Chris

I felt a little slow reading this, I won't be ashamed to admit. It's a lot to take in. I didn't know that lions were called leopards, so that took me a few takes to get. I can't imagine a world where a leopard was a black dotted large cat-like creature. Especially in comparison to lions which are a lot more furious. I mean, you wouldn't want to be around either but if it came to a fight - we stand little chance of survival against a lion. Thankfully, we are known as the 'Three Lions' as it makes for a better coat of arms.

Field a decent enough squad, but give Tiernan Brooks the chance to start and many of our younger players. Yet don't just throw them in with fringe players; give some of the first team candidates a chance to pass on their experience. I am not that bothered about the EFL trophy, but I do see it as a chance to give game minutes. With a larger squad, we can afford to do it this time round.

If @Dry Nelson Ray had got Dolly Parton over for our game last season, I am 100% sure @super_ram would have 'loved' to join me. Although I didn't get tickets unfortunately, it remains a ground that I haven't yet visited. Very funny video, Dolly at times looks unsure how to respond.

Hopefully, the league cup is worth taking seriously, but we seem to take the ELF trophy more seriously in recent years. Just like the FA Cup is well worth taking seriously, and not choosing to drop out of it. Agreed, we looked very good. We didn't look the same when we played them in this after that, Shrewsbury looked much better, but we didn't give a very good account of ourselves.

I hope the games streamed, as this would be a nice touch. I don't have a passport (as said elsewhere) but I think it's a fun fixture that brings a different friendly to those who can make the trip.

I always thought he would have adapted well to life in League Two, had we kept him. He was a big presence and had a decent shot on him, I mean if he played for us now he would love the amount of good players who could get him the ball. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, but he's a decent player. Long term covid does sound quite nasty, but good on him for making a return.

He's done well at Gateshead, but he never seemed to get a chance here the last time and the memory I have of when he did. He didn't look all that special, but that seems a bit unfair to judge him by. Willing to trust our recruitment if they deem him good enough.

@super_pie loved Kane Hemmings, a photo of them both remained his display picture for years. Hemmings was a good player for us, worked hard and got goals when he played/had the service. I don't know why we tended to push him to the left side of the pitch, because as a striker he was the most threatening. It's a good signing for Crewe, I wish him all the best (except against Notts, although it will be nice to see him again).

Well I doubt anything was aimed at the families of the players, reporting that is just wrong and remaining anonymous is just cowardly. Nothing should be thrown at anyone, let's get that right off the bat. Plastic cups won't hurt, but that's besides the point. They take bottle caps off you, which is far less likely to cause any issue. The thing about cups is they can contain drinks, I have seen footage of it and some actually did. It's pathetic behaviour, which could cause FIFA to punish England for not controlling their fans.

No need to be sorry, due to disagreeing @Piethagoram. I value your opinion, I do think Andy Holt is a two-sided coin.

@KingMaynard actually, I don't believe it is the same CMS. It does look like the club is using something called Urban Zoo, instead of whom the EFL partnered with back when every club used the same platform and design. It also appears our design is based on Hull City. The actual style I mean, as they 100% use the same content management system. https://www.wearehullcity.co.uk/ The reason I say this, if you check the fixtures and then click the weirdly placed 'add' button. It takes you to a weird page for Hull City. https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/matches Hopefully, some of the code is tidied up over the next few weeks. I'm very curious about this new platform; it seems quite a few teams use them, including Nottingham Forest. It also says in the article published on the OS, that they use Urban Zoo. I have only just read that entry.

Exactly. The scousers used to make me laugh, plus Harry Enfield as the father who had a son who visited home with his boyfriend - not very PC now, but it's funny. Oh, and Paul's skits of football.

Drop me a PM if you have anything suited for publishing as an article. I'll keep you in the loop - re:content so that things don't cross paths. I am over the moon that you're up for it! PS. I know what it's like posting long comments, sometimes I just throw caution to the wind.

I like it, but I do think it needs further improvements. The navigation mostly looks nice, it uses a good mix of our traditional colours. The black menu could have more links to key areas and offer navigation underneath each section when hovered over. It's not very user-friendly to expect people to click on the hamburger menu to navigate further; that menu is also huge and cuts off the link to the mascot packages. The main design is also quite wide and very picture based, the latter is a more modern concept to web design. I do like it though; the article page(s) are nicer and much easier to read. One further concern, when ads start to appear on the site - the last version it became not as bad as the Nottingham Post but certainly unbearable at times. You're reading content, only to have a stretching advert take over. It's important that ads are served; I am sure the club gets a decent revenue stream from that but caution needs to go into it. I did chuckle when I made changes to PON, only to see it used as inspiration on the OS. Such as the featured content article style, the bottom and top navigations on handheld devices. Plus other things, at least some people won't be mistaken for me coping them.

I think we have a good chance, even with the poor performances in mind - I believe the confidence could grow. I also feel that playing better teams might push the England players to be more at their A-game. We concede one very world-class goal, so despite us being told defensively we are at our weakest I praise the England defence because this area hasn't let us down yet. How they do against a France or German team, I don't know, but I believe. As a supporter, I need to and try to be behind them to the best of my ability even though I am supporting them from home.

Transfer 24/7's tweet seems to be genuine and trustworthy. I bet they've spent years trying to build up their reputation in a modest and reliable way. *sarcasm* A bid may have been made, but I don't trust sites that are that generic. To me, it all seems very clickbait, but only time will tell. I'm not going to worry or pay much attention until anything comes forward. However, with us being linked to Will Evans, it does make me somewhat curious. There could be more to it, we'll see.

FYI: Facebook, aka Meta, are now targeting community forums that share links. Their automated mod bots will pull the content within seconds, deeming it as 'spam'. I thought Elon Musk was ruining Twitter just for his own thrills, but it seems Mark Zuckerberg is getting his own platform to do bizarre things. From research, it seems to be an issue ongoing for a few years, but Meta has increased their bots' effectiveness over the last few months, which makes it impossible for a site link PON to share a simple URL from the forum without it being removed.

I have seen some funny tweets about driving 3 miles to play paddle. It's an interesting development which may be of interest, or it could be random; I am more inclined to believe there's more to it. Potentially, Notts may be negating with him. We'll have to watch this one with both eyes.

I don't usually worry about who we are drawn against, it doesn't make much of a difference to me because we have to play those teams at stages, but I do understand how difficult opening games can be. If you get a run of rough teams, it can make things difficult, but I believe with our squad. Tranmere would be a good game to start early. There's going to be changes, hopefully, ones which make more sense but this year, I am not fussed. I just want to get back to Meadow Lane, so Fleetwood and Grimsby at home are two fixtures I am looking forward to.

He reminds me of a footballer from the late 90s to early 00s, but that's not a bad thing. Everyone says 'It's a man's game' when you see young players who fit the characteristics of players like Ed Francis and Will Patching (just as examples) but sometimes appearances isn't everything. I have no doubt that Curtis Edwards has the ability as a footballer to make a significant impact at Notts. Everything I know and have read tick the right boxes, so I am encouraged by the arrival of him and I think he fits to what we need. I am looking forward to seeing him on the pitch.

You know, it's hard for me not to want to see Stuart Maynard succeed. He has that underdog status, plus from the training I have seen him do, you can tell he has ideas and that he's a very good coach. Becoming the Head Coach of a professional team, although he has similar ways to our previous head coach, Luke Williams. Williams had everything in place, and I'm not making excuses, but Ian Burchnall left the club and Williams came in. He had a fantastic recruitment window, which along with his ability to get the best out of our players and influence them with his interesting approach to management. He had everything needed to succeed right at his fingertips, and in terms of what the squad accomplished that season, it is amazing. But that transfer window, where we brought in the likes of Macaulay Langstaff, Cedwyn Scott, Aden Baldwin etc - it was just what we needed to go further. The pressure that Maynard had when he arrived, in hindsight, wasn't the same or nearly as close to what previous head coaches had taken over from. We were in a league that is far more professional, and any team could win on the day. Whilst I thought the standard was much better than expected in the National League, we have to accept that many of the teams weren't even professional outfits., I don't know what some fans expected, as he could only make coaching improvements upon his arrival and Williams left us at a point where we were very low with morale. I see it as being a big blow now, as the squad will be wanting to maintain their league position and success, whilst trying to navigate the poor results, and then we lose such an important figure in Williams. It's quite a serious loss for us, one which we unfortunately didn't break very easily. You could see the moment Maynard arrived that he was trying, the pressure in his face quickly grew and he always looked a trouble man. What I think some supporters need to realise, when you step into an environment where everything is perfect - you don't need to get out a magic wand and perform any magical spells. Good managers, with experience, would most likely know what to do in this situation but to be fair, Maynard will be learning despite his Non-League background. Personally, I think some dislike Maynard solely due to Williams moving on. It broke that bubble, and it makes him an easy target. In addition, those who hold against him his previous role as a BT Technician that is the easiest thing to criticise. Whilst, I think some of the negativity to Maynard is very unfair, I do understand why rational thinking fans would be concerned. Yet, to take up a crusade against him, at a point where we all needed to be on the same page - I don't think it helped the situation we were in last season. Again, I understand why some fans would want him out but only after a certain amount of games and I never once entered the camp of wanting him out. Simply, because I felt he needed time. We have seen Maynard go from almost tearful and stressed, to a much calmer person - who has a real joy on his face. I truly hope I am right about the recruitment that's been brought in and that it will make the world of a difference. Right now, he will know much more about our squad, the way the club operates, and the signings just go a long way to ease things ahead of a new campaign. Get behind the club, and hopefully Stuart Maynard. What do we have to lose?

It really would keep you up at night, if Notts hadn't strengthened the defence during this transfer window. Thankfully, I think we'll see significant improvements. I don't want to put you on the spot [which I sort of am] but would you consider contributing a featured article at times @menzinho? PS. I personally think you make some great and interesting points!

Controversial, I know. I never really found them to be all that funny. Eric Morecambe is brilliant, but I much prefer the Two Ronnie's and even Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. A few years ago, I did watch a TV film they did where they went on holiday. I think it was to Torquay, I quite enjoyed watching it, but it wasn't for the laughs. More nostalgia, which makes me sound older than I am. I love things like the Carry On films, but for some reason I just don't take to Morecambe and Wise. They'll always be comedy greats; I don't dispute that, but I just don't find their sketches all that amusing.

If I had a passport, I would love to go to this. It's one of those areas which I do eventually want to tick off. I am just mindful that I don't like travelling all that much and I can become terribly home sick. I wonder if @DangerousSausage, will manage to make the game? Those days, when PON had quite a few German based fans.

Some interesting comments, such as the amount of money teams in the National League are paying, but I just find Andy Holt to be someone who's never happy any more. He's always got something negative to say, usually towards things that don't concern him. He's done well as a chairman and for Accrington, those are things he deserves credit for. When they got promoted to League One, he seemed a much more interesting person. I just find his complaints about football as an industry and as a competition to be double-negative. If he hates it so much, I wished he would get out of it or quit complaining. However, it's the thing which seems to make him most relevant, and he likes that. He needs to be careful what he says about when things go wrong, as Accrington seem to be taking steps back and could find themselves in the National League themselves in the next 3 years. Yet, that will be down to their budget, not the recruitment according to him.