DangerousSausage

It's round 30 - two thirds through and things are getting serious. Kick-off is Saturday at 3pm - remember your jokers and good luck!

Blackpool v Bristol City

Hull City v Preston North End

Burton Albion v Sheffield Wednesday

Shrewsbury Town v Fleetwood Town

Leyton Orient v Colchester United

Scunthorpe United v Oldham Athletic

Halifax Town v Bromley

Maidenhead United v Eastleigh

The results:

Hull City 2-0 Swansea City
Middlesbrough 1-0 Coventry City
Lincoln City 1-2 Burton Albion
Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Ipswich Town
Bristol Rovers 1-0 Walsall
Tranmere Rovers 0-4 Forest Green Rovers
Dagenham & Redbridge 1-3 Halifax Town
Woking 0-1 Yeovil Town

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Many of you got three points this week (Notts should take a leaf out of your book). @super_ram, however, got seven, and tops the leaderboard for the second week running!

@super_ram - 7
@4everapie - 6
@Dan, @Dripsey3, @DangerousSausage, @barnet11uk - 5
@jimbob - 4
@magpiejue, @gtownjohnno, @ARLukomski, @nottsnutter, @Megan_Elizax, @GrannyPie - 3
@Chris - 0

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Not a lot of change in the table this week, but there's good news for @4everapie and @jimbob...

Dan - 174
Dripsey3 - 172
super_ram - 147
4everapie - 143
magpiejue - 143
gtownjohnno - 139
DangerousSausage - 132
ARLukomski - 124
jimbob - 121
nottsnutter - 120
Megan_Elizax - 116
GrannyPie - 113
Chris - 106
barnet11uk - 98
KB1862 - 52
liampie - 45
Joshua - 34
Feral Fox - 29
allardyces tash - 21
TheSkipper - 16
CliftonMagpie - 10
Alex - 7
Canadian - 4

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The next round will be on Saturday, so I'll be posting the fixtures on Wednesday. Thanks for playing and have a good week!

5 hours ago, Chris said:

We sounded much better in the first half, than the second.

That's because I was listening in the second, so I jinxed us. Sorry.

Kick-off is tomorrow at 3. Who else fancies joining the fray?

@barnet11uk, @KB1862, @liampie, @Joshua, @Feral Fox, @allardyces tash, @TheSkipper, @CliftonMagpie, @Alex, @Canadian

Hull City 1-1 Swansea City

Middlesbrough 1-2 Coventry City

Lincoln City 1-2 Burton Albion

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Ipswich Town

Bristol Rovers 2-0 Walsall

Tranmere Rovers 1-2 Forest Green Rovers

Dagenham & Redbridge 1-1 Halifax Town (joker)

Woking 2-1 Yeovil Town

Hi again, it's time for round 29! These matches kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and remember those jokers...

Hull City v Swansea City

Middlesbrough v Coventry City

Lincoln City v Burton Albion

Sheffield Wednesday v Ipswich Town

Bristol Rovers v Walsall

Tranmere Rovers v Forest Green Rovers

Dagenham & Redbridge v Halifax Town

Woking v Yeovil Town

On 20/01/2022 at 10:48, Super_Danny_Allsopp said:

What's happening throughout continental Europe with regards to mandating (or quasi-mandating) vaccines is abhorrent and illiberal. Unfortunately the people who consider themselves 'liberal' are the ones who are for this type of government enforcement. 

I totally agree. I'm really frustrated by the lack of solidarity shown by the anti-vaccine crowd, but making vaccinations compulsory is pure political stupidity and will likely be counterproductive. There seems to be a fair chance that such a mandate will breach the German constitution and be overturned again. If not, how will it be enforced? They've already ruled out physically taking people for their jabs (what a thought...), so we're left with fines. It's not hard to foresee a coordinated non-payment campaign. And then what?

Instead of patiently explaining why having the jab is a good idea (the stats back this up convincingly), the powers that be have switched to punishment mode, and this has contributed to two camps forming. People now feel a tribal loyalty to their camp. It's no longer just a question of convincing people that the jabs work - they now have to switch sides. The government has helped make this happen.

Also, we seem to be heading towards a situation where we'll be needing boosters every few months until something longer lasting appears. There's a real risk that the number of people having the booster will drop off over time, and the government surrendering its moral authority won't help.

On 24/01/2022 at 11:36, Piethagoram said:

Thinking outside the box, if the EU past a directive to say all sporting organisations whose competitions are held in EU countries, need FULL transparency of their financial accounts ( and history thereof).

There's no way the EU would ever pass a law like that, as you would need 27 countries to effectively rule out holding a UEFA or FIFA tournament ever again (those organisations aren't based in Switzerland for nothing). Given the EU's lack of a response to the European Super League plans (aside from a non-binding resolution by parliament), I can hardly see it taking on FIFA and UEFA. And the national FAs in Asia and Africa aren't going to jettison FIFA in favour of a Europe-centric organisation either. If anything, the EU could have some clout over UEFA, should it choose to use it.

What we SHOULD have is transparent, democratic organisations running international football, but with the national FAs being so invested in the gravy train it's difficult to see how we get there.

Going back to Qatar, I'm minded to just not watch it, but that's hardly going to change anything. Surely there's something more creative we as fans could be doing?

Before my time, but the transition just shows what an act of vandalism demolishing the old railway station was. Keeping the tower just made it look even sadder somehow.

Yeah, but is he 38 years old? 

The results:

Blackpool 1-0 Millwall
Sheffield United 2-0 Luton Town
Oxford United 3-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Shrewsbury Town 0-1 Bolton Wanderers
Leyton Orient 0-0 Port Vale
Sutton United 0-0 Northampton Town
Grimsby Town 1-2 Bromley
Woking 2-0 Wealdstone

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@super_ram came out on top this week - congrats!

@super_ram - 11
@Dripsey3 - 8
@DangerousSausage - 7
@magpiejue, @Megan_Elizax - 6
@gtownjohnno - 5
@Dan - 4
@4everapie, @nottsnutter - 3
@ARLukomski - 2
@GrannyPie - 1

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The table:

Dan - 169
Dripsey3 - 167
super_ram - 140
magpiejue - 140
4everapie - 137
gtownjohnno - 136
DangerousSausage - 127
ARLukomski - 121
nottsnutter - 117
jimbob - 117
Megan_Elizax - 113
GrannyPie - 110
Chris - 106
barnet11uk - 93
KB1862 - 52
liampie - 45
Joshua - 34
Feral Fox - 29
allardyces tash - 21
TheSkipper - 16
CliftonMagpie - 10
Alex - 7
Canadian - 4

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So that's us for another week. Can anyone gatecrash the duopoly at the top? How many people can I get away with banning to artificially enhance my position? And will Notts ever play a football match again? To get a little bit closer to answering at least two of those questions, join us for the next round on Saturday - the fixtures will be posted here on Wednesday night. Thanks for playing and have a good week!

This summer we would usually be looking forward to the World Cup, but we'll have to wait until November due to FIFA's decision to award it to the footballing hotbed that is Qatar.

As everyone surely knows by now, the regime in Qatar isn't the most savoury one; an army of foreign workers has been called in to build the necessary infrastructure and the construction of the stadiums has come at a tremendous human cost. Like the 1978 tournament, the 2022 World Cup will be an example of sportswashing - a dictatorship using sports to boost its reputation and distract attention away from human rights abuses.

This begs the question of how football fans here should react (it would have been nice if UEFA or the national FAs had done something, but that ship has sailed). The most obvious would be a boycott, but given the sheer pulling power of the World Cup that could be doomed to failure. Otherwise, the tournament could be used to shine a very bright light on the Qatari regime and to make the attempted sportswashing of the regime's reputation blow up in its face. I'm not sure exactly what form that could take though.

It might all sound very political, but this tournament is mired in politics anyway now. Personally I'm not sure I can stomach watching it, but I know many more will. Thoughts?

Blackpool 2-1 Millwall

Sheffield United 2-1 Luton Town

Oxford United 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday

Shrewsbury Town 0-1 Bolton Wanderers

Leyton Orient 1-2 Port Vale

Sutton United 2-0 Northampton Town (joker) 

Grimsby Town 0-1 Bromley

Woking 3-1 Wealdstone

Noordinho

Paul Gascoigne once said, "I never predict anything, and I never will". Don't be like Gazza, take part in the prediction league. Kick-off is Saturday at 3, and you have a joker each. Good luck!

Blackpool v Millwall

Sheffield United v Luton Town

Oxford United v Sheffield Wednesday

Shrewsbury Town v Bolton Wanderers

Leyton Orient v Port Vale

Sutton United v Northampton Town

Grimsby Town v Bromley

Woking v Wealdstone

I've walked up there so many times, yet I wouldn't have guessed it in a million years going by the first pictures. Insane how streets can change, and sadly not usually for the better. 

I could have sworn Wootton got one a few weeks back. Must be going mad. So the last one was probably Jimmy Knowles against Woking back in April. 

Danny Allsopp scored a hat trick on his debut for us, a 5-1 win against Bournemouth (?). (Edit - no, that was Brett Angell). I don't think Stallard got one in his entire career. He certainly didn't for us. 

The results:

Millwall 0-1 Nottingham Florist
Preston North End 1-1 Birmingham City
AFC Wimbledon 0-0 Morecambe
Lincoln City 0-1 Cambridge United
Bradford City 2-1 Salford City
Colchester United 0-2 Barrow
Grimsby Town 2-0 Altrincham
Wealdstone 2-1 Dover Athletic

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This was quite a high-scoring round (with the exception of one idiot at the bottom, ahem). This week's best scorers were @magpiejue and @GrannyPie!

@magpiejue, @GrannyPie - 11
@Dan, @4everapie - 8
@nottsnutter, @Chris, @barnet11uk - 7
@ARLukomski - 6
@jimbob - 5
@gtownjohnno, @Megan_Elizax - 4
@Dripsey3, @super_ram - 3
@DangerousSausage - 2

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@Dan is now six points clear, while @magpiejue and @4everapie move into joint third:

Dan - 165
Dripsey3 - 159
magpiejue - 134
4everapie - 134
gtownjohnno - 131
super_ram - 129
DangerousSausage - 120
ARLukomski - 119
jimbob - 117
nottsnutter - 114
GrannyPie - 109
Megan_Elizax - 107
Chris - 106
barnet11uk - 93
KB1862 - 52
liampie - 45
Joshua - 34
Feral Fox - 29
allardyces tash - 21
TheSkipper - 16
CliftonMagpie - 10
Alex - 7
Canadian - 4

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So that's us done for another week. The next full league programme is on Saturday, so I'll post the fixtures on Wednesday night. Please post declarations of triumph, banter and commiserations below, but remember - it's a marathon, not a sprint   see you all then!

2 hours ago, Chris said:

So, who was the last Notts player before Cal Roberts to bag himself the match ball? I would guess someone like Jonathan Forte or Jorge Grant...

Wasn't it Kyle Wooton just a few weeks ago? No idea who was the last before that - Jon Stead possibly.

Here's your reminder - the action starts tomorrow:

@super_ram, @ARLukomski, @nottsnutter, @Chris, @GrannyPie, @barnet11uk, @KB1862, @liampie, @Joshua, @Feral Fox, @allardyces tash, @TheSkipper, @CliftonMagpie, @Alex, @Canadian

Millwall 1-2 Nottingham Florist

Preston North End 2-0 Birmingham City (joker)

AFC Wimbledon 2-1 Morecambe

Lincoln City 2-1 Cambridge United

Bradford City 1-1 Salford City

Colchester United 1-1 Barrow

Grimsby Town 1-1 Altrincham

Wealdstone 2-0 Dover Athletic

It's Saturday, it's 3 o'clock, it's the PON prediction league! And remember your jokers

Millwall v Nottingham Florist

Preston North End v Birmingham City

AFC Wimbledon v Morecambe

Lincoln City v Cambridge United

Bradford City v Salford City

Colchester United v Barrow

Grimsby Town v Altrincham

Wealdstone v Dover Athletic

I never got to meet him in person, but as I didn't travel away much (and have been holed up in Germany for the last few years), I have spent a lot of matchdays in Uncle Colin's "company". He was a link to the past in so many ways - to the club's past, of course, as he'd been covering Notts since the late 1950s and had seen ALL of the ups and downs since that time. But also to broadcasting past - he sounded unique (possibly a result of the pronunciation expected of radio commentators half a century ago) and he drew such a precise picture of the match. You always knew where the all was, and he knew exactly who the opposition's players were too.

And of course he took to the club, and the fans took to him, as Dripsey says. He famously helped a takeover go through in the mid-sixties. Now of course we think of him as being Notts through and through, but think about that in the context of the time - he was a local journalist from Bradford with no previous connection to the club, having moved a few years before, helping save the club. That surely wasn't part of the day job! I wonder how many other times he's helped the club without ever publicising it.

I hope there were some high dropping balls in honour of him last night. Colin Slater is one of a very select group of people who deserve to be called Notts legends.

A lot of footage of Wrexham players falling other, but that aside it's good to see the match from more of a fans' perspective. Still not sure whether the handball was really intention (was a definite penalty though), but the referee's decision is final and all that

Colin Slater, the voice of the club for so many decades, has passed away aged 87. Condolences to his family and everyone who knew him. 

People talk about legendary players and managers, but it was Colin who was at our side through all those moments of triumph or (more often) non-triumph. It'll be difficult to imagine Notts without him. 

Here's a nice piece the club published about him. 

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/club/hall-of-fame/colin-slater-mbe/