StarkMallard

This is excellent news and a big vote of confidence in Kevin Nolan. It might also be a positive sign for any players currently wondering to sign on the dotted line.

I have no problem with this in principle, after all Notts aren't AH's only business interest. However, what would happen if Ilkeston made it to the first round of the FA Cup? Two teams with the same owner playing each other could be a problem with the FA and UEFA.

My nephew had a Spurs kit from Puma and I did notice it was a tighter fit around the belly than most Notts shirts I own. Mind you, some of our old shirts resemble tents. Luckily I don't need an awful lot of "beer belly room", it just needs to be long enough. I'll be parading mine around Germany in a few weeks

No doubt a fair few of you will be the proud owner of a shirt now. What are your opinions of it? What is the fit like?

I forgot about him! According to Wikipedia we let him go in 1999 and he went to study at South Notts College and play for Dunkirk. That's well before Charlie rejoined us.

I take your point, but according to Wikipedia Terry Hawkridge played his youth team football at Barnsley and Tranmere. I think it was about when we scrapped our youth system. It's quite rare for us to release a player only for him to make his mark elsewhere. Two do spring to mind - James Walker, a keeper we released as a 19-year-old in 1993 and went on to make over 400 appearances for Walsall. Another is a striker who went on to play for Rotherham whose name escapes me. But the vast majority end up in non-league. Even if a player does make the grade after being released by a club, that doesn't necessarily mean that the club made the wrong decision. In some cases it's the wake-up call a player needs to kick on and be successful. One problem nowadays is that young players have their heads turned by big clubs before they're even in secondary school. The Drapers and Johnsons are now more likely to end up at the big academies and many of them end up in the Football League after being released by a top club.

All sounds very positive, but what happens on the pitch is what matters. He does contradict himself a few times - at the start he says there isn't much going on, but later he goes on to say we have plenty of irons in the fire. Maybe I should just relax more, I have the impression KN talks faster than he thinks. The comments on Curtis Good were interesting too. He was very non-commital. To me it sounds as if Good is one of our targets, but quite low on the list. I'll reserve judgement whatever happens. Normally you'd expect a player of his age to have had loads of loan spells, but Good hasn't been out on loan in years. That could indicate that he was on the verge of a breakthrough, but he didn't quite make it. But I'd still prefer someone a bit more seasoned to organise the back line.

Good luck to him, hope we can get the best out of him! It would make sense @Piethagoram, Arsenal will probably want him to try his hand in a higher division.

Hughes was just a joy to watch and a real one-off. Alongside his talent (he made it all look so easy) it was also so evident that he loved playing. Many players would lack the motivation to go back to non-league after such a career - but not him! Had it not been for his conviction there is not a cat in hell's chance a player of his calibre would have been playing in the lower divisions.

To be fair you could say the same about Shaun Derry. Hope the similarities end soon!

Good reading as always @Joe Jones. Stripe thickness is a matter of opinion, personally I prefer thicker to thinner. The traditional look would be in line with last season's kit but we can't have exactly the same every season. I wouldn't have minded having the black and white reversed, with the black in the middle and the badge on the white. That way the sponsor only obliterates one black stripe instead of two. But all in all I think it's the nicest home shirt we've had in a while. The rest look like off-the-peg jobs though, not keen.

There's nothing wrong with keeping the existing framework in place, the end of last season shows it does have potential and we have the advantage that the team has already "gelled". But a lot will depend on the new players we now bring in - they all need to be at least candidates for the first 11. We can't rely on Ameobi and Stead all season, and I'd like to see at least one new centre-half who can add some leadership and organisation at the back. The defence has needed surgery for years and I'd feel happer if there was at least talk of us strengthening in that area.

August does look tough, but in reality it's difficult to tell what the "difficult" fixtures really are before the season starts. Coventry are in a right mess and looking at the bookies' odds Chesterfield and Wycombe are less fancied than we are. It could well be that Accrington and Morecambe are sterner tests than those three! I looked out for Lincoln but unfortunately I'm unlikely to be there for either. Shame, that's a ground I enjoy visiting. Mansfield at home could work for me though. The end of the season could be tasty if there's something at stake - three of the last five at home, one against Cov with presumably a good away following, penultimate game at Grimsby (we could take a few there - the missus will love a weekend at the seaside) and then finishing at home to Luton, who will probably be in the promotion picture again.

Excellent read! I wonder if any Iremongers are still connected with the club in some way? Good job there was no such thing as YouTube back then!

When I saw that I thought we were taking part in an international tournament against exotic foreign teams! Alas it's just the League Cup and we've got Scunny away. Don't we play Scunny away every year?

This is a very neat idea, hope it pays off financially too. I also like the option to go sponsor-free - how many of our shirts have been completely ruined by a tacky sponsor in the past?

Sad news, RIP. His time as chairman was certainly a rollercoaster ride with lots of ups and downs.

A very interesting experiment, although I'm not sure it'll pay off financially. A sponsor that appears on the replica shirts will receive far more exposure, and will be more closely associated with the club in the public's eye, than one that doesn't. It'll be seen as our "default" sponsor. A sponsor that appears on the shirts during, say, January but doesn't appear on any replica shirts will get a lot less exposure and will probably pay accordingly. From an aesthetic point of view I can't say the idea of alternating shirt sponsors fills me with joy, but with a couple of exceptions I can't say I'm that bothered what logo appears on the shirts.

Personally I would prefer us to win our first 30 games, seal promotion and then coast the season out. But then I am a man of simple pleasures.

Good choice! He was good in The Flintstones.

What also connects us is that both clubs enjoy success when the year ends in one. Chas and Dave sang a song about it for Spurs. Notts were promoted in 1931, 1971, 1981 and 1991, our best-ever position (3rd in division 1) came in 1891 and 1901 and we reached the FA Cup final in 1891. Shame Munto didn't come a year later, as we could have added 2011 to the list too. Who's having a flutter on promotion in 2021?

Maybe Don could have taken the goal home with him? He could have put it up in his garden. It's good that Spurs are only moving next door so their fans will be able to keep their pre-match rituals. That's a big part of a matchday. On the other hand, I'm very uncomfortable with a club side using Wembley for home games. Wembley should be for special occasions only. I never knew that Notts were the first visitors to WHL. So to my knowledge we played in the opening matches at White Hart Lane, the Nou Camp and the Juventus Stadium (and didn't win any of them). Any more? Possibly that place on the other side of the Trent too?

"My greatest concern is that some people are being misled by the idea that our chosen format of the Checkatrade Trophy is providing a pathway for 'B-teams' to be inducted into the EFL. This, quite simply, will never happen. We would certainly never vote in favour of it." This is almost impossibly naive and short-sighted. If B teams are allowed to become a normal and accepted part of the English football landscape, it is only a matter of time until some executive comes along, who wants to make a name for himself with some "blue-sky thinking", and has the grand idea of allowing Premier League B teams in the League system. It'll help the England team, he'll say. And all it would take to make it a reality is a bit of extra cash from the Premier League. The point of their inclusion in the Trophy was to give young players experience of senior competitive football. If the Trophy isn't competitive enough for them, the next step would be their inclusion in other competitions - the League have long been looking for ways to "liven up" the League Cup so I wouldn't be surprised to see it there. This could then be the gateway to League status. Not next season, but in 10, 15, 20 years. The Football League is a cherished institution and must be protected from this kind of pointless nonsense.

Firstly, welcome to the community! Secondly, what you say is fine. The Paintpot Trophy is not attractive but it is a realistic opportunity to reach Wembley. And if the other story posted today is correct, most people opted for its continuation without the B teams. It was a while back so I'm not sure, but I think the survey was held before the takeover. But the B teams are the problem here. They need to go, for the reasons outlined above.

They've gone for the money. In the article it's claimed that more than 50% (probably not much more, otherwise they'd have told us the figure) of Notts fans who responded agreed that the competition should go ahead "in some form". But these are split between those who want to keep the current format and those who don't. How many of them wanted to stick with the current format? We don't know, it's not disclosed. It's highly likely that it's less than the 40-49% of people who want it scrapped altogether. This is short-termism at its very worst. If B teams are allowed to become normalised then it's only a matter of time until some Premier League executive floats the idea of letting them in the Football League. And as we've seen, if you offer League clubs enough pound notes they'll accept anything. If you want to see for yourself what this would mean you're welcome to come to Germany to watch a match involving a B team. Experience the thrills and spills of 300 spectators in a stadium holding 50,000 watching a team that fluctuates wildly from one week to the next, distorting the competition. This is why it is essential that B teams are not allowed to become normalised in senior football. It doesn't matter if the League offers us 10 million, letting them get a foot in the door is a massive act of self-harm. Right now I'm ashamed of my club. I hope the other clubs have seen sense on this.