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...

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.

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.

Division 3

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

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.

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!