Chris

After being impressed with how Walsall did last season and how we have a good connection with Stoke City. I would have been tempted to enquire about bringing Tommy Simkin in on loan as a temporary replacement for Alex Bass. I would love for us to go in for a young keeper like Simkin, but I think Stoke will value him at a fee where we might want to invest further throughout the squad. The main areas for me would be the keeper situation and an attacking midfielder. I can understand the calls for Will Jarvis to play in that role, but I also see how immense he can be playing out wide and cutting in. That seems very natural to him, to want to take players on and work his way into striking range. Jodi Jones and Will Jarvis out wide could make life difficult for the opposition, but until Jodi gets his confidence, I think we should allow him to be a super-sub. Maybe we do need to look at someone who can play as an AM/ST.

Notts had sent through a discount letter, which I used to encourage @GrannyPie and @super_ram to come. We went in the MLSB, which back then reminded me of a very run-down bar you might find at Skegness in the early 90s. It was horrible; the floor was sticky, and the lemonade was awful. Prior to this, I would just go into the ground, but with it being a family occasion, we wanted to have a drink beforehand. I can remember a loudmouth bragging and shouting with his group of friends about how we were going to sign David Beckham. 😂🫣 "We're richer than Manchester City and Chelsea combined." To which I spoke to my family about how scared I was that this would change the club for the worse. I worried the family feel would disappear and more fans who only cared about winning would take over. Due to Notts frequenting where I worked, I managed to stay up-to-date a lot better than most. 🤫 I remember breaking the Sol Campbell signing and being called a liar, and then once it was confirmed, I kept getting people asking me for information. I probably shouldn't have, in hindsight, mentioned Sol, as it could have put my job security in danger, but I was quite pleased that the club was looking to improve. It's due to Sol I knew something wasn't right, and all the antics with Russell King trying to pretend to be more regal than he was, with fake security protection and the bills that weren't paid by him but put on the club's account. I do hope Mr. Hart never saw the light of day with regard to that money.

Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest have both shown interest in him, as did AFC Wimbledon prior to them, and it seems like he could be a brilliant keeper in the making. I wish him every chance of enjoying success for us. Everything I am seeing suggests he's "naturally gifted." League Two, as our next first team's number one, could see him flourish with an understudy.

It's a good draw; personally, I am not the biggest fan of how Wigan Athletic have conducted themselves since their Premier League days, but they are a big club. It's going to be a challenge; I just hope they don't play us off the park like Peterborough United did last season and that we can finish the game somewhat respectfully. Whilst there's every chance we could progress, I think it's unlikely at the moment. This and the FA Cup can be a welcome distraction from the league in terms of the stress and grind of promotion. Winning games, especially forming a cup run, can really be a positive thing for a team at our level.

I have started preparing for the season, doing various graphics and starting to obtain the badges, which have changed. Also, I have been writing and playing around with a schedule. Cheeky helped me to be organised for the first part of last season, then I fell out of it, but this time around I am sticking to following it. The server is all updated; everything with regard to that is done as part of my weekly and daily maintenance. My room is quite breezy, but I have noticed the heat has certainly upped since earlier. Between 9-ish and 2-ish it was just really nice, but it's becoming toasty now. I don't plan on doing anything outside, just resting up, but I would like to get around to seeing my dad. Probably Wednesday, as I will need Jake to agree to go with me.

Just as it felt when we signed Alex Bass, Matty Platt and Jacob Bedeau. Losing any of these ahead of a new campaign would feel like it risks the chance of promotion, especially without signing replacements beforehand. Losing Bass today really hits me hard. You build from the back, and the keeper is such an important part. Right now, I am unsure whether we are strong enough to make the playoffs, but we do have plenty of time to correct this.

It's a very surprising decision; I don't think £300,000 would tempt me in the club's position. I think Alex Bass is more worth retaining because of just how good he is and how good he will be in his prime. Double the speculated amount, and maybe, but announcing a keeper that hasn't really got the experience just adds to the disappointment. I am sure Harry Griffiths has potential and would be perfect as an understudy to someone more experienced. I just feel this adds to the frustration that is felt around our fan base and how disappointing it feels to lose such a good player. I can fully accept that we are in no position to reject good offers, but this just puts further focus on our recruitment, insofar as the outgoings don't really give confidence in the standard of the incomings. Notts needs to replace Bass very wisely; the money gained must be spent on signing good players who bring us the quality we need. @gtownjohnno, we need to replace Alex Bass properly; this fee needs to be used to bring in those key players that Notts still need, because only good arrivals from here on will encourage fans. This is very concerning, considering just how well Bass played for us.

Now there's a forgotten ex-player; if I remember rightly, Blackburn Rovers signed Keith Andrews. Which elevated him as a player, though with their decline, I never really kept track of him. My brother has always had a soft spot for Rovers, so there was a period when I did keep an interest in them. Andrews has long fallen off my radar, but I think he could be good if given the chance. (get through tough times, get the chance to learn, and get better).

Yesterday, I had the first walk with my brother since the day @GrannyPie sadly passed. It's been something we have tried to do, but things never seem to have planned out. For me, the walks are vital in keeping my legs functioning, therefore enabling me to walk. It was really nice to get out; the weather wasn't too hot, but I did feel like drinking a lot more than normal. We met up in the car park, then went for a walk around the lake while playing Pokémon Go. We tended to meet for community days with the game, as it gave us something extra to do while walking and talking. It was the 2025 Pokémon Go Fest, so there was a lot more activity with the game. My niece, Luna, is walking a lot more, but my brother also took a trike, which we pushed her around in at times. There was a football club doing running drills, and a physio whom we tried to learn who it was, as they seemed to be training like a professional club. Their training gear was also made by Nike, and they didn't seem very amateur at all to me. They must have run past us at least three times as we walked around the lake. I think I overdid it just a little, as once I came home, I just wanted to sit and eventually started getting bad back pain. Which led to me being absent for the rest of the day, as I became sleepy and slept it off. Today has been quite nice, though my legs and back continue to hurt. I have been resting up and just relaxing. @cheeky~k8 has cheered me up a lot, something which I appreciate because I feel down when I can't do what I normally want to do.

I think the club is very much focused on becoming sustainable and trying to manage when progress is being made without having to further invest money. This could explain why we aren't going for the obvious free agents, which would bring quality. There's this feeling that this season is more about us building upon the squad from last year and doing it in a way where we might be able to spend more at the crucial point in the January transfer window. Notts does seem to manage the playing budget well, without going all MK Dons with wages and signing in a hope to force promotion. There are so many 'new' things about which we are unsure, and naturally this is going to lead to concerns. I think once the season does start, it might become clearer, and we could feel like there is hope. Burton were in a self-destruct mode with how terrible their campaign had become last season; Martin Paterson arguing with their fans seems quite common when teams are struggling, and it's something he needs to learn to avoid. Young coaches will have this, but at the same time I know some of the issues Burton fans were blowing off about were really just them having a classic football meltdown. I have no knowledge of what our wage budget would look like, or if it's improved from when we were speculated to have a mid-table budget, but good players do come with a price and usually with extra demands. I wonder if we look more closely at players who have potential but are happier to be a squad player than instantly demanding first-team football? Obviously, we all would like signings which we see as "starting XI," but that can cause issues within the camp; it presents a balance for game time and with what squad we have, and the players already wanting minutes. In which areas can we truly sign someone who can be guaranteed to start? We still have time to make some solid signings, and I really hope we don't splash cash on signing a backup keeper with potential, as I feel this can be more easily solved. I would much rather see us bring in a quality attacking midfielder, though it does seem like Conor Grant is favoured for this role. Arrivals of players who have a record with scoring would be far better than players who assist or are key in creating chances, as we are good enough at doing so. We need people who show a burst of quality that can make things different. I don't believe Will Jarvis is the type of signing we would ever have made at the start of the season, and better players tend to become more available in January.

You would be surprised by how many people try to do things like this; it's not uncommon for dining restaurants or hotels to be contacted by sellers of all sorts, from meat to wine. I am surprised he managed to fool enough to make such a huge profit, and it will impact real small businesses wanting to gain trust, so there is that, but at least he got caught. There's a pretty well-known hustle where people buy cheap wine and try to sell that off as fine wine. Some in the catering trade go as far as to sell fine wine when it is actually cheap wine. Paris cafés caught cheating tour...Paris cafés caught cheating tourists with cheap wineRestaurants and bistros in the French capital are serving lower-quality wine by the glass while charging for premium labels, an investigation has found

Great choice for him! His way of playing football should fit just right. I kept an eye on Oxford United forums, and he didn't seem to be all that highly rated, though stepping up from the National League, I would say he didn't do all that badly. I had heard rumours he was set for release by them, so I am not surprised to see him leave for an undisclosed fee. There was a slight hope he might come back to us if he hadn't attracted interest. He could have been ideal with David McGoldrick parting, but I wish him well with his pretty big move.

It sounds like there's going to be more of a focus on the academy, so I hope the club realises that there's a need to push our young players more and give them every opportunity to flourish in our team. There's nothing stopping us from bringing in quality, as this should give young players more to learn from, but it sounds like Sam Slocombe is going to be involved in that. It's a good interview, with the insight that he wants to focus on learning and improving. With him taking his coaching courses early, it does give him the platform to move into this field and really make an impact.

The site has mostly been returned to normal; I will still be trying to find the root cause, but I will be conducting more of the tests off the live site. Trying to replicate the issue is what I am working on right now. It is very important to take bugs which prevent site access very seriously, so I apologise for the issues I have caused looking into this. As I have mentioned before, sometimes the live environment is where the issue lies. Choosing to ignore such a bug would not be smart. Without the actual device, it's very difficult; two devs have tried to help, and I have troubleshooted. I thought I might have had the issue, but it doesn't look like it. It's very challenging to resolve.

It's tough trying to figure out why iOS devices don't play nicely; I have been trying, and so have a couple of devs. It's a shame my iPad mini is broken, and my daughter's 7th-generation runs the site smoothly. I'm trying to get to the bottom of it, while looking into other things, but it's proving very difficult. I have some social media stuff to do, but I am really hoping I can find out what's going on, as it could be causing others issues.

I am impressed with the questions, though I get the feeling this is all very PR heavy due to the negative response to the appointment. I just wish the club realised beforehand that, as it would save a lot of hassle if they prepared and came out with the interview as the news broke, I just think more fans would have been less angry. The questions are very good, Chrisopher Reedtz answers well, and I just hope we can focus on Notts. Not the negative sides of everything; we must unite behind Martin Peterson and just hope the decision works. We support the club, not the people involved or the players. Yet, we should give our support from the off until a fair point where it is lost. The Reedtz have done nothing to warrant being called out. Paterson needs to be given a lengthy spell before he is evaluated by us.

I appreciate the understanding, and can assure you that even with the SSL certificate error, the site is safe. Cloudflare is again enabled, and I am sorting out the server side of things as I write this. Communication and accountability are two things I believe are very important. Sorry about that @Robbie, it's me trying to fix things. In the future, I am going to try things more closely in the dev environment to avoid issues like this. At least where possible, as even live sites can have unforeseen issues, but this is related to my investigating. 🙂

Just to update everyone, if you are getting an SSL certificate error, the site is safe, and you are fine to proceed to use it. I have had to disable Cloudflare, which is a service that helps to protect the Pride of Nottingham site. I am troubleshooting some issues with the kind help from a dev and I am hoping to find the root cause soon. However, certain parts of the site might be disabled as the issue is figured out. The site and our SSL certificate will be resolved very shortly. Please bear with me while I try to fix some user issues. Thanks, Chris (Pride of Nottingham team)

I don't see why we are listing Joao Alves as another Assistant Head Coach. Surely "Senior" or some term of differentiation would make sense. This will lead to people saying that there are too many cooks. (Too many cooks spoil the broth) Notts just seems like they don't wish to make changes, due to giving Alves the promotion last season, but I don't see the issue. Having two assistants can be quite confusing at times.

It's a good idea, as if it works, it could give Martin Paterson more insight and assist him with making the right decisions. Notts might start to benefit from keeping a settled squad, where form is the main priority and rotation/change is only a tactical decision. It's my belief that head coaches and managers occasionally play favorites. Kevin Nolan undoubtedly did. This is just an example, as refusing to play, Johnny Forte played a massive part in Notts not reaching their potential, and it only did once he became involved again. I see the technical board as a vital insight for a new head coach starting to gain experience. If executed well, it could be the difference between success and struggling. I do have faith that our owners are doing right by the club; I think we are trying to get ahead of the times, and sometimes you have to try new things to see if you can benefit.

It's too early to say; we could watch pre-season and still have no idea because it will take around 10–15 games to know which direction Martin Paterson can take us. I believe we have a good enough squad if morale, fitness, and injuries don't get in its way. From Paterson's perspective, he must be thinking that he can do well with us because he seems to be getting backed by our board with support from extra coaching personnel. The main thing is that, so far, we haven't made any signings that we can confidently say will do well. This doesn't mean they won't, but I fully understand how people feel. We know too well that sometimes hoping for the best doesn't work, yet at the same time remaining gloomy about everything isn't going to help, either. Just a couple of points... I’m curious about whether Steve Collis will stick around now that Sam Slocombe is staying on as coach. Is Slocombe still going to be our backup keeper? The announcement doesn’t really clarify things; it mostly just says that Slocombe will keep his coaching role. A couple of strong signings could give the club and fanbase a boost. At least Paterson seems to have plenty of support incoming, which should help, surely?

I don't think we can speculate if Martin Paterson was our first or whatever choice, because we don't know how the board thinks; it's certainly never as straightforward as we do ourselves. The appointment is a bit lackluster, but all we can do is hope Paterson can prove himself. The Reedtz haven't really made a "bad" appointment so far, so we should give this some time to see what happens. Besides, nobody would have predicted Ian Burchnall or Luke Williams as our head coaches; Paterson does seem to fall within this background. It's why I don't get my hopes up about potential incoming players or head coaches, because you are leaving yourself wide open to feeling disappointment. I am fully prepared to give Paterson my 100% support; I will acknowledge that he might need time to fully get settled, but I am hoping we see early signs of a strong leader. I can't sit here and write anything that makes it seem like I want him to fail, because I don't. I am slightly disappointed, because part of me thinks we could have just stuck with Stuart Maynard since we gave him such a long contract. Yet I am hopeful that Paterson will prove to be decisive during games and try to win them, not being afraid to make those important changes. Let's try to reserve our judgment.

Surely, you took a couple of pictures for memento reasons. If you didn't, I would be very disappointed. 😉

It was a brilliant day, and it would be lovely to see members and fans across the PON and Notts community contribute to this gallery. It will preserve the day for future generations, and it will be reflected upon in the future as a way to bring back the nostalgia of what was a great return to the English Football League. Don't make me have to find my mum's walking sticks to get you to contribute; I will tag you if I know you were able to make the trip. 😂😉 Oh, and @Fan of Big Tone please don't think you can escape this. 😊👋🏻🖤🤍

C'mon ENGLAND! We believe in our u21s. 📣