Simon Clark

He's more of an old style goalkeeper rather than a ball playing one, and he doesn't seem so comfortable with the ball at his feet. But that part of his game has improved massively in the last couple of years and I can't imagine too many better number two keepers in L2. He seems a fantastic professional, brilliant to have a round the place to help the other keepers and focussed and ready to step up when needed, as he's proved. His big failing is penalties, so if we have to go through the play offs, we'd better win in normal time!

I'm so sorry, I've only just seen your reply!! Thank you, that's a great help.

I think we could put together a half decent L1 team, but feel we're miles away from a L1 squad. Our best 11 each week could do ok, I think but our overall squad strength has been shown up in L2, even accepting this seems to have been a worse than normal season for injuries. That also makes it even harder for academy lads to make the breakthrough, so I think we'd be kicking that one several years down the line if you do go up, although we do have some useful prospects. Having watched the U18 and B sides a few times this season, it's been good to see the progress of some of them as well.

It depends on wage demands for me. I think he's looking better each game as he adapts to League football. There are very few George Abbott's or Ryan Yates' who step in as if they've been doing it for years and most young players take time to adapt. I'd be very happy to keep him and hope we can get an agreement. With the likes of him and Jarvis, it allows us to get in some experience for balance.

I can't imagine money will be a problem as he loves the club and our owners play fair. We won't be looking to underpay him and he won't be looking to squeeze every penny out of us. His influence right throughout the club is massive so absolutely offer him another deal.

Or maybe we damaged his confidence by putting him into such a leaky defence? I watched Aston Villa U21 v Norwich U21 earlier this season - excellent game, good pace and great technique as you'd expect. Both Mahovo and Warner played, and our by looked by far the better.

The problem with holding onto our best academy lads is that PL rules allow them to take anyone they want from and EFL academy for a fixed fee - pitifully low at something like £50k, I believe? You have to hope there is competition to drive up the price because you could never say no to an offer and stop a kid getting that sort of move. Alternatively, they could change the rules and make the compensation a fairer figure. There are rules in place about how matchday squads are composed and one of the rules is that everyone must have a 'club developed' player. That means they must have had at least one year with the club as a teenager. Although Didzy usually ticks that box for us!

I've had a look at his stats and the more I look, the more I'm convinced we signed him as Macca's replacement before other clubs realised we had cash in the bank and the price went up. Of course, the brothers having an interest on Viborg may help as well! In his last season with Viborg, he made 10 appearances but only played 113 mins, scoring once. In fact, in his last 4 seasons with them, he only played 90 minutes once, so looking at goals per game is not a good guide. However, in 5 seasons with them, he scored 15 goals at a rate of one every 243 minutes. Not prolific, but in most cases I guess a striker comes off the bench when you are either chasing a game, therefore not creating too much as the opponents are keeping it tight, or you're comfortably ahead and therefore holding the lead yourselves. Plus a sub has little time to get into the game, so that's a decent return. For Notts, despite having only had that one 90 minute appearance in 4 seasons, being in a foreign country and with a team which was stumbling, he scored 5 goals at a rate of one every 103 minutes. I'm excited!!

I can't imagine that the owners would tell any coach they have to play exclusively one style regardless. There is a philosophy of playing from the back, getting the ball wide, and playing a style of football which is good to watch. However, one failing with LW is that he didn't revert to a Plan B when that didn't work. Possible a problem with SM in his short period so far is that he reverted to Plan B, C and D maybe a but too quickly and too often but I am happy to put that down to trying too hard to sort out a leaky defence and missing the bigger picture. We don't know what the deal with Macca was as both clubs have reported 'undisclosed' but bear in mind Al-Hamadi went from Wimbledon to Ipswich - a better team, challenging for PL promotion - for £1m and he is only 21 so has years to get better and produce a profit when they sell him.

My feeling is that: The owners have set a club philosophy of style of play, etc. The recruitment team are responsible for bringing in the players who can deliver that style successfully. Stuart Maynard has control of team affairs (selection, etc) and will ultimately take responsibility for results. However, if the owners / CEO feel they have let him down with recruitment they will consider that. So, when he delivered a record breaking run of home defeats and an underwhelming record after joining last season, he was safe in his role. The summer recruitment, retained list and departures have indicated they feel he was working with one hand tied behind his back so couldn't be held entirely responsible.

I think there are a few issues with the way the system works. The vast majority of academy players - at any club, not just Notts - aren't good enough to make it. Sad, but it's borne out by the numbers. When one is very good, there is an agreement that PL teams can just pick them up for a standard fee. Obviously if several clubs are interested you may get an auction situation, but we've lost Bearne, He and Etete recently without having the chance to play them and I'm certain at least the last 2 would have had a decent run in our team. With Thompson as the exception, most players who Notts let go don't go on to better things. I know Bishop eventually has done but after several years at NLN level. Almost everyone else has stayed below NL level becasue the best ones get picked up before we have chance. I think @Piethagoram makes a great point, that we have nothing to bridge the gap between kids football and the senior side. Like @Robbie I'd love to see an academy player on the bench each game but, as a coach, you can't really select the bench on the basis that we'll be comfortably clear and able to give someone a chance. You've got to do it on the basis they are ready and able to do the job today.

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I don't think anyone has left who would have been in the starting line up? And 3 of them probably wouldn't have been on the bench? We've got a fee, and reduced the wage bill. I'd expect that to cover the costs of 2 strong players who should be contending for a starting place. In my opinion, none of the departures has weakened us but it has freed up some space. Now we need Stone and Randall to find a new home.

Absolutely fantastic move for him. I'm not sure how much it would have helped him being involved in that defence last season. We didn't trust Tipton, took weeks to give Macari a chance and barley used Warner. His move to Boston United seemed to do him a world of good and it's the right part of the country to have attracted Norwich I guess. And don't forget, he would have trained with us full time last season, so would no doubt have been up against Macca, Didzy, etc, every day.

Absolutely correct, @Robbie but look at what happened when Chesterfield scuppered Tshimanga's move to Birmingham. You could end up with a highly paid player who stops playing. Plus, there may well be a release clause in the contract so if that figure is meet, we can't do anything about it.