piedestrian

Any idea on who the trialist was?

Bartosz and Bass have been two of our best keepers since the turn off the 2000's, so it shows prime age (mid to late 20's) would be one of the top attributes for the teams performance and probs financially if we were to sell. Obviously it's not just that easy as we saw with Stone. As for Roos, I know there's been a lot of shade thrown about his inability to handle crosses, but my theory aligns with kind of what's been said already. He played in Europa Conf and in the Championship so even if your slightly off the average, your gonna get penalised for not judging the flight of the ball, making split decisions etc. That said he kept 14 clean sheets last season in a team comparable to us in Italy in terms of stature who didn't perform too well (maybe their manager was Stefano Mayandaro?) Hopefully with our assured defence, he'll be covered and have a successful time. Lastly, I think if we go up, and I suppose that's a big if, we'd venture for a new number 1.

I think we'll hold out for 750k which may see one or two clubs bid against each other. He'll want to try himself in either Turkey or Portugal, he'd be mad not too. I for one see him going and the 48th meltdown to occur this summer. Still doesn't worry me though.

Would make sense. He's technically a level above a lot of the keepers we've had from from an experience point of view (Carroll excluded). I'd be happy to have him back as the number one.

There's a lot to unpack here. First and foremost, we catagorically have nothing wrong with the club. Our owners, in my opinion, are potentially one of the best club custodians we could hope for. We've had a plethora of local/regional businessmen take over and it's been within their overinflated ego that we've seen chaos and neglect. The bro's have looked at the books, realised the wealth of financial mismanagement and have looked to turn a club in debt and turn it sustainable. They could have gone elsewhere. We've got two "rival" teams in close proximity and doing better than us. They could have found a similar club, with a similar fanbase with no close rivals and a better infastructure. But they chose us. With a model, a philosophy, a sustainability promise and evident backing of building up our infastructure shows that everything in football is not tangiable to transfer fee's. Club Staff - Most of our senior management, be it of the teams or the club has been poached and will, likely in the future, happen again. We lost enthusiastic coaches and a DOF because of how well we perform in club metrics. Our new DOF and DOP have been newly embedded into this model and strategy and we need to be patient, like with anyone starting a new job, and given them time to adjust. It's not just a role, but a different city in another language for some of them. Manager - Not overwhelming, sure, but were you for Burchnall or Williams or Maynard? I'm more optimistic than Maynard and equally as whelmed by MP as I was IB or LW. The back team and surrouding staff give it weight as there is a clear organisation and structure now in place. Club Media - I am somewhat moot to this point. I removed myself from X/twitter when Musk took over and personally, there's a dearth when your not in and around that conversation. I'd like them to get on Bluesky so that I can continue that missed opportunity. They've announced what they need to in terms of new appointments and infastructure changes. They had a plethora of interviews and just like the mic'd up session with MP gave me, personally, great insight. Again, we're a League 2 club and don't have thousands to purchase the social agencies or talent locally. Recruitment - We've signed players and lost players. It's a cold hard fact when you're in League 2 that our best players will leave. New players have come in, like Jatta with Langstaff, we're now seeing Jarvis and Jones being transitioned to cover the gap we'll miss with Crowley and McG. I personally think we've not done yet as we're still missing players in key points of the team and although people are wetting the bed that the season starts soon, the window doesn't close for a month and a bit so we have plenty of time to find the "right" footballer that meets the requirements of the board and the club.

@Robbie, good point but hopefully they've been accounted for those items financially in another capacity or at least not straight from the profits of sales. I think regardless, I do think they're willing to spend and have shown this in the past but I understand they are running towards self sufficiency model. To be honest, by looking at their track record, we wouldn't want it any other way would we? If they'd gone and broke the bank continously after sales and not put anything back into the club, we'd be moaning about PA systems and that it was financialy reckless.

Take what I'm wildly about to account with a huge amount of salt. So from what we've effectively taken in accounted transfers out in recent years: Burchnall - rumoured 300k comp Williams - rumoured 750k comp Nemane - rumoured 250k inc Grant Langstaff - 750k Mahovo - undisclosed but I'd say a decent sum (lets say 150k) Crowley - 400k Bass - rumoured 450k Effectively - 3m in the coffers And In: Jatta - 250k Traore - 175k Jarvis - 300k Bass - 175k Effectively - 900k outgoing. With League 2 running costs, Maynard's sacking, McG's golden wage etc, we should be up at least nearly pushing a mil in the ol coffers. Hopefully this is semi ringfenced for player purchases given the model and hopefully, we've chosen what we wanted from free agents and the loan market which now gives us the time to buy effectively.

In a similar vein, there are millions of sliding door moments, but the one I'd go for is ensuring that we had Zeli Ismail and Michael Petrasso available for the whole of the 14/15 season. Both had incredible impact from their loans and I think if we had them both available throughout the season, we wouldn't have been relegated from League 1. A notable mention would have been having a season with Mason Bennett when we had him on loan and seeing where we would have ended up.

To bring in someone like Stevenson would probably see the likes of Iorpenda pushed back to a bench player and likely see the end of someone like Edwards, which I'm not against.

It is a strange place we find ourselves in given that the FA and football teams will happily accept the money from sponsorship to, in turn, promote this financial wrecking ball to supporters who are often paid a lot less than footballers. As uncomfortable as this is, I bet it wasn't a shock and makes Aljofree signing all the more sensible. I just hope he gets the help he needs and that him and the club cooperate accordingly.

"From the 42nd minute onwards, the English team had to play with a man down due to Barry Cotter being sent off for a rough foul on Mahir Emreli from behind. A mob formation of the Kaiserslauten players, trying to defend their teammate, was only prevented with difficulty. But the English immediately apologized and the game continued."

I do think the need for a captain is somewhat overvauled in modern day football. Footballers have become less volitile and more PR/media trained to shy away the main characteristics we'd be looking in for in a captain. That said, I do think Palmer isn't the choice, he's quite the middle man for everything. He's not really our most creative player, he's not our main output for defense or attack nor is he ever seen to be involved talking to other players. Given the amount of attention media give players like Bedaeu or Platt and attitudes are more linked to what we want in a captain, it should be on one of those two.

I wonder what the technical board will have to say about Cotter and the complete lack of shape? I understand he's continuing with what remained and that philosophy, but I'd really like a new formation and idea's. As soon as the sending off happened, probs before that tbh, we'd completely given up and probs felt it as an fitness exercise. Lastly, I'd like to hear that if he's giving a run out to everyone to grade them of sorts, if anyone's surpassed a D+ yet?

Thought Jatta was meant to be involved in these?

@DangerousSausage I'd hope for a back four but again that sort of puts someone out. Cotter/Gordon/Macari at RB, Tasroulla/Bedeau at LB and Platt/Macdonald/Aljofree/Ness at CB.

I wouldn't wanna make that call of who get's chopped from Macari, Bedeau or Platt. Probably our most consistant performers. Thing is this signing looks great until we lose one of the ones mentioned above. Could you imagine the meltdown that would ensue if we sold Bedeau?

I'd like to see more of Sanderson and potentially Reynolds. We've not had a player to call our own, rising through the ranks since Hollis (I know McGoldrick is one of our own, but he's not here and wasn't at Notts for a large swathe of his career). I'm looking the rumour mill and we've got Aljofree (which I feel would be a really good addition) and also Hackford from Sheffield Utd potentially coming in on loan. Kind of like the Ince era where he brought so many loans in, I fear it might bloat the squad with too many players with potential vying for a spot. Needless to say, this would mean Sanderson and Reynolds get overlooked because of obligations we've made with the likes of Man Utd and Sheffield Utd to be here in the first instance. Side note, If it matters to anyone (and will likely not), I simulated three seasons on the new FM update and it sees's Jarvis and Sanderson as our best future players. The less said about Paterson's reign, the better...

Isn't it upon the individual or potentially his agent to sort out the visa? I do believe this is going to be heavily manipulated by his agent to garner some sort of coverage. My guess is that as his agent, he was fully expecting a big team to come in for him but nothing has come so far, so he's getting involved.

So I've heard rumours that we played Sawyers (on trial) against Alfreton, which in my eyes would be an excellent signing. I do think that if we did, it'd see the likely end of the Connor Grant experiment. I wanted him to suceed but I find him quite wasteful, inconsistent and goes missing far too often. Where does everyone else stand?

I've read a teeny bit about him and he looks to be experienced, rapid, direct and a good bloke. To add to his bow he's quite versatile for transitional tactics halfway through a game. Few people have suggested that we might look towards a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 but then change to a 3-5-2 when we need to mix it up, so Cotter (and to a lesser extent Tsaroulla) provide both FB and WB coverage. Good signing, if not one of the best to give us an indication of what's to come.

It could have been a non-promotion release clause that was met and we had to accept, either way he's gone and we have to build around it. Surely we have shortlists upon shortlists around every player and position given the way we operate.

I'd hardly consider myself as educated on the topic of some players but... Hubert Graczyk - Keeper from Man Utd (probs loan) David Button - Keeper free agent - released by Reading Sayouba Mandé - Keeper - Ivory Coast internation - free (from what I can gather) Kai Kennedy - AM/LW from Queen of the South Sylvester Jasper - ST from Śląsk Wrocław Nathan Butler-Oyedeji - ST free agent - released by Arsenal James Balagizi - CM from Liverpool (loan) James Olayinka - CM from Waterford - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8YYGLH5QBw Salah oulad m'hand - CM free agent - released by Arsenal Cameron Congreve - AM from Swansea (loan) Dru Yearwood - CM - played for Nashville, Red Bulls NY, Arsenal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dru_Yearwood

Not too sure I agree with you. We replaced Langstaff with Jatta who was already here and being bedded in for the transition as we knew we'd probs lose Langstaff. It worked in our favour as well at the beginning of the season, it was just the second half where Jatta wasn't performing due to whatever went on behind the scenes with the Saunders and Maynard. I do agree this is disappointing as he's been probs one of the best keepers we've had since Bialks, but I doubt Griffiths is even second choice. Given we've just had B team stuff announced, he'll be most likely featuring in that team. The main thing that many people are alluding to is asset stripping the club, which is scandalous (not saying you are @TheSkipper ) but I think the money in which we've made from on Burchnall, Williams, Langstaff, Crowley, Bass, Nemane is being invested into "the club". Training grounds cost a fortune and so does the uptake and upkeep of a stadium and it's facilities - including the wages of the senior technical board. This doesn't mean, however, we're not willing to spend on players. I imagine majority of the profit is ringfenced for certain players when their stats or themselves become available - like Jatta and Traore. I'm glad we don't just buy frivolously like the Trew/Hardy days. I'll make my judgements at the end of the window as I'm disappointed at where we currently are, I ackowledge we're a transitional club in League 2.

What does the former Zimbabwean cricketer make of Paterson's employment? 😉