StarkMallard

According to the club Facebook page, almost 15,000 had been sold this time yesterday. I doubt we'll top 2023 but I hope the final figure has a 2 in front of it.

The punishment is absolutely proportionate, Southampton were spying on their opposition in order to gain an unfair advantage. You can't ever prove that it did benefit them (especially as the three teams we know they spied on were probably the tip of the iceberg), but that's not the point here. If the punishment for espionage with the riches of the Premier League at stake were the 200k fine Leeds got, that wouldn't be a deterrent at all. In fact, it would be negligent NOT to do it. You can imagine the chaos that would cause. The Football League really didn't have a choice here. If Salford beat us on penalties on Monday and it later comes to light that one of their club employees had hidden in a bush and watched our players practicing their penalties, should the result be allowed to stand? I feel for the thousands of Southampton fans who are out of pocket because of this, but their anger should be directed at their club.

A belated happy birthday from me too, old man!

I thought this was about the Shane Meadows film for a minute! The criticism Southgate got was way over the top. In the future, people will be perplexed that the first ever coach to take England to two major finals got abuse, like when Notts fans were calling for Warnock to be sacked. He inherited a group of players that looked disjointed and frankly terrified whenever they played in a major tournament, took off the pressure and moulded them into a team. He could have handled the final better, but without him we wouldn't have been there in the first place.

It's a dilemma @theAnticlough, do you go for the control of Palmer or the physical presence of Robertson? Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but I thought we showed signs of getting to grips with Salford last time we played them (ignoring the two near-identical and entirely preventable goals we conceded of course). Norburn was suspended and Robertson injured for that one, so we played with Palmer and Iorpenda in the middle and both Jatta and Dennis up front. We were missing Jones then too. I think the coaching team might be rewatching that game. I don't have a great feeling about it because it's Salford, but it's a one-off and we're nothing if not determined.

The League got this one spot on, they can't just stand by and watch Southampton win promotion after being caught cheating. I hope they kiss goodbye to more points after their appeal. I can't imagine how devastated and let down their fans feel after this though. Imagine spending all season supporting your club up and down the country, only for it to throw away its chance of promotion through this kind of shenanigans. I'd be furious if Notts ever did this.

The regular league programme concluded last week. Alongside Schalke, the tiny SV Elversberg are promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time ever. I saw them play in the fourth division a few times and they certainly had good resources for that level. After reaching the Bundesliga playoff last season and subsequently losing their head coach to Werder Bremen, nobody really fancied them to do well this season, but they've actually gone one better. In Bundesliga 2 the relegation scrap went down to the final kick, with just two goals on goal difference separating the last safe spot (Eintracht Braunschweig), the relegation playoff (Fürth) and automatic relegation (Fortuna Düsseldorf). Düsseldorf, seen as a promotion contender, went into the last game at Fürth needing to avoid a three-goal defeat to stay up. They lost 3-0.

Play-off final - The Ammies (Wembley) Team - Salford City Date - 25 May 2026 15.00 Where - Wemberleyyy What would your starting line-up be? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be? And are we going up? Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

It's up to you of course, but the memories from a day at Wembley will still be there long after the tiredness has faded. I understand it's all a bit stressful though, especially the older you get.

Not a bad birthday present! Many happy returns @super_pie

I doubt we'll end up in trouble, I think it happens more often at certain clubs. It's just chavvy behaviour we can do without. I echo @theAnticlough's praise of Belshaw, he's been our key signing and without him I doubt we'd have reached the playoffs at all. He didn't have a lot to do yesterday, but like all good keepers he was there when we needed him with that low save in the second half!

McBedeauness without a doubt - the three-headed beast handled everything (the admittedly uninspired) Chesterfield threw at him all night. But it feels wrong to single anyone out, it was a committed and well organised display and they deserve their success.

A very composed performance yesterday, we looked in control for most of it but didn't quite manage to put the game to bed when we had a chance to. Apart from the one lapse (when Berry belted a free shot into orbit) it was an excellent defensive performance from the whole team. For the final we will need to hold on to the ball better and pose more of an attacking threat, although I doubt we'll be taking too many unnecessary risks. We showed signs of finally getting to grips with Salford in our last game against them so maybe it'll be time to finally beat them? I don't mind a good pitch invasion, but heading straight over to the away fans and giving it the big 'un behind a line of stewards isn't really needed in my opinion.

Same here @Dripsey3, due to Lufthansa cutting the number of flights the cost of a trip including accommodation would be close to four figures. Very jealous of everyone who can just take a coach down! My back is a little better but still isn't right, I left the house for the first time in nearly a week yesterday and it was a pretty unpleasant car journey. I'll see how it develops over the weekend as I haven't quite given up on it yet. So this weekend I'll be staying put, watching the final weekend of the Bundesliga followed by Eurovision this evening, albeit with less enthusiasm than usual to say the least.

I was there 30 years ago today, great day but it ended badly for us at Wembley. Today is also the anniversary of the battle of Chesterfield in 1266, which I wasn't there for but ended badly for Chesterfield. Regarding the team, I agree if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've had thoughts about switching McDonald and Ness around as old Rod is better at dealing with players running at him, but MP evidently wants an experienced leader in the middle, which is legit. It's a trade-off either way. I suspect that Ndlovu has risen above Dennis in the pecking order, but ideally we'd have both on the bench - Ndlovu if we're protecting a lead, Dennis if we're chasing the game. The am dram society from Chesterfield have a tendency to lose their heads if things don't go their way, so let's keep ours, be professional and book that Wembley ticket.