an excess of around £5million pounds and a combination of selling strike partners Paul Rideout and Tommy Johnson contributed to the costs.

During the close season of 1994, the Main Stand was replaced with the existing Derek Pavis Stand.

The stadium is somewhere to be truly proud., it's many fans second 'home' and over the years we've seen other parts receive it's own revamps, such as the Meadow Lane Sports Bar. The whole ground has a 'special' family feel.

It's only when you think back into the past, recall the nostalgic memories and look about the redevelopment that you truly the appreciation the feeling.

Meadow Lane is also the only ground in Europe, possibly the world where the Chairman has his own personal view. The balcony is a wonderful feature of the stadium, as are many other aspects. My personal favourite being the tree locations, which I believe one will become the home of the Jimmy & Jack statue.

I've taken some pictures of the Stadium using my mobile phone, I will share some below and hope to share the album with fans who might be interesting in browsing.

-Edit: 28/05/2017

Due to the date in length of time between now and the original date of this publication, the link to the gallery has since experienced but if there's any interest (please do let us know) - I will consider releasing a new gallery of images that I have taken over the years.

http://prideofnottingham.co.uk/community/gallery/album/15-/

Pride of Nottingham would like to Thank 'Notts County Football Club' for allowing me to take the pictures.

So on Monday the 26th of October 1863 The Football Association was formed. The first and therefore oldest football association in the world, often referred to simply as The F.A. and with no 'English' prefix.

Today the F.A. oversees all aspects of the amateur and Professional game and is responsible for the management of the men's, women's, youth and national football teams. It is based at Wembley Stadium, London.

All English professional teams are members of The F.A though it does not control day to day running of The Premier League.

In the early days the F.A's membership (about 50) was quite small and its authority was often challenged or ignored completely. It's main rival in Sheffield had a membership of 26. Throughout the country though, new clubs were being formed, playing F.A.,Sheffield or mixed rules. The game of football was evolving quickly now with formations and tactics gradually being introduced.

On the 20th of July 1871 a meeting was held at the offices of The Sportsman newspaper when Charles Alcock (F.A. Secretary,1870-1895) proposed a knockout competition open to all F.A. member teams, partly in an effort to promote the F.A.

The first ever cup competition however was The Youdan cup held in Sheffield and played under Sheffield rules It was named after and sponsored by Thomas Youdan,a Sheffield theatre owner who provided a trophy and a prize of £2. The final was held at Bramall Lane on the 5th of March 1867 in front of 3000 spectators paying 3d admission and won by Hallam F.C.

The cup was lost until 1997 when Scottish antique dealer contacted Hallam F.C. who subsequently paid £2000 for it.

The F.A cup is the oldest national football association tournament in the world.The first matches were played 11/11/1871 with only 15 clubs entering. There were only 12 matches played in total, with many byes and walkovers and contested by teams from the London area only due to the cost of travel. The final was held at the Kennington Oval, London with 2000 spectators paying 1 shilling.

Wanderers, an amateur team made up mostly of ex public school and university members and founder members of the F.A. beat the Royal Engineers, a British Army team, 1-0. The Royal Engineers were considered favourites but one of their players broke his collar bone and substitutes weren't allowed in those days.

The Royal Engineers were the first football team to 'tour', playing games in Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby in 1873.

The following year 26 Teams entered, though 6 withdrew and Wanderers were given a bye to the final. In the1875/6 season the number of entrants rose to 29. The competition was slowly growing with teams throughout the UK now taking part. One very important factor now was that for a team to take part it had to agree to play under Association rules. The popularity of football as a participation and spectator sport was now becoming evident as by the 1888 final it was watched by 22000 people.

In the 2011/12 season there were 763 teams entered making it the largest such competition in the world.

This is a convenient point to close for now as we have reached the point of my next subject, which will be the formation of the Football League and professionalism.

I've tried to limit the article to the main aspects of the development and history of football and if any member has any questions or comments please feel free to do so on the links below and I will do my best to give a satisfactory response.

In the mean time here are a few random statistics;

Most F.A. Cup Final appearances and wins - Manchester United - 18 apps, 12 wins.

Most appearances in final without winning - Leicester City.

Biggest win in tournament - Preston North End 26 - Hyde (1st round 1887).

Biggest away win in tournament - Clapton 0 - Nottingham Forest 14 (1st round 1891).

Highest attendance - 126,047 Bolton Wanderers v West Ham - Wembley - 28/4/1923.

Preston N. E. achieved the first double (league and cup) beating Wolves 3-0 in 1889.

Notts County have appeared in 2 F.A. cup finals, losing the first on 23/3/1891 3-1 to BLackburn Rovers at The Oval, even though they had beaten Blackburn 7 - 1 only one week previously.

Notts did win the cup, though, on 31/3/1894, beating Bolton wanderers 4 - 1 at Goodison park.Jimmy Logan became the second player to score a hat trick in the final and Notts becoming the first team outside the top division to win having finished 3rd in Division 2.

Henry 'Harry' Cursham scored the most F.A. goals in a career period from 1877-18, a total of 49 goals whilst playing for........Notts.

Biggest cup final score - Bury 6 - Derby County 0.

The Rams had appeared in 2 finals previously, losing 3 - 1 to Nottingham Forest in 1898 (another unwanted statistic) and again losing 4 - 1 to Sheffield United.

The 1945/6 season had no league programme so for the only time in its history the F.A. cup was played over 2 legs up to the semi final and final. In a semi final replay at Maine Road, Manchester, Derby beat Birmingham City 4 - 0 in front of 80,407 spectators, a midweek record attendance between league clubs. The Rams went on to beat Charlton Athletic 4 - 1 after extra time.

So to make up for all the unwanted records I would like to claim that Derby County are the only true winners of the F.A. cup.

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Previous Article | 150 Years of Football

Harry was born 11th of February 2010, and was joined up to the junior magpies two weeks later. He was a proud owner of the football shirt at the same time. We took him to his first match when he was only a few weeks old. The match was against Macclesfield Town, and we won 1-0 (goal by Clapham in 18th minute). Harry was taken to every home game of the season, and a running joke that he was our lucky charm was soon banded about within the family and friends at the club.

We also got married at the club in May 2010, which Harry proudly wore his Notts County Football kit and England football boots. As well as this, Mr Trew kindly arranged it so that we could bring Harry to the club, following training to meet players and the manager at the time, Steve Cotterill. He met many players who made a real fuss of him including; Neil Bishop, Ben Davies (shortly before his Derby departure), Lee Hughes, Kasper Schmeichel….But Harry was laughing and giggling away when he met Mike Edwards. Mike kindly spent around 15 minutes talking to us about his family and playing with Harry, so much that he had to be called back to perform his duties. This day is one we will never forget as a family, and Harry still treasures these photographs to this day.

While going to the matches, it was wonderful to see Harry grow, and take more of an interest in the matches. It even became apparent he had favourite players. We always sat in the Pavis Stand, and so he would watch the players on the bench warming up, and Craig Westcarr in particular would always getting Harrys attention. Mike Edwards would always wave and usually come over to say ‘Hello’ to Harry during the pre-match warm up. And luckily Harry got to see Notts County get promoted, which he enjoyed at the final home game of the season.

We still try to get to matches but unfortunately have not been able to afford it for a season or so. Hopefully we will be able to go to a few more of the games in the 2013-2014 season, and Harry can add many more signatures to his NCFC autograph book.

Current Favourite Player; Alan Judge (but he also loved Hughesy)

Favourite Chant; Wheelbarrow Song

Best highlight of Meadow Lane; Promotion from League Two

Pride of Nottingham would like to Thank Vicky and William, Also a big hello to young 'Harry' who we are delighted to feature as a Junior Magpie! If you would like us to feature your little one or child, please get in touch by E-Mail. webmaster(at)prideofnottingham.co.uk - Replace (at) with @

A short while ago I wrote an article about Notts County's 150 year existance, which I will link to at the bottom of this article for any readers to catch up on (if you choose to do so). Here is the second in the series of posts, where I've tried to describe the development of 'football'. Of course there are other codes of 'football' that grew out of 'mob football' in the mid/late 19th century. I've concentrated on the growth of football as we now know it in England, I hope you all find it interesting and any comments are again most welcome, so please get posting.

In 1857 Sheffield FC was formed by members of Sheffield Cricket Club as a way of keeping fit during the winter months, so becoming the worlds oldest club playing Association football. (Notts now being a professional league side) They began just playing games between club members and in 1858 laid down the rules by which they would play, these became known as The Sheffield Rules.

Hallam FC was formed in 1860 and soon there were at least 15 teams playing in the Sheffield area. Now inter club games were being organised and it became necessary to have a governing body to administrate these clubs. Thus in 1867 The Sheffield F.A. was created, becoming the first county association in England. Sheffield FC v Hallam FC is the oldest derby match still being played. Sheffield FC played an eighteen a side game in Nottingham under Nottingham rules on the 2nd of January 1865, their first game outside the Sheffield area.

Football was also developing all over the country particularly in the London area and in public schools, however when inter-team matches were arranged there was a good deal of confusion regarding rules of play, One way round this was to play one half of a game using one teams rules and then use the other teams rules for the second half.

This was obviously unsatisfactory. Also when pupils moved from school to university there was confusion about the rules of play. So in 1848 a compromise set of rules was formulated. These became known as The Cambridge Rules and were revised in1856.The rules included throw ins, goal kicks, forward passing and no running while carrying the ball.

In 1862 Ebeneezer Cobb Morley founded Barnes FC (London) and being concerned about disputes over rules wrote a letter in 1863 to the Bell's Life newspaper suggesting that an association similar to the MCC in cricket be formed to decide set rules and govern football.

So on the 26th of October 1863 a meeting was arranged at The Freemasons Tavern, Great Queens Street, London,with representative of several public schools and interested parties in attendance.

Over a series of 6 meetings rules were drawn up by Mr. Morley using the Cambridge rules as a basis but also incorporating some of The Sheffield rules and others and favouring dribbling and kicking the ball rather than handling and running whilst holding the ball. As a result of the handling and other rules being removed the representative of Blackheath withdrew his team from the FA.

Several other clubs soon followed suit and later in 1871 formed The Rugby Football Union. So now we have Rugby football and Association football or 'Soccer', a corruption of association. Sheffield FC joined the FA in November 1863 but continued to use their own rules until 1878 when the FA incorporated some further Sheffield rules.

The game of football (Soccer) was now becoming recognizable as the game we know today but there was still quite a way to go.

To be continued soon.

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Previous Article | Notts County - 1862

Pride of Nottingham recently asked Lynn Lawson some questions in hope to further raise awareness to such a worthy scheme - Lifeline. This as been a privilege for us, as ideally we would like to help the club. Yesterday we featured an article based on the membership side, this gave a brief insight to how Lifeline started. We hope the questions are interesting and of use to promotional members. Hopefully this will be a gentle push in the right direction, as it would be nice to fill the allocated spaces and reach a PROUD 2,500.

Q; How important is it too for the club and fans to have the Lifeline scheme?

A: September 15th 1986 the Club held a crisis meeting that drew 1500 supporters to the Astoria night club, funds needed to be found and Lifeline was formed.

Now nearly 27 years on, Lifeline continues to plough money into the Club’s coffers and helps the Clubs finances.

In 2009 we donated £80,000 to the Club

In 2010 we donated £93,000 to the Club

In 2011 we donated £110,000 to the Club

In 2012 we donated £120,000 to the Club

So you can see, the donations are increasing each year, so Lifeline is very important to us.

We also pay out weekly to members £1520 in prize money and annually £10,000, a Car and Holiday vouchers.

You Have to be ‘in it to Win it’ .

Q; Can you tell us how the money raised is spent?

A: Generally it helps the Club with running costs, bills, improvements, wages, and equipment.

We also make regular donations to local charities, most recently The British Heart Foundation in memory of Joy Sharpe of Hillside Medical.

Q; How long have you been handling Lifeline?

A: I have been administering Lifeline since 2001, so 12 years now.

Q; How is Lifeline comparing member wise in recent years to when it was most popular?

A: We currently have 2025 members, the only other time the membership has been higher and to nearly full capacity was in 1986 when it was set up and then it reached nearly 2200. As a members scheme, our maximum membership allows us for 2500. In 2001 when I took over, we had just short of 1200 members.

Q; What would be the ultimate achievement for Lifeline?

A: To one day reach the maximum membership allowed at 2500 and to one day reach it's 50th Anniversary which of course will be in September 2026!!

Fans have a better chance of winning than with the National Lottery and are supporting The World's Oldest Football League Club at the same time, so don't delay join today! It couldn't be easier!

This is a follow up to "You Have to be 'in it to Win it"

Pride of Nottingham would like to Thank Mrs Lawson for taking the time out to answer our questions. Please be sure to visit the official site to find out more about Lifeline and also to enter your chance of winning Kiwomya’s Lifeline Tickets.

I have now written a brief introductory article about football up to the time of Notts formation in 1862 and will continue with more:-i.e. The formation of the F.A. and Football League and come up to date with, hopefully, interesting and informative articles. I enjoy reading about the history, players, and ups and downs of other clubs. I hope other site member do also and will add their own comments to give us all a better insight into football's rich history. Notts-Joe has asked me to write up about the history of football, not just relating to Notts County.

On 28th of November 2012 Notts County celebrated 150 years of existance.

Notts formation came about 50 years before The Titanic sank, 26 years before Jack the Ripper found notoriety. Across the Atlantic the American Civil war was being fought(1862-1865), Here in England, in the middle of Queen Victoria's reign, great things were happening.The lives of people in England were soon to be changed and then the whole world. The phenomenon we call Football was about to explode.

Football was much different back in Dickensian Britain. Games involving ball like objects have been played for centuries. Football evolved as Mob Football and in the Middle ages every town or village would play it's own version, usually on public holidays. A good but watered down example of this is still played in Ashbourne each Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.

There were no set rules and often resulted in injury and damage to property. Many Kings have tried to prohibit football over the centuries, for various reasons, but football in some form would not go away.

The industrial revolution in the 1700's brought about improved methods of manufacture and production It also helped change Britain from a rural to an urban country with rapid growth of populations in cities and towns particularly in Lancashire, Yorkshire and The Midlands.

The workers were now being employed in large factories instead of their own homes and it's not too difficult to imagine impromptu games taking place after work. Public schools also had developed differing styles of ball games. These were often more like Rugby with a mixture of kicking and throwing and encouraged as character building.

The first signs of teams being formed were beginning to be seen and with the coming of the railways by the mid 1800's, cheaper public transport was available.Another revolution was about to take place and NOTTS COUNTY would be at the forefront.

To be continued - Discuss Super Rams Series in the Community.