Sheffield Pie

Kicking the ball into the net is the hardest thing to do in football. If Grant were ever to overcome the mental block that stops him doing it (unless he doesn't have to think about it) then he'd be a pretty valuable player. Paterson obviously sees something in Grant to persevere with him, even though you might not think he's Patto's type, i.e. not got the killer instinct. It would be fantastic if he could fix it, that rare thing, a coach making someone a better player.

Seriously? That's a masterclass in negative takes. "would require practically a Brand New Squad" Why? They'd have just proved they're better than a lot of fans give them credit for by getting promoted. "The wage structure alone would increase several times over" No-one's getting a 200%+ pay rise. "Hiring of an Experienced Head Coach is going to cost Money" Why? The one we have would have just got us promoted. "the Owners aren't going to be able to continually waiver huge losses" How do you know? When they waived some last week, no-one saw that coming. "if those Players are Not replaced by like for like Players" and "if they were Relegated" Now we're into worrying about things that haven't happened after something (promotion) that hasn't happened yet and that a lot of fans don't think we're capable of! "more investment ... could bring about it's own problems" The phrase "every silver lining has a cloud" springs to mind. So you want new investment but reserve the right to paint it as a bad thing? You've missed a few obvious things that we need to worry about. What if Forest win back to back Champions Leagues and no Nottingham child decides to support Notts for a generation? What if the pitch fungus gets out of control and Meadow Lane has to be burned to the ground? What if some fans get their way and MP is sacked and the brothers put Chat GPT in charge?

I agree with the 'super scout' description. The priority is to get the recruitment back on track. That's not a manager - they have their favourites, are hand in glove with agents, then get sacked or clear off and leave a mess. We just need someone who can find those gems we've had in recent years - talented players who in terms of pure skill were way above the level we were at but were persuaded to come here - Rodriguez, Jones, Bostock, Crowley, Abbott, McGoldrick.

Notts start at a disadvantage to a lot of clubs. We need to be well known for something that will help us fill our relatively big ground and not be completely overshadowed by our neighbours. Being the oldest league club doesn't do it, never has. Being data driven is no longer a novelty. Being Wrexham's main rivals - that ship as sailed. Being a team that plays exciting, possession based football that people might stumble across on Sky Sports and think 'wow' was definitely working in terms of attendances, national profile, ability to sign players. Losing that would be a huge mistake, surely?

We're starting to see the rewards from MP's demanding, relentless approach, which I love btw. I think he's a better tactician than some people give him credit for and he might just be able to get one over Ainsworth. Don't know how many tickets we've sold but expecting a good vocal backing which will help.

It's good that the owners have cut their losses on this one. They clearly try to do the right thing for the club and are willing to make decisions that other owners would see as a loss of face. Just speculating but it's possible someone like Joe Palmer or Martin Paterson has shared a few home truths with the owners about what it takes to be an effective operator in the transfer market.

Whoever decides what the Lifeline money goes on always seems to get it right in my book. Good common sense investments that speak for themselves. Good to hear from Joe Palmer as well.

Friday night optimism is kicking in again. Notts are going to run them ragged, a brace each for Dennis and Jatta. Palmer involved in the build-up for all them. All this after an early gift from a corner for Fleetwood. Not sure Robbo will start after playing the full 90 on Tuesday in his first game back. Expect him to come on though - good competition for Norburn whose not been stellar so far despite having the best pedigree of our signings. For a few of those who played on Tuesday (youngsters aside), if they aren't on the bench tomorrow, that's probably the last we'll see of them - likely going out on loan or contract cancelled. Tough being a lower league pro.

When has anyone ever invested in Notts? I mean properly invested, not a short lived ego trip or a last minute bail out (Haydn Green bless him and a few others). Dunnett ran it (pretty well) on a shoestring. Pavis bought us because he couldn't be top dog at Forest (and then to quote him "expected a return"). Scardino didn't have any money. The Trust, oh dear. Munto: fraud. Trew, paid £1 then lost money and interest. Hardy, destroyed his business and reputation. Plus some crooks sniffing around and a record spell in admin. Now we have a couple of level headed young entrepreneurs who have bought us some success (promotion, sellable players, bigger crowds, better off the pitch facilities) and people are having a go at them. It's either trolling or some people have an extreme 'glass half empty' mindset.

No, the opposite. It means what they have always said, that they want to prove that it's possible to make a football club sustainable. Owners are actually LESS likely to sell a sustainable club than one that they need to keep feeding their own money into (Ray Trew for example - described Notts as a bottomless pit, and any number of foreign owners who have discovered the same thing and have left their clubs to rot e.g. Sheff Wed).

Devon White. Lincoln scouted him from Arnold.

Catching wins you possession which I'd have thought we'd want. Lots of positives at the moment: 7 pts from 3 games, MP back to his best, L2's top scorer, Jatta not gone. Unfortunately every analysis site rates Roos the worst performing keeper in the division so far and he has a terrible saves to goals ratio. If he keeps getting picked then not sure what data the committee are looking at.

I'm feeling super optimistic for no good reason I can think of. Dennis, Jatta and Traore are going to do the business for us tomorrow and, just possibly, all the way to a Wembley play-off win as we get better as the season goes on. Only worry is we concede a couple again. Roos has made the fewest saves (7) of any L2 keeper who has played all five games. The median is 11 (Belshaw as it happens). Which means we've let in four more goals than we would have with just an average L2 standard keeper ... possibly, as there are all sorts of reasons why a keeper makes more or fewer saves of course.

Totally agree with everyone that this is a real benchmark game. Andy Woodman is a good intelligent coach (Notts surely should have been capable of tempting someone of his calibre with a job offer). I can't remember the last time Notts beat a well coached team so if we did it on Saturday it would massively restore confidence. Worried about our inability to defend crosses though.

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.