Chris

Hello, @Norman Butler. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham, I hope you will enjoy being a part of our Notts County community.

It's not that I felt Tom Iorpenda didn't give a good account of himself, but I did feel baffled to see him named as the official Man of the Match. I didn't think he did enough to warrant it myself. Both Matty Platt and Jacob Bedeau did a mixture of good and bad, but overall I would say they performed well enough. Matt Palmer would be in my list of five contenders, alongside Barry Cotter, who defended very well. I can’t include Jodi on my list, even though he seems to have regained his spark. I thought he was decent, but he didn't support Matthew Dennis enough in the first half, in my eyes. Sonny Aljofree really impressed me; he handled things well and defended bravely. I honestly think if he had played in the middle, the first goal would have been headed away. It's a bit disappointing that Platt didn't mark his man, but Aljofree would be my call for Man of the Match. Palmer, Aldjofree, Cotter, Bennetts and Jodi all looked up for it.

How do you digest that without seeming too critical? Well, it wasn't the performance or result that we would have hoped for; Salford are very well organised and know exactly when to press. They allowed us to look interesting for the first 10 minutes, then took control and looked good for their lead. There were things that happened which I think the officials missed, and I wasn't very impressed with that, but Notts contributed to its own difficulties. For the first 45 minutes, I think Salford didn't really have to work all that hard because of how poor Notts were. We did defend quite well, but as a "passing" team we easily lost the ball, knocked it around without any real purpose, and looked quite disconnected. There was little focus on attacking into space, and Salford were quite spread out. I always feel we don't try through the centre of the midfield enough; even when it's begging to be played there, someone will smash the ball to the flank, and we end up losing possession. I don't think the first half was all negative; we did defend quite well, and Barry Cotter blocked so many efforts which could have caused further issues. My issue with the ref is the lack of control; he didn't hurry up throw-ins, and he allowed Salford to time-waste in a very obvious manner. He missed blatant pushes, and I mean physically throwing arms out to make our player(s) fall. If we wanted to play quickly, he wouldn't let us. If Salford kicked the ball away, he didn't speak to the players. It seemed he wouldn't give us obvious free kicks, especially in the second half. We got our acts together when we came back out for the final 45 + 5 minutes of added time, where we never really looked to have that edge. Jodi Jones tried and looked sharp at times, but not quite the same. Speaking of Jodi, he really disappointed with his effort of rolling around like he was seriously hurt. That had me thinking the worst of him, like he had done something serious. The referee told him to get up, something which the official hardly bothered with Salford with, while Jodi went running away, arguing, and ended up being yellow-carded for dissent. It's shameful behaviour, and it's part of the reason why I didn't like him at Coventry City. Good player, but at 27 years old, you can't do that. He was 18 at Coventry; I thought he had cut it out of his game, but he tried it on, and it's not right. The substitute changes, Martin Paterson, made a difference to the game; we grew into the game and started to dominate. It's just before that, the little things we did which invited danger; Salford's second goal is one of the softest I have seen us gift to a team. That is frustrating, but leaving it so late to try to draw or more, it wasn't great. I don't think the referee changed the game, but I honestly believe he was poor. We need to manage games better; for all the times last season we struggled with physical teams, there were zero signs of improvement, and I know we need match fitness, etc. Yet I think it's the most disappointed I have felt in the beginning of a new season from Notts. Keanan Bennetts looked good; I thought Conor Grant held play up well, but we need more fight and more desire to attack.

Hello, @MC 11. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. I hope you enjoy being a part of our Notts County community! I do apologise for not taking the time to welcome you, somehow I must have missed this.

Oxford United 1-1 Portsmouth Stoke City 0-2 Derby County Exeter City 0-1 Blackpool Mansfield Town 0-0 Doncaster Rovers Gillingham 1-3 Walsall (Joker) Oldham Athletic 2-0 Colchester United Tamworth 0-0 Scunthorpe United Wealdstone 3-1 Truro City

Hello, @Pete. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. I am pleased to be welcoming you and I hope you enjoy being a part of our Notts County community Soon, you will be welcomed by other PON members. Please do say hello, and tell us a little about yourself.

Tomorrow promises an exciting return to Meadow Lane, where I can fully immerse myself in the vibrant atmosphere of the KOP. While I plan to capture some photos, my primary focus will be on the exterior of the stadium, the stands, and the less crowded areas. 👍🏻📸

This gets a bit political, but I want to focus on the point that nobody wanted to give anyone connected to Russia money at the beginning of the war's outbreak. Chelsea's owner had silly sanctions, his money withheld, and further pressure to sell Chelsea, from which sale he donated to Ukraine. However, this is perfectly fine. Why should they even get a handout?

It rings a bell, but I don’t know why. I wonder if it’s been mentioned here or to me in the past. Thinking a little more, it might have been a quiz where I heard about the village. Quirky things like this are interesting to read about. Celtic is also a very common name for clubs. At least their badge is unique to them and quite nice for a team within the Scottish football pyramid.

Wycombe Wanderers’ style isn’t exactly the same as ours, but they do favour attacking football. I suspect they’ll deploy George Abbott similarly to how we did, but he could find himself further up the pitch. I don’t blame Tottenham Hotspur for wanting to take him a level up; personally, I would have tried to find a Championship team, but he should have a lot more time on the ball in League One. This should help him establish his presence, and I hope their squad looks after him similarly to how ours did.

I can't see the season tickets selling many more now, but the club has to keep plugging them. I would love to know the amount of sales in total and the potential number of away fans expected to make the trip to Nottingham.

UEFA is making a big mistake, and I hope every European country opposed to the war in Ukraine lets them know. When the war is finally over, will they be doing similarly for the Ukraine teams which have been destroyed? While the Russian clubs might not have anything to do with the war, funding them during it seems completely wrong on all levels. How can they be sure the money will be spent appropriately? It's deeply upsetting to see this news, as everyone should be standing by Ukraine.

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There were comments about the club wanting 3 keepers; we have two and one young team goalkeeper. I would welcome Archie Mair back; he did fantastically in the penalty shootout, and there is still room for him to grow. He is a bit nervous to watch, so I wouldn't rule out Kelle Roos because I think he will be fine for this level, but Mair would give us options. I don't think we can afford to bring in a loan, and I doubt Notts will want to spend money on this position now. Unless Roos is going to be the backup, Mair wouldn't be the answer as the first-team starter. Mair could have a bright future, but I don't think he's quite ready to be a starter, but he could make a good backup/rotational option.

Yesterday, I had to pop to B&Q. We need a light fitting for the kitchen, and Cheeky has taken on wanting to do more home improvements. Just little things, nothing major. In the future, we would like to redo our living room flooring. In the process of looking, we picked up a cactus for Jake, and it's similar to the ones my mum had on her kitchen windowsill. It was pretty quiet; we caught one bus into town, got off, and about 3 minutes later hopped on one to Electric Avenue. Can't say we found a fitting we liked, but it was nice to look in person. We will be ordering one from Amazon, as the styles in-store aren't to our liking. We went into The Food Warehouse for some knick-knacks and caught two buses home. Today, I am rolling off things I have on my to-do list and seeking to fix some bugs while testing a new app that will bring us a detailed league table that doesn't require me to update the HTML. I did that on a tablet coming back from Carlisle last season; it was tricky. I really need to find the time and hopefully feel well enough to see Super. I'm thinking Sunday, but at some point I do plan to pack my laptop up in my bag and cycle over to save me from needing to walk.

Small update: A template error has been fixed. The awards displayed in a member's postbit area have been diminished. The league table is now using our new app; further pages and improvements are forthcoming. The developer of the app is doing an awesome job and has done an excellent job envisioning my ideas and implementing his own. https://prideofnottingham.co.uk/club/league-table/ Tonight I will update the manager page and coaching staff changes. The squad will eventually be switched to the football app, with fixture widgets coming to show upcoming and previous games. 👍🏻 If you are in a position to support us in improving the site, maintaining the upkeep and costs involved, please consider subscribing. However, this isn't the only means by which you can help. Visiting, posting, and engaging massively helps, but financial aid does help to do all of this. https://prideofnottingham.co.uk/subscriptions/

I was scrolling through a Notts photographer's gallery; he took pictures of the players preparing to go out from under the stands and onto the pitch. Alassana Jatta stood out the most with how friendly he looked; I don't think his agent will turn his head. If he decides it is his time to move on, I fully believe it will be his decision. Offering him a new deal, ideally seeing it get signed, should give us some confidence, but at the same time that might just be in the fee we can attract for him. We do have to allow players to leave if it's best for them, and if the money reflects that. All we can hope is that a player can be identified. I was apprehensive about the possibility of losing Kyle Wootton, but we managed to secure the signing of Macaulay Langstaff. When we signed Wes Thomas, that was a signing that gave me hope that the club could identify goalscorers and bring them to the team. Even prior to Kristian Dennis, Kane Hemmings, and Jon Stead, we hoped that young strikers could be signed. It seems something we are far more capable of doing while avoiding the older legs that are nearing retirement.

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I’ve mentioned before that I don’t engage with rumors unless they’re shared within this community, and even then, I resist the temptation of clickbait. While I find them intriguing, I never let myself get swept up in any hope that they might be true. Consequently, I don’t allow myself to feel disappointment because, more often than not, these rumours are either meant to generate excitement or create a spiral of negativity aimed at driving clicks. As a topic, there's nothing wrong with it, but I do dislike the trend in which those types of sites conduct themselves.

I apologise if your preference for which skin you use keeps changing; I am trying to fix a bug, and in the process, I made the light version the default skin. I still haven't managed to resolve this issue, but I am aware of what is causing it.

I appreciate the concerns regarding our match against Salford following their defeat to Crewe; however, I believe that playing at home presents us with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities as a strong team and capitalise on the chances that arise. There's always that concern about former players returning, and Jorge Grant can be someone who punishes teams. The only change I would consider is replacing Kellan Gordon; if Will Jarvis is back, get him in. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't choose to start Keanan Bennetts. My biggest concern will always be the absence of Alassana Jatta, but I do think Matthew Dennis will score some goals. I would just feel more confident if there was a spark or instinct to suggest to me that he was a striker. Perhaps he needs to be a little selfish when it comes to opportunities, but I largely feel optimistic, and I can't wait to get back in the KOP. Start with the same intent against Newport County, be see it through, and just try to slow down at times when it comes to striking the ball.

Ashley Eastham is my offering. There are moments when I find myself disappointed in you, Tone. I wanted to say Jorge Grant, even though I didn't know you were doing this. I still wanted to say Grant.

@super_pie (my son) came and showed me the picture Notts had teased; I instantly loaded the Notts site and checked for news. I came a few minutes later, but the picture led me to think it was a permanent signing. I hope that it was a striker and that we would be ready to get players to compete to start. I felt a bit surprised when I read it was a season-long loan for another midfielder. Tyrese Hall would be a big delight if he has goals in him and Man of the Match performances, but it's tough to expect him to do what George Abbott did last season as they are two different players. If Hall maintains a focused approach on attacking, scoring goals will be incredibly valuable.

He did well for them last time, having earned over 25 appearances, but I would have liked to see him given a bigger test. I am sure some Spurs fans interested in their academy might feel like George Abbott wouldn't be worth returning here, despite having a good season. Though I do see the point in continuing success, I just feel a step up to a good National League club would be better. If we gain promotion this season, he will be two levels behind us in terms of where he has experience, and unless the club is willing to give him that, I just feel the talent he and James Sanderson have will be wasted. I am not trying to be negative about it; I do acknowledge that Kidderminster will give him a good platform, but proving himself there still leaves a bit of a gap, and I really hope we do start introducing young pros into our squad more than padding.