piedestrian

I think it's an ardous task from here from MP. He's already looking a bit bereft at the questioning in terms of "why are we not performing in the first half for matches" or "where are we in signing a number 9 when we desperately need one". I think Shrewsbury will be one of the biggest matches for him and moreso for us this season. If we can't step up to the plate with this team, then we'll really struggle when other teams are more solidly gelled in the upcoming weeks and months.

I'd suggest we're gonna see a striker in and about 4 loans out in the next week or so.

Although they lost, looks like he was one of Wycombe's bright sparks in the match. Don't favour them too much this season, hope he manages to avoid relegation.

I'm very excited now. I think someone like Iorpenda and Hall could complement each other and it should be enough creativity and drive to really get us going. Does mean it's the end of the road, definitely for Hinchy, most likely Edwards, potentially Robertson and maybe, just maybe Grant?

Strange to bring on Edwards...

So rumour is that Jatta's agent wants him out of Notts and in turn gets a nice percentage of that transfer fee. Pretty straight forward? The real issue is that we have our best striker out of contract next summer. If we turn down offers, likelyhood is he'll go on a free. If he gets us up, he'll likely go someone in the Championship or to a top league somewhere out of the top five leagues in Europe. If we don't he'll still go somewhere, maybe not as prestigious. Now we all know that there is that golden figure players can be sold for and in this sense, makes it quite easy to say that if he had two years and starts off bagging like he did at the beginning of last season, we'd be looking at a mil and above. Alas, he's got a year left and can start talking to clubs in Jan, meaning even if we agree to keep him and miss out on the money, his head could be turned in Jan and his form could drop off. It's probably quite easy to say where we fall as fans, as to say "lets get promoted and deal with him leaving when it happens", but things feel ever so slightly off with finances this summer, so who's to say what their golden figure is and if he's sold, what percentage of that fee gets reinvested into a new striker. Where does everyone stand?

I think the discourse of Traore being not good enough is quite unfair. Jatta is an excellent striker, but even he struggled with the type of tactics from Maynard, so how do we anticipate a striker, who's just come into the squad and barely getting any minutes to match that. I'll be judging if he gets a consistent run in the team. He has different attributes, more akin to that of Langstaff than that of Jatta, so I think that with more physical players in and around him, he'd be able to shine.

@Robbie, I suppose until Jatta unceremoniously leaves 😉

First time we've really seen calls for "sign the trialist". Wasn't there to see, but definitely seems to have had an effect on a lot of fans. Hopefully can prove the goods! I think maybe we might see a couple out the door now and more moves made closer to the window closing. Feel optimistic now, a lot of manoeuvrability in many aspects of the squad.

It feels a long time ago listening to Uncle Col and even Charlie thinking about it. Didn't catch too much of Bracegirdle but wasn't enamoured. Glad to see a Notts fan in the reigns.

Grant's a really funny player. He's good I think but a big part of him is linked to his confidence and how coaches and surroundings play into that. I want him to be more confident but as seen with Maynard, without assured direction, he often gets lost in matches. I think in all fairness, we have to see marketable improvement from all the players we saw from last season. Traore, Tasroulla and Edwards were all disappointing in different ways. Players like Ness, Robertson and Hinchy need to continue to get better as to assure a first team place. Others like Jones and Palmer need to rediscover their fitness and love for the game. Lastly if Platt and Bedeau can continue and get better, they'll most likely get brought for a lot of money, which is not what we want outright, but if a player can be sold for a million or there abouts, it's a success of some sorts.

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?