Help the aged: The decline of Notts County, the Football League’s oldest club

[Chris]

Interesting article - http://offsiderulepodcast.com/2016/03/30/midweek-muse-help-the-aged-the-decline-of-notts-county-the-football-leagues-oldest-club659/

I won't copy the text, I feel it deserves the visit and read.

Do you see any cause for hope in your club’s immediate future? What do you think needs to be done to get things looking up again?

[liampie]

they really want fans to go on about the takeover dont they? its happened. aborah back and a proper manager.

for things to truly look up we need a proper fresh start but we can see out this season without rushing that. i would like it to happen asap but they dont always work out that easily.

[Riverleeno]

Worth reading to see how Notts looks from outside Meadow Lane, in this case a Millwall supporter. The bare fact of how many managers Notts have had is incredible. Sometimes though I think people are trying to put together words in a wordy way rather than saying something constructive or thought provoking. For some reason I am very cynical this evening.

[DangerousSausage]

It's a bleak picture but a realistic one. Not so long ago we felt we belonged at the second level, now it increasingly feels like an impossible dream just to get there for a season or two. We used to look down on the likes of Reading and Burnley, but now they've overtaken us and left us far behind.

While I'm wallowing, here's another depresing thought: bar something astonishing happening, next season we will be spending our 16th season (out of a total of 117) in the fourth division. However, seven of those will have come after 2004. From being a place we endured the odd season when things got really bad, in the 21st century the fourth division is fast becoming our natural home.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

4 minutes ago, DangerousSausage said:

It's a bleak picture but a realistic one. Not so long ago we felt we belonged at the second level, now it increasingly feels like an impossible dream just to get there for a season or two. We used to look down on the likes of Reading and Burnley, but now they've overtaken us and left us far behind.

While I'm wallowing, here's another depresing thought: bar something astonishing happening, next season we will be spending our 16th season (out of a total of 117) in the fourth division. However, seven of those will have come after 2004. From being a place we endured the odd season when things got really bad, in the 21st century the fourth division is fast becoming our natural home.

So depressing, but so true.

[Piethagoram]

As crowds dwindle, the club's economic power to reinvest in better players dwindles too. It hurts that smaller crowd catchment area teams like Fleetwood Bury Rochdale Crewe and the like are in a League above us. 

[Chris]

I still think things will be kinder but we must be smarter as a club, years of struggling and woe's

We need be dynamic, fresh and stable.

Our time will return, I just hope for the best really. Life's better when Notts are doing well, it can he miserable otherwise.