theAnticlough

Agree. And choice of captain is a Head Coach thing, surely...part of team selection? Although they're bound to go over it collectively as well Platty has been up front recently on the kit and the MC podcast, is first team regular and looks like a top choice to me. Also, relieving the responsibility from Matty Palmer might allow him to focus on his game and rediscover a bit more adventure. And if some passes don't come off at least he won't have put the ball at risk as captain. So making the change might help out in many different ways.

Last season's average of 10,400 was a real positive for the club, not too long after all those years of it being stuck at around 5000. It's important to keep this going and have the number right up there, not only for revenue but to attract players and keep the feelgood vibe for the fanbase It fell by about 500 from the previous season, so if that trend continues we'll be below 10K again. That'd still be good. Let's see.

Just got out of Hearts v Dunfermline in the Scottish League Cup. First time at Tynecastle - I wasn't expecting such a big crowd and a whopping away following, looked far more than the declared 1,500, much bigger than what we usually see at Meadow Lane. The stadium seemed bigger, but the official capacity is just a dozen more than Meadow Lane. I was stunned to find out the attendance was only 12,940, when we regularly declare 10K+. Either they're undercounting, we're overcounting or it's some kind of optical illusion!

I'd usually steer clear of Gerard Butler films, but last month I took the family to see How to Train Your Dragon at the cinema. For me it's usually just about stuffing my face with nachos, but the film was really excellent. I'd recommend it to anyone, if it's still on.

Yes, he's an international and ex-prem / championship player, played and coached in USA, even had the gumption to go play in the Indian Super league. He's not Burchnall or Maynard. I'm not saying they were, but it won't be intimated by our squad of players and doesn't haven't to ingratiate himself. He's the boss. Everyone should be right behind him, his success will be our success. I'm already finding his passion and edge a breath of fresh air - it's bound to brush off on the players.

Him going back to L1 does cushion the blow of the departure It makes you think he rejoined Notts confident that he'd be involved in a promotion to L1, we were tipped heavily after all. It became a slog for him at Notts, over-reliance on him by the end and still coming out on the losing side too often. The whole SM season, the Saunders situation, Alves covering must have had him scratching his head at times and wanting to taste something more professional before he hangs up his boots. Oh, and the extra money of course :)

I have a vivid Derby related memory from 45+ years ago...all the blood on the top of Alan Biley's fluorescent yellow head after Brian Kilcline head-butted him from behind. Were you there and can you remember that?

Cheers. Seems like a great community of Notts fans. Me? I started off in the early to mid-1970s. My family thought I was at friends, but I'd taken 2 buses and was stood on the kop :) (in the era before fans segregation). Started going away in 1978, so right in time for the Jimmy-WilKo era in the top flight. It's a family thing for me. We were all Notts fans, especially my grandfather, who used to watch even before he served in WW1. They took their eye of the ball though, as I started a Derby fan, but a quick intervention when I was a nipper put me back on the right track.😄

It's not a good sign that I'd forgotten about Conor Grant when thinking about Notts and how we still need to replace Crowley. He's still got 2 years on his contract and maybe we'll start to see better from him this season - he certainly has ability. But I don't like how some games seem to overwhelm him and he stops being a factor, kind of disappears. Quite a few of our players need to play with more aggression and assertiveness. Let's see if Paterson and unlock this much more than Maynard ever did.

Cheers fellow Pies, thanks for the welcome (I didn't know there were posts like this til I logged on for the first time a few mins ago :) ) Hoping for a great season at the Lane and on here. COYP

The signing reminds me a bit of the Cameron to St. Johnstone loan. A club decides to move on from a player with one more year to go on the contract, and if all goes to plan the player sees out the last year and hits free agency at the new club. Barnsley want to contend for promotion to the Championship so are being pretty ruthless. I hope he's one of those players that excels when given a new start. If so, we might have a L2 promotion-level player to add to the other half dozen or so we have.