2014/15 we had the year of Dad's army..

30+ year olds who was past there best but did a job. Ran out of steam resulted in relegation.

2015/16 we had the year of the imports..

Lots of foreign players who nobody had a clue about. Most of whom flopped majorly and resulted in a low finish

2016/17 the year of the proven player..

Proven winning mentality players who have had success in the lower divisions.

Hopefully this year the transfer tactics work and promotion is achieved!

Our past recruitment has led to us having no spine or leadership, it looks like John Sheridan is trying to rectify this now. Hope the signings have the desired effect.

It'll also be interesting to see what happens to some of the current crop. What will become of Aborah, will he fit in? And what about Macleod - will JS try to get the best out of him (he is a proven striker after all, and probably earns a heap) or replace him at the earliest opportunity?

I've said similar quite a few times regarding previous years, I'm not a fan of gimmicks or replicating what other clubs do and although we are signing proven players (on paper) there are still things which would naturally make people wary but it's certainly better than the first two you listed.

Get out of this division and sign the better players from teams around us, then the stars we can pull down. Keep an 'active' core who can pass the torch, we are not Dr Who.

Regeneration isn't something Notts does well.

This recruitment this time around is better balanced by a good manager who can build a team, hopeful for the season ahead , not to the point of getting carried away, but a positive vibe nonetheless .

do we have a scout at the club at the moment? who is deciding on buying all these port vale players? what happens if we cant replicate their promotion? i worry because that seems like what we are doing.

I don't think we have a scout at the moment, but I think I read that it is on JS's list of things to arrange, not a chief scout as such, but a network of them. As for the Port Vale players Dickinson and O'Connor are proven quality, Duffy I am not so sure of seeing as he was going to drop to non league, but apparently he is a good talker and organizer of the back four, which is something we have missed for years.

If you look at the recruitment, the difference is that for the first time since Curle, we actually have an experienced manager, who is going about his business recruiting experienced proven players and giving the fans the confidence that finally we may be going in the right direction.

A return to winning ways, playing with skill and a return of the Notts passion on the field is all that is now needed.