Graham

A strong signing in my opinion. 5 assists last season in a team who only won 9 games. A player, once valued at £5M, who has been a professional for 10 years but who is still only 26. Our midfield is starting to look competitive.

Thanks @Fan of Big Tone That sounds like a sensible strategy. I'm sure the negativity directed at the club decision makers and recruiters is worse in the summer break when we haven't got refs' decisions, or opposition players to rant about. 🤔

I’m feeling very sorry for the media team at Notts at the moment. Almost every time the club posts a social media communication, a sizeable proportion of the replies seem negative, complaining, or even rude. The media team are simply providing a service to us as fans, sharing factual updates about staff changes and commercial decisions that affect the running of our club. Yet the tone of many responses suggests that the media team are being treated as fair game — a place for people to vent frustrations about transfer decisions that, of course, they have not made. I felt this especially strongly yesterday when Ollie Cooper arrived on loan: a highly regarded Championship player who many believe can revive his international career once he finds the right regular role. I’m personally delighted with the signing, as I’m sure are many of you reading this. But that isn’t really my point. My concern is the tone of the replies. Reading the reaction as an ordinary fan was disappointing enough, so what must it feel like for the people — or players — on the receiving end? Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and I’m certainly not afraid of sharing mine. My plea is simply this: aim messages at the right people, and keep them civil. That already happens on PoN, for which I’m very grateful — and it makes the contrast elsewhere all the more striking.

I'm very encouraged by this signing. If he can stay fit and get a good run of games I believe we might be in for a treat.

I have got no inside information but my best guess about what is going on is as follows: Jodi wants another multi-year contract at Notts and the club are holding out, maybe to see if his fitness and availability record improve in the first half of the forthcoming season. The hesitancy on the part of Richard Montague is based on Jodi's recent availability and other performance stats. He has started 43 games in the past two seasons combined, and, after storming league 2 in the first season back, has produced a much diminished return in the subsequent seasons. I am as big a fan of Jodi's as anyone but if I'm right I support the caution being shown by the club. The best case scenario is he regains his fitness, storms League 1 and gets the contract he wants. A more likely scenario is that he loses patience with Notts and is granted a transfer - probably to a League 2 team because I can't see us selling to a rival. Jodi is a superbly talented football and obviously cares deeply about the club. He has served us extraordinarily well despite his injuries but decisions about his future will be taken objectively and with the best long term interests of the club in mind. Oters will disagree but I, for one, think it's the right approach to take.

I've got a good feeling about this potential transfer. Could give us all a lift when this one is over the line. Much needed League 1 experience in the CV. Will be a better player for the year spent at Southend.

It will be interesting to see how he gets on and of course we all wish him well. But it's quite a tough league and our friend Jatta has got weaknesses in his game. His first touch lets him down a fair bit and he can sometimes get too easily jostled off the ball. I also think he's a big game/ big atmosphere player who gets energised by the big crowds - Wembley a recent example. He might struggle with the much smaller home crowds.

The saga about Jatta, together with endless summer speculation about other players, is a reminder that the close season is a tough gig for the average fan. It is also a stark reminder that fans are the only stakeholders connected to a football club whose relationships are not transactional. Owners can sell. Managers can resign or face the sack. Players come and go. Staff move on and are replaced. Their relationships with the club are defined by contracts, salaries and career opportunities. In the competitive world of football commercially sensitive information is withheld until a deal is done. By contrast we, the fans, remain engaged and attached for reasons that have little to do with transactional logic and nothing to do with compensation. That is what makes the close season so strange for us. Left in a state of suspension, desperately refreshing news feeds, analysing transfer rumours of increasingly questionable credibility, and counting down the days until the season starts. We have no influence over decisions and no access to the conversations that shape the club's future. Yet we are in most cases the people most emotionally invested in the outcome. The irony is that the people who care most have the least involvement. Football clubs can function without a manager, replace a striker, or recruit a new chief executive. What they cannot replace is the collective loyalty of their supporters. Perhaps that is why the close season feels so long. It is a period when we are constantly reminded that our relationship with the club is entirely one-sided—and yet, despite the uncertainty, anxiety and endless waiting, we remain devoted. In football, everyone else has a contract. We simply have commitment.

I agree that rumours are very tedious in this social media age, especially when they are about Notts star players being sold or not offered contract extensions. That said, Peter O'Rourke has a great record of reporting transfer activity before official announcements are made. If he says a fee has been agreed, my guess is that this one could well be confirmed soon.

Next season, let's go back to good old fashioned black and white stripes.

Some cricketer. He once refused to give me his autograph, but it was a Notts County programme I thrust in front of him so I think I can forgive him. (got in free to a Nottinghamshire game after a Saturday match and saw a Derek Randall masterclass).

When the time eventually comes to say goodbye to Jatta - and who knows when that will be, I think Paterson will be looking for a replacement whose skills and strengths match Paterson in his playing day rather than a Jatta mark two. So, a clever and quick striker who works exceptionally hard, makes good runs and who presses well and has a physical presence. Langstaff would have been perfect but that ship has sailed of course. Whoever it is you can guarantee that very few of us will have heard of them. Acquah was signed as more of a hold up/link striker - more akin to Ndlovu. The Jatta replacement will, I believe, be a very different kettle of fish.

Acquah that should be. apologies for typo.

You see some fans (not on PoN of course) complaining that we haven't signed a striker proven at League One level. The fact is we have only once, under the current owners, signed a goalscorer who is proven at the level at which we are playing (Didzy). Even Langstaff was playing in the 6th tier when we signed him. The recruitment model dictates that we sign players primarily on an assessment of their potential a) to fit in and b) to improve their market value. Not every signing works out, but enough of them do and the net result has been success on and off the field. The signing of Aquila therefore raises the question: what is the potential that Montague and others have seen in this player? This is a genuinely interesting question and we might well never know the answer. If you look at the goalscoring stats then Aquila doesn't look great, so there must be something else. I live in Scotland and not all Dundee fans see him as having failed here. Some believe that Dundee failed him in that they failed to get the best out of him. He lost confidence and didn't regain it on loan at Harrogate. Paterson's job is to get that confidence back. If he succeeds then who knows what we'll all be saying in six months time...

I was a big fan when he was at Notts and have followed him ever since. These days we're getting used to very youmg players making a splash at big clubs and at international football. Miller is a good example of a player slowly maturing over a number of years. His all round game has continued to improve and his physique is much more athletic than it was 6 years ago. He has had a superb time at Falkirk with goals and assists - averaging one goal involvement every two matches in 90 odd games. At the age of 28 he is a great catch for Hearts.

I like this. A very strong start to the summer signings. An established player, probably not yet reached his peak. Seems to stay fit. Fans favourite. Gets stuck in and, oh...scores goals (especially when playing in a team of ten men against promotion rivals. Also, has a long throw. The only doubt is that his recent experience has been as part of a back four. But maybe this is a signal of a tactical tweak or an attempt to find more flexibility. Keep 'em coming. Roberts next ...

Chesterfield, like ourselves, have a recent record of underperforming and even self-destructing when the pressure is on and the expectation is high. Their home defeat to Shrewsbury in March is a recent example of this. There are others. You can see why they are bookmakers' favourites for the playoffs but that might just suit us perfectly. If we can play without fear we have every chance of giving them two very difficult games.

I agree, and to that end I would suggest another crack at 4-4-2, at least for the first 60 minutes. Play Browne with Ness in the middle, Jones and Bennetts as attacking midfielders, and Dennis with Ndlovu up top. We need to scrap for points in each of our last 3 games, in order to gain a bit of confidence after last weekend, and we also need to develop some versatility and unpredictability to tackle the playoffs.

Also, by some distance the youngest of the four young head coaches the brothers have appointed. What he's got that they didn't have is proper experience as a serious footballer (at all levels).

I keep having to remind myself that MP is, by some distance, the youngest manager in the division. Also, I believe, the least experienced. Whether we get promotion or not, he's had an incredible first season in charge.

If you had to sum up the season so far you might say: a lot of industry, but not quite enough end product. It will be interesting to see if MP can find a formula that works from the resources available. And interesting to see what part Enoru and Tangen (and perhaps Luker) play in opening up defences during the run in. You live in hope ...

With just 14 league matches left to play I thought it would be interesting to look back at how we performed, in terms of points gained, for the last 14 matches played at the end of our two most recent seasons back in League Two. I knew we had gone out with a bit of a whimper in both seasons but was surprised to see how bad it actually was. First season back was: Won 4 drawn 2 (lost 8). Second season back was Won 4 drawn 3 (lost 7). Last season we were on 57 points at this stage so in an almost identical position for the run in. Martin Paterson has undoubtedly instilled more fight and more steeliness in this year's squad (apparent in some matches more than others of course!) so I for one am expecting more points this year. If we continue on our current points per game we end up on 83 and with this we could sneak into the top three. If we have another end of season slump it could be more like 72/73. So...which scenario is the more likely? I'm going to be an optimist and go for 83. What do others think?

Thanks McPie, great question. I've gone for Championship. Promotion this year or next and then 3 years in League One with continuous improvements year on year. You advised to vote with head not heart. I tried but the heart wouldn't be sidelined for this task I'm afraid. My prediction is based partly on the interview given by the brothers when they bought the club in 2019. They have the Championship in their sights I'm sure and from memory their initial time frame was 10 years.

Despite the changes of coaching and playing staff and playing style you could argue that many of our unsolved problems remain the same. The biggest of these is inconsistency. In my opinion this can only be addressed if we sign three or four experienced players who are good enough to start matches.