Promotion this season: required or not?

[TheSkipper]

How do you feel this season is going? Would you say promotion is required or would you be okay to see the club finish as high as possible?

Under the ownership of Notts, the club has adapted well to life in the Non League. I get the frustration from time to time, but when I ask myself if I expect promotion I would say that I don't. If we ignore the performances which will be impacted for various reasons, I feel we are making good enough progress under Neal Ardley right now.

Some supporters clearly want promotion at any cost.

There's no guarantee of this. What are your thoughts?

[Joshua]

I don't think promotion should be expected.

Neal Ardley will hopefully guide Notts to a playoff position again, I do not feel it's realistic to say that we will win the league. If the form improve enough to do that, it would be a great achievement. I just see the playoffs as being where most likely the club will finish.

[Wilfordpie]

I have been lucky to see Notts play in the highest leagues within my life time, it would be nice for those out there who haven't enjoyed this success supporting the club could see it. I am in agreement that the National league is hard, even without the frequent games and other issues like COVID outbreaks.

I do understand a desire to see the club perform well and be successful.

This will take time.

[Dripsey3]

Notts have the biggest budget in the NL. You'd expect the team to be challenging for the title. It's not happening at the moment. Playoffs should be the least of our expectations. 

[DangerousSausage]

On the one hand we do need to be patient - we're on the Football League's naughty step and it might take a while before we're invited back in to play. In other words, this league is hard to get out of - it's quite possible to get 99 points, finish second and lose on penalties in the play-offs. I don't think NA would be blamed if something like that does happen. The only way to guarantee promotion is to finish as champions, and that's always a hard thing to do. I think people are getting twitchy as our window to do that this season is narrowing with every defeat.

But on the other hand, as @Dripsey3 points out, we absolutely should be challenging - the infrastructure and financial possibilities at Notts are a world away from nearly every team in this division and sooner or later that should be showing.

[BromPie]

Champions or playoffs is acceptable for me as there is no guarantee of promotion. Torquay's dominance could fall short at some stage, Stockport could claim back up. There's no guarantee for any side, even if we are the biggest or best funded team.

[menzinho]

Right now we are challenging for promotion, we’d hope to be challenging for it automatically and you’d think being in 3rd that would be the case but Torquay have had pretty much perfect start to the season and we’ve already suffered 4 defeats and so the 11 point gap feels even bigger at the moment.

Their form could start to dip soon (here’s to hoping anyway!) We’ve just got focus on ourselves and get as many wins as we can.

I don’t expect promotion, I just want to have a chance to get, so I’d be disappointed if we couldn’t finish in the play-offs.

[allardyces tash]

The squad is good enough to finish in the playoffs, I would be content with that.

Notts are a few key areas away from being well polished, if the budget permits strengthening these places could help. I still wouldn't expect to win the title, just like any other team shouldn't take their position for granted.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

Promotion is absolutely the goal. Play-offs is a minimum. 

I think if we get to the play-off final and lose again, you might consider it an OK season. Anything else, IMO, is a failure. We lose the parachute payments and the Reedtz brothers don't strike me as gamblers; everything they do will be calculated and assesed, especially the budget.



 

[WeBuyAnyWheelbarrow.com]

I think we have the players to gain promotion and I desperately want Ardley to succeed. However, I am not convinced he is getting the best out of his squad. Our tactics are negative and he pays the opposition too much respect. I feel we lost the play-off final without a whimper and Ardley failed to react to obvious weaknesses on the day. 
Anything less than the play-offs would be a disaster. However, I’m not convinced Ardley would motivate his team sufficiently to win the play-offs. 

[Piethagoram]

This the last season that Notts benefit from £500k parachute payment. Man for man against Borehamwood, you could not see 500k difference in the quality of the squad. Losing Dennis is a major factor this season. If we are not really challenging by January, I can see Roberts being sold

[DonnyNotts]

I think promotion is a must or we could be facing years at this level, or even below if things went wrong. Like another said, I am old enough,  and lucky enough, to have seen Notts in the top division. Whilst I'm not expecting to ever see that again, I think we should be championship club. But that has to be earned and I can't for the life of me see it happening in my lifetime 

[Chris]

It takes time to build a winning squad that can fight their way out of this leave, Notts are doing well and whilst I hope for promotion this season I don't think it's realistic at all.

Finishing in the payoffs is very much likely, chasing for the title could happen but in any event, we need to just be at our best. This season is far from a write-off, Neal Ardley can delivery us to a respectable finish. The players are all behind him, so I do feel we're in a chance to go up, even if we don't make the payoffs I would accept it and, hope the following season we could be stronger.

I fully understand why some fans believe we should be competing for the league title, but not everything works out that easy.

Provided there's progress, I consider us to be building right now.

[DangerousSausage]

Interesting discussion. To sum up what I've read so far:

- We must absolutely be in the promotion hunt. Ending up adrift of the play-offs is not acceptable for a club of our stature, and with the resources we have at our disposal.

- However, promotion itself is not an absolute must. With one automatic spot between 23 teams, winning promotion is like passing through the eye of a needle; you can have a very good season but still miss out.

[liampie]

there is a difference between required and a target.

i would be happy to finish in the playoffs, lower would be a bit disappointing but the circumstances need to be understood. if notts gave their best than i would be happy, as for neal ardley it all depends but i do feel he can deliver the club promotion given the time.

i dont think promotion should be required myself, but it must be the target.

[upthepies]

I think we should leave the team to get on with things and have faith that they will get the results needed, but to answer the question promotion is the target set back Neal Ardley. It's not my target, I want the club to go up as much as the next person but I am inclined to wait for it.

Build a strong enough team to gain double promotions on the bounce.

Rather than struggle once we do go up.

[CliftonMagpie]

Promotion isn't the main thing, constructing a solid squad that can push on and be built upon further with time is.

Our downfall is due to the opposite, we don't replace players well or give them time to settle properly. Yes, promotion is a good aim to have and we most certainly should be one of the teams to be in for this come the end of the season. Yet I still think we need to appreciate how the club has improved since Alan Hardy has left, for the first time in years we look capable of being a solid team in this league.