Stat Attack: Notts County v Fleetwood Town

Tomorrow is the first ever time that Notts County have played Fleetwood Town in the league! Let that sink in, folks. 152 years and the Magpies will be facing a new club in the league – including any past incarnations – for the first time in a while!

Not quite as spectacular, but those two teams have played before… just once, mind. And it wasn’t that long ago. Just a year ago, in fact, as Notts beat the Fishermen 3-2 at Meadow Lane in the League Cup.

You might remember it as the game that preceded THAT epic clash against Liverpool at Anfield.

In its current guise, Fleetwood Town has only been around since 1997, but the club has had predecessors in the form of Fleetwood FC, formed in 1908, and the original Fleetwood Town FC created in 1977.

The original Fleetwood FC were champions of the Lancashire Combination in 1923–24, and registered a hat-trick of Lancashire Combination Cup wins in 1932, 1933 and 1934. Manchester City legend Frank Swift used to play for them at the time.

This incarnation of the club folded in 1976 due to financial difficulties, before being reborn as Fleetwood Town FC. After some moderate success in the non-league, including a final appearance at the FA Vase in 1985, this guise also folded, in 1996.

Re-formed in 1997 as Fleetwood Wanderers, the club was placed back in Division One of the North West Counties Football League (now the tenth tier of the English League system) and a sponsorship deal saw the club's name immediately changed to Fleetwood Freeport F.C.

The club was promoted to the Premier Division of the North West Counties League in 1999 and subsequently renamed Fleetwood Town F.C, a name that remains today.

Their meteoric rise to the third tier of English football began just ten years ago, as the Fishermen went from playing in the North West Counties League in 2004 to the Conference in 2010, before making it to the Football League in 2012 and eventually being promoted from League Two at the end of last season.

Just to give you an idea how quickly they have developed in the last decade – the average Fleetwood Town attendance ten years ago was 134. Now it’s over 20 times that amount at 2819.

The Fishermen currently hold the record for a non-league player sale, as Jamie Vardy left the then-Conference club for Leicester City, who paid £1m for his services (potentially rising to £1.7m).

Meadow Lane may be graced by one of its former players tomorrow – Jeff Hughes played for the Magpies between 2011 and 2013 before moving to Fleetwood.

For the Magpies, Zeli Ismail has a hamstring injury and Mustapha Dumbuya has a knock he sustained against Preston last week. Midfielder Garry Thompson and striker Danny Haynes are also out.

Fleetwood could be without on-loan striker Stephen Dobbie, who suffered an ankle injury in their opening-day win against Crewe Alexandra last Saturday.

Jamie Proctor, who scored in that game, is set for a starting spot.