Chris

We see the return of the PoN on One! In this edition we see a little twist as we turn it into a special feature for our Capital One cup tie against Liverpool. I've taken the time to ask two American based fans questions ahead of the tie, whilst throwing in the traditional quiz at the end. We will be following up with an Opposition View tomorrow but if you ever wondered how fans from another country get around timezones etc. We have this covered in this addition! I very much hope you'll enjoy reading this, as it's a feature which brings fans together in a good way. Keep tuned for more news, reports, articles and of course features such as this. Firstly, could you tell prideofnottingham.co.uk a little about yourself, such as how long you've been a fan for? Liverpool - Mike; My name is Mike Creuzer, and I've been an EPL fan since I was about 11 give or take, and I'm 22 now so half my life! My brother and I would watch the games when we were younger. Notts County - Dana; Well Firstly: My name is Dana Shoup. I was born in Ketchikan Alaska, been playing soccer/football my whole life, i'm 29, spent some time in England going to Harlaxton University just outside Grantham. We did a tour of the grounds of Notts County and it was 2003 when Notts was really close to dissolution and literally fans were knitting scarves just to make some extra money for the club. I absolutely fell in love with the notts family after that and I have one of those hand knit scarves proudly up on my wall right now. I did what I could as a broke college student to help. and I've been a big fan since. Become a lot more involved in the last few years though. What's it like being a fan of an English club in America – For example do you find it difficult keeping tabs on the games? Liverpool - Mike; Here in the States, American football is the primary sport and to get soccer/world football, let alone EPL, you have to pay for special channels. We used to pay for it until it was too expensive. Since then, I stream online or catch the game at a local bar. It is very very difficult to stay on par, but I do what I can to catch the noteworthy matches. Notts County - Dana; It's Hard to be a fan so far away, especially cause every game you want to be at Meadow Lane chanting with the rest, but thank the internet and things like Twitter and Facebook to really keep close on games and how all the fans are feeling, being able to talk with players, owners, board members, it really has let me become more involved and I'm thrilled about it. Biggest problem really is being able to watch the games, obviously with Notts being lower in the divisions, i'm stuck with watching a lot of Premier games. And at least if I can't buy season tickets, there's options like sponsering players or Lifeline to help out from afar. Can you please tell us what you know about the opposition your team faces and how you feel the Capital One Cup game will go? Liverpool - Mike; I know very little about Notts other than they are a very old and well respected club. Probably not wise to say to Notts fans but I'm not too worried. Liverpool have won this cup more than anyone else, so they clearly understand what needs to be done. We have a young side but a strong one. We do have some issues we need to clean up in the back, though, so it'll be interesting to see how things play out. Notts County - Dana; I know Liverpool enough to know they didnt have the best year last year, they have quite the Biter on their team, Gerrard who they have had forever has been amazing for them. Just like how I love Notts being the oldest club in the world, I have a love for players that stay with their club for a long time as well. Obviously Liverpool wont start their best squad, I hope we can take advantage of that, maybe knock in a few quickly and maybe knock them up a bit to take away their confidence, if they can do that, we can pull it off! Who's your current favourite player and why? Liverpool - Mike; Gerrard. He has always been a solid presence of fortitude not just as Liverpool's skipper but for England as well. Got a fantastic boot on him and I certainly hope he has many more years left in him. Carra retiring was tough, he was a close second. Notts County - Dana; Favorite Player.... I was a massive fan of Bart and Spiess last year, just love the amount of wonderful saves they have done for us. Bart has taken some knocks but he just keeps being an amazing player/goalkeeper for us. And because he has, He has really made it to where I think we can win against anyone. I've seen undefeated teams lose to a team that shot just one shot while that undefeated team shot 30 plus times and their goalkeeper saved some 20 shots. I just really appreciate what goalkeepers do out there. Its the one position I just have no ability to play. Lastly – What were your reaction to the cup draw and what are your expectations for the season? Liverpool - Mike; I'm looking forward to catching a good number of these games. Bristol City/Crystal Palace, Doncaster Rovers/Leeds, and of course Liverpool/Notts. As for the season as a whole, really interested to see what's going to happen with some of these transfers. Looking forward to watching a great season! Notts County - Dana; Reaction to the cup draw... I mean I'm all about moving on in the cup so I would have liked to see maybe an easier opponent, but I would say getting a bigger club early, they may be more relaxed, not far enough in the cup yet to be really determined or in better form so its a stronger possibility that we can pull of a stunner and of course more money for the club is always a benefit in my mind. I'd love to see us pull off a run like Bradford City. and Expectations, every year from the start til the end, I'm hoping and shooting for promotion, I know we lost some key players, but I will back Notts no matter what and believe we can pull off anything. Cause it comes down to 90+ minutes and honestly anything can happen. I had a scoring drought one soccer season and suddenly one game I had 4 goals and 3 assists, I couldnt do anything wrong and it was against a good team. You just never know. -Quiz- Q1) In which year did Anfield open and what is the current capacity of the stadium? (closet to both figures will get the full points) Liverpool - Mike; 1884, and I have no idea but I'd guess at maybe a bit over 40,000 Notts County - Dana; 1884 and 45,525 Q2) What was the score the last time Notts played Liverpool at Anfield? Liverpool - Mike; I have absolutely no idea. Notts County - Dana; 4-0 Liverpool in 1991-1992 Season Q3) Have Everton ever ground shared with Liverpool – Yes or No? Liverpool - Mike; Oh I doubt that very much, too tough a rivalry for that. Notts County - Dana; No, I think Everton moved to Goodison Park and then Liverpool was formed and took over Anfield after Everton left. So they didnt share grounds at the same time. Ha I think I'm guessing this right. Q4) Who were Liverpool's highest goalscorers last season and also who were Notts County's? Liverpool - Mike; Suarez had 10 or 11 and Gerrard had 5. I've only ever watched a few Notts games, we rarely get any Championship or L1 here. Notts County - Dana; Suarez, Sturridge, Gerrard and JCR, Judgey, Arquin, and Bishop Q5) Steve Finnan had a successful career with both clubs – How much did Notts County sign him for and how much was he later sold for. Please combine your two answers and let us know the figure roughly? Liverpool - Mike; Finnan was on the 2005 CL side, but I don't know how much he was purchased for or sold for. Don't be too tough on me fellas. I cant name every player or every game final, and I can hardly say I know a lot about the history of Liverpool or any other club. But I will say that football in the UK is the best sport in the world. The passion from the fans, the skill from the players, the intensity of the matches, all make me love every minute. Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you, got one hell of a community here! Notts County - Dana; 300,000 and sold for 600,000 for Notts, So made a good 300k off of him, not too bad Final Score Mike - 2 Dana - 4 Pride of Nottingham would like to thank both Mike and Dana for taking part in this feature, it's something we hope to do more often, so if you're interested in taking part please contact me.

On the 4th of February 2013, on the back of the dismissal of then manager Keith Curle. Pride of Nottingham took to asking questions ahead of our opposition view, a feature where we collect the views of fans from other League One teams. We spoke to a Boro fan called 'Chris' and he provided us with his thoughts ahead of game and we decided to take time out and catch up with Chris, has he made some interesting comments regarding his clubs progress. So although we have already done our main opposition view - you might find it insightful to see how he feels now. Last season you finished 18th, when we approached you last time you mentioned "As I've said I'm predicting a lower mid-table finish for us" How content were you with this finish? Not happy. I didn't expect us to continue our brilliant form for the entire season, but the way in which we collapsed under Smith after the new year was extremely demoralising. You also mentioned that none of your players posed a threat to us last season, how have things changed and did you have promising signs pre-season? We've shipped out some of the players who seemed to put too little effort in, and brought in players who perhaps don't have the same level of natural ability but will give everything for the cause. Player to watch now would, in my opinion, be Darius Charles - whether he plays left back, centre back, or up front! After 3 opening games, it's a little too early to see the bigger picture but how do you feel about the start to the 2013/14 campaign? There are promising signs, but we need to start picking the points up sooner rather than later. What did you make of the appointment of Graham Westley? I was happy with it. Didn't understand the anger when he left, Preston being the massive club they are. After a torrid time under Smith we needn't somebody who would get the most out of our limited resources. What formation do you see Westley choosing, along with the starting 11 players? Previously he's generally stuck with 4-4-2, occasionally with a 4-5-1 away from home. Favoured line-up possibly being: Day; Wedgbury, Jones, Ashton (Captain Fantastic), Hartley; Morais, Dunne, Tansey, Freeman; López, Charles How do you see this season going and where do you see Stevenage finishing? Probably about the same as last season, but with hopeful signs for next season and a squad that the manager gets the most out of! I'll say 17th. If you found this to be interesting, why not have a read of the Opposition View from last season. Last Seasons Opposition View - Read Here This Seasons Opposition View - Read Here Pride of Nottingham would like to thank you for taking the time to read this update, we hope you find these to be interesting and we would like to throw our appreciation to Chris for providing us once again with his views.

Notts County obviously come into this game in a very similar situation, after lost their opening two games and coming away from Walsall having earned a draw. Stevenage haven't yet collected a single point, as they have lost all three of their opening games. They lost 3-4 to Oldham on the 3rd of August and narrowly lost by one goal each to Swindon and Leyton Orient. Pride of Nottingham's taken the time to speak with traveling fan Gareth, who has kindly taken time out of his evening to answer our questions. We hope you enjoy this feature and find it to be useful information - You Pies! Firstly, could you tell prideofnottingham.co.uk a little about yourself, such as how long you've been a fan for? I'm 28 years old and been a fan for about 8 years now. How do you feel about the ending of last seasons campaign and did you query any of the players who were released? Was quite releaved to see the back of last season really. Was a complete disaster from about October time. No queries about any of the players that were released, I trust the managers judgement over my own. Can you tell me about your pre-season, the signings you've made and how things were generally with the club with regards to the new season? Pre-season was generally successful. Had quite a few new faces brought in again and they look decent, Sam Wedgbury especially at right back has stood out. We had a good victory over a QPR team that had a few first team players in the squad, We were on par with a strong Leeds team for 60 minutes before conceding a couple of goals. Smashed my hometown team of Biggleswade 6-0 in what was a very enjoyable day. After 3 opening games, it's a little too early to see the bigger picture but how do you feel about the start to the 2013/14 campaign? Although results don't lie, and we have lost all 3 league matches so far, I've seen some promising signs from most of the new players. We had an excellent victory in the cup against Ipswich sandwiched between our league games which was a nice one to win. Realistically how do you see Saturday ending and are you confident about the game? I'd be happy with a point on Saturday, just so we can get off the mark and I suspect that is what we will get out of the game. How do you see your season going and where do you think you will finish? Graham Westley has always been known to have a strong finish to the season. I think we won 14 out of our last 15 matches when we won the conference, conceding only 3 goals in the process. I can't really see us troubling the promotion places this season, top half would be an excellent season in my eyes. I always tell everyone that I think we will finish top of the bottom third this season. In reality anything above the relegation places will do just nicely. Out of all the League One clubs, which have you been looking forward to seeing and why? I'm most looking forward to visiting Peterboro away, Mainly because it is local and will make for a good drinking opportunity. I've actually watched Peterboro vs Notts County twice over the years, as a friend of mine has a Notts County supporting Dad so I tagged along a couple of times. Which Stevenage players would you see posing a threat to the Notts County defence? Luke Freeman is always a threat when on the ball and can create a chance out of nothing. Greg Tansey will also cause trouble if he has his shooting boots on and Darius Charles will be a handful if he plays as a striker for this one. Who would you have marked on Saturday and who would you point out to be our danger-men? Enoch Showumni sounds like he has had a decent start to the season so I reckon he could be the danger man. Averagely how many games do you make in a season, including cup games? I make every home league and cup games and always try to make it to about 4 or 5 away games. League One is understandably harder this season, we've seen some big clubs fall and some others return to it. Who do you feel will go up this season? Probably the toughest set of teams in league 1 since we entered it. I have money on Wolves to win the league so I expect them to go up. Could be joined by any out of about 10 teams but I expect Peterboro to grab the runners up place and Brentford to win the play-offs after just missing out last season . Finally, what are the positives you can point out about your team right now? Positives about the team is that the players now seem to always give 110%. They may not technically be the best players in the league but you can guarantee that anyone that plays under Graham Westley will give it their absolute all. Were in a bit of a transition period again with a lot of changes to the squad since the end of last season so it's going to take time for the team to gel properly but I think we should be Ok. Pride of Nottingham would like to thank Gareth for taking the time to answer our questions. Please keep tuned for a special update from one of our previous opposition fans, as we catch up with Chris. A Boro fan who we spoke to last season.