Chris

I don't think it's such a bad thing, but those who encounter issues with the postponements, such as not being able to make the rearrangements or having subscribed to the Pies Player, are a bit of a blow, and I feel for them. It doesn't bother or affect me. We'll have to make the most of the Reading game, which, for me, will be another tough fixture. By the time we are back in action, ideally some of the injured players will be back and our strength will have increased. I do think we need to rotate players a little, just so that we can keep players sharp. Hopefully the gap will give some a chance to work on their fitness, and others a much-needed rest.

There were some boos and chants of 'County Reject' in the early minutes. I don't think there was much of a reception, but it did turn more towards booing once Aden Baldwin started using more of the dark arts. It wasn't the worst, but it started before he really did anything.

I didn't understand why some of our fans were giving him stick, but as the game went on, I thought he looked like a different player. Not sure why he tried to wrestle James Belshaw in the second half, acting as if nothing had happened, but I think he looked decent when he wasn't being dirty. I can't remember him playing like this with us, but he was all over some of our lot and I thought he was disappointing to see. Good players don't need to act like this, and seeing how he got away with so much became quite frustrating. He will always be thanked for what he did for us, but he isn’t that player anymore.

Lucas Ness, though once they scored, did become more nervous, I felt. Without Ness, we would have conceded in the first half, even though I think Bradford looked lacklustre in front of goal. The way Ness dealt with marking two defenders, clearing, and choosing when to be a ball-playing defender was quite something.

I noticed that Bradford are quite the tall team, some of their players made it very difficult for both good and bad reasons. Notts just weren't at their best, and I think the starting line-up should have had a little more thought. I realise it's usually good to avoid changes, but I think one or two would have made the difference we needed. Bradford City are a good team, but nothing special. It took some real quality, and a chance to strike from a defensively Notts must start doing better to close down. The criticism of James Belshaw I heard and have seen after the game is incredibly harsh; why was Nick Tsaroulla the only player close to challenging? Why didn't we defend as a tighter unit, and once they scored I think we became quite the risk at the back. A more efficient team at goal could have made it a real nightmare for us. If our midfield had its act together, we'd have done better and quite possibly turned it around. Switching to two strikers helped, but we need to stop trying to walk the ball into the net and try to open up play from striking distance as Bradford did. Sometimes those types of goals are the only difference, but despite how we played I don't think we deserved to lose.

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League One is very competitive; the gulf between a good League Two side and a team that must avoid relegation from League One isn't all that different. A team can have quality and depth, but it takes consistency at a much higher level to stay as an established team at this level. The talk I heard prior to Bradford about us being "Championship" ready is, at the kindest possible reading, optimistic thinking. Huddersfield showed what quality there is in the lower half of the Championship; Leicester, despite being very poor, showed they had Championship quality within them. I am not downplaying our squad, there's much more needed from them and it's still early days. The signs are positive, as we look capable of playing well in two halves. Teams all have off days; this Saturday perhaps comes down to us not choosing the right starting lineup. Defensively, I think we have made a lot of improvements, but more is naturally to come. The lapse in awareness and judgment is what is still costing us points. We can attack very nicely with pure passing football, and I have noticed we look a lot more dangerous on the break. Counter-attacking football is massive at this level and higher. Bradford turned it on quite nicely, though they failed to make their finishing count, I feel. So, I think comparisons are only half of the picture and that we have made progress. Yet, I wouldn't gloss over what further we need to do in order to be at our best. I think, with time and the new signings settling in more, we'll start to show a lot more of the quality we have seen in the earlier games so far, but on a more consistent basis. It took a bit of time last season for the quality to improve; this season it might be a little harder due to the talented teams we face, but I am confident that we can establish ourselves. I would like Notts to walk before running, as we need to be fully ready to push for promotion. I would hate to see all our good work undone by failing to get the basics needed to improve at this level right first.

I am not sure Bradford are the better team; they just had a good strike on goal. They barely troubled us with efforts, and James Belshaw could have sat in a deck chair for most of the first half. As I left, I felt that neither team deserved anything from the game. Had Notts attacked the game better, who knows? It was an underwhelming performance, but Bradford were just as poor themselves. Several previous teams would have put the game to rest well before them if we had played the exact same way. Midfield never got going; Luka Smyth still doesn't look match-fit.

eSports, but it's more like event management and streaming. Some of his friends were involved in the World Cup in America, doing overlays for the live games, and some have been doing snooker events. I will, he will act surprised, but I think he knows just how much everyone cares. Some friends this past Saturday asked about him and how he was doing. He might not realise what he means to our community, but it never surprises me how much people express care. Jake has also recently passed his theory test and will be moving towards his driving test, thanks to Jim at @Drivingmenotts. So, I'll be driving Jake nuts and encouraging Super to come with us on day trips here and there. As for apple pies and crumbles, they are our favourite too. I used to have them plain, but now I have custard and, on rare occasions, cream or ice cream. I hope the noise dies down; it can be annoying when construction or work is being carried out.

@Fan of Big Tone it’s amazing how stories like this stay hidden until somewhere highlights it, hopefully it will continue to be picked up and do the loops as stories like this do deserve to be told. Triumph over all, it's something quite remarkable.

The football equivalent of a person having two compound names. I wished Blair would slow down; Super and Jake say I speak fast, but he's spitting words out in a very thick Scottish accent, which I honestly find hard to understand. That complaint had it is a good video and I do love the insights in this. Those steps early in the video remind me of Meadow Lane and other clubs with traditional stadiums. I also think it's a myth that you have to spend money to save a club, and the issue I find with constant takeovers is that they're not addressing the actual problem. I think Albion Rovers would benefit from supporter ownership and a better understanding of what makes clubs successful without throwing money. There's a lot of uncaptured football talent in Scotland, and I think a club like them would benefit from finding talent that hasn't found a club to get the best out of them at academy level. They could get the foundations right there and replicate what has made other higher-up teams successful in producing talent that has a resale value. I am not suggesting it's this easy, but the club does seem lost and stuck in their ways; it's clearly not working, and they appear to have a loyal community supporting them.

I will give the next airing a watch and share my thoughts. Personally, I would rather ex-players who are good at hosting shows were given a chance. Mind, those who wanted Alan Shearer to take over must have wanted to go to sleep early. He's an alright pundit, but he tends to be quite negative; he was during this past World Cup.

It's because the club doesn't want to expose the players to negativity by making them respond after defeats; we sometimes avoid doing so for draws. I have complained reasonably about this in the past, and people just say they would rather the players do their talking on the pitch. However, in my opinion, it is not good to treat professional players as if they cannot give good insights into what went wrong on the pitch. I think there's a lot to be learned from defeats, and having the players able to reflect on key moments in the game. Not only does it give us fans something to explain the players’ side of how things went, but it also takes away that 'we're in this together' attitude and hides responsiblity from having to focus on press related interviews. If the club really believes in communication and transparency, then I think they can expect more fans to be mature enough to accept what players have to say after defeats. For those fans who feel interviews are just fine after winning games, why? It sends the wrong message. The club might instruct the manager to take accountability for defeats or poor performances, but surely one of the many managers we have had would see the benefit from allowing the players to speak after games don't go our way instead of hiding them from the media.

There isn’t much happening for me. Jake has returned to uni; it's his final year before graduation. I need to speak with Super at some point today, and I hope to find time to prepare some meals for him. Kate's nana gave us a lot of cooking apples, so they will be turned into apple pies or crumbles. One other thing I aim to look into is making some homemade curries for him, as he does like them and I think they'd help keep him warm.

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