Sheffield Pie

I really don't know what to make of it. Notts with our support, recent transfer revenue, profile and facilities should be flying, and I still maintain these are, at least could turn out to be, the good times. But on the pitch, we're starting to look like a badly run, impoverished, rotten behind the scenes, 4th division basket case. It's hard to get my head round it. I worry that the owners have made the same mistake as a few other recent owners, which is to have been taken in by chancers who are good at interviews.

Could be worse after that start. Still, 65% possession, one shot (off-target) and no corners has a familiar ring. Time for the committee to work their magic!

All ten new signings feature, I think? So we've signed fit players! Albeit Norburn would start if fully fit I think.

Tsaroulla - 2 goals and 2 assists last season, nowhere near enough end product. Jarvis - one of our most naturally talented players. His attitude was questioned when at Hull. Any sign of that and MP will freeze him out straight away I'd have thought. Palmer - when we were in the NL, opposition managers would say 'He should be playing in L1'. So he should be bossing it in L2.

I don't fear for the coming season. I feared when we were breaking the record for the longest time in admin, when we had crowds of 3K mostly pensioners, when Munto turned out to be a scam, when we went to the Astoria meeting, probably a few other times. Honestly, these are the good times, try to enjoy them! Club home shirt - just been announced what's happening. Recruitment - hard to judge before the season has started but I predict a few will turn out to be gems, make the L2 team of the season, or score a wonder goal, or get sold at a massive profit. I'm basing that on the club's recent track record, not blind optimism. Manager - seems passionate, honest and willing to learn. Determined to grab his chance. I like him already. Don't sweat the small stuff. Example: one closed doors friendly (singular) is not odd. LW's team played one against Leicester. There was a brief match report straight after. No big deal.

Reckon he wants a keeper and couple of attacking players who can press and know where the goal is. But he must be desperate to have Jatta, Robertson, Tsaroulla and Norburn available, pretty sure they are all starters

The captain needs to be a leader. You can lead by example, or lead verbally, ideally both. Not sure that's Matty. When he came back from injury we all thought it would be as good as a new signing. I'm not sure if it's the injury, or playing at a higher level, or the way the team has been set up, but it's not been as we hoped.

Going for proven players all the time would just be like the Wrexham approach. Pay a lot of money to slot in proven players in and bully your way up the leagues. The Notts approach to signings, if I've understood it correctly, is pretty much the opposite, it's to look for hidden value (or at least strong potential value, e.g. Langstaff wasn't exactly hidden when we bought him). More sustainable i.e. you don't need bottomless funds, you actually get some money back from sales. It also means there will be some duds, but that doesn't matter so long as a few work out. So far it's been a massive success if you compare Notts' transfer income over the last five years (well into 7 figures) with the ten years before that (zero).

Good luck to him but could we not have done better? I'd argue Notts are in the top 50 or so clubs in the country in terms of fan base, profile, history. Not a huge boast. Take the Premier league clubs out of that equation as that's really a world league with very few English managers, same goes for the top clubs in the championship. So we should be able to attract one of the top 25-30 English coaches. Is Martin Paterson one of them?

Since Jimmy Sirrel we've had dozens of managers. How many had any success? Four achieved a promotion. Walker (RIP) won an Anglo-Italian cup. Barnwell entertained for a season. Can't complain too much if we get a good one back.

Pre-match fish and chips. Depending on where we've parked and what's open, maybe Trent Fish Bar or Bridgford Fish Bar. Or if we're on the train, Carringtons. Chinese meal afterwards if we feel like a special celebration.

In the 80s I stood on the wooden terrace at back of County Road, then after the ground was rebuilt, sat in Block Z. Then in the Kop when we got it back. Don't make it as often now but when I go I sit in the main stand, towards the Kop end. Looking back it's great that we have the Kop. Not sure who deserves the credit - was it the Trust? I mean the credit for the Kop being for home fans, not for building the stand.

That site is monitored using AI. When it detects the negativity reaching a certain level it automatically shuts it down for a while to protect everyone's mental wellbeing.

I think the squad limit is 22, not counting keepers, loanees and U21s. That would put us on 17 right now? So not room for loads more. Could do with farming out a couple on season long loans again if that means they don't count towards the total.