Which league do you think Notts should be in?

[Anti-Red]

As the title says, which league do you think Notts should be in?

League One pushing for the Championship is my answer.

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

Looking at the stats from our history, it does show we should probably be playing in the 3rd tier of English football.

Our Championship status could have been different under Derek Pavis, however there's something about Notts which seems to be quite unlucky on paper - this said, I always say to people we are a League One club (based on our size and history).

Its just lucky for us that we have a fantastic stadium, which a successful Notts County could use to push to return there. Yet I would say we are in a similar situation to teams like Peterborough and Rotherham, perhaps to a degree even Walsall. But at the end of the day you would be playing where you are for a reason, which is where we find ourselves. I wished the 09/10 season could have rekindled our ambition and drive to succeed.

I still recall getting various leaflets and information, which I have never known to be done by the club prior.

We couldn't afford milk but the stamps paid for themselves!

[Canadian]

I'd have to say Upper Div 1. It's a shame we have a Dream of becoming Established in the Championship. But i'd be happy with either Steady League 1 or Staying up in the Championship 

[Fozzy]

Definitely top half of League 1, knocking on the door of the playoffs and occasionally flirting with a couple of seasons in the Championship. If you go by the size and potential of our fan base, I think we would always struggle to be a solid Championship side.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/aveeng.htm

on current stats, we are League 2 based on attendances/ position.. even allowing for some upside to say 5k 

We do need to find ways of increasing attendances, because  more people equals bigger playing budget...but it all depends on how it is spent

 

[Elite_pie]

Around 16th place in League 1.

[Turkey_Twizzler]

Id say league 1, i think i might have seen it on wiki at one point that we have spent most of our seasons in the championship/div 2, i believe it was something like 36, then league 1 then league 2 then div 1/the prem

[Who r ya?? You Pies!!]

I guess you can't argue with the stats for promotion and relegation , an up and down club through our history , but I would say league 1 , and the odd championship season , now in my dreams that's another thing lol , would love to be an established championship club , COYP 

[BradtheMiller]

Notts with their Stadium & potential fan base, should be a bigger club than say Rotherham, Barnsley, Brentford etc but clubs are where they are for a reason, all a bit hypothetical really but upper third tier with the Millers is about right historically.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

Southampton's success from League 1 to Premier, was based on resources being allocated to scouting. They had people watching as many European games as possible, identifying players that fitted in with what they were trying to achieve, knowing when they were out of contract...etc  I wonder what library of information Brano left? I do fear that we need a mix of Sheridan's work ethic and Ricardo's attacking skills to forge a side that unattached punters will want to see. Northampton, Blackpool ( Holloway's managerialship) Leicester  have proved that managing budget well,success can be achieved against the bigger clubs

[DangerousSausage]

League position is based on merit. We were relegated from League One, so League Two it is.

On 21.9.2016 at 16:39, Piethagoram said:

http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/aveeng.htm

on current stats, we are League 2 based on attendances/ position.. even allowing for some upside to say 5k 

We do need to find ways of increasing attendances, because  more people equals bigger playing budget...but it all depends on how it is spent

 

Historically you'd have to say upper League One or lower Championship, but your link shows how we have been overtaken attendance-wise over the years. While attendances generally have boomed, we haven't even stood still. Only 16 of the 92 league clubs now have a lower average crowd than us. Even the magic number of 5,000 would barely put us in League One if it went by crowds.

People talk about our potential fan base but I just don't see it. Barnsley, for example, are the town's club. They also have bigger neighbours, but not right on their doorstep like we do. That makes a big difference, and is part of the reason why clubs we used to look down on like Reading, Brighton and Barnsley have long overtaken us. Again using Barnsley as an example: in 94-95, when we were relegated from the Championship, we averaged 7203 against their 6509. In 2014-15, when we were both playing a division lower in League One, we got 5351 while they had increased their crowd to 9768. In other words, they followed the trend of growing attendances while we missed the boat.

In 1997-98 people talked about Notts as a giant taking a one-year holiday in the fourth division - a sporting slip-up not to be repeated. Now most don't even expect us to mount a promotion challenge.

We need to create a feel-good factor lasting longer than a year or two and drive up our crowds in the long term somehow...

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

@DangerousSausageExcellent reality check!

Bradford have always had good initiatives, but I like the one at Huddersfield

http://www.examiner.co.uk/sport/football/news/huddersfield-town-season-card-latest-11327616

Unfortunately we seem to have fair share of keyboard warriors when a non English manager without EFL experience is appointed. I admire Raymundo for breaking the mould with Ricardo and am truly sorry it didnt work out. Huddersfield seem to have struck gold in their manager.

Supporters need to buy in to "the vision" of hope. Unfortunately, we are stuck in limbo land and really need to look to Ray to make a statement of intent that he is re-energised. There are big financial risks in reducing prices and you need the financial reserves if such a pricing policy doesnt work. 

I look to the likes of Accrington, Bury, Rochdale where we should be financially stronger. I have mentioned before, Raymundo has been let down in paying supposedly big bucks in wages for strikers like Danny Haynes, Ben Bugess etc... I would have gone and got Accrington's scout who spotted the likes of Windass...  I am still not convinced whether our scouting of players network is any good. Brano came into the job at Notts with little proven track record of spotting players.

The football in the first half on Saturday was pretty dire... the balance to be struck is of course a winning team playing with flair. We certainly need to do some initiative to boost crowds NOW, we cannot let the attendances slip further. Hoping @erindoors can reassure us diehards about the future

 

 

[Fozzy]

I couldn't agree more @Piethagoram, with results just starting to pick up this season, now would be a good time to introduce some incentives to get more lapsed fans back down the Lane. Notts has always been one of those sides that if they produce a winning side, then people will come to watch, produce one that plays good football and more people might be tempted. They will also need to be realistic as I think our ceiling for consistent home support in the bottom two divisions would be somewhere between the 6500-7500 mark, with perhaps occasionally a few more.

It's just a shame that whenever we decide to reduce match day tickets, or bring someone for free, then the team doesn't tend to turn up, gets soundly beaten and does nothing to inspire folk to return!

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

good points @Fozzy

http://www.examiner.co.uk/sport/football/news/huddersfield-town-bargain-prices-exciting-10954371

http://www.examiner.co.uk/sport/football/news/huddersfield-town-launch-line-ticket-11598741

I know the old chestnuts are trotted out like Season Ticket holders get concerned that their support is being devalued. However, as a longer distance season ticket holder, the Board need to do something constructive. I think under Financial Fair Play, there should be published a financial statement for each season, rather than the abridged published accounts. We don't know approximately what our break even crowd is? Lack of progress in the League Cup doesnt help income either. Hoping for a decent long overdue F A Cup run.

 

[DangerousSausage]

David Wagner played briefly for Waldhof Mannheim, so he's had a good footballing education

Huddersfield's scheme is a good one, but like Barnsley they're the town's club. In Mannheim it's the same - nearly everyone seems to be a Waldhof fan, even if they hardly ever attend or just read about them in the local rag. They then get on board in their thousands during the good times. I'm not convinced we have the same level of latent support, for obvious reasons. We don't have enough lapsed fans to sell 15,000 season tickets. Even in the Munto season, with all the press attention we were getting, we couldn't even half-fill the ground.

So just relying on people already close to the club would be wrong. We need new supporters who maybe weren't interested in Notts or football before. Promotions aimed at schoolkids (and of course their families), ice hockey fans, cheap STs for F*rest ST holders maybe? The Asian community even?

I realise we're drifting off topic here, but the longer the crowds stagnate, the harder it's going to be to climb the leagues again.

[Joe Jones]

League One is about right really. But it's a futile conversation - we're in League Two because of merit (or lack thereof). For the last three years we have been absolute sh*t and we are where we deserve to be. It's not a case of where we should or could be - this is where we are, competing with such giants of the game as Morecambe and Exeter City.

Not bitter, not at all...

[Joe Jones]

On 26/09/2016 at 12:17, DangerousSausage said:

David Wagner played briefly for Waldhof Mannheim, so he's had a good footballing education

Huddersfield's scheme is a good one, but like Barnsley they're the town's club. In Mannheim it's the same - nearly everyone seems to be a Waldhof fan, even if they hardly ever attend or just read about them in the local rag. They then get on board in their thousands during the good times. I'm not convinced we have the same level of latent support, for obvious reasons. We don't have enough lapsed fans to sell 15,000 season tickets. Even in the Munto season, with all the press attention we were getting, we couldn't even half-fill the ground.

So just relying on people already close to the club would be wrong. We need new supporters who maybe weren't interested in Notts or football before. Promotions aimed at schoolkids (and of course their families), ice hockey fans, cheap STs for F*rest ST holders maybe? The Asian community even?

I realise we're drifting off topic here, but the longer the crowds stagnate, the harder it's going to be to climb the leagues again.

Let's be realistic here... if you have kids from Nottingham who don't come from football families and are taking their first steps in the game, why would anyone deliberately pick Notts when they have Forest, with their shiny stadium and bright red shirt and taking on teams like Newcastle and Villa and Derby? Or possibly even Leicester, the Premier League champions just 45 minutes away by train?

And that's if they even pick their team based on location - we all know that most kids will tend to pick one of the big Prem teams. They were doing it when I was a lad in the 90s, they've been doing it before and they'll keep doing it in future.

[Elite_pie]

37 minutes ago, Joe Jones said:

why would anyone deliberately pick Notts when they have Forest, with their shiny stadium.

When we played there in the 3-3 cup game the Sh*tty Ground was anything but shiny!  The Forest fans constantly moan about the state it's sunk to.  The point you make however is a very valid one, there is nothing outside family ties that would attract a local youngster to Notts County.  We had a spell of giving free tickets to local schools (I don't know if it's still ongoing) which I thought was a great initiative, but recent attendances suggest it was a failure.  The only proven way to attract new fans is the age-old method - win games!  Let's hope Sheridan is the man to do it.

[ivansneck]

Division 3

[liampie]

league two but would love to see notts stable and playing higher up.

[Joe Jones]

3 hours ago, Elite_pie said:

When we played there in the 3-3 cup game the Sh*tty Ground was anything but shiny!  The Forest fans constantly moan about the state it's sunk to.  The point you make however is a very valid one, there is nothing outside family ties that would attract a local youngster to Notts County.  We had a spell of giving free tickets to local schools (I don't know if it's still ongoing) which I thought was a great initiative, but recent attendances suggest it was a failure.  The only proven way to attract new fans is the age-old method - win games!  Let's hope Sheridan is the man to do it.

From the outside it does look quite impressive though, and often that's what might edge a kid into that "oooohh" moment, looking at this big structure. Also the location, sitting nicely next to the Trent which makes for a nice little picturesque postcard.

[Elite_pie]

1 hour ago, Joe Jones said:

From the outside it does look quite impressive though, and often that's what might edge a kid into that "oooohh" moment, looking at this big structure. Also the location, sitting nicely next to the Trent which makes for a nice little picturesque postcard.

Yeah, the riverside setting is very picturesque and certainly adds a few marks, pity we've got all the industrial units between us and the Trent.  Their place looks impressive from a distance on 3 sides, but their strangely titled Main Stand is a relic that should have been rebuilt in the 80s.  I was amazed what a shack it is when we played them in the cup as I hadn't visited since our last league game there ages ago.  It reminds me of the Stags, 3 modern stands, but the fourth only fit for demolition.  At least we have similar modern-ish stands on all sides, though I doubt that will attract any new fans!