DangerousSausage

I think I know what you're getting at now @Piethagoram. The line between the NL North and South is drawn a long way south, but is it really such a new thing? When the Conference had a single division, the feeder leagues were the Northern Premier League, the Southern League and the Isthmian League (for London and the south east) - two southern leagues and one northern league. So you've already got an imbalance there, albeit better hidden than it is today. Why is this? It could be as simple as population density - there are enough people in Greater London to make a country in its own right, while a big swathe of land north of the M62 is pretty sparsely populated. That's going to impact the non-league football scene too. On top of that, the clubs of the Northern League (for the north east, not to be confused with the Northern Premier League) have often rejected promotion to the wider pyramid as they prefer to stay local, and given the distances involved who can blame them? Spreading wealth and opportunities throughout the country would address the imbalance in many ways (not just in football), but that's a project spanning generations. In the meantime, I think it might be worthwhile splitting the second tier of the National League into three regional divisions. The clubs are mostly semi-pro after all.

"He can't miss" ... well no, because he'd already run into the perfect position to score. Typical Langstaff goal. Good luck to him, hope it's the first of many!

I might be wrong, but I think the white kit commemorated 100 years at Meadow Lane in 2010. A retro kit for that one would have been justified and very cool, but the shirt was very plain and a missed opportunity.

The results from Tuesday: Norwich City 1-1 Leeds United Sunderland 2-0 Derby County Birmingham City 1-0 Huddersfield Town Crawley Town 0-2 Mansfield Town Leyton Orient 0-1 Exeter City Doncaster Rovers 1-0 Barrow Newport County 3-1 Salford City Tranmere Rovers 1-1 Swindon Town --- This round's winners are MEEEEE!!! (I promise this is not a fix) and @Robbie with an incredible 13 points, while @4everapie, @ARLukomski and @Blake follow just a point behind! --- Some big moves in our latest table. @super_ram's lead is shortened, defending champion @ARLukomski moves second and I move into the top three for the first time since All Saints were cool. Big jumps too for @Blake and @DonnyNotts, while @Fan of Big Tone is in a bit of a relegation battle! --- Want more? Saturday's round is up and running now - click here to make your prediction. Thanks for playing!

At the risk of wearing out your crystal balls, here's another prediction league round! Get your predictions in by 3pm on Saturday, and remember your jokers! Good luck... Coventry City v Sheffield Wednesday Watford v Middlesbrough Mansfield Town v Blackpool Rotherham United v Reading Accrington Stanley v Morecambe Swindon Town v Harrogate Town Eastleigh v Forest Green Rovers Halifax Town v Tamworth

Most famous? Probably something universal like "it's a game of two halves". "The referee's decision is final" was another one, but it's kind of died out... Pele's "beautiful game" has also been done to death.

In the past we got around the away sponsor problem by using it on our home shirt - in the early 90s we were sponsored by Home Bitter at home and McEwan's Lager away (and maybe also for TV games?). But I definitely remember us using the McEwan's logo on the home shirts as well. There's nothing stopping us from doing that today too. Also going back to the 90s, I remember us launching a "champions" shirt in 1998 that was worn once. It was neon yellow. We could really go the whole hog and introduce a cup shirt - we probably wouldn't need to wash it

Norwich City 1-1 Leeds United Sunderland 2-0 Derby County (joker) Birmingham City 3-1 Huddersfield Town Crawley Town 1-3 Mansfield Town Leyton Orient 1-1 Exeter City Doncaster Rovers 2-1 Barrow Newport County 2-0 Salford City Tranmere Rovers 2-0 Swindon Town

The results: Middlesbrough 2-0 Stoke City Millwall 3-1 Preston North End Blackpool 3-0 Burton Albion Wigan Athletic 0-0 Exeter City Gillingham 2-0 Barrow Newport County 2-1 Crewe Alexandra Woking 1-2 Sutton United Yeovil Town 1-1 Aldershot --- This round's winners are MEEEEEEEE and @menzinho with a magnificent 13 points! --- Overall, @super_ram now has a nine-point lead, @liampie retakes second place and there are just four points between third and eleventh... --- So we're up to date for now, but not for long - round 9 covers tomorrow's (Tuesday's) matches and is up and running now! Thanks for playing (and letting me win) and see you there!

You seem to be implying that we were promoted simply because of Langstaff's goals despite conceding a lot. In our last NL season we conceded 42 goals, with only Boreham Wood (40) letting in fewer. Baldwin aside, our defence was pretty much the same one we'd had throughout our time in the NL (and the one that was found out in L2), so we must have been doing something right tactically. Football is about results and any manager is obliged to follow the tactics that deliver the best results. If you got better results by belting it up to the big man or standing on one leg, rest assured that teams would start doing that instead. Like any other system, you need to do it properly and have the right players for that style of play. Things change. In the nineteenth century, passing the ball wasn't a thing - players would just boot the ball up the field and chase after it. So there were some perplexed looks when Queen's Park came south of the border with their passing game. A passing game that was quickly adopted when they started running rings around the English teams...

Here are the belated results! Thanks for your patience everyone. Luton Town 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield United 1-0 Derby County Bolton Wanderers 5-2 Reading Peterborough United 3-2 Bristol Rovers Bradford City 0-0 AFC Wimbledon Salford City 0-2 Walsall Hartlepool United 0-1 Dagenham & Redbridge Oldham Athletic 1-0 Yeovil Town --- Congrats to this round's winner @4everapie, and honourable mentions too to @thommo and @william1984! --- Overall, @super_ram has a healthy lead for this stage of the season, while this round's winners make up a fair few places... --- So those were the scores for 21 September. The points for yesterday's games are still to come (hopefully I'll have time tomorrow). And on Tuesday we have our first midweek round of the season - click this link to make your predictions! Thanks for playing everyone

Sounds like a sensible and promising signing, the kind of diamond in the rough we've done well with in recent years. With us losing Nemane and now, for a few weeks, JJ, he'll have a good chance to impress.

We'll miss Jones and his crossing badly. Hope he's back and firing on all cylinders again soon.

It isn't a Notts thing, it's a modern football thing. There are replica away shirts to be sold. And on top of that, away shirts often carry a different sponsor, and it'll probably be part of the agreement that the away sponsor is worn a certain number of times. If we only wear a change strip twice, the deal with the University of Nottingham would be worth less. I'd also like to see us wear our traditional colours more (or at least when the home strip isn't an ugly mess).

Hot on the heels of Saturday's games we have the first midweek round of the season, just to keep you all on your toes. All of these games kick off at 7.45 p.m., and remember your joker! Good luck! Norwich City v Leeds United Sunderland v Derby County Birmingham City v Huddersfield Town Crawley Town v Mansfield Town Leyton Orient v Exeter City Doncaster Rovers v Barrow Newport County v Salford City Tranmere Rovers v Swindon Town

Greetings from Greece, where I am now the official (joint) champion at boules (at my hotel). That's surely worth 100 points, so I'll discreetly add them on. Middlesbrough 2-1 Stoke City Millwall 1-1 Preston North End Blackpool 1-1 Burton Albion Wigan Athletic 1-2 Exeter City Gillingham 2-0 Barrow (joker) Newport County 2-1 Crewe Alexandra Woking 1-2 Sutton United Yeovil Town 1-2 Aldershot

Thanks for playing everyone, I'll count the points for this one this weekend once I'm back home, as counting points on my mobile is too fiddly by half and there are low-quality Greek beers to be drunk. Onto the next round!

If Gillingham took just under 1000, leaving 4000 empty seats in the Sirrel stand, that means there'll have been just 1000 empty seats in the rest of the ground. It will have looked full and there wouldn't have been any empty sections at all. I'm far away in a sunny place so I really don't know, but the Lane has a habit of looking fuller than it actually is. But even 11,000 would be an outstanding crowd.

Personally I hope that AJ doesn't dabble in boxing and sticks to football ????

Same procedure as every week - these all kick off at 3pm on the above date, and remember your jokers! Middlesbrough v Stoke City Millwall v Preston North End Blackpool v Burton Albion Wigan Athletic v Exeter City Gillingham v Barrow Newport County v Crewe Alexandra Woking v Sutton United Yeovil Town v Aldershot

Luton Town 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield United 3-1 Derby County (joker) Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Reading Peterborough United 2-1 Bristol Rovers Bradford City 0-1 AFC Wimbledon Salford City 0-2 Walsall Hartlepool United 1-1 Dagenham & Redbridge Oldham Athletic 2-1 Yeovil Town

Hi everyone, when you read this I'll (hopefully) be sunning myself on the beach, but, thanks to the magic of technology, here are the next prediction league fixtures! However, I'll very probably be late in posting your results for this round. So here we go - these all kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and don't forget your joker! Luton Town v Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield United v Derby County Bolton Wanderers v Reading Peterborough United v Bristol Rovers Bradford City v AFC Wimbledon Salford City v Walsall Hartlepool United v Dagenham & Redbridge Oldham Athletic v Yeovil Town

The results: Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 QPR Swansea City 1-0 Norwich City Bolton Wanderers 0-4 Huddersfield Town Rotherham United 2-2 Burton Albion Carlisle United 2-3 Fleetwood Town Port Vale 1-0 Chesterfield Southend United 1-3 Sutton United Tamworth 3-1 Maidenhead United --- The scoring was more modest this week, but congrats to @TheSkipper and runner-up @The Heff! --- In a major technological advance, I've introduced a column for this week's overall position and, in blue, last week's position. It's one small step for my spreadsheet, but one giant leap for the PON prediction league (or something). Using this wizardry, we can see that @super_ram is still top, but @TheSkipper continues to climb... --- And that's us done for another week. The next matches are played next Saturday, so the fixtures will be posted on Wednesday as usual. Thanks for playing, let the post-mortem commence!

It's always a tough place to go and we don't tend to do well there, but having missed the start I never really doubted that we'd find our way back into the game and take at least a point. Really impressed by the character they showed today - not everything came off, but when we lost the ball we'd be snapping at their heels straight away and often won it back quickly. Hard work pays off, but the assistance from Rick O'Shay was also appreciated Chuffed for Stuart Maynard and the travelling fans. We are top of the league!

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 QPR Swansea City 2-1 Norwich City Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Huddersfield Town Rotherham United 1-1 Burton Albion Carlisle United 1-1 Fleetwood Town Port Vale 1-2 Chesterfield Southend United 2-0 Sutton United (joker) Tamworth 2-1 Maidenhead United