Northants Pie

With the New Year in full swing it seems like the perfect time to reflect upon what has been a very good first half of the season for the whole youth team and an unbelievable one for Colby Bishop who has gone from signing his Scholarship in December 2013 to starting for the first team in December 2014!! The young lads started the season with consecutive draws against Doncaster & Burton Albion respectively. The next three games all resulted in losses, the first coming against possibly the best team in the league Hull Tigers, the second loss was in the Youth Alliance Cup on penalties to Burton Albion after the two teams couldn't be separated for the second time in three weeks, the final loss came against Rotherham United 1-0. After a two week break the lads got back into winning fashion with an emphatic 4-2 victory away at Hartlepool United. In the next two games the lads went goal crazy scoring a total of ten with only one coming in reply. The first of these games saw Lincoln City beaten 3-0, the second saw York City thrashed 7-1 in their own back yard, with this being the biggest result of the season so far. After the massive high of scoring 14 goals in the three previous games the lads were brought down to earth with a thump in the next fixture losing 3-1 to Scunthorpe United. They quickly got back into winning ways in the next fixture beating Bradford City 3-2. The next game brought the biggest fixture of the season so far with an away trip to Peterborough United in the FA Youth Cup. Peterborough ran out comfortable 2-0 winners, the only highlight for Notts coming from the highly impressive display by the two central defenders Keenan Layton & Thomas Rigby. The lads responded to the defeat & most importantly the lackluster performance with their best performance of the season so far beating the league leaders and aforementioned best team in the league Hull Tigers 2-0, they quickly followed this up with another 2-0 victory just days later, this time against Grimsby Town. These wins were followed by a disappointing 3-1 loss to Doncaster Rovers. The last game of 2014 provided the lads with the perfect opportunity to go into the Christmas break on the back of a positive result, they didn't disappoint beating Burton Albion 3-2 at the Eagle Valley Stadium in a thrilling game that was end to end from the first to the last whistle. The lads sit third in the league just three points behind leaders Hull City having played 13 games, winning 7, drawing two and losing four, scoring 22 and conceding 22. The first game of 2015 is this coming Saturday 10-01-2015 at the Eagle Valley Stadium against Rotherham United in an 11am kick off. The League table can be found here and the Fixture grid found here Colby Bishop Colby Bishop continued his impressive form since he first signed his scholarship with the club in December 2013 by putting his signature on a two & half year professional contract in November 2014. He followed this up with an impressive display on his first team starting eleven debut in the boxing day loss to MK Dons. Although not due to officially link up with the first team squad until the start of next season he has found himself increasingly involved within the first team squad in December which only bodes well for the future of not only Colby but the Notts County Academy as he is yet another member of the current first team squad to come through the ranks. So when you see the lad involved on a Saturday lets all give him the extra support he deserves for his meteoric rise over the last 12 months.

Saturdays game for the Youth Team provided them with the opportunity to carry on the recent good form which saw them not only beat the league leaders (Hull Tigers) but move within 3 points of them in the league after the midweek win against Grimsby. In keeping with our current Doncaster Rovers vs Notts County news line the youth team were unfortunately beaten 3-1. Colby Bishop providing the solitary strike in the first half equalising the Doncaster opener. With the scores level at half time we started the second half brightly yet Doncaster who came into the game more and more as the half progressed took the lead and then added a third to run out comfortable winners. The youth team only have one remaining fixture for 2014, this coming against Burton Albion on the 20th December at the Eagle Valley Stadium with an 11am kick-off. The updated league table can be found here The fixture grid for all the teams can be found here The official site press release for Doncaster can be found here

Saturdays game for the Youth Team provided them with their first opportunity to right a few wrongs from the disappointment of the FA Cup tie against Peterborough. The team standing between them and what would be the perfect remedy were the league leaders Hull Tigers, who earlier on in the season, had comfortably beaten us 3-0. Hull Tigers started the game brightly, despite this they couldn't make their dominance count and after starting to force our way into the game we took the lead through Luther Wildin, Hull maintained their attacking threat throughout the game but yet again they couldn't turn this dominance into a goal and we scored a decisive second through Lartey Sarpong and went on to record a fantastic win by a 2-0 scoreline. Mick Halsall was full of praise for the lads saying "from a 3-0 home defeat against them at the start of the campaign, to a 2-0 away win is very pleasing" The lads recorded another victory on Wednesday afternoon against Grimsby Town game at the Eagle Valley Stadium with a 2-0 win coming courtesy of goals from Reece Fyfe & Colby Bishop, Mick Halsall described the game "as probably the best we have played all season". This has put the Youth Team second in the division only 3 points behind Hull, the next fixture is against Doncaster Rovers away this Saturday. The updated league table can be found here The fixture grid for all the teams can be found here The official site press release for Hull can be found here The official site press release for Grimsby can be found here

Pride of Nottingham returns with another youth team update from Northants Pie, despite no fixtures being played he has taken the time to provide a recap and update based on events from the youth teams view. The last week has produced no games for the Youth Team, the next game is this Saturday away at league leaders Hull City, we lost the reverse game 0-3 at home on the 23 August. The updated league table can be found here The fixture grid for all the teams can be found here There has been good news for the whole club but the Academy directly with the news that striker Colby Bishop has signed his first professional contract, signing a 2­­½ year contract, he will for this season play his football with the youth team linking up with the senior squad for the start of the 2015 - 2016 season. There has been a recent string of Academy players joining the senior squad, whilst some might fall away, some like Hadyn Hollis & Curtis Thompson go from strength to strength which is the best possible advertisement for our Academy system when potential targets are contemplating which Academy to join. A link to the press release from the club can be found here

The last week has proved to be a disappointing one for the young lads of the youth team, firstly they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Peterborough 2-0 with a lackluster performance, then just as they thought they could put that performance behind them with a quick return in the league last Saturday against Mansfield Town the game was called off. FA Cup Report Peterborough 2 - 0 Notts County Peterborough ran out comfortable winners, in truth it could and should have been a lot worse save for the performance of the two central defenders Thomas Rigby & Keenan Layton who did their utmost to repel the near constant pressure and attacking threat shown by Peterborough with both drawing constant praise from the Premiership scouts in attendance. Our midfield department was not at it's best but our lack of pace, mobility & tactical awareness in the holding role allowed Peterborough's midfield far too much room which caused our central defenders problems all game. It was testament to the strong performance of the central defence that Monty Parkes in goal didn't have too much to do, what he did have to do he did very well apart from their second goal where he was caught flat footed, he had no chance with the first goal as the Peterborough No 9 Jonathon Edwards calmly finished into the bottom corner. Aside from a brief 15 minute spell at the start of the second half where our right back Jordon Richards hit the post with a well struck shot from 25 yards out, the entirety of the game was played out around our own 18 yard line. Colby Bishop had no chance to affect the game as he was dropping deeper & deeper into midfield to try and get the ball, when we did get the ball up to him it was usually through a long clearance which gave him little chance to control the ball, when he did flick the ball on there was no-one there to get on the ball. All in all it was a disappointing way to go out of the FA Cup. Next up for the lads is a league game against Grimsby Town FC at the Eagle Valley Stadium, which is the usual 11am kick off. The updated league table can be found here. A copy of the team sheet for the FA Cup can be found here.

Ahead of our new weekly update on how the potential future of Notts County is progressing we are going to have a recap on how the season has started so far. The youth team play their matches within the Football League Youth Alliance U18 North East division, the league consists of the following 13 teams. Bradford City - Burton Albion - Chesterfield - Doncaster Rovers - Grimsby Town - Hartlepool United - Hull City - Lincoln City - Mansfield Town - Notts County - Rotherham United - Scunthorpe United - York City. We currently sit in 5th place in the league with 14 points from 9 games, a link to the full league table can be found here There are two separate cup competitions, one being the Football League Youth Alliance Cup, the other being the FA Youth Cup. Unfortunately we were knocked out in the first round of the Youth Alliance Cup on penalties 8-7 to Burton Albion after the game finished 1-1. We have been drawn against Peterborough United in the first round of the FA Youth Cup with this game being played tonight 12/11/2014 at London Road, details of this can be found here along with Head of Academy Coaching Mick Halsall's thoughts on the game. The latest Youth Alliance league game was played at the Eagle Valley stadium on Saturday the 8th November, we came out on top of the five goal thriller with a 3-2 victory against Bradford City, Ben Browne opened the scoring for us with Bradford City replying shortly afterwards, highly rated striker Colby Bishop soon put us back in front from the penalty spot, once again though Bradford city equalised just before the interval, we won the game in the second half through Rhys Myers who scored with a powerful header from a set piece straight from the training pitch. Mick Halsall commented on the performance saying "Bradford City are one of the leagues better sides, but we competed well against the physical unit and earnt an important win, the lads attitude and desire to work shone through. They always give 100%" Next up for lads in the league is Mansfield away on the 15th November, once again we are in action tonight against Peterborough United in the FA Youth Cup at London Road with a 7pm kick off, ticket details can be found here.

Pride of Nottingham's has been sent this article written by Northants Pie, we hope you enjoy the read - It highlights the form of total football. The origins of what is commonly known as Total Football always seem to be credited as the beaches of Brazil or the adaptive pitches of the Dutch. This ideal of how to play was executed perfectly by Barcelona; it turned them into an all-conquering European club side and it went further into the Spanish international team but little do people know that this system of play has its roots planted firmly in a former Soviet Republic. Hungary - Magnificent Magyars The three creators of the total football idealism were Gusztav Sebes, a Deputy Minister for Sport and the Hungarian national team manager, Bela Guttmann, a former professional footballer and coach who is credited with playing a big part in Eusebio's career, and Marton Bukovi, also a former professional who had the biggest part to play in the development of the total football ideal: he was responsible for the 4-2-4 WM formation, which centered around a deep lying centre forward, whilst he was the coach at MTK Hungaria FC. This centre forward, Nandor Hidegkuti, would display the skill and timing needed to play this role with devastating effect at Wembley on the 25-11-1953, scoring a hat-trick when the Magnificent Magyars became the first team from outside of the home countries and indeed only the second team ever to record a victory at Wembley. The scoreline was a scarcely believable 6 - 3 away win. England were the number 1 ranked team in the world at this time, with such luminaries as Matthews, Mortensen, Merrick, Sewell, Wright, & Ramsey. A hastily arranged friendly was agreed for 6 months later in Hungary as a warm up for the 1954 World Cup, and on the 23rd May 1954, England turned up expecting to overturn the freak result suffered at Wembley. However, they were suitably dispatched 7-1 in a game which many said could easily have been the biggest international victory of all time, had Hungary not chosen to try and perfect the movement within their radical formation. This setup included a brilliant defensive midfielder, Jozsef Bozsik, who, with his ability to 'read' the game, started many of the attacks whilst also using his talent to break down a lot of opposing attacks before they got started. Other key players included Gyula Grosics, who is accredited with creating the sweeper keeper role whilst being ahead of his time with his technical ability, Zoltan Czibor, a left winger with electric pace and a fine passer of the ball, Sandor Kocsis, an inside forward (this position would translate to a striker type role today) who holds the record for the highest average goals scored of all players to have made over 43 appearances in FIFA Class-A competition – 75 goals in 68 appearances, an average of 1.1 goals per game. He also holds the record for the highest goals per game ratio at a single World Cup with 2.2 goals per game, and he was the first player to score two hat-tricks in a World Cup. Only Just Fontaine of France has scored more goals in a single World Cup. The final and possibly most critical member of the team was Ferenc Puskas, one of, if not the most talented player ever to grace a football pitch. Puskas scored 86 goals in 85 internationals but is only credited with scoring 84 due to a mistake made by a referee in a friendly match. He scored a scarcely believable 508 in 521 appearances across both the Hungarian league for Budapest Honved (352 in 341 appearances) & the Primera Division for none other than Real Madrid (156 in 180 appearances). A clue as to how radical and forward thinking this formation and ethos on playing were is that the only team to perfect it since have been Barcelona under Pep Guardiola. The WM formation, when attacking, has both full backs playing as wingers with a holding central midfielder in front of two centre halves. You then have a centre forward playing behind two inside forwards, the king pin of the formation floating linking everything together at the very spear of the attack. On Paper it is a 4 - 2 - 4 formation, the real trick though which nobody understood until Pep Guardiola was the movement needed to make this formation work; when they were defending, it became a 4 - 4 - 1 - 1 formation, As an idea this is how the current Notts team would look playing this way Hungary’s radical idea led to a 32-game unbeaten run, an Olympic Championship and the 1954 World Cup final where they faced West Germany in the infamous Battle of Bern who, knowing what they were facing, played the game in a cynical and aggressive manner which, at the time, wasn’t seen to be an issue. Breakdown of the Magnificent Magyars Throughout this period the political state of Hungary was always volatile but towards the end of the 1950's it was becoming desperate and those that could leave did; indeed, one of the three radical coaches, Bela Guttman organised a trip for his team, Budapest Honved, to South America during 1957; whilst the team flew back at the end of the tour, he didn't, he stayed within Brazil to become the coach of Sao Paulo FC. It was here that he played the infamous 4-2-4 formation which led the Brazilian national side to play this formation at the 1958 World Cup, which they subsequently won. Thus, the story of total football starting in Brazil was born. The true fonder of the 4-2-4 formation, Marton Bukovi, fled Hungary in the early 1960's to become coach of Olympiakos FC, producing many Greek players who would go on to international acclaim. From there, he went into Dutch youth football, and his ideals are still paying dividends today.