The morning after the night before. Waking up to the realisation that Notts have actually done it. We are now League One. It's a completely different ball game. We are now going to mix it with some of the big boys of English football. We are only a possible season away from Championship Football. Of course, we shouldn't try to run before we can walk in League One, but it is nice to believe in the possibilities.

Don't forget, we have a couple of shrewd owners who will have planned for this moment for a long time. They will have already done lots of research for the type of players that they will need to progress out of League One.

Lots of fans will be pleased just to consolidate Notts's position in a higher league next season & then look to push on, however the Reedtz brothers have been able to foster steady progress since our promotion from the National League, League 2 & now into League One.

Something tells me that the brothers will want to try to make a mark in League One from the outset. It's is certainly going to be an exciting close season with movement in & out of the Club, but I do think that the majority of the players that we saw in the playoff squad will remain with some quality additions. For now, I'll finish how I started & say "Good Morning League One".

Fantastic stuff! One of the great Wembley days tbh. Felt confident from the start and that pitch, in those conditions, was always going to be too much for the physical, “squeeze the opposition” style of play that Salford use on their own patch.

If you give Norburn & Robertson room & time on the ball, they’ll punish you. If you have a rejuvenated and confident Jones running at you and having time to float passes around, you’ll struggle. Defensively Salford were all over the show and simply couldn’t cope.

Anyway, L1 is a different proposition with some quality teams in it. We need to look at strengthening the squad and trying to find a bit more genuine pace in the ranks.

I’m not sure that all of yesterday’s match 16 are up to L1 and we may lose the 2 loanees, for starters, of course. Still, onwards & upwards. We are promoted with momentum and confidence and the coaching staff appear to be learning, quickly, on the job.

Yoop Eyes.

It's wonderful to be back in League One, but the first thing we'll have to do is consolidate. I've been thinking about who can fill the bottom four spots rather than the Championship!

This division has changed a lot in the last 11 years, some of the riches from higher up the leagues have filtered down and clubs like Huddersfield and Leicester have a wholly different financial foundation to build on. If we're to compete at the right end of the division, we'll have to compete with rivals that can afford to spend seven-figure transfer fees. For now I just want to be competitive and would gladly take a place in the middle third of the table.

There's probably little prospect of keeping Iorpenda and Luker as they'll be playing for their parent clubs, so we'll need someone to fill their boots and the number 10 spot we never quite successfully filled this season. I suspect some of the players on the fringes of the squad may be sacrificed to make room. Then of course there are the players who are out of contact (Tsaroulla, Platt, McDonald), what happens there? I think this forum is in for a busy summer!

But it's fantastic to be back. I've got every confidence in the powers that be to make the right calls this summer so we can build on this season with an added injection of quality. Who knows, we might even get a point against Mansfield!

1 hour ago, StarkMallard said:

It's wonderful to be back in League One, but the first thing we'll have to do is consolidate. I've been thinking about who can fill the bottom four spots rather than the Championship!

This division has changed a lot in the last 11 years, some of the riches from higher up the leagues have filtered down and clubs like Huddersfield and Leicester have a wholly different financial foundation to build on.

Will conceed on those two @StarkMallard, but lets ask ourselves who we're really afraid of...

Bradford? No, we were beating them only last year

Doncaster? Ditto

Mansfield? Notts fans would never allow that

Bromley? Ditto

Wimbledon? Bunch of thugs we owe one to

Luton? Old sparring pals from Nolan's days, now on a level again

Sheff Weds? Might still be in disarray for a season or two

Oxford? When Ruben went there we were all saying he's gone to smaller club

MK Dons? We have their number recently

Cambridge? Let's focus on the 2-0 win at Meadow Lane

Stockport? We could bring back Frank Vincent and beat them that way

Wigan? Didn't we outplay them when we met in the cup?

Burton? Really?

Add to those Stevenage, Orient, Wycombe, and that's 16 not to be scared of at all. We can spend the first season saying 'only x pts off the play offs', even though the L1 promotion system is as close to the NL's as it is to L2's. We can definitely aim for mid-table upwards.

It's going to be tough surely. Four relegation places! We don't have lots of players out of contract so need to offload to make room.

Having said that there are more that could maybe do a job for us than I would have thought until recently (e.g. Ness). Better pitches and (slightly) better referees should help us. We're now even more attractive to players we're interested in signing or taking on loan.

Hopefully at least one out the owners, Montague or Joe Palmer will do an end of season interview which will give us some clues about what to expect.

Fair points from both of you there. I find Bradford's season encouraging - last season they were no great shakes, going up with about 78 points, and this time they made the playoffs with Aden Baldwin playing at the back for them. The other three promoted teams spent the season looking over their shoulder, with only Port Vale actually going down.

I think as a promoted team your first priority has to be to gather enough points to stay up as early as possible. That might sound pessimistic, but I remember the last two times we were promoted to this level. In 2010-11 we made a huge mess of things - that team shouldn't have been anywhere near the bottom four. I'm hoping for next season to be a more relaxed experience!

Regarding Luton, they're still receiving Premier League parachute payments to the tune of about 20 million a year. It gives you an idea of what we'll be up against if we do manage to do well and challenge near the top, but I'm not going to lose too much sleep about that yet!

One thing is for certain though - this is a lot more fun than thinking about another season with Crawley et al...

If we finish 5th from bottom that’ll be a good season, let’s consolidate, stay in the division then take it from there. As @Sheffield Pie says there’s four relegation places let’s make sure our names not in their at the end of next season.

I agree about consolidation but I think we can allow ourselves to be a bit more ambitious and optimistic.

The Reedtz bros, Monty and now Pato are on a upward curve together.

4 years NL / 3 years L2 / and then the fairybook ending to Chapter 3 is 3 more years, so NL to Championship in 10 years of their ownership!

What might that look like? Year 1 - 14th to 9th, Year 2 9th to 6th, Year 3 - Play offs again

When you look at this season's League 1 league table, 56 points has turned out to be comfortably safe in 16th place, so a record of 15 wins & 11 draws would do nicely.

With a several changes to the current squad that featured in the playoff games, those changes could strengthen that squad for League One, I think achieving at least 56 points is a reasonable expectation.

It all depends on the recruitment of course, but it could turn out much better for Notts if they manage to get even more than the 56 points.

There's almost a feeling of relief for me that for the first time in long time we are going to be in a division where we aren't expected to be at the top of the table. But equally the 4 relegation spots mean it's very easy to slip straight back down. The upward the curve that we are on with the Reedtz brothers does give me hope that it won't just be the one season in League 1 but I would absolutely be fine with a 20th position finish!

I agree I think this season is massive in terms of recruitment, we can't really afford to just sign squad filling players, but being in League 1 in theory it should open up a new range of players to explore. Exciting times for us fans!

It's looking like one of the most competitive League Ones in years and that's saying something. I think we'll need 50 points+ to stay up. I'd be happy to avoid relegation. Anything else would be a bonus.

I'm so looking forward to it.

10 years ago, Leicester were Premier League champions, now we'll play them in the league.

I think the bro's will be excited about the prospect as they did when we went up to League 2 and they really went all out.

Top half finish for me Clive.

I think patience and support will be key, there's some big teams already in League One and combine them with the likes of Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday, even with their current situation they are bound to be a diffcult.

Whilst we could struggle or carry on from last season, I just want Notts to be prepared and settled before we start jumping to higher expectations. I think we'll do alright, but there's never anything given for sure and I think our support as always will be one of the biggest factors. Some fans may think we should aim for promotion, I think we need to walk before attempting to run.

Luton Town, Blackpool, MK Dons, Bradford City in the past have all suffered from not being prepared to make the next shift after gaining promotion to their highest level or even in many, many seasons.

Notts will always have that vibe of decline to me, that I recall from the 90s and 00s and after, which I fully appreciate the transformation we have made under Reedtz brothers. It's amazing how they haven't 'patched' the club but given us true structure, and I firmly believe with them at the helm we can navigate the leagues but we may need to bide our time.

It's nice to see the Brothers building a club for a new set of supporters who haven't experienced those dreary days.

You have to give credit to the brothers. We were in the national league with Stockport and Wrexham. They have spent big, while keeping the same manager in Phil Parkinson and until just now Dave Challinor. In the meantime we have had two of our head coaches poached and several of our best players into the bargain. Yet we are now in the same league as Stockport and only one behind Wrexham. The brothers has used our limited resources wisely and as a result we have made steady progress. It has been said how would we manage without Macca, Ruben, McGoldrick, Crowley and Bass? Very nicely thank you and promotion to League 1. We have to trust the process. We can have success, but it needs to sustainable. The next step might take a while to come to fruition, but let’s enjoy the ride! COYP!

When it comes to giving credit, I'd like to add our Director of Football

I think I saw a podcast recently where the players, HC, coaching staff, owners were thanked and praised but there was no mention of DoF Richard Montague.

Of the 16 match day players at Wembley, Montague recruited...

Belshaw, Ness, McDonald, Bedeau, Robertson, Palmer, Tsaroulla, Jones, Jatta, Ndlovu, Grant - 11

Maybe some don't like the role or our structure but credit where it's due.

Wing-back system & possession-based approach (5th in L2 this year) are 2 other aspects that contributed to 2 promotions in 3 years.

Edited June 1Jun 1 by theAnticlough

We have a great set of staff, from the groundsmen, coaches, kit manager, stewards, office staff/managers that are entrusted to carry out their duties and perform them in a way that does make the club feel hole again. There's going to be people who do a lot of good, who might go unnoitced such as the grounds staff, not only on the Meadow Lane playing surface but all that goes into the training ground etc.

These bonds are only growing stronger, even though some do leave for pastures new. We are still holding a lot of talented people that remain to continue making a difference.

At our level our coaching team looks huge, but for me it's money well spent. I know it's becoming common in League Two, but we had a full setup long before this and when we were in the National League. The club is pushing forward, and when the 'lack of ambition' is thrown around, I honestly think our progress shows we aren't just settling on one or two good seasons, but actively building to push on.