Couldn't agree more @Piethagoram. We do have a goal scorer in Kristian Dennis but we won't get to see him in action because he doesn't suit Kewell's "plans". So therfore we have 100k sat on the bench doing nothing. I personally like Vaughan as a player but he is not what we needed. O'Connor is what we needed and the money spent on Vaughan could have been used for MOC. I have mentioned this a few times and completley agree with your comments. This summer we bought on name and not ability in my opinion. We are not the only team to have spent money in the summer but I will admit it is alarming the rate we are spending and the returns are not great at the moment. It's frustrating to see the lack of direction and knowledge on transfers. I personally think whoever is in charge of transfers has not got the foggiest. 

It says a lot when young fans like myself and @ARLukomski can name better players for half the price of what were paying some of the clowns right now that would do a better job. Countless times I have had conversations with fans like Dec suggesting better players for loans or cheaper prices than what we would have been paying. 

There is next to no competition for certain places in the team such as RB, Tootle has nothing to push for because he knows he will be in the team week in week out. We sit here thinking who were going to sign in January but why should we need to? We have a massive squad already and Kewell should have the tools to finish the job. This just shows how poor and disgusting our recruitment is, how can we have this large of a squad and still want more? Absolutely barmy.

Good thread @Piethagoram!

A chairman who backs his manager and fans who question the quality of signings.That sounds very familiar to me.Until Frank Lampard arrived some of the signings(not all) for my lot were soon being criticised as a waste of money but at the time of signing most fans were very happy.Wasn't that the case at Notts.The only criticism I recall was that certain positions were overlooked and not strengthened and these positions are still the main problem.Down to the manager to correct.

We recruited badly in the summer, people were looking at Boldewijn, Dennis, Hemmings, Vaughan and were thinking that it would be easy this year (even the Peterborough chairman thought we would be up there), but we released:

Collin - Not replaced 

O'Connor - Not replaced

Shola - Not replaced

Milsom - OK, he's back, but only just

Forte - (goals not replaced)

Alan Smith - Not replaced (maybe not on the pitch, but behind the scenes)

The top three are the killers, Keeper, Midfield linchpin, and Target Man, pretty much the spine of the side. Without these, we were always going to struggle. There are six, or seven players that need to go in January, but can't see them willing to drop to non league, which is probably the only league that would want them.

Looking at the side now, it is a bit damning that the only summer signings in the first XI are Boldewijn and Hemmings. Vaughan looks terrible and not suited to league 2, Dennis & Kellett have never looked fit, Thomas has looked OK in patches and the kids don't count. I don't think we will go down (famous last words), but I cannot currently see us finishing anywhere in the top half now.

Good post @Fozzy. On top of that lot we've lost Grant - yes he was frustrating at times but it was his goals that kept us near the top, certainly in the first half of the season. How many tight matches did he decide in our favour? Admittedly we were never going to hold on to him, but we've completely failed to replace him.

I didn't want to say so at the time but when I first saw Vaughan play he reminded me quite a lot of Darren Caskey. He seems a bit of a luxury for this league.

The recruitment in the summer was bad and it's messed up our season. It's actually been a problem ever since Ray Trew arrived - an awful lot of money has been invested in the squad but we've got precious little out of it.

Fantastic blog .. every word correct and to the tea .. so much potential and we just can’t hit our stride. 

The recruitment on paper was for me good but In reality it’s turned sour and not acceptable any longer. 

Alan  Hardy for me the jury is still out when the owner back stabs the manager that’s when issues begin. Especially as I’ve heard Nolan didn’t want to get rid of half the squad last seaon. The manager and chairman have to be as one. 

Fantastic blogs it’s great to see and hear so many people’s views  

think notts have treid to do the right thing, some of the players have not worked but i do feel vaughan, dennis and brisley can work if they are given the right instructions. most of the new signings seem good enough on paper, so i think its tactical more than anything.

needing to sign addition players now says more about kewell than the players.

he seems unable to work or get the best out of some and he still continues to play the majority of the same players.

 Kevin Nolan said on many occasions that “he wouldn’t accept interference from a Chairman on recruitment or team selection”. 

The Chairman doesn’t select the players to be signed. He puts his faith in the manager he appoints and backs his decisions by funding the transactions. There are people still saying Nolan shouldn’t have been sacked and yet (other than 3 defenders who have performed really well in a short space of time) this is still the majority of Nolan’s team, which is mostly underperforming. Harry Kewell wouldn’t have been my choice to replace Kevin but again, the Chairman pays the bills so calls the shots on who he appoints.

I didn’t hear many complaints from fans about the signings made over the summer and other than the obvious moans that Forte should have been retained, all seemed rosy in the garden. Yes, now we have a bloated squad because a revitalised defence was required (again, the majority of fans would have agreed that recruitment was needed) and again, the Chairman backed the manager! 

Of course as fans we are all hurting but we don’t have the fan base that affords us the luxury of buying and paying wages that will give us an easy pathway out of this league. It’s a long hard struggle and yes, recruitment of the right players is vital but there have been many clubs much higher up the pyramid than Notts who have come unstuck in that department and finished up with a bloated squad and not much improvement to show for it. 

We need to be patient, get behind the club, Chairman and manager. Try to stay positive, this team has the potential to do well in this division and if Harry is the coach everyone says he is (and the first half performance against Swindon shows he might be) then we will be in a decent position to make a challenge for promotion next season.

The recruitment needs to improve, we need players who will die for the shirt and give their all on the pitch.