ARLukomski

Preston North End 2-1 Norwich City Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Stoke City Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Portsmouth Oxford United 2-2 Peterborough United Harrogate Town 2-1 Sutton United (Joker) Newport County 2-0 Tranmere Rovers Bromley 1-1 Solihull Moors York City 1-0 Woking

Sunderland 1-2 Bristol City Watford 2-2 Preston North End Burton Albion 1-2 Oxford United Charlton Athletic 2-1 Barnsley Bradford City 1-0 Gillingham Tranmere Rovers 1-0 Walsall (Joker) Boreham Wood 1-1 Wealdstone York City 2-1 Eastleigh

Plymouth Argyle 1-1 Bristol City Stoke City 1-0 Huddersfield Town Bristol Rovers 1-2 Shrewsbury Town Charlton Athletic 2-1 Stevenage (Joker) Newport County 0-2 Crawley Town Sutton United 2-1 Swindon Town Altrincham 2-1 Oldham Athletic Eastleigh 2-2 Maidenhead United

We need to be ruthless this summer. No room for sentiment anymore or loyalty. We've given players enough chances to prove themselves at League 2 level and a lot have proved they aren't good enough. No other club would have given them players the amount of time we have. The out of contract players Richard Brindley - Release. He wasn't a starter in the National League last season. Had a small reinvention as the central defender in the back 3, earlier in the season. However, he hasn't made the step up and after Harrogate (A) it was obvious he wasn't cut out for League 2. Thanks for the memories Richard. Tobi Adebayo-Rowling - Release. As much as I like his infectious personality, he hasn't had the first team opportunities and I think we can upgrade who can challenge Nemane for his starting spot. John Bostock - Release. Harsh but his performances have not been the same. We need more energy and drive in midfield. Thank you for Wembley you beautiful bloke Jim O'Brien - Release (offer coaching role). Always gives 100% for the badge and can always rely on him to bust some bo***cks when the team isn't performing. However his best days are behind him and we shouldn't be relying on Jim O'Brien to start in midfield. Help him with his coaching badges and offer him a role as part of the reserves/youth team. Aden Baldwin - At the moment, release. He has 6 games to prove it. There is a good player in there on his day but I grew tired of him on Friday. When playing the ball back to Sam, the Notts fans ironically cheered. He then turned around to the fans looking visibly annoyed. Get on with it Aden, it's not our fault you've not chose to run with the ball into space. On his day, he's good, but too many times he has a brainfart (Sutton, Shrewsbury, Wrexham). Luther Munakandafa - Undecided. You've got see how he does out on loan at Truro and also maybe get him a NL loan next season. You've also got to see where he fits in our plans. From when I saw him a year ago, to when I saw him against Derby, he's improved massively. Retain Cedwyn and Geraldo. Give Ceds a 2 year deal. An excellent finisher on his day and never got the opportunity to prove himself this season because of his injury after 5 games. A presence and someone who will get to the loose ball in the penalty area if Macca doesn't get to it. Our pressing game also takes a hit without him on the pitch. A 1 year deal for Baj. His physicality will help us in the middle and again, another player who never got the opportunity. We need a more physical presence. Here's your guy. In contract who I would sell on frees or mutual termination. Adam Chicksen - One good season in 4 isn't enough I'm afraid. After Harrogate away, enough was enough. Thank you for some iconic moments last season but we need an upgrade at LWB. Connell Rawlinson - Another play who has given his all to the cause but he's not a League 2 player. Thank you for your effort and your passion towards Notts. Sam Slocombe - Yet another player who has served us well through the years but he should not be our No.1 in 2024. It shows how poor our recruitment has been when he's still starting. Friday was the last of very thin last straws. 1 good in game 8 every time isn't enough. Will Randall - It's just not worked. His signing was done before the play-off final, but he's never been in the squad. Maybe loan him out at a push Kyle Cameron - Yes. Really. Ash Palmer lead Stockport to the NL title, signed a new deal, got found out at L2 level and got shipped off to Chesterfield 4 months later. Salford was the last straw. He might have played well yesterday but he's not a starter, nor do I think he should be captain anymore. Lead this club back to the Football League and saved his best performance for Wembley where he was excellent, but not a League 2 starter. Keep him on if you must, but he shouldn't be a starter or captain. Junior Morias - Some National League club will pay a small amount for a guy who can score in the 5th tier. However with Macca, Ceds, Didzy and Jatta, he's never getting another look in. Just like Billy Waters at Wrexham, he was signed as squad depth for our strikers. He's barely played and will do a job for let's say Woking, Dagenham or Kidderminster. That leaves Brooks, Stone (keep him on as 3rd keeper so we aren't buying 2 keepers but please buy a new commanding No.1), Nemane, Macari, Jones, Palmer, Robertson, Bajrami, Crowley, Austin, Langstaff, Scott, Jatta and Didzy. Plus Sanderson, Mahovo, Gill, and Cisse. If we get a good offer for Crowley then I would accept. An excellent player on the ball and his return has been impressive, but off the ball he doesn't offer enough and you need to be good off the ball in this league. Him and Didzy's stats look good, but on the eye they don't offer enough out of possession and we've lost our pressing game from last season. On the shopping list. GK, RWB, CBx4, LWB, CM, CAM and maybe ST if Macca leaves

Cardiff City 1-0 Sunderland Queens Park Rangers 1-2 Birmingham City Fleetwood Town 2-1 Cheltenham Town Lincoln City 2-0 Leyton Orient Gillingham 1-1 Crewe Alexandra (Joker) Wrexham 1-1 Mansfield Town Solihull Moors 1-1 Barnet Woking 2-1 Eastleigh

Burton Albion 2-1 Port Vale Barrow 1-0 Newport County Crewe Alexandra 1-1 AFC Wimbledon Morecambe 1-1 Gillingham (Joker) Tranmere Rovers 2-1 Crawley Town Aldershot Town 2-1 Solihull Moors Altrincham 3-2 Gateshead Dagenham & Redbridge 1-2 Oldham Athletic

Birmingham City 2-1 Watford Plymouth Argyle 1-2 Preston North End Derby County 1-0 Bolton Wanderers Peterborough United 1-1 Portsmouth (Joker) Forest Green Rovers 1-1 Sutton United Swindon Town 2-2 Doncaster Rovers AFC Fylde 2-1 Wealdstone Eastleigh 2-1 Rochdale

There's a lot to get through here. A lot to pick apart from a season that promised so much but has delivered very little. Our aim, in my opinion, should have been the play-offs, if we recruited well in the summer that is. However that didn't happen and our season has faded into a feeling of emptiness. Let's start with contract decisions. In the summer we renewed the deals of Kyle Cameron, Connell Rawlinson, Sam Slocombe, Aaron Nemane and Jim O'Brien. As KC was club captain, I can understand his 2 year deal, same with Aaron. Jim was offered a 1 year deal which was the correct thing to do. However, more thought was needed when it came to Rawlinson and Slocombe. Whilst both were rewarded for their loyalty, their promotion success and their longevity with us, neither are getting any younger. Both should've been handled the same as O'Brien with 1 year deals. Even the decision in March to give Chicksen a deal till 2025 was made a bit too much with the heart. Last season was his only good season for us. It won't be the first time I mention this, but Stockport were ruthless in the summer of 2022, after they got promoted. Liam Hogan left, Ash Palmer was gone after 2 months of the season. Jordan Keane left and a few months later Mark Kitching and Ryan Johnson left as well. They ended the 2022-23 season with a back 3 made up entirely of new signings: Chris Hussey, Fraser Horsfall and Akil Wright, with January signing Neill Byrne on the bench. This was a team that kept 23 clean sheets out of 44 in their title winning season and they still made changes. This season (especially January seeing as we gave some players the time to prove they were good enough for League 2) was about progression over loyalty and we chose the latter. Now our biggest problem this season. Recruitment. Something that has been more positive than negative in the Reedtz Bros era. However, this is the most we've got it wrong since summer 2020 (bar Ruben). A neglection of the defence, loyalty to players who we needed to bring in upgrades for, not covering for the injuries of Bajrami and Scott and sat doing nothing for over a month. Now the players we signed. I'm going to go through every single one. Firstly, Jodi Jones. This one we got right. He had a good loan spell with us and his record assists this season have shown what a good acquisition he's been. Next up, Will Randall. Where is he? He said in his interview that this deal was done before the end of last season. However, he's barely been available and he's been in and out of the squad this season through injuries, lack of fitness and not being selected for a matchday squad. Next, Didzy. We were very excited by his return at the time and he has produced moments of magic this season, but he's not been the same player as he was at Derby in 2022-23. His signing has also meant we've lost part of our front press, which made us so effective last season. I'm hoping he can drag some of the players together in these last 2 months and show them what it means to play for Notts. Fourth signing, Dan Crowley. He started brilliantly and his return has been really good with assists and goals. However, of recent, his standards have dropped and his problems from spells at previous clubs look like they are appearing again. Sutton at home when he cupped his ears, then giving away a penalty in the same game. Ruben had off days but he dragged us through games and his late runs into the box and his pressing mean he was far more effective. Our fifth signing was Aidan Stone. He didn't have a good start at Sutton and he made a few mistakes, but then he had his best game against Barrow (A) and then we dropped him. Why? Why did we drop him? Just because Slocombe played well against Derby. He made mistakes in various games after that and his confidence dropped. After Gillingham (H), he was dropped from the starting x1 and we haven't seem him in the squad since. Overall, not an upgrade on Slocombe. There is a keeper in there but it just hasn't worked. Then, we sat on our backsides doing nothing for over a month. We signed Aidan Stone on June 23rd. Our next signing was Ollie Tipton who was signed on July 28th. We spent over a month doing nothing when key areas of the squad, like the defence and cover in midfield, needed strengthening. We started our opening day game with Rawlo, Cameron and Brindley. Baldwin came back unfit. It was so clear we needed reinforcements in defence and here we were doing the square root of jack. Tipton made less than 5 appearances in all competitions and barely ever saw the matchday squad. He may do well elsewhere, but we never saw it. Lewis Macari was signed on loan on deadline day and permanently in December. He's been one of the big positives of this season and he's been our best defender by a huge distance. Feel bad for him because one of the few players who look cut out for League football. Dan Gosling. Brilliant. He hadn't played since November 2022 and we gave him a 2 month deal and with that amount of time, he was never going to get fit. I understand the deal from a financial side, but it just seemed a waste of a signing. Makes you wonder why we didn't bring in a centre midfielder in the summer. When Bajrami got injured we should have acted instantly. Then Palmer got injured and it left us with Bostock and O'Brien. Then January. Scott Robertson (other than Crawley) has been a good addition. He always puts his bundle of energy into every game and does the ugly side of the game well. Him and Palmer could be really nice next season. There is a player in Jaden Warner and I don't think we've seen it yet. I can see him going on loan to another club and having a good loan spell. His height and athleticism is the type of thing our recruitment team should be looking at more. He hasn't a great loan spell so far though, bar a solid performance against Wrexham. Luca Ashby-Hammond was a questionable one. He didn't have the best game for Crawley when they played us at the Lane and he didn't feel like a big upgrade on Stone and Slocombe. He had a good first two games against Newport and Wrexham, but hasn't been the same after that. Whoever conceived the idea of signing Charlie Colkett needs to own up immediately. Why did we think signing a player who's played 15 times for Crewe in a season and a half, was a good idea. The guy had injury setbacks during that time as well. At the time we only had Robertson, Bostock and O'Brien. With Palmer and Bajrami out injured, we needed a centre midfielder who could come in and make an instant impact. Colkett was unfit and had barley played and we were signing him on loan from a team in the same division as us. The guy still hasn't looked fit in his sub appearances. Finally, Alassana Jatta. Another player who couldn't make an instant impact due to issues out of his control. We haven't seen him enough to make judgement yet and I don't think we should be judging him on three substitute appearances. Whilst I've seen people complain about signing a striker and not improving the defence, we did need a striker. Yes, we definitely needed defnders, but we only had Langstaff, Didzy and Morias. With Didzy playing attacking midfield, that leaves us with Macca and Morias, who has had injury troubles and times when he's fallen out of favour or just not been match fit, like Will Randall. We have gone away from our recruitment strategy a little. The type of player that made us successful was signing younger hungry players, with energy and pressing abilities and players who are good on the ball. We started going towards a model of signing players who hadn't made it at top level academies and have since fallen down the leagues or players who've had injury troubles and are wanting to rebuild their career. It's worked for Jodi, it worked for Bostock up until about December 2023. It worked for Crowley until Luke left and it just hasn't worked for Colkett because signing him was just a complete waste of time. So when you go through a tough run of form like we are now, will them players get in the trenches and fight and drag us through games and get us points from nothing? I'm not sure other than Jodi. We also don't have the required height, physicality and athleticism required at this level. It's why so many teams, even with lesser quality on paper, have just beaten us up physically. This league, as shown by last seasons promoted teams, is built on a good defence. The proof is in the stats, we may have the 2nd best attack in the league but we also have the joint worst defence. Gillingham have scored the least amount of goals in the league, but up until last night, they were in the play-offs. They, do however have the 6th best defence and whilst I don't want to give up our attacking play, not by a long stretch, a huge focus is needed on the defence in the summer. Like I mentioned earlier, Stockport were ruthless. The defence that got them promoted are now not at Edgeley Park at all. The players that are still there from the promotion winning season are: Ben Hinchliffe, Macaulay Southam-Hales, Ryan Rydel, Myles Hippolyte, Antoni Sarcevic, Ryan Croasdale, Paddy Madden and Will Collar. Ethan Pye was there but wasn't a regular member of the matchday squad like he is now. The final thing is Stuart Maynard. Was he my first choice of head coach? No. Do I want him to succeed? Absolutely. Is it working? No. Whilst our recruitment is the number one driving factor behind our fall, SM has made questionable calls. The poor subs against Crawley, to tactical tweaks that end up putting Jodi and Nemane on the same wing and some of his pressers, pre and post match being a bit puzzling. He's correct in his judgement to drop Brindley and Stone and he's correct that we've had defensive issues all season and we don't have the personnel and height required to defend our penalty area well enough. He's also not helped by our poor squad depth, which has been an issue all season, impacting who he can drop and who he can bring into the side. However his record since he's come in has been terrible. One win, one draw and seven defeats. Whilst I get the focus has been trying to make us better defensively, it has meant taking the focus off the attack and we haven't been anywhere near as energetic or fluid going forward as we once were. Our defensive performances haven't been sustainable all season, but our goal difference has gone from +8 to 0, with 10 goals scored and 18 conceded. We've been average at best and absolutely horrendously shockingly terribly inept, dire and woeful at our worst. We still haven't won at home and our away performances are still not wielding points. I am thankful for what Chris and Alex have done so far, but they need to dig deep into their pockets in the summer because the squad needs a change and as it stands, the person in the dugout will to. I am also not sure about Richard Montague as well. He leads recruitment and the signings made have not been good enough.

Northampton Town 1-1 Blackpool Shrewsbury Town 0-1 Exeter City Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 Wigan Athletic (Joker) AFC Wimbledon 0-0 Gillingham Newport County 1-2 Morecambe Walsall 2-1 Barrow Halifax Town P-P Oldham Athletic Maidenhead United P-P Hartlepool United

Blackburn Rovers 2-0 Plymouth Argyle (Joker) Millwall 1-2 Birmingham City Port Vale 1-1 Shrewsbury Town Reading 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers Accrington Stanley 0-2 Bradford City Sutton United 1-1 Grimsby Town Aldershot Town 2-2 Oldham Athletic Kidderminster Harriers 2-0 York City

Its anyone's game as to who gets 6th and 7th. With the way our form and performances have been since November, we won't be there. They just aren't sustainable enough to go on a good run of form. Player injuries, neglection of the defence in both transfer windows, players downing tools and Luke leaving (meaning we probably had to reassess our transfer window as certain targets may have been off the table. I said after the Mansfield game, to a mate of mine, it would probably be better if we don't finish inside the play-offs, because we are just simply not ready for that next step yet. A few too many squad players who have got another year on their contract are still here and investment is needed in the defence and more squad depth. The problems were here before SM got here. Our record since November is PLD 18, W 5, D 2, L 11, GF 36, GA 38. 17 points taken from a possible 51. When you have one thing that is good (the attack) and one thing that isn't (the defence), you need to focus on the one thing that isn't good (the defence) which may mean taking some focus off of the attack for a bit. That balance will be struck over time

Preston North End 1-2 Hull City Swansea City 1-1 Blackburn Rovers (Joker) Cheltenham Town 2-1 Burton Albion Leyton Orient 2-1 Bristol Rovers Crawley Town P-P Barrow Grimsby Town 2-2 Forest Green Rovers AFC Fylde 1-2 Maidenhead United Woking 0-1 Kidderminster Harriers

Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Norwich City Cardiff City 0-0 Stoke City Barnsley 2-2 Derby County Blackpool 1-1 Bolton Wanderers (Joker) Accrington Stanley 2-1 Crawley Town Barrow 1-1 Bradford City Dagenham & Redbridge 2-0 Halifax Town Southend United 1-2 Aldershot Town

Scott Robertson, Nicky Hunt, Mark Ellis, Thierry Audel