menzinho

So Notts are now 2 weeks into training, Ardley has said in an interview no dates have been confirmed for the playoffs. This is an update from Ollie Bayliss, a non-league correspondent: "No news regarding the FA ratifying the National League’s PPG decision. Promotions & playoffs can’t happen until the FA Council vote to support the League’s resolution" So Barrow haven't technically been promoted yet either! What the hell is going on?

I'm not sure one game will make a huge difference in my opinion, if we've got a squad of 24 you can play as many games as you like if it's purely about getting the minutes in the legs. And now that football is getting underway again in England it's likely we'll be able to organise a friendly. I don't see how the league can do it any other way unless we want to nominate ourselves to take the position of either Barnet or Yeovil? Anyway it looks like we won’t be hearing anything too soon. “National League clubs have not received the ordinary resolution or voting form. They’ve not had any formal communication from the League explaining why they weren’t sent out on Friday as planned.” No idea what's going on there...

So the National League's proposal on how to end the season is finally in! Clubs have until Monday to vote, this is what they are voting on: The season will be decided on PPG, teams in 1st are then promoted (no play-offs/relegation in the NL North/South). All NL league clubs get a vote. 4 votes for the NL North, 4 votes for the NL South (no idea why!?). 17 Votes needed for it to be passed! Very harsh on the North/South teams, and I honestly think some sort of play-off should be used to decide relegation as well... From a purely selfish point of view, it's probably the best outcome for Notts.

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2020/may/academy-retained-list-2020/ Our academy retained list has been announced with Tiernan Brooks the only second year scholar to be offered a professional deal. I don't much about the players but Brooks has been on loan at Lincoln United where their chairman described him as "the best young keeper he'd ever seen" and that "County have got a star in the making and he could well be a regular at Meadow Lane and then bigger clubs in the future". I certainly hope so!

I can't see how you can promote 4 teams and not relegate anyone. It's yet to be ratified by the FA and I'm sure I saw statement in relation to the Championship that they were still intending to promote and relegate teams. That said I'm really sceptical we'll get any play-offs this season, especially in our league shouldn't that final have been this weekend? Then the players are out of contract not long after. That's effectively your deadline, some clubs just won't be able to keep players on. You can't delay it for months and then have the play-offs where one team is filled with youth players because it's all they can afford.

Well here it is! Congrats to @NottsTastic & @eighteensixtytwo (now a two time winner) who both correctly guessed D1!

I'd have to go for Mike Edwards. As a player he's the only one in our recent history to rack up hundreds of appearances for us, I saw an old article a few days ago about him playing for something like 22 different managers at his time here. Mad! And he outlasted pretty much all of them! The fact when he came back to us after his spell at Carlisle, more as a coach as he was in his late 30's - but then ended up playing anyway because he was still better than all our centre' halves were at that time tells you a lot. Proper professional footballer, I don't think anyone has a bad word to say about the guy.

It's interesting, the current trend of badge re-designs seems to be just to simplify them, taking away the actual "badge" and leaving one image. I'm thinking of Derby, Spurs, Juve, even Liverpool now who just use the liverbird on their shirts. I quite like it. Maybe we'll kick the shield and stripes and just go for a crest purely made up of the magpies on the football. Who knows... I found another concept badge too, connected with the one @DangerousSausage posted. This one is by Michael Taylor, I think I prefer it too. It's just a shame he calls us a soccer club! "Did a friendly competition with the ever-talented @nickbudrewicz to design a new logo for Notts County, the oldest professional soccer club in the world. I used the halfway point of their current gold and old amber color as the base. I redesigned their long lasting magpie icon, and made sure to include the famous black and white stripes they've worn for so much of their history."

The sequel has arrived. Same rules as last time, just answer with the square you think the ball is in. *The colour of the text is meaningless, it's just so the names of the squares show up I'll post the real picture with the answer on Thursday evening...

Bob Marley - Legend Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream Lorde - Pure Heroine Fleetwood Mac - Tango in the Night Nothing But Thieves - Nothing But Thieves

I think the special championships is an interesting idea but the contract situation would be a bit of a nightmare. Lower league clubs just don't have the budget to put players on long contracts, especially with the loss of income most have already suffered. If we were to resume the season surely all the squads need to be the same, otherwise how would it be fair? I just can't see that happening. A lot of it depends on a vaccine being found, or kind of how close we are to finding one. I'm hopeful we can get some resolution, playing over the summer with a mini-break (maybe just a month) before the new season. We could potentially be in the same scenario this time next year too, halfway through a new season. It's just so unpredictable and I don't envy the people who ultimately have to make this decision.

Jari Litmanen

@AmericanPie Cheers. Well, I could maybe knock something up over the weekend! Keep your eyes peeled for Where's the Ball 2.

Really tough, but great! I've been thinking for a while, it's got to be someone obvious being a multiple premier league winner. Dwight Yorke with the hope Trinidad and Tobago never played in the world cup!

Well, here’s the real picture! Congrats to @CliftonMagpie @thommo & @eighteensixtytwo who all correctly guessed C5!