This whole pre-season feels utterly flat. There is little to be excited about and the silence from the club is deafening.

Club Media

What happened? It seemed like our media team were right at the front of our progression under the brothers and offering fans many insights into the inner goings on in the club in addition to keeping us informed of developments.

Now, we have silence. No dates even mentioned for the club home shirt. The away kit was released by UoN before the club. The Alfreton friendly was barely mentioned up to the game. The cold press releases for departing players are baffling. An end of season message from the owners announced - then ignored since. Has the department been reduced in terms of manpower?

The clubs' media department and fan engagement has declined terribly.

Recruitment

Hardly inspiring, is it? Sell the clubs best attacking midfielder - no replacement. Sell the best keeper in the league - no replacement. Let the best player in the league go because you don't want to pay his wages - no replacement.

The players we have signed, whilst seeming solid-enough, aren't filling anybody with confidence. True, we've not seen them play any competitive football - so we can't judge absolutely. However, they do not replace what we've lost in terms of quality. The current squad is objectively weaker than the one that started last season - and significantly at that. We're a couple of weeks away from our first game and we haven't got a goalkeeper on the books, bar some kid released from over the river.

Then there's the injuries. We have to be a complete outlier in signing players that are currently crocked or have a history of long-term problems. Surely this costs the club financially, as the budget is spent on players that barely kick a ball.

Have we seen this many trialists since the brothers acquired the club? Not since their first season after 'little Al' left us in a pickle. It doesn't point to a team with a data driven recruitment model - it points to a team scrambling around for players.

Are we struggling to attract players? What is a factor in that - budget, head coach, head of recruitment?

CEO and Head of Recruitment

Gone are the days of Jason Turner (RIP) and his excellent communication and transparency with fans. Replaced with - who knows. Montague was lampooned by some of us fans at times, but he seems light years ahead of this new chap who comes with a dodgy reputation - and is so far living up to it.

Then there's weird goings on with Peterborough cancelling friendlies only to then play MK Franchise on the same day we were supposed to play them. Odd behind closed doors friendlies that we are not informed about.

Manager

I'm willing to give anybody a chance. Clearly Paterson impressed in the interviews or which ever metric they are applying. However, it was hardly an inspiring appointment given other options available. This isn't enough to be a downer on its own, we've appointed managers before who were not inspiring at the time - Luke Williams being one - but combined with the rest of the clouds gathering over the club, the manager appointment feels like a contributing factor.

There is a general malaise affecting the club right now - or at least it appears so from the outside. I fear for the coming season if something doesn't change quickly.

COYP

I share those sentiments - entirely. As an eternal optimist regarding all matters Notts, this is the least optimistic I’ve felt at the start of a new season for a very long time.

Let’s hope we get off to a bright start. I don’t see us scoring goals for fun or being the most scintillating team for a while - but - some entertainment, flair and points in the board will dramatically improve things.

I don't believe there is a need to panic. We've seen enough of it on social media, in particular Twitter.

The Club is in a good financial state compared to what we have known in the past.

The Club has appointed a Head Coach who has a good vision for the Club & has already notified the fan base that he is looking to get three or more players to strengthen the squad.

He is backed by his new coaching team & supported by a new Head of Football. The owners are clearly demonstrating that they are ambitious & are looking for Notts to challenge for honours this season.

Notts already have 7 new players in the squad compared to last season & by any standards that is a significant number.

Off the field, the owners have been spending money to improve the ML infrastructure, & invest in the training facilities.

It's easy to talk about the negatives, but for me the positives at Notts, totally outweigh any negatives. We begin the season with lots of promise.

Definitely feels flat at the moment! Hardly building a promotion winning squad if we don’t replace Didzy or Bass. There’s time to add to the squad and let’s hope create some excitement for the fans. By now I’m usually looking forward to the start of the season, but not feeling it yet.

Is there a war happening that we don't know about?????Total media black out!!!!!!!

Calm down folks we haven’t kicked a ball in anger yet, I can understand the frustration and I feel it a little myself but I try to have a positive outlook, I’ll judge how things are going when we played 10 games or so, there’s no need to panic just yet. There’s time to sign the 3 or 4 players MP is looking for, I’m sure they are working hard behind the scenes.

Plus we beat Port Vale 3-1 today, that’s got to be a positive.

I think the club’s media team could be doing more and working in a more organised way. I know they went to Germany, but in the four weeks before Martin Paterson was announced, hardly anything was shared by the club.

That’s why I feel they need to be better prepared, because the silence only makes people worry. Dropping the match programmes so quickly and switching to digital content didn’t help, especially when the online updates didn’t grow and sometimes even dropped off. It just adds to the lack of communication.

The only concern I really have is not understanding why the friendly against Port Vale was kept secret, only for it to be revealed that we’d won.

@NottsCountyKev I agree that dropping the match programmes was a big mistake & the Notts media could do better, especially with their X account.

Non league sides in Notts like AFC Mansfield & Worksop Town appear to have better coverage of matches & general info.

Interesting post. Even if we announce the quality signings we need tomorrow, they'll have missed the bulk of pre-season, which can't have been the plan. It's pretty clear that we've missed out on transfer targets, and the longer it takes to fill the gaps, the more difficult (and more expensive) it will become.

I'm partially with you on communication. Some updates would have been welcome (vaguely worded if need be). However, the owners have always kept their cards close to their chest when it comes to signings. I take that as evidence that they're working professionally (gone are the days of the owner logging in to a forum and telling us a Championship striker is signing next week), but when we don't land targets or things take longer than expected, what we get is silence.

We should qualify this talk a bit though, pre-season is meant as a preparation for the season proper and that's the only way to judge it. I've seen us have seemingly great pre-seasons, winning our friendlies, landing our transfer targets - only for us to then get relegated. What counts is that the team comes out of it as a disciplined, well-organised unit that's ready for the season ahead.

There's a lot to unpack here.

First and foremost, we catagorically have nothing wrong with the club. Our owners, in my opinion, are potentially one of the best club custodians we could hope for. We've had a plethora of local/regional businessmen take over and it's been within their overinflated ego that we've seen chaos and neglect. The bro's have looked at the books, realised the wealth of financial mismanagement and have looked to turn a club in debt and turn it sustainable. They could have gone elsewhere. We've got two "rival" teams in close proximity and doing better than us. They could have found a similar club, with a similar fanbase with no close rivals and a better infastructure. But they chose us. With a model, a philosophy, a sustainability promise and evident backing of building up our infastructure shows that everything in football is not tangiable to transfer fee's.

Club Staff - Most of our senior management, be it of the teams or the club has been poached and will, likely in the future, happen again. We lost enthusiastic coaches and a DOF because of how well we perform in club metrics. Our new DOF and DOP have been newly embedded into this model and strategy and we need to be patient, like with anyone starting a new job, and given them time to adjust. It's not just a role, but a different city in another language for some of them.

Manager - Not overwhelming, sure, but were you for Burchnall or Williams or Maynard? I'm more optimistic than Maynard and equally as whelmed by MP as I was IB or LW. The back team and surrouding staff give it weight as there is a clear organisation and structure now in place.

Club Media - I am somewhat moot to this point. I removed myself from X/twitter when Musk took over and personally, there's a dearth when your not in and around that conversation. I'd like them to get on Bluesky so that I can continue that missed opportunity. They've announced what they need to in terms of new appointments and infastructure changes. They had a plethora of interviews and just like the mic'd up session with MP gave me, personally, great insight. Again, we're a League 2 club and don't have thousands to purchase the social agencies or talent locally.

Recruitment - We've signed players and lost players. It's a cold hard fact when you're in League 2 that our best players will leave. New players have come in, like Jatta with Langstaff, we're now seeing Jarvis and Jones being transitioned to cover the gap we'll miss with Crowley and McG. I personally think we've not done yet as we're still missing players in key points of the team and although people are wetting the bed that the season starts soon, the window doesn't close for a month and a bit so we have plenty of time to find the "right" footballer that meets the requirements of the board and the club.

.... and then we beat Port Vale away three one.

Have faith brothers and sisters x

Pre-season is nearly here and with the only home friendly coming up, the club is bound to be busy. Staff will have plenty to deal with. I don’t think the media team are ignoring fans on purpose, they’re probably trying to ease things a bit. There’s always excitement and nerves as the season gets closer, so a calm approach might help.

I don’t think the club’s in any kind of trouble. It’s likely they’ve chosen to put funds into different parts of the setup. Notts might be looking at signing an experienced keeper for a fee, but we’ll have to be patient. As fans, that’s not always easy, but we’ve had six solid years where the club’s felt like it’s been in safe hands.

Even if the CEO and other staff have changed, I believe everyone behind the scenes still wants to make Notts a success. We’re a close-knit, family-style club, and we don’t need to follow the path taken by teams like MK Dons or Gillingham last season.

@piedestrian absolutely! Nothing at all wrong with the club.

We've had a very productive and progressive 6 years and while it would be nice to have seen players A, B and C earlier we should all be very confident the Brothers and their management know what they are doing.

Keep the faith and no negative waves (as the man said).

I think there have been some events (that you could argue are out of Notts control) that have given off an underwhelming feeling or negative vibe, but I don't think that means there's something wrong with the club.

For starters with the appointment of Paterson, it didn’t help that it took so long but the issue here was more everyone had seemingly pieced together (wrongly) the wait being due to the ongoing U21 Euros and the Denmark coach so the disappointment was compounded.

Then out of players leaving I think we were all blindsided by Bass going. It’s rare in League 1 or League 2 (besides a select few clubs) that a large sum of money is spent on a goalkeeper. Unfortunately for us Peterborough sold Poku for around £1million, that gave them the freedom to spend a little bit more. We also haven’t replaced Crowley or McGoldrick yet, but I’m confident the club are working hard to bring another quality attacker (or two) in.

Then we have the things like Jatta not being able to go on the pre-season tour, Macari’s betting charges, no home shirt and the injuries still lingering from last season too.

Everything at Notts has seemingly gone so well since the brothers took over, but this is the first time in a long time we’ve had a lot of change and ‘bad’ news in a such a short space of time.

There are some valid frustrations, but I believe the criticism is a bit harsh in places.

The Notts media team generally does a solid job during the season and understandably quietens during pre-season. It would be great to see more creative use of that downtime, saved content or even smaller updates could help fans feel included. It's true we haven't had those regular CEO updates like we did under Jason Turner, and the absence of that personal touch does leave a gap.

As for fan engagement I agree it feels more corporate now. A return to that interactive community-first approach we once had would be welcome. However, I don't think the media team is ignoring fans. It might be more about time priorities and perhaps even burnout.

Recruitment-wise, I'm not worried yet. There is still time to add depth and plug the gaps. Yes we need an experienced goalkeeper no doubt, but I don't think the club has lost its way on data-driven signings. It's possible we've faced player rejections we don't hear about or we're being patient to land the right fit.

With the CEO, I do have questions. Communication feels limited and less transparent than it used to be, and more proactive engagement would not hurt. Jason Turner set a high standard there, and I would love to see that ethos return. As for Martin Paterson, I'm keeping an open mind. He seems professional and thoughtful in his interviews, and judging him before a ball has been kicked feels premature.

Pre-season can give clues, but competitive matches will tell us much more. I sense some of the concerns, but I wouldn't say the club is in crisis. We've built something strong over recent seasons, and it's worth being patient before jumping to conclusions.

The disappointment of missing out on the play-off final and the hopes of promotion is affecting the site and fans’ expectations about the club strengthening for another push into League One. The media team could do better at keeping fans informed, but even if they share more interviews and updates, some supporters will accuse them of trying to distract us. They really can’t win.

There’s a lot of work going on ahead of the new season, and I’m confident the club is in safe hands. The club’s approach might be different, perhaps focused on sustainability or improving other areas, but I don’t believe our squad lacks the quality to succeed.

On 19/07/2025 at 14:46, Super_Danny_Allsopp said:

This whole pre-season feels utterly flat. There is little to be excited about and the silence from the club is deafening.

Club Media

What happened? It seemed like our media team were right at the front of our progression under the brothers and offering fans many insights into the inner goings on in the club in addition to keeping us informed of developments.

Now, we have silence. No dates even mentioned for the club home shirt. The away kit was released by UoN before the club. The Alfreton friendly was barely mentioned up to the game. The cold press releases for departing players are baffling. An end of season message from the owners announced - then ignored since. Has the department been reduced in terms of manpower?

The clubs' media department and fan engagement has declined terribly.

Recruitment

Hardly inspiring, is it? Sell the clubs best attacking midfielder - no replacement. Sell the best keeper in the league - no replacement. Let the best player in the league go because you don't want to pay his wages - no replacement.

The players we have signed, whilst seeming solid-enough, aren't filling anybody with confidence. True, we've not seen them play any competitive football - so we can't judge absolutely. However, they do not replace what we've lost in terms of quality. The current squad is objectively weaker than the one that started last season - and significantly at that. We're a couple of weeks away from our first game and we haven't got a goalkeeper on the books, bar some kid released from over the river.

Then there's the injuries. We have to be a complete outlier in signing players that are currently crocked or have a history of long-term problems. Surely this costs the club financially, as the budget is spent on players that barely kick a ball.

Have we seen this many trialists since the brothers acquired the club? Not since their first season after 'little Al' left us in a pickle. It doesn't point to a team with a data driven recruitment model - it points to a team scrambling around for players.

Are we struggling to attract players? What is a factor in that - budget, head coach, head of recruitment?

CEO and Head of Recruitment

Gone are the days of Jason Turner (RIP) and his excellent communication and transparency with fans. Replaced with - who knows. Montague was lampooned by some of us fans at times, but he seems light years ahead of this new chap who comes with a dodgy reputation - and is so far living up to it.

Then there's weird goings on with Peterborough cancelling friendlies only to then play MK Franchise on the same day we were supposed to play them. Odd behind closed doors friendlies that we are not informed about.

Manager

I'm willing to give anybody a chance. Clearly Paterson impressed in the interviews or which ever metric they are applying. However, it was hardly an inspiring appointment given other options available. This isn't enough to be a downer on its own, we've appointed managers before who were not inspiring at the time - Luke Williams being one - but combined with the rest of the clouds gathering over the club, the manager appointment feels like a contributing factor.

There is a general malaise affecting the club right now - or at least it appears so from the outside. I fear for the coming season if something doesn't change quickly.

COYP

I agree we need to be patient with signings as we could be waiting to to see what happens with the loan market, but something doesn't quite feel right at the moment. It's hard to put your finger on it exactly. Are there issues behind the scenes that we are not aware of? I suppose we will just have to wait and see. Lets hope the silence is a positive thing. Certainly the Port Vale result was what we all needed!

I don't fear for the coming season. I feared when we were breaking the record for the longest time in admin, when we had crowds of 3K mostly pensioners, when Munto turned out to be a scam, when we went to the Astoria meeting, probably a few other times. Honestly, these are the good times, try to enjoy them!

Club home shirt - just been announced what's happening.

Recruitment - hard to judge before the season has started but I predict a few will turn out to be gems, make the L2 team of the season, or score a wonder goal, or get sold at a massive profit. I'm basing that on the club's recent track record, not blind optimism.

Manager - seems passionate, honest and willing to learn. Determined to grab his chance. I like him already.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Example: one closed doors friendly (singular) is not odd. LW's team played one against Leicester. There was a brief match report straight after. No big deal.

@Sheffield Pie thanks for bringing a sense of perspective to this discussion, what you say is absolutely true, when you’ve been supporting znotts for over 60 years like I have you see some really scary times.

There are plenty of reasons to be cheerful ask Ian Drury.

People, please please please don’t despair and take the negative. The situation we have at the moment is obviously a little quieter than usual but think on, when you have a quest and are working hard towards fulfilling it, silence is golden. The Club we lovingly support (especially since the brothers took the helm) has flourished in all departments. So now is the time, more than ever to get behind one and all, showing our togetherness and patience. Look forward not backwards, and put faith into supporting all and sundry.

Remember:-

Those who continually shout are unmelodious, but those who whisper are always in tune.

On 19/07/2025 at 21:52, Robbie said:

I agree that dropping the match programmes was a big mistake

I believe they cost the club money, so that's the reason why they were dropped

another thought...transfer fees

Has the transfer fee and compensation fees profits gone towards the pitch renovation last season? Have the Bros gone cold on seeing the Traore fee being possibly misspent?

I don’t think it’s fair to pick on people’s honest views and call them negative. I can see the bigger picture, and it matters that the club listens to feedback so things can improve. It’s still early days. Some members might later change how they feel, and that’s completely fine. But it’s okay to raise concerns now.

If you don’t speak up, you keep those worries to yourself, and there’s no chance for others to share different views or offer support. Nothing gets better unless the club listens and acts.

The question might not be worded clearly, but from the outside, there doesn’t seem to be much wrong with how Notts County is being run.

Your club looks like it’s in a strong position. The owners seem to be changing things for the better and improving Meadow Lane, especially from a match day point of view.

I haven’t been for a while, to be fair, but I’ve seen the pictures and the pitch looks better than most in League Two.

Signing free players isn’t a problem. If it strengthens the squad, it’s worth doing. Just because a player comes from a lower league doesn’t mean they won’t do well for you.

Some clubs are in a mess, with owners making poor choices or spending too much without thinking about the long-term effects.

It’s best to wait until the season starts properly. Until then, enjoy the build-up.

This season's approach feels more steady and focused, which is a good sign. I do agree about the content, if there's still news being shared, then that's better than silence. It must be a bit frustrating for the club having people constantly asking about player updates. That kind of behaviour does come across as a bit childish.

I don't think anything's going wrong. Everything seems to be moving in the right direction as we head towards the new season. When you're a football fan, it's perfectly normal to worry. It just shows you care.