Was It A Done Deal?

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

The departure of Macca from Meadow Lane was a Huge Disappointment to all Magpie Fans. But should it have been Such A Shock ? Looking Back over the last few Months of last Season perhaps there were already Pointers that Macca was Leaving. The Most Prominent  being the signing of Alassana Jatta. In the January Transfer window when Most Fans would have thought the signing of a couple of Defenders either on loan or a short term Contract would have been the Club's Top Priority, but No an unknown Striker from the Brothers other Team comes to the Lane.

The Question is why? Notts had Macca, David McGoldrick and Junior Morias as a Strike Force. and Cedwyn Scott was making progress from his injury, so what's with the signing of a New Striker? Unless of course a Deal had been Struck and Macca was going to pastures New. Was it already decided that Macca would leave at the End of the Season? And the signing of Jatta was to get the Player ready and Used to playing in the English League. It appears his signing was an Excellent One his Five goals argues well for the Future, Big Things are going to be expected of him this coming season.

The Club playing it's cards very close to it's Chest start laying a False trail of Hope for the Fans. Remarks like It will Take A Massive Deal to take Macca away from the Lane. Macca states he wants to take Notts into League 1 and then the Club make Macca Captain. I'm Not Saying Macca didn't want to Lead Notts into League 1, he may have even been in the Dark about the Move as We the Fans Were.

Why would Notts not say anything about a possible move? Imagine the effect on Season Ticket Sales if it had been announced at the end of Last Season that Macca was on his way. It May Not been a Massive number but Enough to make an Impact on Revenue (who Knows?)   Many rumours were doing the rounds a whole List of Clubs were being Quoted as Possible Destinations and Transfer Fees were Priced from £1.5 million to £2.3 million at one stage. Then the Millwall interest Comes to light and things seemed to be Wrapped Up Awfully Fast.

So was the Figure of £750,000 +Ad on's (hopefully) agreed in January with Millwall on the understanding, that Macca would remain at the Lane until the season was Finished? Whatever was agreed or Not lets hope Macca goes on to Great things and has a Great Career. We Notts Fans should be Grateful we had Macca with us last Season, because Many of us in the stands thought Macca would have been Snapped up after his Epic 42 Goal National League Campaign..

[Fan of Big Tone]

I don’t suppose we’ll ever know the truth but your theory does make a lot of sense @Wheelbarrow repair man

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

Thanks @Fan of Big Tone it just seems that something Like That May have happened when you Study Things more Deeply. And Like You say We The Fans Will Never Know.

[BiggestPieInGlasgow]

I'd like to hope thats not the case, the brothers in particular and the wider NCFC team have been very open throughout; I also don't see much benefit with giving him the captaincy when they did if it was already a rubberstamp job. That said I hope the Championship clubs are done taking our club favourites for a while, must be difficult as a manager/chairman to try and block a transfer to a club 2 leagues up. Still not forgiven Luke Williams for leaving after every interview saying he was with us for the long haul so not sure my heart can take another loss!

However, I'm optimistic that Jatta will come into his own now he's not in macca's "shadow", hard work proving yourself when you have the leagues top scorer to compete with, also optimistic Stuart can really come into his own this season, especially given the transfers made plugging Williams' defensive shortfalls.

(Not a slight on Jatta last season by the way!)

 

[Robbie]

If what you say is true @Wheelbarrow repair man and I'm not saying that it is, I will go back to the very fact that in the January window my question would be, why didn't Notts get in a couple of defenders either by fee or loan to bolster the defence if Notts knew Macca was leaving?

It would be inconceivable that Notts would not try to reach the playoffs at least before he left. Why would Macca want to go if we got promoted to league one & then had an opportunity to challenge for the Championship in 2026?

I just think there are other factors at work here. The opportunity came to recruit Jatta, Scott was coming back from injury & maybe Macca's wages were high & Notts needed to balance the books a little.

No matter what the reasons for his leaving, he is gone. Notts will move on and a new Notts hero will emerge, it could be Jatta, it could be Scott, it could be someone new.

I'm more concerned at this moment with the side of the squad that needs increasing by four good signings.

If Notts do that, then Notts have a chance to write more glory in 2025. Macca is now part of Notts's history. Notts will go on as they always do & make more history.

[CliftonMagpie]

I believe we likely signed Jatta with the anticipation of receiving offers for Macaulay Langstaff at the end of the season or during the pre-season. He had once again scored a significant number of goals, demonstrating his adaptation to life in League Two. I doubt that everything would have been finalised back then, and I’m sure the media would have speculated if they had any leads.

I do think Notts retained Macca to boost season ticket sales, all the while knowing that appointing him as captain might give us fans false hope of him staying. At this point, I just hope the deal was ultimately worthwhile. He was bound to leave at some point, and I understand why some fans might feel disappointed.

Personally, I’m looking forward to the new season and wish Macca all the best at Millwall.

[allardyces tash]

We won’t know for sure, but I’m less inclined to believe that when Jatta arrived, we had already agreed on a deal for him to move on. Towards the end of the games, it was clear that Jim O’Brien would leave due to him being applauded off. I don’t think Notts would have finalised a deal and then allowed it to overshadow a lot of positive news. I must say, the decision seems to have been mismanaged. Appointing him as captain was a strange decision, but perhaps they hoped this would be enough to make Macaulay Langstaff want to stay at Meadow Lane. I don’t blame him for wanting to play at a higher level at his age. If it doesn’t work out, he could always find his way back to us where he’s happy. So, we have to move on.

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

@allardyces tash

I think most Notts Fans knew that last Season would be Jim's Swan Song as a Player at the Lane. But Like Many others I Did hope a Position on the Coaching side could have been found for Jim at Notts. The Guys Experience and Fighting Attitude would have given Notts a Massive Boost, both to the Senior Squad and the Academy.

For Me it was the Speed in which Macca's move came about, that made me wonder if some sort of Deal had been Agreed a lot Earlier than the Off Season. Thus resulting in the Paltry sum of £750,000 Macca went for. Hopefully any add on's will Result in a Big Chunk of Cash Coming into the Clubs Coffers.

[thommo]

I don’t think the deal would have been finalised until we began to see leaks in the press. The manager of Millwall appeared somewhat irritated that the news had leaked and reacted as if he wanted to keep it all hushed up. I suspect this was because he wanted to avoid a bidding war, knowing he probably couldn’t compete.

Millwall may have shown interest earlier, but I believe Jatta was signed more because the club wasn’t ready to support Junior Morias. With Morias appearing to be on the brink, signing Jatta provided some competition for Macaulay Langstaff.

[Chris]

You make a valid point about Junior Morias. He had some time and performed decently, but he was frequently reported as injured or carrying a knock. When we were linked with Jatta, it appeared to be a move to potentially provide cover for Macaulay Langstaff and also to give him additional support up front. Morias seems to be a very fast player, so we now have players with different qualities.

[allardyces tash]

7 hours ago, Wheelbarrow repair man said:

@allardyces tash

I think most Notts Fans knew that last Season would be Jim's Swan Song as a Player at the Lane. But Like Many others I Did hope a Position on the Coaching side could have been found for Jim at Notts. The Guys Experience and Fighting Attitude would have given Notts a Massive Boost, both to the Senior Squad and the Academy.

For Me it was the Speed in which Macca's move came about, that made me wonder if some sort of Deal had been Agreed a lot Earlier than the Off Season. Thus resulting in the Paltry sum of £750,000 Macca went for. Hopefully any add on's will Result in a Big Chunk of Cash Coming into the Clubs Coffers.

I believe Notts would have permitted Macaulay Langstaff to receive such applause if they had faith or had agreed on a deal for his services at that point. The rumoured sum could be entirely incorrect, and there could be addons in place that increase it. It’s unlikely that we will know either this or when the deal began.

1 minute ago, Chris said:

You make a valid point about Junior Morias. He had some time and performed decently, but he was frequently reported as injured or carrying a knock. When we were linked with Jatta, it appeared to be a move to potentially provide cover for Macaulay Langstaff and also to give him additional support up front. Morias seems to be a very fast player, so we now have players with different qualities.

I think the club felt the need to sign Jatta. We were desperate for better defenders, and we invested a significant amount in bringing Jatta into the team. His height is something we’ve been missing since Kyle Wootton moved to Stockport. I can envision the club seeking to recruit a striker again come January. As for Junior Morias, we do need to see more of him.

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

Junior does seem to have had a Raw Deal at Notts so far, he's never been given much of a chance to show his capabilities and so far I think he's scored a single goal in the Matches he's played in. Now Macca's gone he could get the Chance he's been waiting for.

[liampie]

i dont think the deal was ever in the pipeline until they came forward, i am not sure notts had even rejected a bid. i think that was scaremongers trying to wave the negative storm of clicks to get them some ad revenue and site visits. i think if macca was going to leave, we would not have seen him training with us.

the fact he was here for a brief time before leaving leaves me to think it was a very quick move, where millwall managed to attract maccas interest and i can understand the lure of championship football.