Chris

It impressed me to see 13k sold, I am sure the numbers will continue to climb. It could be worse, Salford City are attracting funny comments on banter pages and sites where multiple fan bases discuss football. While I do chuckle. I do feel it is unfair because despite them having played League One before, they are still a small club. I hope any unsold tickets are offered closer to the time they are offered to schools in both areas.

The Match worn shirt I am told would be about £50-60, but both shirts are pretty much as I said open to pricing from the potential buyer. In the future, it might be worth more, as for the other shirt. I was told very similar, that it would need to be someone who really wants it that would pay above it. I have seen shirts sold for £100-150, usually with people more over the odds to get this because they want the shirt for their own collection or it's a reputable player. Nothing against Matt Tootle, I loved his time at Notts but a lot of fans blow hot and cold towards him. I believe the white shirt worn by Jon Stead in the match against Aston Villa sold for a considerable amount. I know when Notts have run an auction for signed shirts, that they tend to be the only way to gain more value from people. Matt Tootle may be interested in the shirt, but it's worth hanging onto.

I have seen Salford play against Notts, they push to control the game and try to keep the play 'wide'. When Notts has the ball, they pull ranks and put bodies around the ball. It's disruptive football, and doesn't suit our style of play. It's constant pressure, where they look to break with pace and they have a lot of players who can cause us headaches. Defensively, I don't think they are as weak as some think, but I certainly believe two strikers could cause Matty Young some problems. Not that he isn't a decent keeper, because he is but as a young squad player he must have some nerves and any of the three strikers we have could put the fear of god into him, but I think Alassana Jatta would benefit from someone to work off. Someone who can help him advance or simply assist in obtaining markers. I wouldn't want Notts to be defensive; against Chesterfield we struggled and it was Aaron Nemane who forced us out of our own half. It's important we go play, rather than rely on putting away a sigle chance or poaching the game.

The EFL has rules on spying, you cannot do it against teams you are preparing to play and 72 hours is that window time. The law changed after 2019, when Leeds United spied on Derby County and it's part of the game to avoid anything like it which is considered outside of good faith. It preserves the competitive integrity, and it's a weak point about sending scouts to watch games because that's completely different. Trying to watch a team train, unearth what they are working on and trying to find out about injuries etc, it would be quite the unfair advantage. Having such strict rules creates a level playing field, and the stricter decisions are the less likely they will be to reoccur. It acts as a deterrent, a clear signal that it won't be accepted and if anything the Premier League should be more inclined to deal with breaches more promptly. It's unfortunate for the Southampton fans that their club's actions came to light, but I am certain the Football League would have acted swiftly. Commercial value in football is very important, and that comes in toe with the public interest and any unfair advantage or believe matches are rigged should be treated equally. The rules being put in place closes a legal loophole, and I am sure some might be more insensed if it had happened to Notts. Also, Southampton admitted to spying on Oxford United, Ipswich Town and they probably did it against many other clubs too.

I see the benefits of being unchanged, but I am quite curious as to if playing two strikers would better our attack against Salford? I personally would have Matt Palmer in all day, if he's 100% fit. I love Scott Robertson but he doesn't dictate the tempo as well as Palmer does. Both are similar, and Robertson might be more defensive focused but that could also be a hinder to us, as he can get easily booked. Palmer isn't as rash, but is a lot better at moving the ball around and into areas that our players can exploit. I would keep Ollie Norburn in, so there's no option to switch Robertson with him. Keeper, and the defence writes itself. There's no need to tinker with that. I am unsure if Keanan Bennetts is out, but I would love to see him make the bench. He could be a great impact player if he were more direct. However, we do need to see more from Alassana Jatta and it's not all on his shoulders. Notts has to attack and bring him into the game, but Jatta needs to strike and avoid overthinking or placing the ball straight towards the keeper. It's why I would be tempted to have another striker on.

A fine typically isn't enough, because most teams in the Championship can more than likely afford it, so where is the punishment? Look how it doesn't deter Premier League teams from breaking rules. Spying on a team training is incredibly risky, and 4 points isn't remotely impactful. It does punish the fans, but so would a transfer embargo, or other limiting player based activity. I would have at least docked 6-8 points, because that's the only way I can see it sending a clear message.

@Fan of Big Tone Sorry to read this. :(

Thank you, @StarkMallard and @Robbie. 🫶🏻

I can message a fan that I believe can help you, with regards to value I think it's more about what people are willing to pay. Rather than them holding value, I have a signed home shirt by the full squad from the season we were relegated, and I couldn't even gift away. I had another, which had been donated to charity and a person came forward asking me to sell it for him. I just bought it to help them but nobody really seems all that interested in owning them. I gave one to my son's collection, and I gave the other to a friend. The 07/08 might be of more interest to people, since I can't imagine many are around. Whereas Alan Hardy distributed signed shirts to people and charities as freely as a dentist gives out sugar free lollipops.

@theAnticlough reminds of Leeds United when they used drones to watch Derby County, I don't recall what happened with regards to that but it's our sight cheating. It's a bit silly because it shows Southampton paid more attention to Middlesborough than to getting ready for the game themselves. If you resort to spying then you are focused on the wrong thing all together.

It was brilliant to see the stadium looking so full, it always is and that is my main takeaway. I was among the volunteers that helped to get the KOP flag surfing, and I took every chance I could to take in the stands as I waited for the signal. Mark joined me to help, and I had hoped Jake would, but I can understand it was overwhelming. Upon entering the ground, I yet again had issues with some very untrained stewards who grabbed me and then blocked me from walking even though her college had said we could go through after Jake showed our tickets. Such an irrating experience, especially to be forcefully held against the side wall. After helping surf the KOP's flag, I helped to carry it out from pitch side even though Logan Bruce said I could go back to my seat. I noticed that the person in front of me was struggling, so I sorted my section and tried to sort his. Then helped it out, but upon trying to get back to my seat the same stewards stopped me. I can't help but feel the temporary fillers can be jobsworths. They tried to stop me because Jake had my ticket, even though they waved Mark, who was rushing to get back to his seat. Whilst I genuinely felt tired and almost like my heart was going to expload. Only to have the same stewards try to stop me, though I explained that I had helped with the KOP flag pitch side, that they had already let me through and moments ago waved my friend through. I get that they must see quite a lot of faces but it pisses me off, I just barged through them and went to my seat moaning like the soon to be old 39-year-old I am. It took away from the occasion, made it frustrating when it needed not be and they did absolutely nothing to stop the pitch invaders. I said to one of the stewards that manhandled me, "see I didn't even go on the pitch, yet you did more to stop me even though I had "Look, I didn't even try to enter the pitch but I noticed you made more of an effort to prevent me from obtaining my rightful seat than any of the pitch invaders. You shouldn't put hands on people, call for support if you think it's needed and then use reasonable force but don't ever touch a fan who has a valid ticket." Also, I noticed a senior steward throwing elbows and punches at an elderly fan. This caught the attention of the group of 10-12 fans near me, and he got mobbed by others who lashed back at him. Stupid idiots could have caused a riot, very poor stewarding I am afraid to say.

It might have felt like I had slipped on the face of PON, as I have been coding more than anything. I want to hit 100% on the resource front for performance and optimisation ASAP, so I can focus on deliverying the best season for PON in terms of content. So, my annivsary drifted past and Cheeky didn't seem to want to celebrate it at all. In fact, she only said happy annivsary at 12:01am the day after. 😂 That life sentence must be getting to her, but I am going to make sure we do something as a family for it next time. We have all been busy with various things, and what with Jake's birthday and then mine. I can understand why Kate would want to focus on other things. Plus other things coming up soon, which will prevent me from going to Wembley. I have to put family time first, I spent years on holiday doing PON stuff but you realise it can wait. Lately, aside from the odd day, I have just been knee deep in code.

I am officially that old that at times I forget how old I am exactly, I didn't celebrate my birthday. I haven't since I was a mid-teen, but I made the day matter, which I think is the main thing. I wished that I could have made it up to pay respect to my mum, as I would have felt some peace from that and after all she did most of the work that put me on this earth. What I did was go visit Super but before I did I took him some bred, milk and two bottles of Dandilion and Burdock. It was nice to spend time with my dad, even if he didn't like that I wouldn't let him pay. 😂 The more he makes a fuss of this, the more I will simply refuse because it's my job, and it's nice to wind him up a little. Jake went with me, and it didn't fly by as it normally would, so I felt like it was extra quality time with the old goat. Returning home, I rested and learned that Cheeky had made me some mini vicorian sponges. 😍 We had something to eat together as a family. I felt grateful for all the birthday messages and cards I got. Thank you for your warm comments; I do appreciate them.

Dispite of his complaints that Notts playing on his birthday "messed up his day". He had a good time and enjoyed it. Did anyone notice the message I paid to have put up on the scoreboard? Or, even read out loud by Andy? Thank you for the birthday messages for Jake, I will let him know.

People who were against Gareth Southgate might come to appreciate him, he took a squad with zero hope and restored a nation's pride. All this talk of how we should have won something under him, it's all nonsense as far as I am concerned. We had a weak defence on paper, perhaps the worst in decades and he found players that fit his system. Before we started progressing, people wanted England to win ugly but complained when we did. When he reserved players, he received criticism from people who claimed we should have taken risks with them during important games when players weren’t rested. He faced excessive criticism because people view Southgate as boring. He got England playing, usually decent football with an average midfield, which blossomed due to his connection to the U21s. I wished we still had him as the manager, or that we had replaced him better. It feels like England are restarting from square one, and a German should never have been appointed as our manager. Simply due to the rivalry, but some will say fans wanted Sir Alex. Scotland is different, it's not about the wars but how often we face Germany. There were complaints about Sven and Capello due to their nationality.