weymouthPIE

So let me get this straight - you lost to Sheffield United, in a play-off final, at Wembley. A play-off final is not something that Sheffield United win. NOTTS-JOE OUT! Nah seriously I know what you mean mate this game is pretty addictive. I dont actually have football manager myself, but I've played it quite a bit on my mates IPad. I've done a few carrers on it. I started one with Glasgow Rangers, but I got a bit fed up of winning 7-2 in the third division every week so I restarted with Leicester City, but got sacked in November So I started again, this time with Notts. I kept the bulk of the squad we had already, but I brought in Paddy Madden from Yeovil Town and signed a young right back from Crewe (whatever his name was). Judgey wanted to leave but no offers actually came in, and come January I managed to persuade him to sign a SIX year deal! We lost the JPT final to Swindon but ended up going up. The top 4 were pretty close. With 3 games to go we were top on GD ahead of Coventry, with sheffield united in 3rd an someone else 4th. We played Coventry away, and despite going 1-0 up during the second half we lost 2-1. We then only managed a 1-1 draw in our penoltimate game meaning we had to win our last game and hope the blades slipped up. We won 2-0 against Oldham, while United lost 5-4 to Scunthorpe. The Champaigne corks popped - Notts were into the championship! Gee, wrote quite a bit more than I wanted to here haha. It's amazing how addictive these games can get!

The other day I posted this picture on this site and on Facebook: Although I found the image amusing as it's certainly true to a point, it got me thinking - how on earth could anybody play with a broken neck? Did he know how serious it was? What kind of a man was he to think "my neck's broken but I'm fine"? As a result I did some research on Bert Trautmann's career and life and wow! Bert Trautmann's is certainly a remarkable story. I have done my best to re-write his story here for PON, so I hope you enjoy Bernhard Carl Trautmann, or as he became more affectionatly known as - Bert Trautmann, was born in Bremen on 22nd October 1923. He lived with his Father who was a factory worker at the docks, and his Mother. The Treeaty of Versailles which was signed at the end of the First World War had left Germany in a pretty sorry state - they had been relying in loans from the USA to keep up with their war reperation payments, but the Wall Street Crash meant that they no longer got those loans. The bleak economic climate in the 1930s left the Trautmann family with no choice other than to sell their home and move into an apartment. The young Bert Trautmann had a keen interest in playing football and handball from an early age. He joined Football Club Blau Und Weiss, and took to playing with much enthusiasm. Bert joined a group called the Jungvolk which was a precurser to the Hitler Youth. The following year he won several Junior athletics events which led to him being awarded a certificate for athletic excellence signed by the German President Paul Von Hindenburg. When the Second World War began, Trautmann was working as a mechanic but he joined the Luftwaffe as a radio operator in 1941. However he didn't show much apitude for radio work during his training so he went off to become a Paratrooper instead. He served in Poland although his regiment were stationed far behind the front line, which resulted in boredom. Therefore they resorted to playing a lot of sports and practical jokes. One of those practical joked backfired on Bert as it resulted in a Staff Sergaent burning his arms. Trautmann was court-martialled and given a three month prison sentence. However he came down with Acute Appendicitis so spent most if his sentence in a military hospital. Following his release he joined up with German forces in Ukraine, where the German advance had been halted due to the adverse weather conditions. Hit and run attacks on the Soviet Forces became the focus for Trautmann's unit, and he was soon promoted to Corporal. In 1942 small advances were made but Trautmann's unit were hit hard by a Soviet counter-attack. By the time his unit were withdrawn from the Eastern Front, less than 300 of the original 1,000 men in the unit were still alive. Trautmann himself won five medals for his actions on the Eastern Front - including the Iron Cross. Following his withdrawel from the Eastern front, Trautmann was promoted to Sergaent, and he became part of a unit which was made up of the remnents of other units which had been almost completely destroyed on the Eastern front. His new unit were stationed in France in anticipation of an allied invasion. In 1944, he survived the bombing of Kleve, and he decided to head back to Breman as he had no unit left. By now, German soldiers caught attempting to flee were being excecuted as deserters, so Trautmann had to try and avoid soldiers from both sides. Unfortunatly, just a few days into his journey home he was captured by a couple of U.S soldiers in a barn. They soon came to the conclusion that Trautmann had no useful information to give them so they marched him out of the barn. Trautmann, thinking he was about to be excecuted, made a bid for freedom. He fled his captors and jumped over a fence. Unfortunatly he had the miss-fortune of landing right at the feet of a British soldier who is said to have greeted him with "hello fritz, fancy a cuppa tea?". That was Trautmann's third attempt at freedom during the war. Earlier in the war he had been caputured on the Eastern front by the Russians and he was captured again by members of the French Resistance, but he escaped both times. This time though he wasn't so lucky. At first he was held in Belguim before being transfered to Essex where he was interrogated. Trautmann was a volunteer soldier who had been essentially brainwashed by the Nazis from a young age. He was therefore classed as a catergory "C" prisoner, meaning he was regarded as a Nazi. He was then transferred to a Prisoner of war camp near Northwich in Cheshire. Soon he was downgraded to a catergory "B" prisoner, meaning he was no longer regarded as a Nazi. Follwing this he was transferred to another POW camp in Ashton-In-Markerfield, Lancashire. Football matches were regularly held in the camp as the prisoners tried to keep themselves entertained. In these matches, Trautmann usualy played outfield. However, in an organised match against a local amateur side, Trautmann picked up an injury while playing at centre half and he asked to swap positions with the goalkeeper. From that day forth, he played as a goalkeeper. It was also during his time at the POW camp that he started getting called "Bert" as the English guards had trouble pronouncing his name. The POW camp at which Trautmann was held closed in 1948 - three years after the formal surrender of German forces and the end of the War. Trautmann decided to stay in Britian - working on a farm, and on bomb disposal in th Merseyside town of Huyton. He also began playing football for amateur club St Helens Town in the Liverpool County Combination League. Over the course of the 1948-49 season, Trautmann's stock as a goalkeeper grew, and big crowds began turning up to see him play, including a record 9,000 in the final of the local Mahon Cup final. As the 1949-50 season progressed, league clubs began to take notice of Trautmann. First Division club Manchester City offered Bert a contract in October 1949, which he signed - joining the club initially as an amateur but soon turning professional. The signing of a former member of the Luftwaffe did not go down well among many Manchester City supporters. Many season ticket holders threatened a boycott, and the club was bombarded with protest letters not just from the people of Manchester, but from people all over the country. The antagonism of fans was not the only thing Trautmann was up against. He was signed as a replacement to Frank Swift, who was regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the club's history. City's captain Eric Westwood was a D-Day veteran, and although he privatly expressed many doubts about the signing of Trautmann, he publically welcomed Trautmann to the club saying "there's no war in this dressing room". Bert made his first team debut for Manchester City in 19th November in a game against Bolton Wanderers. He put in a competent display in his first game which silenced some of the doubters, and fans began to realise his talent. He did however recieve a lot of abuse from opposition fans at away matches which had an affect on his concentration in his first few games. In December of 1949 he shipped seven goals at Derby County. Manchester City travelled to Fulham in January 1950. This was to be Trautmann's first visit to London, and the game recieved a lot of coverage with most of the country's media at the time being based in London. Due to the heavy damage London suffered as a result of Lufwaffe bombing raids during the War, Trautmann was a target of deep hatred for the crowd who yelled "kraut" and "Nazi", among other things at him. City were not having a great season and they were expected to lose heavily, but a string of fine saves from Trautmann meant City only lost the match 1-0. At full time, Trautmann recieved a standing ovation from the crowd and he was applauded off the field by both teams. City continued to struggle in the league and suffered relegation from Division 1 - finishing second bottom on 29 points, 3 points from safety (2 points for a win back then). The following season, Man City were promoted back to Division 1 finishing second in the second division. Over the new few years, Trautmann really began to establish himself as a top goalkeeper, and he played in all-but 5 of City's next 250 league games. Come 1952, his reputation had spread back to Germany, and Schalke made a £1,000 offer for his services. City refused the offer, and were quoted in the press as saying they believed Trautmann to be worth twenty times what Schalke had offered. In 1955, Manchester City reached the FA Cup final where they would face Newcastle United. Trautmann became the first ever German to play in an FA Cup final. It's said that the City team were gripped by nerves before the game, and they fell behind after less than a minute. Things got worse on 18 minutes when Jimmy Meadows was injured, leaving City with only 10 men (no subs back then). Now City had made the final largly thanks to Trautmann's ability start attacks by throwing the ball out to the wingers as oppose to simply kicking the ball as far down the field as possible. But the loss of a player limited this ability. Although City did equalise during the first half, they struggled during the second half and were eventually beaten 3-1. They reached the final again though the following year, this time to face Birmingham City. Shortly before the final, Trautmann hadd become the first goalkeeper ever to win the Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year award, and two days later he stepped out onto the hallowed turf at Wembley for the Cup final, and a match that would cemment his legacy as one of football's greats. This time, Manchester City were more settled and they took the lead after just three minutes. Birmingham soon equalised after a quarter of an hour. It stayed 1-1 but then midway through the second half, Manchester City bagged two goals in two minutes to take control of the game. From then on Birmingham threw everything forwards. With 15 minutes remaining, Trautmann dived at the ball but collided heavily with Birmingham's Peter Murphy. Trautmann's neck smashed against Murphy's knee knocking him briefly unconcious. Remember, no subs were permitted in those days so although dazed and unsteady on his feet - Trautmann played on. For 15 more minutes he defended his goal, bravely denying Murphy once more to help Manchester City hold on for a 3-1 victory. Trautmann was the hero for his spectacular saves towards the end of the game. These are the television highlights of that final: Trautmann's neck was still causing him pain as he went up to collect his winners medal, Prince Phillip commented on his crooked neck. Nevertheless, Trautmann attended the post-match banquet that evening despite not being able to move his head. He went to bed that night expecting the pain to go away after some rest. It didn't, so he went to St George's Hospital the following day where he was told he simply had a crick in his neck which would soon go away. Three days later, he got an opinion from a second doctor back in Manchester, and X-Rays showed that Trautmann had dislocated five Vertebrae in his neck, one of which was cracked in half. The third Vertebrae had wedged against the second, which had prevented further, pottentially fatal damage. Trautmann took several months to recover, which resulted in him missing the first part of the 1956-57 season. In early December, he played in a couple of reserve team games but he clearly lacked confidence. Nevertheless, he was restored to the first team on December 15th, but he conceeded three goals against Wolves. He continued to struggle, and some began to call for him to retire. Some even criticised Manchester City for forcing Trautmann to play when he had not fully recovered. The following season, City became the first, and thus far only English league club to score 100 goals, and concede 100 goals in the same season. They finished 5th in the First Division, and Trautmann played on 34 of City's 42 league games that season. He only kept two clean sheets that season, and he shipped 8 at Leicester in an 8-4 defeat. City fans certainly got their moneys worth as far as the entertainment on offer was concerned that season! Overall, between 1949 and 1964, Bert Trautmann played in 545 matches for Manchester City. His City career finished with a testimonial game between a joint Manchester City & Manchester United XI which included the likes of Bobby Charlton and Dennis Law, against an England team that included Stanley Matthews and Jimmy Armfield. The official crowd for his testimonial was 47,000 although it was thought to be more along the lines of 60,000. Although he had planned to retire after his testimonial, Trautmann briefly joined Wellington Town. He had lost some of his agility but he proved he could still pull in the punters on his debut for the club at Hereford. However in just his second game for the club, Trautmann was sent off for violant conduct, and he never played again. After a few months pondering his options, Bert recieved a telephone call from the Stockport County chairman Victor Bernard, who offered him the chance to become the club's general manager. Stockport were struggling both financially and in terms of league position, and the appointment of Trautmann was an attempt to improve the club's image. Many of the club's fans, and indeed many local people also supported one of the two Manchester clubs, so between them - Trautmann and Bernard decided to move all of Stockport's home games to Friday night's in an attempt to boost revenue from extra support. Whilst that worked, the performances of the team didnt improve much, and in 1966 Trautmann resigned after a falling out with Bernard. In 1967 and 1968 Trautmann managed German club Prussia Munster, and he guided them to a 13th place finish in the German second tier. He also had a short spell at Opel Russelsheim. Following that, the German FA employed Trautmann as a development worker and sent him to countries without a football structure. At first he worked in Burma where he enjoyed two years as national team coach in which they qualified for the 1972 Munich Olympics, and they won the President's Cup - which was a competition contested between South-East Asian countries. He also worked in Tanzania, Pakistan, Liberia and Yemen until 1988 when he retired and settled in Spain. Now you might have thought that Trautmann would have enjoyed a succesfull International career too given his sucess at Manchester City. He was a renowned shot stopper who saved 60% of the penalties he faced. But actually, despite being recognised as one of the world's top goalkeepers at the time, Trautmann never played for his country. He had met with the German national coach Sepp Herberger in 1953 and was told that the travel expenses, coupled with the pottential political implications of selecting a player who did not play in Germany were the reasons why he could not be selected. Trautmann's only international experience came when the Football League decided to include foreign players in Football League representative matches. Trautmann captained the Football League against the Irish League and he also played against the Italian League. As a result of this Trautmann missed out on the 1954 World Cup which West Germany won, and thats a real shame. Many people these days claim that a player cannot really be classed as a true great unless they have achieved success at International level as well as club level. You can see their point, but to discount Trautmann as a legend I think is wrong. Not only was he a fantastic shot stopper, but he also changed the goalkeepers role to an extent with his ability to start attacks from throwing the ball out wide, at a time when it was perfectly acceptable for keepers to simply kick the ball as far down the pitch as they could. And he won the public over too, which must have taken some doing. Gordon Banks cited Trautmann as a big influence on his playing style. The media have recognised Trautmann's reputation numerous times. The Daily Mail ranked Trautmann as the unofficial 19th best goalkeeper of all time, while the TV channel ESPN ranked his diving save at Peter Murphy's knee which resulted in him breaking his neck as the best ever FA Cup save. There is also a statue of Trautmann inside the main reception at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium: His reputation was again recognised in 2004 when he was awarded an OBE for his work in Anglo-German relations, and the following year he was inducted into the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame. I don't think anybody could possibly deny Trautmann his place in history. Yes, his only honour as a player on the pitch was that 1956 FA Cup success and no he never played for his country. But you have to look at the bigger picture. Look at where he came from, what he went through, his road to success. The obstacles he had to overcome to reach the heights he reached. His immense bravery in that Cup final should, and probably will be remembered forever. I've spent quite a few hours reading all sorts of stories and researching Trautmann's career in order to put this blog together, and it's taken me two days to put the whole thing together. I really wanted to write something that would do the great man justice and I hope I've done that, because Bert Trautmann is an inspiration, a legend, and a true great. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and hopefully found it interesting

Glad you enjoyed it @super-ram, thanks for your kind words Luckily I missed that Alfreton game as Notts were playing away to Bournemouth the same day. Seem to remember Notts absolutely dominated the game but somehow lost haha!

Another very enjoyable article mate, well done I look forward to the next one

I remember saying a while back that I might tell the story of Weymouth's recent turbulant history on here one day and a few people seemed interested. So finally, here it is! I'll forewarn you that this does go on quite a bit but I have done my best to whittle it down For those of you who don't know me so well, I was born in Nottingham and became a Notts County fan when we got given free tickets at school and my Dad took me down, even though he was a Forest fan. My Dad sadly passed away in 2005 and with most of my family having moved down to Weymouth, me and my Mum followed in 2007. I didnt last long with no football though, and me and my Granddad first went to watch Weymouth in March of that year. I was instantly hooked. My Granddad can't come anymore but I've made a lot of good friends at Weymouth FC and now, unless I can get to a Notts match, I follow Weymouth home and away. If I don't go away I'll go watch the Reserves! One way of describing Weymouth FC's recent history would be to say it's never dull! The club went from the Southern League to the brink of the Football League under the ownership of first Ian Ridley, then Martin Harrison. They enjoyed success in both the league and FA Cup - winning the Conference South title in 2005-06 and earning an FA Cup first round replay with Nottingham Forest that same season after a 1-1 draw at the City Ground. Weymouth also took Bury to a replay the following season with a 2-2 draw down here on the BBC. But of course, the dream didn't last and midway through our first season back in the Conference, the enitre squad was placed up for sale after Martin Harrison ran out of money. Still, we managed to finish 11th in the 2006-07 Conference. The following season was more of a struggle with the Terras not securing their Blue Square Premier status until the penultimate game of the season in a hard faught 0-0 draw at Champions Aldershot Town. The 2008-09 season started well enough. In fact after a 2-0 win at Torquay United on 10th February we were 10th in the table, but then everything really began to unravel. The then chairman Malcolm Curtis had and still does want the land that our ground sits on. He walked out on the club that season, many would say in the hope that the club would die and he could then get hold of the land. His departure left the club in a bit of a mess. Players had not been paid since before Christmas and were not even covered if they got injured. As a result of this, the entire first team walked out ahead of our now infamous home game with Rushden & Diamonds. That day, we were forced to field the under 18s side and we were beaten 9-0. Nobody boo'd. Nodody left early. Everyone stayed till the bitter end supporting the lads, and those heroic boys got a standing ovation at the end of the game. This video from YouTube shows some of the Weymouth highlights from that game, and the scenes at full time: We had no choice but to continue to field the youngsters for the rest of the season. In our final 16 games after that win at Torquay we gained just 1 more point, scoring 4 goals and conceeding 48. We dropped from 10th place to 23rd - second bottom, with relegation being confirmed in the final home game of the season with a fighting 2-1 defeat to York City. The club's future was still in dubt going into the 2009-10 season but somehow former player Matty Hale managed to assemble a squad made up mostly of local lads and Bath University students. We began the season with an encouraging 1-1 draw at Lewes but then came two heavy home defeats; 5-0 to Eastleigh and 6-2 to Bishops Stortford. The season was a bit of a shambles really. Matty Hale resigned in October following a 5-0 drubbing at home to Maidenhead United and he was replaced by another former player in Ian Hutchinson. In November 2009 Weymouth were drawn at home to local rivals Dorchester Town in the FA Trophy. There was a genuine possibility that this could be Weymouth's last ever game. The atmosphere was cranked up just before kick-off when the Dorchester fans unveiled a banner which read "Weymouth - a town with no history, a club with no future." This seemed to inspire the Terras as they ran out 3-0 winners leaving their bitter rivals from 'over the hill' shellshocked. The club did manage to soldier on to the end of the season but the league form never really improved despite a second win over Dorchester on New Year's Day, this time in the league. We finished bottom of the Conference South, although at the end of the season our short-term future was at least secured thanks to controversial character George Rolls buying the club. He placed the club into a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) which meant that for every pound owed to creditors, they would get 10%. It would however mean we would begin the 2010-11 season in the Southern League on -10 poins. We began that season with 3 draws before defeat at Salisbury City. A 3-1 win at Evesham United followed but our early season form was quite poor, and included a 9-0 defeat at Hednesford and a 7-2 loss at Stourbridge in the same week. We moved off the bottom of the table for the first time in January but at the time we were still 6 points adrift of safety and had played more games than anyone else. Things looked bleak but in early February we had a stroke of luck. Windsor & Eton were wound up and therefore all the teams in the league lost whatever points they had gained against them. Plus instead of 4, only 3 teams would now go down. Sure, staying up due to another club's demise isn't ideal but we took whatever came our way at that time. On a Wednesday evening in March, an injury time goal from ace marksman Warren Byerly gave us a 1-0 win at Swindon Supermarine and lifted us out of the drop zone for the first time in the season. But that didn't last long, we were back in that bottom 3 followng a 4-1 loss at Bedford in what was out 5th of 6 straight away games. Here's how the bottom of the table looked after the Bedford game (bottom 3 go down): In our next game an emphatic 4-0 win at Tiverton moved us back up to 18th and all-but condemned Tiverton to the drop, leaving the final relegation spot to be decided between ourselves and Didcot Town who, crucially, still had a game in hand. That game in hand ended in a draw, so with 2 games to go we were both on 31 points but they had a marginally superior goal difference. In our final home game of the season we beat play-off chasing Chesham United 3-0 while Didcot only drew. This meant that going into the final day we had a 2 point cushion on Didcot. We were beaten 3-2 at champions Truro City on the final day but Didcot's 3-0 defeat to Oxford City meant we were safe. We had completed the great escape! The 2011-12 season looked like being another season of struggle. Local man Brendon King became the new manager. We had a very young, relatively inexperienced squad with a rookie manager and were tipped by most for the drop. However for the majority of the season we were OK in mid table. We even made it to the second round proper of the FA Trophy although we got hammered 6-0 at home by Alfreton Town. The biggest event of the season took place in February. Director and life-long fan Nigel Biddlecome, along with a group of local businessman brought the club from George Rolls and by setting up a community trust, finally safeguarded the future for Weymouth FC, as no one person would ever be able to own the club again. Celebrations however were a bit mild as the team were going through an alarming dip in form which now saw us looking over our shoulders yet again. Our third last game ended in a 3-0 defeat at Cambridge City, and left us 2 points above the drop zone with two games to go. The final home game of the season against Hitchin Town would be a nervy affair. The first half was relatively quiet but just 3 minutes into the second half disaster struck as the Canneries took a 1-0 lead from a corner. The next 20 minutes were very scrappy with Weymouth struggling to really create anything but then on 69 minutes, a massive slice of luck came our way. Mark Ford raced through and was brought down in the area. The defender actually got the ball but we didnt complain. That penalty was so hard to watch, some turned away. Craig Duff stepped up, not our usual penalty taker; but he rolled the ball home to make it 1-1. Then 3 minutes later, that man Mark Ford again managed to beat the offside trap, and in what seemed like slow motion - he rounded the keeper before calmly slotting home to send the home fans wild. The terras held out through a nervy final quarter of an hour to seal 3 points and our win, coupled with Swindon Supermarine losing at home to Barwell meant we were safe for another year. Under new owners and a new board expectations rose slightly for the 2012-2013 season. Over the summer, Brendon King set about adding some much needed experience to the squad and brought in the likes of Ben Joyce, Kyle Critchell, Scott Walker and Barry McConnell. Unfortunaly over the summer we lost our star striker Warren Byerley to Kettering Town, which was pretty controversial. Weymouth had paid for Warren to undergo private surgery on a knee injury which would have saw him miss the beggining of the season had he gone down the NHS route. Kettering had been demoted from the Conference to the Southern League and were skint. George Rolls had got involved up there and was offering players ridicuous sums of money to join the club. Sums of money which anyone with any sense knew would not be paid. Still, Byerley moved north along with young defender Ben Gerring. I suppose it was inevitable really that the fixture computer would chuck out Weymouth v Kettering Town on the opening day! That certainly gave me personally a dilemna as I had to decide whether to travel up to crewe for Notts' opening game, or stay home and watch Weymouth v Kettering. In the end I chose Crewe, and that proved the right decision with the much built up Weymouth v Kettering game ending in a boring 0-0 draw. Still, we were not done with Kettering this season yet. The second game of Weymouth's season saw another draw as we fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Chippenham Town. A 4-2 loss at newly promoted and big spending St Neots Town followed before we got our first win of the season against another newly promoted side in Bideford. As I said, expectations had risen for this season, so when we found ourselves 18th in October, some fans - myself included, began to question the manager Brendon King. The hunger and desire of the team came under severe scrutiny when we crashed out of the FA Trophy in just the second qualifying round after a humiliating 2-1 loss at home to lower league club Shortwood United. This was followed by a 5-1 defeat at home to Stourbridge in the league in a match we ended with 9 men. This though would prove to be a bit of a turning point. We won 3-2 at St Albans City next time out and despite a 1-0 defeat at home to Cambridge in a match we dominated, the signs were there that we could start to improve. After the Cambridge match on 17th November we won every game between then and New Year. Six straight wins which saw us climb from 15th to 5th. The run came to an end on New Year's Day when a goalkeeping error gave Bideford a 2-1 victory. A frustrating 0-0 draw at home to Chippenham followed before eventual champions Leamington came to the Bob Lucas Stadium on an icy Tuesday evening. In the first half we managed to hold our own but in the second half, Leamington showed their class - blowing us away with 4 goals in the final half hour. One of those nights where we just had to admit we were beaten by a better side. Another 0-0 draw at Gosport Borough followed before another heavy defeat, this time 5-2 at AFC Totton. We had lead 2-1 at half time and were playing very well, but somehow we just collapsed in the final half hour again. Their first goal was offside; the second was a free-kick that somehow just rolled along the floor into the bottom corner; and the third was a cross that sailed over the keeper's head into the net! We recovered with back-to-back 2-1 wins on home soil before our annual defeat at Cambridge City. Then it was the re-match with Kettering. Now Kettering's season had turned into a nightmare. All of the players that had lined up against us on the opening day, including Warren Byerley had left the club by now having not been paid, as had George Rolls following a betting scandel. Kettering had been locked out of their Nene Park ground and at one point had to start a game with just 10 men, including the substitute goalkeeper in midfield against Bashley! They were now groundsharing with Corby Town. On a bitterly cold Wednesday evening Kettering took an early lead but Weymouth eventually ran out 6-1 winners. Our next game saw us beat St Albans City 2-0 at home. Kyle Critchell scored and it would turn out to be his last act of the season for us as he suffered a very nasty leg fracture the following Wednesday night in a Dorset Senior Cup semi-final. Three more wins on the trot saw us move up to 4th, and by now a lot of fans really were beggining to dream. That didn't last too long though. We were brought crashing back down to earth with a 5-0 defeat at Stourbridge and a 3-0 defeat at home to Chesham. Another home defeat to struggling Redditch saw us drop out of the play-offs. On Easter Monday we made the short hop over to the New Forest village of Bashley, who themselves were chasing points to confirm their safety. Chance after chance after chance was spurned by Weymouth in an unbeleavably frustrating afternoon before inevitably, Bashley scored the decisive goal ten minutes from time. That game gave me the impression it just wasn't meant to be for us. I gave up on our play-off hopes that day. The next game brought another heavy home defeat, this time 4-0 to Bedford Town. But the result was overshadowed by a horrific injury to midfielder Jamie Skinner, barely a minute after he came on as a sub. The challenge left him with several ruptured ligaments and muscles in his knee and leg, as well as damage to nerves, vasculature and joint structure. His career is very much in doubt at the munute. After 5 straight defeats without scoring Leamington were heardly the ideal opponents for our third-last game of the season. But the Terras battled hard and earned a creditable 1-1 draw, delaying Leamington's title party in the process. The final home game of the season saw a 2-1 win over Barwell, which did leave many of us wondering what might have been, with Barwell at the time occupying the final play-off spot. We lost 3-0 at Arlesey Town on the final day. We finished the 2012-13 season in 9th place, our first top half finish since 2007. Magnifficent progess has been made on and off the field this season. Some great football has been played - fair play to Brendon King, he's won me and a lot of fans over. Also attendances are slowly creeping up again. Here's the final table: The hope is that we can make a more sustained play-off challenge next season and work to achieve this has already begun with numerous players signing contract extensions and three new faces already joining the club. But we know we must do this in a sustainable way. We know from the past that having a rich benefactor dosn't always have a happy ending. The importat thing is the club is moving in the right direction. There's a fantastic group of volunteers who help out with all sorts like cleaning the kit, cleaning the stadium, working the bar, selling programmes, raffle tickets, working the turnstiles etc. I'm proud to say I am one of them. That's a brief summary of the past few seasons at Weymouth Football Club. I don't know a great deal about the politics or the finances which is why I didn't go into that too much. You could probably write a fairly long book on all of that. In fact former chairman Ian Ridley did just that. His book Floodlit Dreams tells the story of his takeover back in 2003, how he went about rebuilding his hometown club and the events that lead to his resignation. It's a fascinating story and if you like a good book I cannot reccommend it enough. I think there are plenty of copies for sale on EBay and on Amazon. If you have read this blog I thank you very much. I know this has been incredibly long but I hope I've managed to keep your interest till the end lol. If you are interested you can see highlights of all Weymouth's home games on our YouTube channel here - http://www.youtube.com/user/terrascouk Think I appear celebrating behind the goal in a few of these Once again, thanks for reading

The football world is often refered to as 'the football family' but what does that mean? Ofcourse, there are signs of togetherness from all football fans all the time - the way fans of different clubs all get on under one roof like on this website, the support Stylian Petrov has recieved from supporters of all clubs in his fight against Leukemia, and the way we can all come together in respect (well, most of us) when disasters such as Hillsboroough, Bradford and Ibrox occured. I could go on. But there are reasons to suggest that this 'football family' isn't much of a 'family'. To me, the term 'football family' would suggest that we at Notts County, and down here at Weymouth share the same values and dreams as clubs in the premier league and there is equality, with those at the top of the financial tree helping those at the bottom in their hour of need. But is this really the case? When Weymouth fell on hard times where was the 'football family'? It certainly was not there offering to help us! Are we not as important as Southampton, Liverpool or Chelsea? Ofcourse we are, but where was the equality? Surely the strengh of the English game is based largely on its structure from the Premiership down to Sunday league level? Most people at the top of the game, especially football pundits (or as I like to call them - self appointed experts) and the TV companies never mention our leagues. If they do, it's because a club at that level has had a big FA Cup draw, but even then they seem to do it with a smile and a joke about them. I find it a very dismissive attitude of that level of the game. I would happily bet that the vast majority of Premier league players have little to no knowledge of football below League 2, let alone below the Conference National. But to be fair the clubs dont help. How many of the big clubs offer to play smaller clubs in friendlies to help bring them in some cash? Most of them would rather jet off for a pre-season trip to America, Asia or somewhere hot. Hampshire based club AFC Totton have fallen on hard time lately, but what are the chances of Southampton (not half an hour up the road) offering to play them in a pre-season friendly to try and help them out a bit? Pretty much nil. It's not only AFC Totton in financial difficulties. Aldershot Town & Dunfermiline Athletic recently entered administration, and hundreds of football clubs up and down the UK are in trouble but does this so called 'football family' help? No. I know it's a bit of a cliche but ONE WEEK'S wages from any of Manchester City's stars would be more than enough to sort out most clubs, especially at non-league level's problems and give a fanbase a club to support for another season. But ofcourse that will never happen because any such payment would be deemed inappropriate. It's a bit of a euphemism for greed I think and until reality strikes, the future of the game below the elite level will remain in serious danger. But what can be done? The obvious answer would appear to be a wage cap at all levels but personally I can't see that ever being implemented simply because clubs will never agree to one voluntarily. And trying to impose a wage cap could invite legal action from football clubs, and in the end lawyers would be the only winners. And another problem is that all too often these days, small clubs come across a wealthy benefactor who then bankrolls them on a rapid rise through several divisions to a league they never previously dreamed of, or ever came close to. But crucially, they wont have the support needed to sustain that level once the promotions inevitably stop coming. When that happens, clubs have to hope that the benefactor continues to pump in his money but only to stand still. In these difficult times, it simply does not happen. I go back to AFC Totton. They were in the Wessex League (step 10 of the English football pyramid) or lower for donkeys years, but suddenly they shot up and found themselves in the Southern Premier League (step 7). However they were ill equipped in terms of support and as a result of that, when the promotions stopped coming, the benefactor upped sticks. The support was not anywhere near good enough to sustain the level they've found themselves at and as a result, they face the possibility of being kicked out of the league at next months league AGM with players having not been paid since February. Another recent example is Cornwall based club Truro City. They came further than AFC Totton - rising from the South Western League (step 11) all the way up to the Conference South (step 6) within five seasons. But inevitably, the promotions stopped coming, and with the lowest gates in the league, and with people on mad wages it was destined to end in tears. Now they're in administration, have been relegated from the Conference South and still have no idea what league they'll ply their trade in next season. They don't even have a ground to play at currently. And it's the true fans of clubs like Truro and Totton who suffer. Fans who were quite happy when their clubs were stable in the Wessex League/South Western League. It's easy to say these clubs got themelves into their own mess but the problem is it's being allowed to happen far too often and far too easily. Something has to be done but until the powers that be wake up, and realise that football does exist below the glamour of the Premiership, more and more clubs will die or fall into trouble, and the future of the game at grassroots level will look very bleak indeed. If you have managed to read all the way through this I hope you have found it interesting at least. It might come across as a bit of a rant, but I wanted to get this off my chest because as someone who has been bitten by the non-league bug, I really do fear for the future of the game. The story in the Football League isn't much happier. I've almost see Notts County die twice, and I've seen Weymouth stare death in the face in the past few years. Both my clubs were lucky in that they were saved but many other clubs won't be so lucky. No fan should see their club die. Something MUST be done, but will anything be done, or will the powers that be and the media continue to ignore the existance of football below the promised land and let the game fall into more turmoil?

Thanks Super_Ram

Well it's been an interesting couple of days at Manchester United to say the least. Sir Alex Fergusson's retirement has been cropping up for the past few years now. He always said he would only retire on health grounds and with with a hip operation coming up, his retirement should not really come as a great surprise, but it did. Let's be clear, I dislike Manchester United. Nothing to do with being jelous of their history as their fans seem to think it is, if anything you can't help but respect that clubs history; it is those fans themselves that irritate me. Every club has it's glory hunters but United fans are the worst. Over the years I've been far from Alex Fergusson's biggest fan. I don't like the way he blames a refereeing decision almost every time they lose, and I think he can be a bit of a bully sometimes. He is quite intimidating, and he makes sure commentators, the press and the games governing bodies are scared of doing or saying anything that might upset him. But despite this, no sane person can deny the man's achievements in the game. I very much doubt we will ever see another manager hang around at one club for as long as he has and achieve as much as he has ever again. He's transformed Manchester United into the most marketable football club in the world. Time and time again people have doubted him and his teams but time and again he's proved everyone wrong. He challenged Liverpool and won; he saw off Newcastle United, Arsenal, Chelsea and now Manchester City on the way to what seems like league title after league title. He raised the bar in the English game - bringing some of the world's top players to our shores and making some of the world's top players himself. Love him or hate him, you cannot help but admire him and what he has achieved both domestically and on the European stage.You can't really praise him enough. Sir Alex has certainly earned his retirement! Is he the greatest manager of all time? Well its up for debate and everyone has their opinions. He's certainly the best manager theres been in my lifetime. And what of his successor David Moyes? I have to say I'm not too convinced by this appointment. Here is a man who has spent the last 11 years at Everton and some (including a few Everton fans I know) would say that he has got too comfortable with simply finishing in the top half, and he is unable to step up to the next level. In those 11 years he has failed to win a single trophy; in fact his only managerial honour is the second division title with Preston North End back at the end of the 90s. He's never managed a team to victory at Old Trafford, Arsenal or Anfield and furthermore, he's never had to manage some of the world's top players. Alright, he worked with Wayne Rooney for a few months until he was sold but thats hardly preperation for the job he is about to undertake. I question the motives behind his appointment. I think a large part of the reasoning behind his appointment is stability. Alex Fergusson has been manager of United for 26 years, while David Moyes has been at Everton for 11 years. However the game has changed since Fergie first pulled up in the Old Trafford car park, even since David Moyes first arrived at Goodison Park. As us Notts County fans well know, we live in an "I want success now and I can't wait" sociaty. The bulk of Man United 'fans' wont care in the slightest about having a manager in place for the next decade. All they will be interested in is winning a couple of trophies every season. Will Moyes be able to cope with the level of expectation? Will he be able to handle the pressure and increased media attention? Will he be able to spend more money than he's ever had available to him wisely? Will he be able to do all of this under the watchfull gaze of Sir Alex? With Sir Alex taking up roles as a director and club ambassador I fear there could be a fair bit of interference from him, and I doubt any manager likes that. As a neutral I have my doubts but don't get me wrong I don't have anything against David Moyes and to some extent I hope he does well. But the thing is David Moyes, and indeed anybody who manages Manchester United in the future will always be compared to Fergie on everything and that's unfair. Moyes is his own man. And you just know that the moment Moyes' side hits a bad patch of form in his first season, the media will be straight on his back claiming he can't handle the pressure etc. Still this is all just food for thought really. As a neutral I think its going to be interesting to see how United do next season. Will this weeks events be a bit of a shockwave that takes a while for the players there to come to terms with? Ofcourse they're professionals but when you think there are players and people at that football club who have only ever worked under Sir Alex, you do wonder. It's also going to be interesting to see how the Everton side respond to everything thats gone on this week, and who will they get to replace Moyes? I can't see it being a particularly big name. One last thing though, I wish the media would stop talking like Sir Alex has died. I know he's a legend but come on, he's just retiring. There's no need for black and white montages with depressing music in the background!

Another excellent article Super-Ram. I read something interesting in an old programme from a play-off semi final at home to Bolton Wanderers a while back in Colin Slators column which talked about that 1894 Cup final; which was that our hat-trick hero Jimmy Logan was signed from Aston Villa for... wait for it... £15! Back then it was probably considered a pretty big fee, but imagine telling people involved in the game back then that in a hundred years time players will be changing hands for millions of pounds!

Another very interesting read Super-Ram. Lile joe I used to and still am well into history, especially that of sport. Got a number of books, and I really enjoyed Colin Slaters Tied up with Notts. Always interesting reading stories of years gone by as well as the development of the beautiful game. I look forward to your next article mate

Interesting read mate. I do have a real interest in history,, particularly that of sport ofcourse and I look forward to reading more of these write-ups

Thankyou for your comments guys. Cant see the muff getting automatic promotion mate. Only the champions go up automatically from our league and Leamington are 11 points clear lol. Jacob Blyth was playing for them last season

Well yesterday was fun! We were meant to get to Crawley for 12:58, but the train we were meant to get from Southampton to Crawley was initially delayed by over half an hour, before being cancelled completely due to a broken down freight train further down the line. We therefore had to get a train to Clapham Junction to get a train to Crawley. Got to Crawley at about quarter past two, asked a police officer outside the station for directions to the ground, he gave us the directions and told us it was about a ten minute walk. Ten minutes my arse! We got to the ground about ten minutes before kick off! Was an adventure, and I have to say I didn't think we were going to make it at one point but we got there in the end and thankfully we can laugh at it now. It's trips like that you end up remembering more. The things we do for our football clubs eh! I was somewhat surprised by the starting xi - having Blyth up top by himself with 4 strikers on the bench after Kiwomya had emphasised how important it was to win games if we want to stay in the play-off picture. We knew Dean Leacock was suspended after picking up a tenth caution on Wednesday night so Manny Smith's recall wasen't a surprise; and I wasen't all that surprised by Judgey's absence given his rough treatment by Orient on Wednesday Night. Was pleased for Bencherif to be given a start, I really don't think some of the abuse he gets from a section of our supporters is fair. He may not be the best player in the squad but one thing he will always do is give 100% to the cause, something which certain players fail to convince me they do. I can forgive a lack of talant if they give their all. Hayden Hollis and Manny Smith put in a really good shift at the heart of defence, so Leacock may have to go some to win his place back, which can only be a good thing. Deespite the strange team selection, we didn't play badly. Blyth certainly put himself about, and played some good passes at times, but I did think he lacked the instinct of a top striker. The midfield did present him with a couple of chances but the finishing touch wasen't there. He is however, still young and will surely improve over time. Bencherif I felt looked unfit. He gave his all but he was always a couple of yards off the pace. As much as I want him to do well, I'm not sure he has what it takes to hold down a place in the first team at this level. It'd be interesting to see what he could do if his fitness improved, he does show glimpses of promise from time to time. I don't know whats happened to Jamal Campbell-Ryce in recent games. He was excellent when I watched us on Sky against Bury the other week, but since the Tranmere match he seems to have hit a bad patch of form. Jeff Hughes on the other hand seems to be finding some form now and was possibly our best player yesterday, so unless Campbell-Ryce finds his form again, he could lose his place in the side. John Cofie came off the bench and brought some much needed flare to our side. On numerous occasions he took on and beat a number of Crawley players on his own but as has been the case so often, we lost out in the final third. Enoch Showumni also came off the bench and was superb. Within seconds of entering the field of play, he'd won the ball from a Crawley throw in - beaten two Crawley players and had two shots saved by their keeper. Fair play to the lad, he played well, and caused their defence a few problems. The match was probably destined to end in a draw given both sides recent form and positions in the table, we both had our chances to win the game but a draw was the right result. Bart, as usual made a couple of good stops and Gary Liddle made yet another goal line clearence. Also, Hayden Hollis managed to slice a clearance onto his own crossbar, which wasen't the calmest of moments for me! Crawley seem to lack in the final third just as badly as we do. I wonder where we would both be if we had a prolific scorer each. Can we make a late push for the play-offs? Well with two home games to come this week against Preston North End and Scunthorpe United, there is a brilliant chance for us to get those crucial back to back victories. If we can do that then who knows, but we can't really afford to drop many more points particularly on home soil, if indeed any at all. One team really flying at the minute is my local lot Weymouth. Seven wins in our last eight league games including a 3-1 victory at second placed Hemel Hemostead Town on Tuesday night, and a hard faught 1-0 win over Banbury United yesterday thanks to a 92nd minute goal has lifted us up to 4th in the Southern Premier League on 58 points. We have played one game more than sides around us, so we need to keep winning, but after years of turmoil and 5 consecutive relegation scraps, just to be in a position to challenge is fantastic. We travel to second placed Stourbridge next weekend, so it should be a very interesting game. Next Notts game for me will be in a fortnight at Swindon Town. Hopefully it'll be a more straightforward journey this time! Thanks for reading, COYP

Touching read mate, Your Grandad sounds like he was a lovely man and an avid Notts County fan. Must have been great to hear all his stories of supporting the Pies down the years. I'm sure he'd be proud of you pal, your a good guy R.I.P

Ian 'Charlie' McParland retains the honour of being the last Notts County manager to complete a full season in the hotseat after Keith Curle was sacked following Saturday's 2-1 defeat at bottom club Hartlepool united. It proved the final straw for the Notts top brass, after The Magpies had won just two of their last eleven games, and they were against two teams badly out of sorts in Portsmouth and Oldham Athletic. To say Keith Curle wasen't wanted by the fans when he was first appointed would be a massive understatment. He was replacing Martin Allen - a man who had galvinised the club at the end of the 2010-11 season and had forged a strong relationship with the fans. Yet Curle's track record was hardly anything to get the blood pumping - sacked by Torquay United, Chester City and Mansfield Town with allegations of bullying. He was going to have to go some to win the fans over but he quickly set about doing just that. On just his second day at the club Notts welcomed play-off chasing Stevenage to Meadow Lane, and Jeff Hughes' last minute winner gave Notts 3 points and left us 5 points off the top six, but having played at least 1 game more than most sides up there. But 4 wins and a draw in our next 5 games, culminating in an unbeleavable 4-2 victory away to runaway league leaders Charlton Athletic put Notts right into the mix. But we soon came back down to earth with back to back home defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United, and a goalless draw at Scunthorpe in a game we dominated. Still, by the time we hosted Bury in the penoltimate home game, we'd overhauled Brentford, Carlisle United and Stevenage to take 6th place. But we crashed 4-2 at home to Bury in an early kick-off, and Stevenage's win over Brentford meant we dropped out of the play-offs. The final away game of the season at Adams Park proved arguably the most memorable game of Curle's reign. Trailing 3-2 going into injury time, goals from Dela Adebola and a rocket from Alan Judge gave Notts the most dramatic 4-3 victory to lift us briefly back up to sixth. However Stevenage drew 2-2 at Brammal Lane in the evening game which meant we needed them to slip up on the final day to get into the top 6. And despite a 4-1 win over Colchester on the final day, Notts missed the play-offs on goal difference after Stevenage beat Bury. Now weather you supported Keith Curle or not, it's hard to argue with what a great job he did in those final few months of last season. He made us the divisions form side and turned what looked like a lost season into a dramatic play-off push that nearly ended happily. But then you could look at it and say it was our own fault we missed out, with the defeat to Bury and the failiure to convert just one of those chances at Scunthorpe. Because of the end to last season, expectation was high coming into this season and Curle himself wanted promotion. New players were signed and we started the season in fine form, and at one point we topped the table in September. But since then we've had some rather stuttering form, and just five home wins all season has left many supporters calling for the managers head despite a record breaking unbeaten away run of 22 games which was only ended last weekend at Leyton Orient. But attendences have fallen drastically, which has meant the club has less money to spend on players. And that was made even worse by an early FA Cup exit in a second round replay at home to league 2 Rotherham. I suppose you could say that was the beggining of the end. But then, you could look back to the decision to strip Lee Hughes of the number 9 shirt in the summer as the beggining of the end. I must admit, I thought absolutely nothing of it at first, but rumours soon began circulating of Hughsey speaking to fans at pre-season games about Keith trying to force him out, and when a last minute loan move to Port Vale fell through it was clear that Lee wanted out. He eventually got his move last month, and the failiure to bring in a replacement striker only increased the amount of people wanting Curle out. That's not to say we didnt try and bring players in, but we were simply unable to compete with the wages offered to players by other clubs. To be fair to Curle, he did try to sort out our striker problem but this leads to what I think has been the main problem. Curle has been very badly let down by players. On paper, I think we have one of the best squads in the divison but for one reason or another certain players have simply not been doing the business. Francois Zoko was signed in the summer but he's gone missing in too many games, and Yoann Arquin rarely looks interested. They're certainly not the only two players, and Keith also brought in some players that have been outstanding. Bartoz Bialkowski was dismissed as "****" on one youtube clip by most fans when he signed, but he's proved a revelation and his consistant performances have earned him the title "Polands number 1" from the Notts fans at least. Also Gary Liddle has been played out of position for most of the season but has been absolutely outstanding, and Dean Leacock has also been superb. Furthermore, Curle has managed to get the best out of Alan Judge by giving him the chance to pretty much do as he pleases on the pitch, and Andre Boucaud - signed on loan from Luton Town, proved his doubters wrong with some very consistant performances in the middle of the park which lead to him signing on a permanent basis in January. Sadly the number of players underperforming has outnumbered the players playing well. It does seem strange considering that they were always so quick to jump to Curle and the two coaches defence in the media and on Twitter. Black 'N White fanzine editor Stuart Brothers said in his blog that the players owe it to Keith to play to their pottential for the rest of the season, and I have to agree. I really wish we as a club could be more patient with managers. We are now looking for our seventh full time manager in three years, which is just embrassing quite frankly. But the problem is Ray Trew has now got himself a reputation for being very trigger happy, so when another manager comes in and hits a bad run of form, fans will be waiting for Ray to pull the trigger again. I dont want to sound like a broken record but I really do feel that the fact we're not loaded like we thought we were in the munto days hasn't sunk in among some fans. Too many expect miracles from the club but we're not a club that has money to throw about. I would think there have been enough examples of club's throwing too much money around in recent years for people to be thankful to have a stable club with owners who dont want to waste money, but it appears not to be the case with some people. It also really dissapoints me when I see fans refusing to go until a manager is gone. I'm sorry, but I lose a bit of respect for those who refuse to go just because of a manager. A football club is for life, you support it through thick and thin no matter who the manager is and however the team is doing. If you can't take the rough with the smooth it really is time to go and do something else. But maybe that's just me. I grew up knowing Notts to be simply fighting for Football League survival every single season. I got used to seeing us lose at home to the likes of Macclesfield Town, Chester City and Barnet. I also remember us losing 6-1 at Dagenham & Redbridge one awful day. That still goes down as the worst day at the office I can remember, even worse than yesterday's defeat! It's a very sad day in my opinion. Keith was fighting against the tide from the moment he stepped through the door but he won a lot of people over during his time here - myself included. Sadly those of us supporting the manager were always going to be outnumbered by those wanting him out sooner or later so I suppose this day was inevitable, but that dosen't make it the right decision I don't think. The questions I've asked for weeks have been if we sack Keith Curle, who could we realistically afford to bring in? Who in their right mind would want the job? If I was a manager out of work I wouldnt touch Notts County with the proverbial barge-pole. You have less job security than a Turkey in November and little hope of ever being able to keep some fans happy. It's the same every time - we bring in a manager, enjoy the honeymoon period while it lasts, sack them once we hit a bad run of form, bring someone else in and start the cycle again. We need stability, and we won't get anywhere anytime soon if we keep going through managers at our current rate. Stability is key, and a manager needs time to build his own squad. We'll have to wait and see if we bring anybody in on a permanent basis this season, but Ray Trew made it clear on Notts Mad that his next appointment would be another gamble, so expect another little-known name or someone without a proven track record. In the meantime, development team manager Chris Kiwomya has taken the job as caretaker and will be in charge for Tuesday night's game at Stevenage, Chris is a very brave man choosing to take the job on after suffering such a recent personal tradegy. I for one am fully behind the guy, and I'd also like to wish Keith Curle and the two Colins the very best of luck wherever they go next. Curle is a very good young manager, and given time and patience I truly believe he would have gone on to achieve success with us. But sadly we live in an "I want success now and can't wait" society. Another manager has gone but our season is far from over. Tuesday night's game is certainly winnable for us with Stevenage suffering from poor home form this season, much like ourselves. A win could take us to within 2 points of the play-offs. Last season, Martin Allen was sacked after defeat at Hartlepool; Keith curle came in and won his first game in charge against Stevenage. Almost a year on, Keith Curle has been sacked after defeat at Hartlepool, and Chris Kiwomya has came in for the Stevenage game. Let's hope Chris can have a similar start to his tenure and get the win. Who knows, maybe this will trigger another fantastic run of form into the end of the season like last season. One thing is for certain, it's never dull at Meadow Lane! COME ON YOU PIES

Maybe I'm a miserable sod, but I've never really liked the transfer windows - particularly deadline day. Not only are there a ridiculus amount of rumours linking seemingly every player with ten dozen clubs, but unless you've got money to burn like Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers, the window dosen't really help you. The windows have severely damaged the smaller clubs. Before the transfer window was introduced in England back in 2002, you could do deals all year round. That meant that there was nothing like the cashflow concerns for smaller clubs now. If a club was struggling to pay its monthly wages the chairman could pick up the phone, sell a player for x number of pounds and that was everyone paid for another month. OK, it might have been unsettling for fans and players alike but at the time we didnt know any different, and it worked. Now, club's have to rush deals through, and it's even more difficult to complete deals these days what with all the add on fees and bonuses and other negotiations that agents have brought to the party. But it's the way SKY build it up that really annoys me. They build up deadline day in January as the day that makes or breaks a club's season depending on weather or not they do the business that they need to do. We all know that the season isn't over by a long shot on February 1st, but the worrying thing is people actually buy what SKY tells them! They really do believe that if their club dosen't sign anybody, thats their season finished! Preposterous. I suppose I could be viewed as thinking this because I'm a Notts County fan, as we very rarely do any deadline day business. Yet our fans demand we sign someone and seem to assume we're doomed to failiure if we dont. Yes, we do need a striker and it'd be nice to get one but whats more important? Signing a 30 goal a season striker or having a football club to go and watch every Saturday? Because in our case it is pretty much a case of one or the other. We're not loaded, we dont have money to throw about but fans still complain when we dont sign Jonathan Forte or Lloyd Sam or David McGoldrick. I know I'm repeating myself but I really dont think that the fact we're not loaded has sunk in with some of our fans. They expect far too much. It is frustrating when we don't get players especially when they've been training with us, but to be honest if a player wants to go to another club because they're offering him more money, let him. I'd rather not have a player playing for our club who only joined because we offered him the most money. I highly doubt we'll bring in anyone before tonights 11PM deadline, I think there's more chance of us bringing in someone on loan like we did last season. But is it really such a bad thing if we dont sign anyone on deadline day? It's hardly the end of our season. Transfer window only helps clubs who are loaded and can throw money at whatever problems they have - QPR and Newcastle for example. But you very rarely see any clubs bringing in a big name star in January. Nobody wants to sell their strikers if they're scoring plenty of goals so I dont see why people get so angry when we don't bring anyone in. In fact even when they do, it dosen't always work out, I dont even need to name names. I'll be glad when the window ends, SKY goes back to talking about football rather than rumours, and everyone stops panicking about their players being linked with half the football league, Then again, maybe it's just me being a miserable sod