Robbie

A Merry Christmas to you all.

Hull City 2 v Sunderland 0 Watford 2 v Bristol City 1 Exeter City 1 v Wycombe W 2 Fleetwood Town 1 v Carlisle United 1 Barrow 2 v Stockport County 1 Joker Bradford City 2 v Morecambe 3 Altrincham 0v Halifax Town 1 Southend United 3 v Barnet 1

I have such great memories of our grand old stadium at Meadow Lane. I can remember when we played Everton in the FA Cup at home on a wet day in March 1984, standing on the Cop getting wet through. The ground was absolutely packed with 10K Everton fans. We lost to an Andy Gray header he headed in only a few inches off the ground. When I was a boy I would stand at the front of the Cop, behind the goal. When I grew taller, I would watch Notts standing on the County Road side or pop side. There was a large step at the back of the lower tier that you could get a good view from standing at the half way line if you got a place there. Spent many years standing. Never sat down until it became all seater. How many of you remember our old ground and where did you watch the games. Did you prefer to sit or stand?

Definitely. And another important change that has crept into the game is the Head Coach not picking the players to bring in to his club. It's right that the Manager should consult others over recruitment, but the Manager should have the final say over who to recruit.

Lovely Story. I'm so pleased to have found P of N Community.

Notts Country is a founding member of the Football League and now has 5000 league matches behind them. What a fantastic achievement and what a legacy to have. I'm so immensely proud of my club.

Cooper's sacking is just an example of the way Football is going since the Premier League was formed. A Manager has a bad run of 10 games or less & there's a clamour, pushed by the media, & pundits to replace him. On the other hand, in the lower leagues of the EFL, Managers are poached by higher league clubs to the detriment of those lower clubs. The rest are always playing catch up, & it's difficult enough to climb through the leagues, without losing a good Manager & then appoint a good replacement. Luke has done wonders for our club & I'm sure there are other clubs keeping their eye on his progress. It would be hard for Notts to replace him if he moved on.

Thanks for the welcome.

Agree. The officials in Rugby & Cricket seem to be clued up and work with their VAR system much better than the Football officials do. I thought that VAR was supposed to eliminate most of the mistakes by the Ref but it is clearly not doing that at all. VAR is actually causing even more controversy.

Again, expert analysis by Mark. I agree that we are lacking inspiration on the pitch at this time. I believe that confidence leads to an inspired performance & confidence is clearly on the low side following a poor set of results. I do believe that we could do no wrong by signing a player with a presence on the pitch, who's prepared get stuck in, a bit of a hard man, tall, strong, & can lead & inspire others on the pitch, a Brian Kilcline type. I'd also sign an additional defender, defensive midfielder & additional attacker. I also believe our tactics should be a little different for away matches being a little more defensive & rely on the quick break more.We have shown that we can create & score goals playing in different ways. We will always be a threat to any side with our forward line. In the end it is Luke that has to get things right, and I'm confident he'll do that.

Yes Piethagoram, I think the best team lost when we played Brescia in our first Anglo-Italian final at Wembley. McSwegan should have buried that chance in the 1st half, the handball by their player that should have been a pen & Charlie Palmer's effort that was blocked on their line in the dying seconds of the match from another long throw from Andy Legg. Then of course there was Steve Cherry's unfortunate mistake that led to their winning goal.

I've reserected this thread because VAR is in the news again, and I'm asking what's the point of VAR? The whole system needs a total revamp, because in it's present state, it is not fit for purpose. The authorities should even consider suspending it. Every match that uses VAR there is controversy over a decision by the Referee or the VAR team. There is confusion over interpretation of the VAR rules. VAR is missing critical events in a game, then the authorities say VAR cannot rule on that incident VAR is becoming a total farce and changes need to be made. I believe VAR should be either allowed to rule on more incidents and the VAR officials given more powers, otherwise trim VAR down to goal line decisions and ruling over yellow and red cards only. World football really needs to address the VAR problem and the FA need to be leading on this too.

Neil Is one of the great managers that this Country has produced and we were blessed to have him as our Manager between 1989 & 93. Leading us from the 3rd Division to the Ist in successive seasons was a tremendous feat, I remember it well. It was an exciting time for our club. And he's still passionate for our club too.

The signs are that It looks like it's going to be a really good attendance for the vitally important Boxing day clash at home to Rovers. The drawing power of this team under Luke continues. Really hope this game will prove a turning point for us to get back on track after our recent poor form. .

I will be pleased to be part of this. I am in.

The only decent one I've heard is Ed Sheeran & Sir Elton John - 'Merry Christmas' Elton is an oldie & Ed is one of the few excellent modern artists in my opinion. But these old Xmas songs from yester year keep coming back every year. There is still a big market for them.

Yes it was in the final against Ascoli which we won 2:1. A massive long throw from Andy Legg in the first half. Tony Agana claimed a slight touch and ref saw it as a goal. Andy could certainly throw it long. Caused loads of problems for Ascoli in this match.

It's now 23rd December.I feel good because we are back in the Football League. I feel less confident about us winning matches than I did a few weeks ago. However, I am very confident that we will turn this poor spell around after Xmas. Feeling good, & feeling very optimistic.

Yes, JohnTheBost ,in 1992, the Anglo-Italian Cup was re-established & revamped for second-tier clubs.The Italian representatives were Serie B teams.

Just like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for the warm welcome.

Yes. Notts were the only English team to win when it was revamped in the 1990s. Notts were in two finals out of the four that were contested at that time. I do believe it would be a good idea to bring it back for tier two sides down to tier 4 in both Countries. There is much more money in the game now & it would generate much needed finance for lower tier sides.

I believe Luke is the best Manager to take us forward and possibly get us into the playoffs at the end of the regular season. I love to see passion in a Manager and Luke has lots of that. I believe it only needs the right players to come in at the January window to turn our fortunes around, and I want some of Luke's passion transferred into the way we play too. In the new year, I'd like to see the 50 point mark achieved first then push on from there.

In the distant past there was a certain Tom Keetley who became a prolific goalscorer for both Doncaster Rovers and Notts County From 1923 to 1929 Tom played for Rovers scoring 180 goals from 231 appearances. Tom moved to Notts in 1929 till 1933 where he scored 94 goals from 103 appearances.

The Anglo-Italian Cup was a competition played intermittently between English and Italian clubs between1970 and 1996. In total Italian clubs won 15 and English clubs 6, Notts County being one of the only 6 English clubs to win it. The competition proved lucrative for Notts County, reaching two finals and winning in the 1994/95 season. Incidentally, Notts were the only English winners when the competition was held on four consecutive years in the 1990s Sadly the tournament was discontinued after the 1995/96 season.

Paul Heffernan played for Notts from 1999 to 2004, making 100 appearances and scoring 35 goals. After a small spell for Bristol City. Paul played for Doncaster from 2005 to 2010 making 127 appearances & scoring 35 goals.