StarkMallard

For anyone who does go and has some time to kill in Darmstadt beforehand: go to the Ratskeller on the market square. It's a really good microbrewery and a pre-match haunt for Darmstadt fans during the season. Just don't get too drunk and forget to go to the match. The city isn't really all that charismatic but the ground has a lot of character considering all four sides have been rebuilt. It'll be interesting to see who else we'll be playing during the trip - I wouldn't be surprised to see us play a local fourth division side as well. Drop me a line if I can help with travel planning!

This friendly has just been announced for 9 July. Who else is coming? The match will be played at Darmstadt's Böllenfalltor ground which, unlike Duisburg last season, is where the first team play. It holds just under 18,000 so there should be plenty of room for everyone. Darmstadt itself isn't really a tourist destination but it's a very short bus or train ride from Frankfurt. No excuses for me, even if it is a workday 😁

I haven't been online much in the last few days so I'm yet to discover many of the functions, but I like the look and feel of it, it feels much more modern. However, I always navigated the site using the dashboard and I'm struggling with the new one. Previously there was a clean overview of the latest forum posts, but now I have to scroll past some very old status updates, frequent posters etc. before I find the forum posts, which are organised by forum and seemingly not in chronological order. I may well be missing something though. Thanks @Chris for your efforts and I'm looking forward to seeing it bed in!

It's an absolutely tiny market with relatively small bets causing big shifts. The presence of Priske and Alves in the top three tells you all you need to know. Priske is literally only there because he's Danish. Apart from Maynard, every head coach the brothers have appointed has come out of left field. They are good at keeping things quiet and much prefer to appoint a relative unknown on the way up than somebody from the managerial merry-go-round.

While York City have been unlucky this season, they've benefitted from the playoffs twice in recent years. They finished sixth when they were promotedfrom the NLN... But in principle I agree that we need three up, three down between L2 and the Bananarama Conference. Maybe even four. Having fewer promoted teams is a hangover from the days when the FL was a closed shop and can be incredibly cruel for the team finishing second, as we nearly found out ourselves.

I've just had a look at their Facebook page, it doesn't seem to be a happy ship and there's a lot of criticism of their recruitment. Apparently RM found out about his sacking from the Blick newspaper, they didn't even bother to inform him! Wonder where he'll end up next?

I vaguely remember him, he was a full back with the turning circle of an oil tanker. Nicknamed Dangerous Brian by some. Don't tell him that to his face though! Glad he's still in the game.

Great to see Oldham back, what a dramatic way to do it too! I'd had a sinking feeling FGR would come back up, glad I was wrong though.

It goes to show how unrealistic some of our fans are. We've got about as much chance of landing Mourinho. The owners will get murdered pretty much regardless of who we appoint.

That's very interesting @Robbie! Tsaroulla did particularly well when you consider how many games he missed.

Looks like he'll be another addition to the franchise's collection of over-the-hill mercenaries then. For all his talk of ending his career at his boyhood club, it looks like he'd rather see it out playing in front of 30,000 empty seats for a few more quid. Don't let the door hit you on your way out. While those are big boots to fill, we're not going to spend our way to promotion and it would be wrong to break the bank for a player who'll be pushing 40, however good he is. We became dependent on him because our squad had become too thin in attacking areas and now we'll be able to address that rather than using McGoldrick as a sticking plaster again. Hopefully good replacements will do a good honest job for us without any of the kissing the badge crap.

The sunrise is a mythical creature @Piethagoram, I know it exists but never seem to see it. So it's very similar to League One in that respect. Here in the land of the Germs, Monday wasn't a bank holiday but yesterday was. As a result my company was closed yesterday so I get a nice long weekend. It's too hot to go outside so I'm sitting in the living room procrastinating instead. No chippy for me, but I'll put the barbecue on later. Life isn't so bad sometimes.

Seriously though, I doubt it'll happen as he'll be out of our price range financially. We'd have stood a greater chance of getting him in on loan, but transfer listing him makes this less likely.

Also an interesting call @Piethagoram. Last week, the journalist Pete O'Rourke posted that he was facing the sack from York after losing in the playoffs. This isn't just a rumour monger - it's the same man who broke the news about Langstaff leaving and Whitaker joining, so he's clearly well connected. York then posted on Facebook that "Adam Hinshelwood remains the manager of York City FC", which in my eyes falls short of "he's going nowhere". From the outside, I don't think his position looks very secure and he might be open to a move. He's well thought of by the York fans, which isn't surprising after taking over in a relegation battle and leading them to 96 points. This is pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if York rowed back on sacking him when they found that another club was interested (and willing to pay compensation)? That wouldn't necessarily mean the other club is Notts though.

The odds are a bit of a joke right now. Joao Alves leads them, which says it all really. Brian Priske seems to be getting the "Danish bloke" bonus this time. He is a real football manager, but given that every team he's managed so far has been in the Champions League or Europa League he's not a realistic choice. It shows how unrealistic some of our fans are though. Brady sounds like a really good call - someone with proven success at this level who would fit in with our model.

People were constantly saying we couldn't get promoted from the NL playing passing football until we did, with a record points tally to boot. We just have to be fast, accurate and get behind the opposition. Sadly, we often lacked the confidence and quality to do that. That's not to say we shouldn't adapt to the conditions and opposition, but every team should do that. But all too often our options were restricted by the players we had available.

Realistically, any manager who comes in would probably be off again if a Championship club that wasn't in a complete mess came calling. Who here would turn down a 100% pay rise? As @Piethagoram says, if that were to happen, it would mean that the new man had done a good job and possibly won us promotion. I've seen Des Buckingham's name mentioned online, but I'm not sure he would drop down to L2.

No. Why throw out the baby with the bathwater? When Ray Trew was in charge and we were getting through a manager a month, there were a lot of complaints that our philosophy changed with every manager and our squad ended up in a mess. The idea was to define a rough concept of how we would play and then sign players that fit it. The brothers have put it into action and it has paid off. Of course you still have to be pragmatic, go direct at times and assert yourself physically depending on the conditions. We were more direct under Maynard than under Williams.

As far as I know Luke Williams and Ian Burchnall are on the market. I hope we don't go there, but they'll both feature heavily in the betting. I'd be curious to see how LW does with better defenders, but I'm really not sure it would be a good idea. Then there's random Danish blokes. Watch out for middle-aged Danish taxi drivers appearing in the odds for the next manager. I'd bet that it's someone we've never heard of. Roberto Gagliadi will no doubt have contacts and as DoF will have had a say in SM's sacking. I just hope it's someone who's willing to commit to the club for a number of years rather than a journeyman manager or someone who sees us as a stepping stone.

I wasn't expecting this to be honest, and if you look at the naked facts it does seem a bit harsh. We've just made the play-offs. Defensively we've improved massively (an absolute prerequisite for succeeding in L2 IMO), but we've suffered such a talent drain due to departures and long-term injuries it was inevitable we would end up looking toothless up front. I would have done some things differently at Plough Lane but let's be honest, it wouldn't have made any difference with how thin we were. He kept us within touching distance of promotion despite two very mixed transfer windows and it feels like he's been made to carry the can for the decline in quality in some areas. And yet, I saw the run-in too and at no point did we look like a team that was chasing promotion. While it was necessary to adapt to L2, we saw a return of the "respect the point" mentality of Neal Ardley, the only other manager the brothers have sacked. Could another manager have instilled a more positive mentality and got more out of the players at crucial times? Maybe. Either way, what's done is done and some important decisions are looming. We only have a couple of our promotion winners left, the DoF ha been replaced and we have just had a clean sweep of the coaching staff. The continuity is gone and we need to find people who can take us the next step forward and truly get us looking like a team that could cope in L1.

I can see the logic behind it. It'll be tough to replace Sam Slocombe - whoever comes in to replace him will know he's going to be second choice behind Bass. In Slocombe we had someone who accepted he would likely be second fiddle, but who could also step in and do a job if called upon. I really don't want to go back to the days of panic-signing a keeper when our first choice gets injured. He may have wanted to leave though. I'm disappointed about Austin, like Jones he was out for a long time this season and was clearly rusty when he came back. But then the fact that we were relying on him also tells a story. As we found out to our cost last season, we can't be sentimental when we need to improve the squad. I hope they all find new clubs, the promotion squad are all club heroes in my eyes.

It's long overdue. Once upon a time, losing your league place was like being cast into oblivion with little chance of ever regaining it. Luckily those days are gone and there's a bit of movement between the leagues - 17 of the 23 teams in League Two have played in non-league - but not enough. Teams getting 90+ points and not going up is ridiculous. I'm sure the NL would love another promotion spot, it's the Football League that needs to move. In a way it's like the turkeys voting for Christmas, but as @menzinho says it would make it easier to come back up. After all, while you're in L2 you're only ever one bad season away from the void.

Overall, we got what we deserved. Our start was really positive and aggressive, just what we were hoping for really. Then Wimbledon scored out of nothing and it knocked the stuffing out of us. From that point on the home team were much the better side. We were uninspired and it was painfully obvious how much quality we were missing. Having to go into a match like this without Jatta and McGoldrick is a fitting end to a season plagued with departures and injuries. We performed the juggling act well enough to make the playoffs, but with a fit Jones and a motivated Crowley still at the club we'd have gone up automatically. Alongside the four I've mentioned, we've also lost Langstaff and Nemane since the summer, and on Saturday it was painfully obvious that we didn't have adequate replacements. SM was very proactive in making changes when he started, but has become increasingly cautious. Bringing on a defensive midfielder late on when we should have been throwing the kitchen sink at the opposition says it all (not that having both Traore and Morias on the pitch would have made any difference anyway). Reaching the playoffs was a marked improvement over last season, but we're just not good enough for L1 yet.

All I really remember about Jackson's stint with Notts is that he never really did enough to justify a first-team spot and left fairly quickly @Chris. If he was stamping his feet and sulking behind the scenes because he wasn't in the first 11, I don't recall hearing about it at the time, which is maybe why nobody seems all that bothered. Reeves was a good player for us and we were lucky we were able to replace him with Palmer. He was seen as a big loss when he left. I've got a lot of respect for Wimbledon because of all they've achieved, but as far as I'm concerned they can stay in L2 another season and stuff the franchise one more time! Yes, but like the energetic dogs that sprint round the field again and again and not tired old dogs that keep stopping to sniff pee on lampposts. If the Dons think they've already reached Wembley, that could work to our advantage. We've already showed that we can beat them and we'r strong away. What came before doesn't matter, tomorrow is what counts. COYP!

How cool is this? Everton have cancelled plans to demolish their old ground, with the women's team instead playing there from next season. Great to see a historic ground being retained and used in the future rather than being turned into housing. Hopefully more clubs will follow their lead! Goodison Park: Everton's women's team to use stadium as new home as demolition cancelled WWW.BBC.COM Everton cancel plans to demolish Goodison Park and will make the stadium home to their women's team.