Sheffield Pie

I think it shows we need to keep faith with the owners. They hinted that they wanted a team that would be stronger physically and mentally and that's what we've got. Also they must have appointed MP for his relentless determination (as there wasn't much else on his cv) and that's proving to be a huge asset.

I suspect DH Lawrence hated football (and rugby, as that's probably what he was forced to play at the High School). But he was enough of a contrarian to be a natural Notts fan.

Robertson must have the flu? Even so, looks like a Notts side that can actually out muscle the opposition, not seen that for a long time. A lot resting on Grant's shoulders to be creative, maybe even kick the ball into the net. Decent bench.

Some people's shopping lists aren't realistic. The January window is very difficult to start off with. Notts can't just go out and sign six players - ones that fans would expect to be better than what we have, good enough for L1 in fact, not susceptible to injury, have the right attitude, and be willing to sign for a fourth tier side with a maybe 50:50 chance of promotion. Two good first team signings would be amazing. Not six. Also, why disrupt things so much? Since our poor three-game start we've averaged the required two points a game, and that's been a squad effort.

Historic. Love you Notts! Respect to Paterson for getting the best he can out of this squad. Just seen the highlights. The subs all did brilliantly to make the goal. The pass from Gordon is exquisite.

Such an exciting time. The club was dying a slow death then suddenly WTF! He did us a favour. Wouldn't go as far as to name a stand after him though.

5-0 to Notts. No mercy from MP. Just enjoy it.

Fantastic news. What a signing this turned out to be. Nailed on for making the L2 team of the season.

It's partly about availability. At the start of the season Jatta was suspended, Robertson, Tsaroulla and Ness recovering from injury (I think), and Macari and Hall not considered match ready. So basically MP has been doing a brilliant job since he's had key players available.

I think Craig Short deserves the credit for bringing him in, initially on loan, thanks to his Blackburn contacts. Most of his signings were rubbish but credit where it's due.

Typical Notts, just when you think it's coming together. We're consistent in the cups to the point where you almost suspect it's a betting conspiracy. The debate about recruitment will start again after the way Roos and Norburn played. In 2025 have we made one permanent signing that's strengthened our starting line-up? Just hope we can keep picking up some points between now and January and then bring in two or three who are made of the right stuff, that's a big ask though.

I'm a bit more confident than that. They are good teams but beatable. I think Notts can beat anyone in this division in pure footballing terms if that makes sense. It's the likes of Salford and Bromley that I still worry about. Notts will be well backed. I'd like to think we'll get 10k home fans for the MK Dons and Walsall games. We'll sell out the away end at Grimsby and Chesterfield. If we're going well, we could have a really big following at MK Dons.

Amazing to think that if we'd beaten Newport (which just came too soon) we'd be top. Maybe we under-estimated the all-round strength of this squad. The bold use of subs, and the way players step up when needed, it's working really well.

New sponsor of the Family Stand, which is now named after this company rather than Haydn Green. Obviously a lot of people are upset about the renaming and asking questions such as: have Haydn Green's family been consulted? Will Haydn Green's contribution to the club's survival be commemorated in some other way? I'd also like to know a bit more about Green Shift Energy and how much they are actually paying, though the club would be very unlikely to reveal that. I could just about get that Notts would do this if it were a really big corporate partnership, with a prestigious brand, maybe one with Nottingham connections. Not sure that's the case here - it looks like they were set up last year using a company registration service, are owned by three young-ish guys, have a pretty basic website, and a small office in Newcastle. Does that suggest a big enough commercial opportunity to override Haydn Green's memory? Odd.

One big takeaway is that everyone loves Paterson now! He was an unpopular pick, some fans said he was out of his depth, gone by Xmas, etc. He's got us fitter, is getting the best out of Rodders, Matty Palmer and Grant, has integrated Robbo into the team well, got Jatta smiling and scoring again, and been a good judge of the loan signings. Notts' good form stretches quite a long way now. We've taken 20 points from the last 10 games, which is automatic promotion form. By taking 1 point from the first 3 games, we gave everyone else a head start, which we've partially clawed back. Hoping that attendances start to pick up again as the coach and team deserve it.

HERE WE GO. NOT EVEN SURPRISED.

Grant hat-trick tonight. I'm not even joking. It's been coming.

Quite revealing: Games 1-6 saved 8 out of 17 = 47% Games 7-11 saved 14 out of 17 = 82% The 6 out of 6 shots saved vs Fleetwood helped - maybe a turning point? Interesting to read the MoM thread from that game!

I don't get to watch every minute of every game so if he's improving that's good and yes let's get behind him. His stats do need to improve as currently it's looking like a massive downgrade. He's saved 65% of shots on target (13th best in L2). Last year Bass saved 74% (2nd best). Over a season that projects to 13 more goals let in, a big handicap.

I was there in the Bridgford end but can't remember much about it. Was that the one where one of our players, maybe David Hunt, got sent off late on for cleaning out a Forest player who was shielding the ball in the corner? This was around the time Forest played Celtic home and away in the UEFA cup, incredible numbers of Celtic fans that night, came close to being a tragedy apparently.

The starting line-up hasn't featured many of our 11 new signings lately. With Macari clear to play and Luker out that's going to be even more the case. What do we think is the balance of hits and misses? For me: 3 Hits: Dennis, Iorpenda, Hall. Not bad but really need more permanent signings to be hits as we get to keep or sell them. 4 Misses: Roos, Norburn, Kouhyar, Bennetts. Probably not a disaster in terms of the wage bill (Norburn maybe costing us) but Roos is a key position and if we factor in Jarvis and Traore not working out, not great. 4 Neither: don't know about Griffiths, Aljofree and Cotter haven't done great but are loans so not so serious, putting Luker in here as well even though he looked good.

Both. Everyone can and should lead by example - you don't need a title or an armband to do that. Having the authority to be vocal with your teammates is part of the captain's job.

Great list. Some of these would be amazing for Notts, assuming their legs or motivation haven't gone (we've had a few of those). Who would be dropped though to make way for them? Apart from Roos, the defence is starting to pick itself, Palmer and Robertson are developing a good partnership, Jones and Tsaroulla are among the first picks, Jatta plus Dennis/Iorpenda/Luker/Hall all looking good. Keeper seems like far and away the priority, then maybe someone with the experience to help us manage away games better. Thought that might have been Norburn but not looking like it.

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?