DangerousSausage

Shall we have a look at what's going on elsewhere? There's been a lot of coverage of the Bundesliga title race, but most of it has focussed on Harry Kane. Kane's transfer to Bayern has actually been a success, with him scoring over 30 goals in his debut season there. Unfortunately for him and Bayern, they're faced with a seemingly unstoppable title rival in the form of a Bayer Leverkusen side that is still unbeaten and, with seven games to go, already has more points than Bayern won in the whole of last season. Where Bayern often rely on the individual talent of the likes of Kane and Musiala, Xavi Alonso has turned Leverkusen into a well-drilled unit that is now just three wins from their first title. Elsewhere, Stuttgart have had a fantastic season under Sebastian Hoeness and may run Bayern close for second. One curiosity about this season is that Bundesliga 2 has recorded higher average gates than the Bundesliga on several weekends. This is due to the fact that the Bundesliga has several clubs that rarely fill their grounds (Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig) and others with a ground capacity of under 20,000 (Darmstadt, Heidenheim), while the second tier hosts a number of fallen giants that draw crowds of around 50,000 (Hertha, Schalke, Hamburg). With Kiel pushing for promotion and Cologne flirting with the drop, this trend may continue into next season. There's been plenty of anger and shouting off the pitch as well - the plans of the DFL (German Football League), the body that runs the Bundesliga, to get an investor on board to sell the league's international TV rights in return for a cut of the income sparked widespread protests, with matches being stopped due to tennis balls or remote-controlled cars on the pitch. And most recently there was a bout of confected outrage over the national team's kit, with angry insecure men all over the internet feeling threatened by the colour pink. At least things are looking up for the national team - thanks in part to Julian Nagelsmann's revolutionary tactic of picking players who are in form for their clubs, Germany have scored a couple of impressive wins against France and the Netherlands and are suddenly looking in promising shape.

The results: Plymouth Argyle 0-1 Bristol City Stoke City 1-1 Huddersfield Town Bristol Rovers 0-0 Shrewsbury Town Charlton Athletic 0-0 Stevenage Newport County 0-4 Crawley Town Sutton United 3-1 Swindon Town Altrincham 1-0 Oldham Athletic Eastleigh 2-3 Maidenhead United --- For the second time in four rounds, our winner is @Megan_Elizax! Congrats! @Megan_Elizax - 7 @DangerousSausage - 6 @super_ram - 5 @cheeky~k8, @Robbie - 4 @ARLukomski, @Fan of Big Tone, @liampie, @magpiejue, @william1984 - 3 @4everapie, @Dan, @DonnyNotts, @gtownjohnno, @nottsnutter - 2 @Harry Buckley - 1 --- With four rounds to go, it's pretty much as you were at the top, while @super_ram rises to fourth... ARLukomski - 198 gtownjohnno - 194 william1984 - 186 super_ram - 180 cheeky~k8 - 179 Fan of Big Tone - 179 magpiejue - 175 4everapie - 174 DangerousSausage - 170 Dan - 162 Megan_Elizax - 156 DonnyNotts - 136 nottsnutter - 131 liampie - 126 Chris - 123 upthepies - 90 Joshua - 86 Robbie - 73 allardyces tash - 70 TheSkipper - 67 KingWilliams - 66 Harry Buckley - 60 CliftonMagpie - 55 thommo - 49 OoooooTommy - 45 NottsCountyKev - 41 JIMBO - 40 jimbob - 38 Nocturnal-Magpie - 38 AmericanPie - 36 KB1862 - 22 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- We're back to Saturday afternoons now, so next weekend's fixtures will be posted tomorrow. Thanks for playing, see you all then!

Unfortunately I just can't see it working. Nine points in 14 games (compared to 42 points in 26 games under LW) speaks a very clear language. I don't necessarily think he should be sacked right now (what's the point?), but unless there's a stunning turnaround I don't think he should be allowed to lead us into next season. I don't really think he's cost us a promotion push, after the Mansfield game at home it was very clear that we were pretenders and would only be serious promotion candidates if we made some prudent additions in January (which we didn't). All the same, the speed at which we have gone downhill is alarming, and Maynard's poor tactics and selections have played a big role in that. Another thing to consider is that we've got a very important summer ahead of us. A significant part of the squad is not up to League football and we need to bring in the right people to replace them. The head coach might not sign the players himself, but he's a big selling argument for players who are considering offers from Notts and other clubs. Players want to join a club that is upwardly mobile and play for a good head coach. They rated Luke Williams highly and wanted to play for him. Will Stuart Maynard inspire the same faith among prospective players? If we get it wrong this summer, we risk circling the drain to the NL again and undoing the last four years of progress.

Nice surprise to see a good performance, and when viewed in isolation a point against a team that's flying and well in the running for automatic promotion is a more than decent result. Now I'm going to wade into the above discussion. Luke Williams was not solely to blame for our poor defensive record - our summer recruitment erred too much on the side of giving our promotion winners a chance in L2. By the time the January transfer window opened, it was very obvious that this had been a mistake, but LW had already left by then. Despite that obvious issue, the vast majority of the points we've picked up this season were under LW (42 in 26 games), and those points are the reason why we aren't in for a very uncomfortable April. As things stand, I don't see how we can justify the huge risk of keeping SM on for next season. Points-wise we have been the worst team in L2 since he was appointed, and it's not all down to bad luck. In particular his "strategy" of dropping back when we take the lead has cost us lots of points recently. All that said, I still want us to win and punch the air when we score. I'd like nothing more than for Stuart Maynard to prove his doubters wrong and I'll never understand the mentality of people who want to see us struggle.

Any wage cap would be measured against turnover rather than an absolute figure. The wage cap in Leagues One and Two used to specify that a club can spend 65% of its turnover on wages, and last season Wrexham seemed to be in line with that. It's obvious that a club getting crowds of 10,000 with a load of merchandising revenue on top is going to have more money to burn than one that is barely managing four-figure crowds. The idea of an absolute top limit on spending is interesting, but probably not feasible - a club that goes straight down from the PL to L1 will automatically be spending much more than other L1 clubs simply because of the PL-era players it still has under contract.

The press conference is usually the day before the match, but yesterday was Easter Sunday. There's also no fancy matchday pic on Facebook today. There would have been no point sacking anyone in the middle of the Easter weekend. If we lose again today, I wouldn't be surprised if something happened during the week though.

Good post @ARLukomski and I largely agree. John Bostock - I can't help wonder whether he's got a niggling injury and is playing through the pain barrier. If so, and if there's a chance of getting him firing on all cylinders again next season, I'd consider keeping him on. Luther - Loan him out to a NL club for the first half of next seaon. If he does well, he's ready. Geraldo - Maybe give him another year. I can see him being released though as he wasn't an automatic starter in the NL either, but before the season I felt that L2 might suit him. Sadly we never found out. Also unlikely to be one of our bigger earners. Kyle Cameron - I agree that at this level he's a squad player at best. However, he was a left back when he joined us and he might be able to do a job there for us too. Having a full back with a bit of height isn't a bad thing in this division. GK - They're in contract, but I'd be looking to move on Slocombe or Stone, or maybe both. Stone clearly isn't trusted and may be keen on a move. We need experience and leadership at the back, and a good way to get that would be to bring in an experienced goalkeeper who has played at a higher level and can organise our defence. But we need to make room first. Personally I'm not convinced that Langstaff will leave, we're not under any pressure to sell and plenty of quality strikers are available on a free in the summer, so clubs might be less willing to pay the transfer fee. But if he does, Scott, McGoldrick and Jatta are more than adequate at this level. The priorities definitely lie elsewhere.

I've been good this year and changed all the clocks already. Some years I just leave them - they'll be correct again in six months anyway

Plymouth Argyle 0-2 Bristol City (joker) Stoke City 2-0 Huddersfield Town Bristol Rovers 1-2 Shrewsbury Town Charlton Athletic 1-1 Stevenage Newport County 1-2 Crawley Town Sutton United 2-0 Swindon Town Altrincham 2-1 Oldham Athletic Eastleigh 1-1 Maidenhead United

Good Friday's results: Cardiff City 0-2 Sunderland Queens Park Rangers 2-1 Birmingham City Fleetwood Town 1-2 Cheltenham Town Lincoln City 1-0 Leyton Orient Gillingham 0-0 Crewe Alexandra Wrexham 2-0 Mansfield Town Solihull Moors 2-2 Barnet Woking 0-1 Eastleigh --- Congrats to Friday's winners @gtownjohnno and @william1984! @gtownjohnno, @william1984 - 8 @Dan - 7 @DonnyNotts, @magpiejue, @Megan_Elizax - 6 @Harry Buckley - 5 @ARLukomski, @Fan of Big Tone, @liampie, @super_ram - 4 @cheeky~k8, @Robbie - 3 @4everapie, @DangerousSausage - 2 --- Things are getting tighter at the top again... ARLukomski - 195 gtownjohnno - 192 william1984 - 183 Fan of Big Tone - 176 cheeky~k8 - 175 super_ram - 175 4everapie - 172 magpiejue - 172 DangerousSausage - 164 Dan - 160 Megan_Elizax - 149 DonnyNotts - 134 nottsnutter - 129 Chris - 123 liampie - 123 upthepies - 90 Joshua - 86 allardyces tash - 70 Robbie - 69 TheSkipper - 67 KingWilliams - 66 Harry Buckley - 59 CliftonMagpie - 55 thommo - 49 OoooooTommy - 45 NottsCountyKev - 41 JIMBO - 40 jimbob - 38 Nocturnal-Magpie - 38 AmericanPie - 36 KB1862 - 22 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- If you haven't already, pop over here to predict Easter Monday's games. Thanks for playing everyone!

Just a suggestion for @PON_News, we shouldn't be calling this outfit the Dons. Stolen identities shouldn't be acknowledged. Will we play three or four at the back? Which goalkeeper will win the toss this week? Even when we win a game, the pack is reshuffled for the next one. If you can't tell, I'm feeling a bit sick of it now. Football has a funny habit of surprising you when the in-form team meets the side that's bottom of the form table. We can only hope that Notts will pull off a surprise on Monday.

Will you resurrect your title hopes this round, or end up looking like a bit of an (April) fool? Predict these results and find out! Kick-off is at 3pm on Monday, and don't forget your joker! Plymouth Argyle v Bristol City Stoke City v Huddersfield Town Bristol Rovers v Shrewsbury Town Charlton Athletic v Stevenage Newport County v Crawley Town Sutton United v Swindon Town Altrincham v Oldham Athletic Eastleigh v Maidenhead United

What are you all up to over Easter? Are you spending with family and stuffing your faces with chocolate, or going out somewhere maybe? I'm starting a new job soon and handed in my notice this week, so I'm still full of nervous energy and need to settle down. I will mainly be spending the weekend on my sofa and might go to a small medieval market tomorrow, weather permitting!

The 2.2m likely refers to transfer fees over the season and not the wage bill. Those figures show that they spent 6 million pounds on wages last season (minus social security and pension costs); we don't know how much of that was spent on players, but we can assume the vast majority was. For context, in our last season in League Two we spent about 3 million on players' wages, which was the largest wage bill in the division. NL clubs' wage bills tend to be in six figures rather than seven. On the other hand, if they spent 66% of their turnover on wages, that's in line with FL recommendations and fairly healthy (as long as the merchandising money keeps rolling in). Looks like they won't be our problem next season anyway.

We owe Swindon one (or maybe several). We beat them earlier in the season when they were still unbeaten. I thought they looked a decent side, but they've fallen to pieces since and so have we. Prediction: abandoned after the Notts team coach gets lost on the magic roundabout; after a search party is sent out, a bewildered and starved Notts team is discovered a week later in Cornwall.

Here are my predictions. By the way, keep your eyes peeled for Easter Monday's round, which will go live after the final whistle today! Cardiff City 2-1 Sunderland Queens Park Rangers 2-0 Birmingham City Fleetwood Town 1-1 Cheltenham Town Lincoln City 3-1 Leyton Orient Gillingham 2-0 Crewe Alexandra Wrexham 2-2 Mansfield Town Solihull Moors 1-2 Barnet Woking 2-0 Eastleigh (joker)

As the first part of our big Easter bonanza, here's Good Friday's round. All fixtures kick off at 3pm, and remember your joker! Easter Monday's fixtures will go live immediately following this round. Cardiff City v Sunderland Queens Park Rangers v Birmingham City Fleetwood Town v Cheltenham Town Lincoln City v Leyton Orient Gillingham v Crewe Alexandra Wrexham v Mansfield Town Solihull Moors v Barnet Woking v Eastleigh

The results: Burton Albion 0-1 Port Vale Barrow 1-0 Newport County Crewe Alexandra 1-1 AFC Wimbledon Morecambe 2-3 Gillingham Tranmere Rovers 1-3 Crawley Town Aldershot 1-1 Solihull Moors Altrincham 2-3 Gateshead Dagenham & Redbridge 0-0 Oldham Athletic --- Congrats to this round's winner @4everapie! @Fan of Big Tone might also have made double figures, but he was too busy sipping cocktails on his cruise ship to add his joker @4everapie - 12 @Fan of Big Tone - 7 @ARLukomski, @Robbie - 6 @super_ram - 5 @cheeky~k8, @DangerousSausage, @DonnyNotts, @Harry Buckley, @magpiejue, @william1984 - 3 @gtownjohnno - 2 @Megan_Elizax - 1 @Dan - nul points --- @ARLukomski opens up a bit of a gap at the top and @4everapie climbs a couple of places... ARLukomski - 191 gtownjohnno - 184 william1984 - 175 cheeky~k8 - 172 Fan of Big Tone - 172 super_ram - 171 4everapie - 170 magpiejue - 166 DangerousSausage - 162 Dan - 153 Megan_Elizax - 143 nottsnutter - 129 DonnyNotts - 128 Chris - 123 liampie - 119 upthepies - 90 Joshua - 86 allardyces tash - 70 TheSkipper - 67 KingWilliams - 66 Robbie - 66 CliftonMagpie - 55 Harry Buckley - 54 thommo - 49 OoooooTommy - 45 NottsCountyKev - 41 JIMBO - 40 jimbob - 38 Nocturnal-Magpie - 38 AmericanPie - 36 KB1862 - 22 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- Our next round of matches is on Good Friday, and they're online now! Insert egg pun here.

It's great to hear from you again @Piethagoram! Hope you have a speedy recovery and can look forward to quite a few more years of Notts-related fun yet

With football it's often easy to lose your sense of perspective. Our former DoF Sven-Göran Eriksson only has months left to live because of cancer, and at the weekend he got to realise a lifetime's ambition by leading out Liverpool at Anfield - a wonderful and touching gesture from all concerned. And how nice it is to see him smiling like that too. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/23/sven-goran-eriksson-savours-huge-memory-in-life-at-liverpool

It's often been hard to say to what extent our troubles have been down to SM - it's clear to see that our poor results have been down to a combination of factors, some of them going right back to the reign of the PE teacher. The squad has quality, but is also unbalanced and has obvious weaknesses. All the same, earlier in the season we were swatting teams away that we're now struggling to deal with, and it's becoming increasingly clear that SM is not helping matters with some of his decisions. Teams that win promotion often have to reinvent themselves to compete at the higher level and I could accept us going through a transition period to get there. However, I don't really see what we're aiming towards right now. If there isn't a big improvement in performances and results, I think it's quite likely we'll be looking for another head coach soon. I don't agree. Imagine we hire a manager who's out of his depth, who then fills the squad with sub-standard players on 2- or 3-year contracts before getting sacked. It's happened plenty of times before. I'm happy with the head coach not having the sole say on which players we bring in (which the manager didn't really either in the past).

When I'm watching on iFollow, there tends to be a goal when I leave the room. So around the 85th minute, and with us still looking the likelier team to score, I went for a toilet break. Soon after I hear Dave Bracegirdle raise his voice - it's a goal! I do a little fist pump, finish up, wash my hands and go back to my computer. Oh. Sorry about costing us the point, but I doubt it'll count for much now anyway. I don't think we were as good as SM described (if we were playing so well, why change the formation at half time?), but nor were we terrible. We looked very purposeful at the start of the second half, but missed a few chances to take the lead and instead let ourselves down thanks to a moment of utter naivety at the end (coupled with the mystical powers of my toilet breaks). I'm not going to mention the defence because I'm just bored of it now. Going forwards, Jones has been excellent but we've become over-reliant on him now, which makes us predictable. And once again we get a changed selection and a different formation even coming off the back of a win, with Jatta and Langstaff evidently confused about who should be standing where. How can our players play as a fluid unit when they don't know what they're supposed to be doing? There's no wonder we can't build any momentum. Five home defeats on the bounce is the worst since the implosion of John Sheridan's tenure (have we ever lost six?). I'm finding it increasingly difficult to envisage Maynard leading us into next season. We badly need some leadership and organisation at the back next season if we're to avoid getting dragged into the mire and potentially doing a Hartlepool next season.

Burton Albion 1-1 Port Vale Barrow 2-0 Newport County Crewe Alexandra 0-2 AFC Wimbledon Morecambe 1-2 Gillingham Tranmere Rovers 2-1 Crawley Town Aldershot 0-2 Solihull Moors Altrincham 2-0 Gateshead (joker) Dagenham & Redbridge 1-1 Oldham Athletic

23 March is Mo Farah's birthday. Like his event, the prediction is 10,000 metres and not a sprint, and the finishing line is in view. Get your predictions in by 3pm on Saturday if you fancy a go, and remember your joker! Burton Albion v Port Vale Barrow v Newport County Crewe Alexandra v AFC Wimbledon Morecambe v Gillingham Tranmere Rovers v Crawley Town Aldershot v Solihull Moors Altrincham v Gateshead Dagenham & Redbridge v Oldham Athletic

What a relief that was! You can see how much that meant from the celebrations at the end of the match. I feel chuffed for Stuart Maynard in particular. But now a lot will depend on the manner in which we follow it up - whether we grow in confidence or fall back into the same pattern as before. Saturday could go a long way to telling us where the journey will take us. I'm not getting carried away about the play-offs though. I'd be happy with a top ten position and something to build on for next season.