DangerousSausage

Curse you, Lincoln City ????

This is very true. The back three have been criticised a lot, but you're supposed to defend as a team. They've been left hanging by their teammates too often this season. Witness Stone frequently playing short passes to Baldwin when he had a Grimsby player right behind him. We've prioritised players who are comfortable on the ball and good going forwards for years. It was a calculated risk that worked and got us back into the Football League, but we're going to have to re-learn the art of defending if we're going to mount a serious promotion challenge at this level.

True @Fan of Big Tone, but I'm also pathetically grateful we didn't lose after letting in five! The first half hour was absolutely shocking and it looked really bleak for a time. And I've learned not to get too excited when we take a one goal load... Time for a lie down!

We're getting marinated. It's like Sutton away all over again. We're incredibly lucky it's only two so far.

Huddersfield Town 0-2 Plymouth Argyle Millwall 3-1 Middlesbrough Northampton Town 2-0 Wigan Athletic Reading 2-1 Port Vale Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 Lincoln City (joker) Accrington Stanley 2-1 Gillingham Doncaster Rovers 1-2 Newport County Eastleigh 1-1 Southend United

Just to point out in case anyone missed it, that story is from when Burchnall left. I don't remember him at all, but our approach back then might explain why he's being mentioned now. The odds aren't really changing much, a lot of the names have just been linked with us in the past.

This is cool! I'll have a look at the new structure when I'm on my PC. Regarding the prediction league, I was thinking last week that it would probably be better as a subforum to Granny's forum. I probably wouldn't put it in a Notts section as it isn't really Notts related. Will moving the form affect email reminders? As for sports, I think an"other sports" subforum would do, as they rarely get talked about and having too many inactive forums would clutter things up. We could always tag the corresponding sport in case people want to search it.

This is devastating news, my thoughts are with Sven and everyone close to him.

According to the OS, Brooks is being loaned out in Ireland again. I've no idea whether this bloke will start on Saturday. If LW were in charge he might have, but the interim management team might be more reluctant to rock the boat too much. Does anyone remember him playing for Aldershot or Crawley? Some of Crawley's fans don't seem to rate him too highly, but we shall see. Hope he's given a fair chance!

13 January is the anniversary of the death of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex in the ninth century and father of Alfred the Great. If Æthelwulf were alive today, he'd almost certainly play the PON prediction league; however, he's dead. This is where you lot come in: predict these matches by 3pm on Saturday, and you might win some points. And remember your jokers! Huddersfield Town v Plymouth Argyle Millwall v Middlesbrough Northampton Town v Wigan Athletic Reading v Port Vale Wycombe Wanderers v Lincoln City Accrington Stanley v Gillingham Doncaster Rovers v Newport County Eastleigh v Southend United

I remember Matty Gill, Gary Mills played him out of position, transfer listed him and he quickly became a target for the boo boys. He didn't have a good time with us, but went on to have a decent career. However, both of our appointments under the brothers have had experience as the number one, so I can't see it happening. As for Stendel, he led Barnsley to promotion but didn't pull up many trees after that. He's currently managing the B team of Hannover 96, who are top of the Regionalliga Nord, Germany's regional fourth division. Not sure how I'd feel about that. But the owners tend to look at coaching credentials rather than the managerial track record, otherwise Luke Williams wouldn't have got the job.

We tried to get Altrincham's Phil Parkinson before we appointed Williams, so the board clearly rate him. I wonder if we'll have another go? We're a division higher now, so might be a more tempting proposition. He signed a new two-year contract in the summer, so there would be compensation (which we could pay with the compensation we received from Swansea). But does he want to leave?

Is there any indication when he'll be back? He definitely shouldn't rush but his return will give us such a boost.

You aren't condemned to the Vanarama Prediction Conference quite yet! ????

The results: Burton Albion 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers Exeter City 2-1 Carlisle United Bradford City 2-4 Crawley Town Salford City 2-2 Forest Green Rovers Swindon Town 2-2 Colchester United Altrincham 3-2 Barnet Dorking Wanderers 0-1 Oldham Athletic Southend United 3-0 Halifax Town --- Congrats to @Robbie, who is this week's winner! All of the top three got top points for their jokers this week. @Robbie - 10 @Fan of Big Tone, @gtownjohnno - 9 @magpiejue - 6 @ARLukomski, @william1984 - 5 @4everapie, @Megan_Elizax - 4 @Dan - 3 @cheeky~k8, @DangerousSausage, @super_ram - 2 @liampie - 1 --- @gtownjohnno has @ARLukomski within shooting distance, @Fan of Big Tone and @4everapie jump up the table and @Robbie moves up a position. All to play for! ARLukomski - 146 gtownjohnno - 141 4everapie - 124 cheeky~k8 - 123 Fan of Big Tone - 120 william1984 - 119 DangerousSausage - 117 magpiejue - 115 super_ram - 113 nottsnutter - 112 Dan - 110 Megan_Elizax - 102 liampie - 98 Chris - 96 upthepies - 90 Joshua - 80 DonnyNotts - 79 allardyces tash - 67 KingWilliams - 66 TheSkipper - 58 CliftonMagpie - 49 thommo - 49 OoooooTommy - 45 NottsCountyKev - 41 JIMBO - 40 jimbob - 38 Nocturnal-Magpie - 38 AmericanPie - 36 KB1862 - 22 Robbie - 16 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- The next fixtures are on Saturday and should be posted on Wednesday. Have a good week, keep warm and dry and try not to outscore me next time

I don't think that's the best result for us to be honest - Mansfield are going up this season and we won't catch them. So it's better for us if they keep winning and deprive our rivals - like Barrow - of points.

He's not in their squad, I'm guessing he's cup tied as he was a regular starter at Gateshead. But good luck to him at Morecambe!

I don't know what's better, them catching ready-tinned salmon or the fact that they're called the Flourmen!

True. Not to mention the fact that Sam resigned to force his move. Then you have the different personalities involved (Derek Pavis v the brothers). OK, maybe not the best comparison then! I do think fans have become more understanding of this in general though. Maybe it's because the era of one-club men is fading into the dim and distant past. And outside of football too, people change their jobs much more often than in the past, so maybe they can empathise with players and managers more. Ultimately, we'll probably relieve another club of its head coach or a key employee. It's how the game is now.

These fixtures kick off on Saturday at 3pm - don't miss out! @allardyces tash, @AmericanPie, @ARLukomski, @Canadian, @Chris, @CliftonMagpie, @DonnyNotts, @George L, @JIMBO, @jimbob, @Joshua, @KB1862, @KingWilliams, @liampie, @Nocturnal-Magpie, @NottsCountyKev, @nottsnutter, @OoooooTommy, @TheSkipper, @thommo, @upthepies

There are some really good shouts here. Maynard would be interesting as he's had Wealdstone punching well above their weight. We might have beat them comfortably last season, but their budget was a world away from ours. Whoever we get, we can be pretty sure that we won't be getting a celebrity appointment. It may well come from leftfield, as the board does tend to look at their track record as a coach rather than as a manager.

So it's official and we can all move on. As disappointed as I am that Luke Williams has chosen not to build on his fantastic achievements with us over the last season and a half, it is an understandable move for him in some ways. His stock is high and he knows he's only ever a few bad results from the sack, at Swansea certainly but at Notts too. There's no loyalty in football any more, but that's the case in both directions. I'm also impressed at the stiff upper lips Notts fans are largely showing, especially when compared with the velocity with which toys are propelled from the pram when we lose a game. It's a world away from the uproar when Sam Allardyce left under not dissimilar circumstances. He did a wonderful job for us and will forever be remembered as the manager who restored us to the Football League. But maybe it's a blessing in disguise too - maybe a new head coach can bring fresh ideas and new impetus so we can mount a serious and sustained bid for promotion to League One.

Statement: I can neither confirm or deny that Pride of Swansea has made an approach for me. I remain fully committed to the project and am flattered by the interest. Anyway, my predictions: Burton Albion 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers Exeter City 1-1 Carlisle United Bradford City 3-1 Crawley Town Salford City 0-0 Forest Green Rovers Swindon Town 0-2 Colchester United Altrincham 0-2 Barnet (joker) Dorking Wanderers 1-2 Oldham Athletic Southend United 1-2 Halifax Town

Didn't he play darts or something?

It could be a little awkward if the deal falls through now - then we'll have a head coach who's been discussing terms with another club, demanding loyalty and commitment from his players at Notts. Not sure that's such a great look.