Notts County fans forum, 31 October 2017

[Joe Jones]

On October 31, Notts County held a fan forum at Meadow Lane where Alan Hardy answered questions from supporters.

Topics that were touched on included Jorge Grant and Ryan Yates's loan deals, the club's scouting policy, the training ground, and safe standing.

Here is the full transcript of the Q&A session from the Notts site - come give it a read and share your thoughts.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

An interesting read

I am concerned that running a £1.6m deficit, where EFL rules that players costs can only be capped at 55% of Gross Profit, reaffirmed by the Accrington Stanley chairman.

My other major concern is the scouting. We should have a network of scouts looking at potential targets for January and for next season, be it League or further down the footballing pyramid

 

[Fozzy]

I agree @Piethagoramregarding the scouting policy. It was one of the first things that AH was crowing about when he took over and it is a little disconcerting that it appears that nothing has been done to take this further forward.

I think he is also being hugely ambitious regarding attaining regular 15K crowds in the next few years as well as to be honest, I just don't see where these will come from and it could well be his undoing if he budgets accordingly. This year should have been budgeted for 6K, which we have, with promotion and consolidation, maybe 7K average, but I would never estimate us to gain an average attendance above 8K in the bottom two divisions, unless ticket prices are slashed.

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

Sometimes your required to go back to basics in order to build properly.

I'm not worried about the lack of proper recruiting because under previous regimes it's been almost a gimmick. In this division the coaches and other staff can play their part, and of course Kevin Nolan will have contacts. I am certain that we can build it up and get one of the better operations going within the lower tiers of the English leagues.

Get the training ground sorted, either stay at Basford or find our own facilities and then build the scouting.

I'm more concerned about re-building the supporters base and moving forward, we finally have foundations whereby we can grow in the right way.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

@Chris I beg to differ... Brentford and Southampton have both proved that devoting more resources to getting the recruiting right, you then effectively save on wages for players that turn out to be not good enough. I have heard worrying reports from the Lincoln game last night questioning whether the "Reserve" team is sufficiently motivated enough?

"Re-building the supporters base" has always been a challenge over my 50 odd years supporting Notts. Previous chairmen have found it so difficult to expand the core supporter base. What I can say, that we do have a Chairman that seems to be marketing driven and if he cannot expand such base, then really all hope as such is lost.

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

Southampton haven't relied so much upon recruiting when they was in League One.

They blooded many youngsters, majority of which still play at the highest or secondary level within the English leagues. They've always been capable of producing natural talent (which is more of a concern for us than our own recruiting methods are). Being able to develop future stars would take president for me also over having a solid scouting system, which at this level isn't very likely.

@Northants Pie: How many teams in League Two do you think have a scouting network that can rival a lower Championship team? I'd be curious, as I doubt there's many because from my knowledge most rely on free transfers or promoting within.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2016/12/liverpool-agree-deal-sign-highly-rated-notts-county-teenager-150000/

This is what happens when you produce a good youngster and in reality, Notts are powerless to stop it

The quote that Southampton..."always been capable of producing natural talent" rings rather hollow for me... Adam Lallana was poached from Bournemouth's youth system as well as signing 2 youth players from Notts when we were in adminstration. Gareth Bale came through their youth academy in Bristol!!!!

 

[Northants Pie]

6 hours ago, Chris said:

@Northants Pie: How many teams in League Two do you think have a scouting network that can rival a lower Championship team? I'd be curious, as I doubt there's many because from my knowledge most rely on free transfers or promoting within.

Crewe have one of the very best in the entire country, scouting isn't about getting as many people as you can watching games, its about getting people who know the game properly and can take an objective view over a series of games.

One good scout is will do the work of 100 normal scouts as these guys have contacts all over the country and they don't rely on dvd's and stats to make their opinion, which is the way mosy scouting is going, for those that agree with this approach, I ask you this; How many Andrea Pirlo's are missed in our country through this approach?

I bring him up as statistically (height, build, speed, strength) he wouldn't get a game for Ilkeston let alone a league 2 club, yet he was one of he very very best to ever play the game of football.

[Northants Pie]

2 hours ago, Piethagoram said:

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2016/12/liverpool-agree-deal-sign-highly-rated-notts-county-teenager-150000/

This is what happens when you produce a good youngster and in reality, Notts are powerless to stop it

The quote that Southampton..."always been capable of producing natural talent" rings rather hollow for me... Adam Lallana was poached from Bournemouth's youth system as well as signing 2 youth players from Notts when we were in adminstration. Gareth Bale came through their youth academy in Bristol!!!!

 

We don't have to accept the transfer, nor does the player.

If we are doing the right things in the right way, promoting kids then letting them go once they've developed into a first team player then kids won't want to go, Exeter are the best example of this in recent times

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

@Northants Pieat that age, I believe we have no legal rights apart from demanding a fee, which is calculated by certain parameters. The parents will probably have to make the decision. If we are talking Premier academies, I am sure a 100k fee is peanuts to them for a potential "gem"

[Northants Pie]

2 hours ago, Piethagoram said:

@Northants Pieat that age, I believe we have no legal rights apart from demanding a fee, which is calculated by certain parameters. The parents will probably have to make the decision. If we are talking Premier academies, I am sure a 100k fee is peanuts to them for a potential "gem"

We can say no and it go to an arbitration but either way if the player wants to go then there's little point in stopping him / her.

The minimum fees are set stupidly low  hence why most decent clubs will pay a proper amount, don't forget they're buying potential not the finished product so the figures will always be lower than most fans see as acceptable.

The whole system was set up by the FA to benefit the big boys, as it always is.

The system has, as always massive flaws that weren't thought about as usual hence why you have situations like he lad at Derby, now I'm not saying there isn't a back story to it but that lad cannot play for anyone other than his school team now pretty much due to the contracts that have been signed and the loophole Derby have found with the system.