This signing has Martin Paterson's fingerprints all over it. He a tall, strong, physical centre forward who can hold the ball up and bring other players into play. He appears to be a similar forward to Lee Ndlovu.

I think his signature is significant because demonstrates that the Notts style of play under Paterson is different to what we saw under Williams & Maynard.

In the words of Jimmy...if you dinae score, you dinae win

The data says that on his current form...why?☹️

16 goals in 134 League Two games is... not great. The Dundee fans on social media (I know) are surprised he's landed a move to League 1 as well. Hope the recruitment team has seen something they haven't, but we do tend to produce one really odd signing every year.

Hope he proves the doubters wrong though. When we signed Kyle Wootton, his record looked equally poor and Scunny fans were glad to see the back of him. He turned his career around at Notts, hope this new man does too.

Also, I really liked Barbie Girl.

OK we'll see! Expect the club will be working on his fitness initially. Ndlovu said he struggled at first to meet the fitness level before he got minutes.

I don't go on the other forum but I expect they're having a negativity fest! Keep the faith.

There must be a serious sub plot to this signing. He's obviously not a striker as most centre halves score more goals. I think he actually plays in goal and is back up for Roos.

I look at it this way

Positives

At 25, he's entering what should be his prime years.

He's a big, physical striker who gives the team a different option to play into.

He presses, competes well aerially, and can bring others into the game.

If Martin Paterson wants more variety in attack in League One, he fits that profile.

Concerns

His recent goalscoring record is modest. Last season he scored just one goal across his time with Dundee and on loan at Harrogate Town.

He isn't the sort of signing that immediately makes you think "20-goal striker."

My feeling is that this is a low-risk squad signing rather than the main striker Notts will rely on. If he rediscovers the form he showed at Barrow, he could become a useful asset, but if Notts are aiming to stay comfortably in League One, I'd still expect them to bring in another forward with a stronger scoring record.

On the face of it this signing does seem a bit mystifying but I’ve learned to trust (most) of the signings made by the recruitment team, so let’s see how it works out before we write it off.

Good luck Emile.

I’m pretty sure the club are aware of his lack of goals in recent seasons, so the must be looking at his potential. After all, Martin Paterson is an ex premier league strike, surely he will be able to improve him as a player where others have not succeeded. Even though Martin has himself said he is not directly involved in recruitment, but picks the team and coaches the players, It would be hard to believe that Martin’s opinion wasn’t sought before signing him.

I think 25 year olds have realised their potential. But like others, I too am a firm believer in the recruitment process so here is hoping.

Meltdown on X about this signing was expected. A terrible welcome to another Notts signing who was brought in by Notts after they had done their research & the club think that he fits the Notts model under Paterson.

If this guy can help other players around him to get possession which then leads to Notts getting plenty of goals, no matter where those goals come from, he should be given an opportunity to show what he can do, instead of being prejudged negatively.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if a lawn mower wasn't the only thing Martin Paterson requested from the owners. Could quite easily have been a striker that can hold the ball up and bring other players in to the game. If that's the case he has his wish in Emile Acquah. Could be a vital cog in the way we want to play. It most probably means playing with two strikers. It was tried last season but it didn't work with Matty Dennis. I don't think there is any way the recruitment team would sign him to be the lone striker. I suppose we will find out soon enough.

You see some fans (not on PoN of course) complaining that we haven't signed a striker proven at League One level. The fact is we have only once, under the current owners, signed a goalscorer who is proven at the level at which we are playing (Didzy). Even Langstaff was playing in the 6th tier when we signed him. The recruitment model dictates that we sign players primarily on an assessment of their potential a) to fit in and b) to improve their market value. Not every signing works out, but enough of them do and the net result has been success on and off the field. The signing of Aquila therefore raises the question: what is the potential that Montague and others have seen in this player? This is a genuinely interesting question and we might well never know the answer. If you look at the goalscoring stats then Aquila doesn't look great, so there must be something else. I live in Scotland and not all Dundee fans see him as having failed here. Some believe that Dundee failed him in that they failed to get the best out of him. He lost confidence and didn't regain it on loan at Harrogate. Paterson's job is to get that confidence back. If he succeeds then who knows what we'll all be saying in six months time...

Acquah that should be. apologies for typo.

He wouldn’t have been my choice and I can understand the underwhelmed reaction (maybe not so much to the extent on social media!) because last season he didn’t score any league goals, Bonnyrigg Rose is so below League football level it’s basically an anomaly goal. That doesn't fill me with confidence he’s going to be able to step up to League 1.

Obviously I hope it all clicks for him here, I get he might be more of a provider than goal-scorer but we need our forwards to score because as of now, after selling Dennis, we look to be totally reliant on Jatta when it comes to scoring goals.

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

Only time will tell 🤔⚽️