StarkMallard

It seems counter-intuitive but the article makes an important point - as clubs can no longer recruit players aged 16 and 17 from the EU, they're increasingly looking north of the border instead. Some of those young players will no doubt benefit from the superior facilities and coaching on offer, while many more will fall by the wayside. And of course Scottish clubs are finding it more and more difficult to hold on to young talent. All the familiar disadvantages of the academy system - in which the big clubs hold all the cards and can entice youngsters for a relative pittance - come into play, Scottish clubs are just more exposed to it than they were before.

The last thing they need is yet another nostalgia appointment. He'd probably be tempted but should leave his legacy alone.

Alfreton at home it is then! It'll be a good occasion, there'll be a fair few from Alfreton there. A home tie against a non-league team gives us a good chance of progressing in theory, but we all know that these games can be a banana skin. We've made ourselves look like eejits often enough. I think we should throw everything we've got at the FA Cup this season, we're long overdue a run!

These matches kick off at 3pm, don't miss out! @allardyces tash, @Blake, @Chris, @CliftonMagpie, @DonnyNotts, @Harry Buckley, @JIMBO, @Joshua, @JustLikeJuve, @liampie, @NottsLoyal, @NottsTastic, @OoooooTommy, @Robbie, @super_ram, @The Heff, @TheSkipper, @thommo, @upthepies

Players change positions early on in their careers, it's probably quite a common thing. Throwing on defenders up front to win headers, on the other hand, often smacks of desperation and I can't remember it ever having the desired effect. And Jimmy Glass doesn't count because he was a goalkeeper!

Crawley Town 1-1 Shrewsbury Town Peterborough United 2-1 Rotherham United Barrow 2-0 Morecambe (joker) Cheltenham Town 2-1 Swindon Town Doncaster Rovers 2-1 Crewe Alexandra Harrogate Town 0-2 Newport County Salford City 1-1 Grimsby Town Tranmere Rovers 1-3 Bradford City

Hi everyone. Sorry I forgot to post these yesterday as I was swinging through the streets of Gotham village defeating the criminal underworld / sitting on my bum playing computer games (delete as applicable). But here they are. Send your predictions in by 3pm on Saturday, and don't forget your joker! Crawley Town v Shrewsbury Town Peterborough United v Rotherham United Barrow v Morecambe Cheltenham Town v Swindon Town Doncaster Rovers v Crewe Alexandra Harrogate Town v Newport County Salford City v Grimsby Town Tranmere Rovers v Bradford City

The results: Coventry City 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday Watford 2-1 Middlesbrough Mansfield Town 2-0 Blackpool Rotherham United 2-1 Reading Accrington Stanley 2-1 Morecambe Swindon Town 0-0 Harrogate Town Eastleigh 1-3 Forest Green Rovers Halifax Town 3-2 Tamworth --- Congratulations to this round's winner @thommo! Good showings from @Blake and @nottsnutter too. --- Overall, @super_ram continues to lead ahead of @ARLukomski... --- The next round is on Saturday, so the fixtures will be posted tomorrow. Thanks for playing!

It doesn't really say anything about the standard, anyone can have a blackout and do something really stupid. I've seen some amazing own goals this season though. The third division is where it's at anyway

I've just discovered this. When I was at uni I used to work on open days. One of the most fun tasks was doing guided tours of the university - each time about 10 to 15 people would gather, and I'd take them around the campus, giving them crucial information such as where the cheapest beer is and "this is the longest teaching building in Europe". I'd do a bit of small talk with the students and parents, and it was obviously better when they asked questions and got involved rather than standing in bored silence. One day there was a familiar face among the parents - none other than Neil Warnock, who was there with his daughter. He was polite and good-humoured throughout, despite me sending him to the wrong building at one stage. If I recall right he was pretty engaged and asked lots of questions about the uni, although I really wanted to talk about football. He could probably tell I was a bit starstruck

Coventry City 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday Watford 1-1 Middlesbrough Mansfield Town 2-2 Blackpool Rotherham United 1-3 Reading Accrington Stanley 1-1 Morecambe Swindon Town 0-2 Harrogate Town Eastleigh 0-1 Forest Green Rovers (joker) Halifax Town 2-0 Tamworth

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).