If Notts are trying to keep Jatta, like turning down offers or asking for a big fee, then why let his agent stir things up? It doesn’t make sense. If he wants to go, just say it. It’s better to be honest than to keep everyone guessing.

I don’t get why the club stays quiet. If they said we’re short on money or need to sell players, fans would understand. But instead, it’s all whispers and guessing. Notts are really good at letting rumours fly around for ages.

I’m not saying they should talk every time something small happens. But when it’s a big deal, and loads of fans are wondering what’s going on, it would help to explain things properly.

The media is meant to tell fans the truth. But our club, like loads of others, hides behind a mask. It’s like they’d rather let made-up stuff spread than just be real with us. That’s not fair. It feels like they don’t trust us enough to tell us the truth.

It's the way of professional football clubs, unfortunately.

To play the devil's advocate, even if the club came out being open as to what was going on (they actually might be, for all we know now), some fans will still make up their own minds, and rumours will just change based on facts, and half-truths can be more dangerous.

I think clubs tend to try to get all their facts and play along with things whilst trying to keep things in-house.

If we think back to Stanley Aborah, his absence from the team was a really dark moment and very depressing because Notts looked very poor under Jamie Fullarton. Alsorts was going round the rumour mill, and for some time Aborah was frozen out of the squad. His reaching out to speak to the BBC Sport team meant that the truth had to be clear. It dismissed the false rumours about him refusing to play and highlighted how the club wanted him gone for whatever reason.

Switching back to Alassana Jatta, I think at first you have to address the rumours of the bids. Use the local media for this case; make it known what is what.

Some might say the club's refusing £700,000 and £900,000 offers might mean the club just doesn't want to sell him, but the club needs to be practical. The initial rejection of Jatta's bid was acknowledged in a statement on the OS.

If a player wants to go, get the highest fee possible and make it known what figure you are looking for; otherwise, you'll miss out.

I have been saying to fans that the clubs need to be transparent, especially to season-ticket holders. A fan asked me at Alfreton about various things relating to the media team's lack of updates and transfer business. Notts can't just make willy-nilly statements and hope fans quieten down, but when things reach the point of a player saying he has a 'back spasm' it's for the local media to unearth the truth.

Then Notts just needs to be open; it just creates a circus, and whilst it might be 'PR' management, it's very much at the cost of genuine fans not knowing what is going on with their club.

I don't think the club are in a position to dispel the rumours @Ash. I can't read AJ's mind, but in his shoes most of us would have our heads turned if a bigger club came in for us and offered to double our wages. But at the same time, he won't want to burn his bridges with Notts in case nothing happens.

As for his agent, Notts have no control over what he says and does. He'll want Jatta to be sold for a fee as it would make him money.

Ideally there would be a statement that he's going nowhere, but that would mean the player ruling out a big move and the club ruling out a big fee this window. Clearly either the player or the club (or both) wants the move to happen if the conditions are right.

In past seasons, I think we would have dealt with this sort of thing much better. It shows how far we've come, really. We used to be the ones trying to grab good players from other teams, but now it's us being targeted. That kind of attention can upset the balance and affect how well the team does. Notts can only replace players who want to leave, but there’s a line when it comes to burning bridges. Claiming a "back spasm" after missing five games, especially after being sent off for a silly reaction, doesn’t help your case. It’s not the best way to show you’re committed.

He’s still under contract, so if he’s refusing to play just to push through a move, that’s poor behaviour. Especially from someone who’s meant to be a fan favourite. If the injury is real, I hope it clears up soon. But the longer it drags on, the harder it is to take it seriously. As for Notts, they only seem to speak up when season ticket sales are dropping. I don’t think there’s much they can do in this case, but like @Chris said, it’s probably up to the local media to dig into it and find out what’s really going on.

I think the club could do better at handling some of the incidents we see. That’s why Jason Turner’s updates were the most valued and important, because they often touched on fans’ concerns. If the club is going along with Jatta, his agent, and it’s true he doesn’t want to risk being injured, or for whatever reason a mistruth is being used to hide the real story, then it’s for the club to treat people like adults.

Notts can't really do much until something actually happens. For now, they have to trust what Jatta is saying and take him at his word. It’s not a good look, though. If the club is putting out a different version of events, then they’re adding fuel to the rumours. That only makes things messier.

We have to accept that stories like this will always pop up. Most won’t get to the point where they seem dodgy, but sometimes they do, and that’s just how it goes, sadly.

For me I just want the Jatta business sorted out as soon as possible one way or the other. It's already got to the stage that Notts won't even get half his valuation of a year ago if he does leave.

I don't blame the club for keeping their silence. Silence sometimes means that developments are going on behind the scenes. I'm sure we will get to know more in the coming days. Maybe in the pre Tranmere press conference.

Time will tell, as @Robbie says we’ll know one way or the other soon enough and no news is often good news. I really hope he stays and buckles down, puts it all behind him and scores lots of goals for Notts.

It’ll all come out in the wash as me mam used to say.😆

Since the Tragic Passing of Jason Turner, it seems the Club have gone into Keep Things Quiet Mode. Which in my opinion is totally wrong and all manner of Rumours are going around, this is Wrong and an Un-Professional Stance by the Club and will Not Endear it to the Fan Base. Regarding Local Media. The amount of coverage they give Notts it's clear they Don't give a Damn about the Magpies, so don't expect anything from that quarter. The Highest amount I've heard that's been offered for A.J. is £750 k. So if the Club was prepared to let Alex Bass go for £300k, you would have thought who ever offered Notts £750k, they'd have snatched their hand off for that offer.

I thought it was good the first question to Martin Paterson in his pre-match interview was in relation to Alassana Jatta, but unfortunately he gave a very basic answer, which personally leads me to think more about it. Why would you say, "We had a really good conversation this week"? 🤔

Also, how Paterson answers the follow-up question about "fans reading into speculation." He does the political thing where you give a long-form answer but make a short comment on the direct question. I personally feel the clubs had a sit-down with Jatta, and they've reached some sort of agreement over his future. What that is, I can only speculate, but I imagine this has happened.

Points for asking the questions, less so for the answers, and I think the follow-up question could have been more to the point. I just feel like it might have been pre-decided by both parties before the questions were asked, just to appease fans.

I could very well be wrong, but coming in straight off the bat with questions that we have wanted just seems a little sus to me.

I do think the club should be open and honest when they can. I’m not saying they need to put out statements all the time, but they should make sure fans aren’t being misled. There was a time when players would be punished for faking injuries, now it feels like they and their agents hold all the power. The situation with Alassana Jatta seems pretty straightforward. He doesn’t look injured to me. When I broke my leg, I couldn’t wait to kick a ball again. I haven’t played properly since, but I’ve had a kickabout. I can’t imagine missing five games, only for a sore back to stop me from putting last season’s red card behind me, especially with transfer talk flying around.

Prediction match pressers are always pre destined to be predictable...after match pressers are more informative and enjoyable!!!!

I believe the media has a duty to dig into the truth, and Notts should never stand in the way of open conversations between the head coach and players, especially when there are concerns like Alassana Jatta possibly having his head turned. I don’t blame the club for this. To me, it’s clearly his agent pulling the strings. But if this back injury isn’t genuine, it reflects badly on both Jatta and the club. Martin Paterson’s response hasn’t helped either, it’s only added fuel to the fire.

This was a chance for the club to quietly shut the door on the rumours, but instead they’ve left it wide open. I rate Jatta highly, but I only want players here who are fully committed.

@Chris, that was exactly my thoughts on the presser. MP seems now to be towing the party line, saying that "BIG" AJ's a Notts player and "we're aligned with what the process is".

My guess is that they've all spoken, popped a number down, if that number is hit by another club, then he's gone and it's 50/50 if we get a replacement.

Sounds like he's been told to reintegrate Mai (who was mentioned!) to "restart his season", which might suggest that something was afoot - probs a wise move because I value him as a player, even if people think he's ineffective/not up to League 2's hustle bustle etc.

Edited August 29, 20251 yr by piedestrian

I get tired of things like this, though thankfully it’s not something we see often under the Reedtz brothers. I do feel the club tends to brush off news that fans care about, even when there’s no real reason to. It just ends up causing splits among supporters. I understand there are limits to what they can say or do, but that doesn’t mean they should hide things.