theAnticlough

The 'massive club' description seems to come more from those outsiders @Chris mentions

Like others on this thread, I think 'ok mate, you carry on believing that'. We're too scarred by decades of 5000 to declare that ourselves.

I think the perception comes from seeing that Nottingham is a 2-club city and, with the exception of Bristol, that usually means 'big'. The irony though is that they're right. Nottingham is a hell of a big metropolitan area, bigger than Sheffield for example (who cannot count Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley & Chesterfield)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom

When Nottingham was much smaller, we were getting the 47,000 or so post-war crowds. The dormant fanbase has always kind of been there. I think we have to give credit to all those great-grandparents and grandparents (in my case), who passed on the flame. Maybe it skipped a couple of generations, but I think the great-grandchildren are the ones to pick up their family heritage. It's amazing how young the crowd looked at Wembley. Just 10-15 years ago, It still looked like you needed a cloth cap to be a Notts County fan.

1974 for me...so many memories

running home from school (the usually busy streets empty, I must have sprinted out at the bell) trying to catch Yugoslavia v Zaire. Gutted that I was watching highlights on the small black and white telly. Finally the penny dropped it wasn't highlights, it was just Yugoslavia running up a 9-0 win.

He had a great second season for us but no more pining for Didzy

Bottom line is we couldn't win promotion with him, we only acheived that after he'd gone. In the end we didn't need him to achieve our goals.

My most played this week is this one...best song to come out of Nottingham IMHO

Italy v Brazil 1982 came up in conversation today - I realised I still haven't gotten over it!

After a quick look through, the one that stands out for me is Swinkels - looked excellent for Chesterfield

The AM options are mainly investments for the future, rather than anyone who can take and keep a first-team shirt straight aight away.

With Tangan, Luker, Iorpenda and Hall all gone I'm expecting big things for the AM position.

As it stands (early days) a front three of Roberts/Grant/Jatta would have us relegated - not because they're aren't good, but susceptibility to injury, and low production in Grant's case. We need a splash. Might we be able to get someone like Chis Willock from Cardiff? I think we need someone with that kind of profile.

Thanks for posting. I'll have fun with that - shopping for our most needed position, which is another AM

Well, the challenge is right there ahead of him @Chris and he'll get another crack at the championship soon enough.

Oxford struggled, but switching from Des Buckingham to Gary Rowett was bad news for Ruben.

Two goals in the play-off final gives him a platform, and it's a bigger club with a better chance of establishing themselves. He must have a very high level of motivation, and I think it's going to stick this time. He'll have improved since he was with us and that elite, specialist talent of his doesn't grow on trees.

54 goals (from midfield!) and god knows how many assists, (plus those many 'hockey assists' when he's the one to put the likes of Nemane thru to cross) in just 3 seasons, and he missed almost half of the first one due to Ardley. He was an absolute machine of goal contributions for us. And 3 Wembley final wins in 4 years! 4 goals, 2 assists (at least)...an amazing record (Grant can't hold a candle to him IMO)

There used a to be discussions on what level he could reach. Well he already played Championship under Buckingham, and he's back there again. I think you have to say that's the level he reached.

I think so @Robbie. I think Pato was as desperate as the fans for production from AM

All he asks is that we defend as a team, like his comments on JJ in a post-final interview.

Ruben's reputation is cemented as a player who works hard and gets stuck in defensively, rare for a flair player. Cal will have do to that side of the game too....or see the minutes reduce.

Whether Cal starts, or it's still Grant, the other starter will have attributes that complement them hopefully. I'll think we sign a couple as we still need to replace Iorpenda, Luker and Hall.

41 minutes ago, Chris said:

Even then, I feel he managed to figure out that playing Rod McDonald in the centre got the most out of him and that is something I don't think many previous managers would have attempted.

I think that was more of a case of needs must, plus SM being quirky with his inverted habit

Rod kept saying in interviews that centre was his position but he's happy to help the team (from RCB).

It's amazes me how horrible he looked at RCB compared to how magnificently he played in the centre. I don't think that was just position. SM's game plans and schemes could make players look bad (Matty Palmer is another example)

48 minutes ago, Chris said:

This is more directed to those on social media who called for Paterson's head after our 6 game unbeaten run ended or those who said we had no ambition because we didn't bring back Ruben Rodrigues. Clearly, competing with Bolton's resources is outside our limit and I still believe we wouldn't have had the room for him. Who would we have dropped? No point backing talent, that could lead to unhappiness that they are not starting often enough.

You need team players, and I am sure Rodrigues is that, but I highly doubt he wouldn't want to start week in and out.

Ruben would've walked straight into the troublesome AM slots, no?

A Championship level player with an elite talent like his (creative passing) would have won us autos I think (if he was fit) but he's out of our league now. Maybe one day we'll see him back. With his vision, he'd certainly still be able to entertain aged 35.

Our place in that is definitely going to change next season.

We'll push up to 65% maybe (if results are OK) and hopefully only about 7000 seats

(seats are for banners anyway, in my house I've followed Notts' example and stopped the family using the chairs and sofas - I cover them with stuff I want to promote)

Great times

Who else can we mention? French, Hemmings, Cooper, Johnson.

Sobers seems like another age though, the only footage seems to be in black and white!

I was as into cricket as much as football as a youth. I was regularly at Trent Bridge for Hadlee, Rice & Randall and played a tonne myself.

I've followed the NBA for years now. I'm struggling though with 8 champions in 8 years. It's too hard to stay at the top in that competition.

Tomorrow night sees Game 3 of the finals. The 7' 5'' alien Wemby goes into Madison Square Garden 0-2 down. It's going to be funny seeing midgets like Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Timothy Chalomet etc shouting trash at somebody who looks twice their height. If it gets to 1-2, it'll get interesting.

21 hours ago, menzinho said:

Now this is just based on my gut feeling but I’m expecting Lewis to stay. I think it's harder to sign for a club when you can't likely play for 5/6 months and miss pre-season which is a big part of getting new players onboard with style of play and what's required of you in your position.

Me too, but I have a slight doubt because there might be another Notts County out there.

By that I mean a club deep into analytics and on the look out for value in young, injured players.

In one of his interviews MP said that Macari was underrated. My hunch is that won't be by the data. I'd expect him to show very highly in the analytics as one of the best players in L2 last year. Number of passes, completed passes, ball control, interceptions etc.

(I just looked at Opta and Bedeau had the most completed passes in L2. I'd be pretty sure that Macari's per game stats were higher)

So there'd be a pull factor from other teams and also a push factor for Macari himself, who now has a top player to dislodge in his position. Gibbons would have the main counting stats for goals/assists, plus intangibles that got him into the team of the year, but I doubt he's a better pure footballer than Macari.

I hope Macari stays but I wouldn't be totally surprised if a club with resources (P'boro, Salford), that could absorb his injury situation, makes him an offer and the player agrees.

11 hours ago, Robbie said:

A week has gone by since Lewis Macari and Rod McDonald were offered contract extensions, but as yet there has been no updates. Should we be concerned?

I think so @Robbie, whenever a contract expires the player belongs to all 92 clubs as much as they do Notts.

Personally, I think they'll both sign. But to go straight on holiday, and let the agent see what's on the market seems fair to me.

How would it work from Notts' side? You can't bang the table and say sign now or else. But there has to be some kind of deadline for the sake of planning.

Body weight a struggle shared by probably a billion across the world. The challenge is normal @Chris 

Yeah the pop has to go (one of my things was ‘no carbonated drinks’ and I haven’t had one (apart from my exception of a coke for a bad hangover ) for over 10 years now. I’m out now I’ll post more over the next few days

Thanks for the heads up, I'm glad I've always avoided sites like that, plus facebook, X, instagram etc.

On the subject itself, to use the words of someone headed for jail soon (hopefully) I'm intensely relaxed about any speculation on our Head Coach.

He's obviously done tremendously for us, but I'll be honest, I'm uncomfortable seeing him described as 'manager', the James Gibbons interview included.

I want the Bros model, and favoured club structure, to be respected, (it's brought us a double promotion) and I want the Head Coach to stay in his lane.

I think the closest thing to 'manager' at the club is the Director of Football. Montague has given us Rodrigues, Roberts, Jones, Crowley, Bostock, Nemane, Jatta, Palmer, Langstaff, Scott, Baldwin, Cameron, Wootton, McDonand, Bedeau, Platt, Robertson etc. etc. That's a hell of a lot of good players, nearly all of which are operating at Level 1 or higher, but recruited at a lower level. It's a bloody tremendous record.

On the coaches front he's recruited 4 since we got rid of the inherited Ardley. Two left to jump up 2 divisions. Even the dodgy hire doesn't look so bad now that Maynard proved himself again at York.

Coaches come and coaches go, the important thing is that the operating model continues. Pato has had a fantastic first year, I hope he stays years to be the one to push us on, but I won't be fretting about whether he stays or not.

I'll take this to be the side on Match Day 1 as it stands so far - so minus the injured and the unsigned (e.g. McDonald)

......................Belshaw

...........Gibbons...Ness..Bedeau

Tsaroulla..Sanders..Robertson...Jones

...........Roberts......Grant

...................Jatta

Agree with the consensus above - a good signing on the face of things.

With Norburn 33 Palmer 31, it's good to have a holding CM at 27 and I thought he interviewed very well

@menzinho agree on Palmer. The season was a strong bounceback from a poor season playing backwards and sideways in Maynard's scheme. I seem to say this most years, but I hope he passes on the armband now. The masterstroke at the end of the season was going Norburn-Robbo. There's something about Palmer leading us in clutch end-of-season games that seems to set the wrong tone for the team.

2 hours ago, Piethagoram said:

Wow, but he definitely earned it. With Falkirk he became one of the best creative players in the SPL

My memories of the time are pretty clear @StarkMallard 

The players meeting seemed to be about getting 3 CBs into the team....Doyle and O'Brien were clogging away ahead of them and Ruben was shockingly still exiled. Ardley was a dead man walking. If ever a guy deserved to get the sack for not working towards the owners vision it was Ardley

I was always against wing-backs up until Williams, probably because most managers used it as a con trick to insert another defender and others weren't brave enough to get it right.

I used to argue on the old site, a sign of an effective wing-back is a player you would never pick to play full-back. And I think this is where we eventually landed this season with Tsaroulla and Jones.

Burchnall was a disaster not being brave enough to play Nemane over Kelly-Evans

Williams had to work with what he had, but he made sure he transformed Chicksen's game to play the position and had no hesitation in bringing Nemane into the team.

Anyway, 5 and a half seasons of wing-backs now and 2 promotions to show for it. We got it to work for us! But it still amazes me how many still want 4 defenders and are so quick to call for a back 4 despite all our success with a totally different system.

On 28/05/2026 at 22:27, theAnticlough said:

I hope Norburn doesn't end up at Oldham, where he got sent off. If it's the NW, maybe it's Fleetwood or even Salford...

They must have become big fans then ; )

I don't know, their owners had to watch that 49 times, we only saw it 3 times and the first two were more than enough for me.

By 'that' & 'it' I mean the awful cheating, thuggery, gamesmanship...i don't think the class of '92 had to resort to too much of that. It's an embarrassment.

Maybe part of the tinking is to change their ways and remake their image

Well, if they don't get it, maybe a relegation would help them understand

"Didn't benefit from it'' didn't they beat Middlesboro - what other benefit is there?

'How they benefitted' - irrelevant. By breaking the rules, any small marginal gain will change the course of the tie (butterfly effect and all that)

When it comes to giving credit, I'd like to add our Director of Football

I think I saw a podcast recently where the players, HC, coaching staff, owners were thanked and praised but there was no mention of DoF Richard Montague.

Of the 16 match day players at Wembley, Montague recruited...

Belshaw, Ness, McDonald, Bedeau, Robertson, Palmer, Tsaroulla, Jones, Jatta, Ndlovu, Grant - 11

Maybe some don't like the role or our structure but credit where it's due.

Wing-back system & possession-based approach (5th in L2 this year) are 2 other aspects that contributed to 2 promotions in 3 years.