Nice one @Fan of Big Tone especially the dobra picture, what a drama queen. That's what you call justice for all the unsavoury things he does😆

Bit chilly down at the stables this morning, even the horses were shivering. As for me, when finished I couldn't feel my finger ends, meaning there must be a chill in the wind. We are now preparing for when we go away, making 26 feeds for Myles the big lad and 26 little feeds for Diesel our miniatureShetland. Meaning a large scoop of chaff, large scoop of conditioning mix, devils claw, and a small scoop of turmeric for big lad, then small amount of chaff plus a little conditioning mix and then a small scoop of glucosamine for little man. I really hope the bags are done by Friday, which they should be, then off to Morocco for 10 days on Sunday. Preparation is always key when leaving them, like it should be for Notts on Friday evening. 👍⚽️

He also won Kidderminster's Players Player of the Season award!

This is from their official site:

While all players relish and enjoy the adulation of supporters, there’s something to be said about having the respect of your peers.

In that respect, massive kudos and congratulations go to Ryley Reynolds, who was voted by the Harriers squad as Players Player of the Season.

What a fantastic second season in Red for Ryley. So much energy and heart from midfield, and 12 goals to boot! Congratulations to Ryley, and thank you so much for your contributions during your stay here.

Ryley Reynold's loan club Kidderminster has won promotion to the National League after beating South Shields 2:0 in the National League North playoff final.

Ryley has played 42 games for Kidderminster this season. Great that he has a promotion to his name.

Delighted for Riley and Kidderminster. I think he'd benefit from another season on loan there next season. He's obviously thriving there.

Thought Cook’s head was going to explode a couple of times!

Solid, disciplined display. Generally good all round but Robertson, Tsaroulla and McD were all very impressive. Robbo provided the steel and combative element, Tsaroulla protected Ness and kept Dobra then Pearce quiet. McD was composed and assured, as usual. Others did their jobs, Luker scored with a quality finish & Iorpenda was industrious and positive. Belshaw made a couple of good stops too.

Overall, we’ve come away with an advantage and we need to make that count on Friday.

It was a good win against a strong side but we have another game to play against them and I was pleased to see the manager and the players didn’t over celebrate because we haven’t won anything yet.

Superb result but I can't help feeling that we could have buried them with a bit more composure. Having said that, the pressure is on them now, they have to come out and play. That will suit us just fine.

Strands #797
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McDonald had a great game, along with Robertson, Iorpenda, Tsauroulla and Belshaw but my vote goes to Luker who scored the winning goal and looked dangerous going forward.

I think it was a great team effort to get a positive result in this playoff 1st leg. I think the Notts defence played particularly well, & Luker is returning the confidence that Notts had with him when he became injured, but Notts were prepared to wait for him to recover.

But my choice is Tom Iorpenda who was once again so influential for Notts.

When the penalty was awarded, I thought here we go again. Then when we scored first, I thought it’s only a matter of time before they equalise and go on to win. But we held firm did a professional job in a good first leg played away situation. At the heart of that performance was Rod McDonald. He’s my MOTM.

its a good step up and i think hes a good player, i hope he transitions well. he should get more time to play he way he likes in league one.

It's a good opportunity for Ed. He had a great season for Gateshead & the Gateshead supporters were sorry to see him go.

It's a big step up but I'm sure Ed will excel at his new Club & I wish him luck for the new season.

https://rochdaleafc.co.uk/ed-francis/

I had missed this transfer. Congrats to Ed on achieving promotion with Rochdale

Morning all, it’s a big day today, I guess I know what we’ll all be doing today, either watching live, on the telly, listening on radio or pies player or keeping up via the internet. However you are keeping up with the score let’s hope for a positive outcome.

I’ll be watching on the telly with he family who are coming to ours for a meal first, I’m looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to handing the reins back to our son and DIL after staying with our teenage grandkids for three nights. I’m getting too old to deal with troublesome teenagers.

I have one of those round barbecues, but yesterday a wheel fell off. Could it be a sign?

And today I did my back in moving it. Is this also a sign? Either way I'll definitely be watching tonight!

Well @Fan of Big Tone today will be a third towards promotion to the third tier. The fate of that journey is with Martin and his squad, all we can do is hope, as I know they will, that every player gives their all.

@super_ram looks like a lovely pint of my favourite Guinness, cheers to you and yours, hope you enjoyed it.

@StarkMallard obviously the Gods of football are with us today, a wheel falling off is a good omen. COYP 🥳👍⚽️

5 hours ago, YoopEyes said:

Agreed. If we do get promoted, or not for that matter, we need battlers with talent. On that basis, I’d keep McD & Platt for certain. Not sure about Norburn tbh.

I’d probably let Kouhyar & Bennetts go - Maz just doesn’t quite “cut the mustard” and Bennetts is simply too inconsistent. We ought to be able to do better and, with a bit of luck, “can” this fixation with wing backs altogether.

I mostly agree, although I would pass on McDonald. I think he was probably brought in as cover for Platt and Bedeau and his injury record hasn't been great.

I think Notts need to hedge their bets to a Degree and look for players that have 40+ games under their belt. I listened to Patto's Chesterfield presser and he said something along the lines of "Its hard to be consistent when the team is frequently having to change because of injuries" and I think that has been the crux of why we aren't celebrating automatic promotion.

23 hours ago, menzinho said:

Jordan Thomas who I really rate will be leaving Cheltenham, but he’s a winger and unless we are planning on changing formation I can't see how he fits in here.

That's a really good shout, although I think we're able to adapt wingers and deploy them as Attacking Midfielders behind the Striker. Callum Stead from Barnet really impressed me when we played them and both of these would potentially offer the 'value for money' and the 'develop and sell' aspect the brothers like to talk about.

I wonder how much we'll rely on players that offer flexibility in where they can play. I think Myles Hippolyte (AFC Wimbledon) is out of contract and plays LWB or CM or Lewis Billington (Crewe) a RWB who at 6'2" could slot in at Right Centre Back.

I was reliably informed that actually McD & Ness were actually signed as the main centre backs but both got injured pre season and Platt & Bedeau started ahead of them last season. They were intended as the cover as I understand things.

In respect of composure, awareness & positional sense I’d say McDonald is, by a distance, the best defender we have. He’s the bloke I’d build the defence around tbh.

Bedeau has been effective as an attacking left sided defender and, after a brief spell where he’s been out of sorts, he looks back to normal. I’d prefer him at lb in a back 4 and do away with the wing backs.

18 hours ago, YoopEyes said:

I was reliably informed that actually McD & Ness were actually signed as the main centre backs but both got injured pre season and Platt & Bedeau started ahead of them last season. They were intended as the cover as I understand things.

In respect of composure, awareness & positional sense I’d say McDonald is, by a distance, the best defender we have. He’s the bloke I’d build the defence around tbh.

Bedeau has been effective as an attacking left sided defender and, after a brief spell where he’s been out of sorts, he looks back to normal. I’d prefer him at lb in a back 4 and do away with the wing backs.

Interesting how things worked out if that's the case - Jacob has played in every league game since he joined and Matty played in every league game last season. Despite his undeniable attributes, I still think with his age and his issues with injury I'd look for someone who like McDonald is Left footed and could play central and cover the left side if anything happens to Jacob (I think he's got the left side spot nailed down).

I agree about the formation, I think we need to be able to change it up as we look one dimensional sometimes. We could also make use of players like Enoru and Bennetts who seem to look like a round peg in a square hole in some games.

This is a tough one, especially as we’ve only seen Dennis and Jodi (I think) take penalties for us.

I’d imagine in training Conor Grant probably takes a great penalty, but you could just feel the nervous energy of inevitability if was walking up to take one.

Jatta did a challenge video with McGoldrick last year for one of these youtube channels, I seem to remember one being penalties and he was absolutely terrible.

Tsaroulla doesn’t seem to always strike the ball well either when he cuts inside and he’s had quite a number of decent shooting opportunities this season. I can see him hitting a pen that the keeper saves if he goes the right way.

So for me just based on a vibes and who I think is pretty good technically when it comes to striking a ball my 5 would be: Jones, Dennis, Luker, Norburn and Robertson.

I actually really struggled to pick the last one, that was harder than it should’ve been. Thanks for refreshing my nerves @theAnticlough! If it went to penalties, I wouldn’t feel confident about our chances.

Nor do we have a young keeper who absolutely fills up the goal.

I agree @menzinho we don't seem to have an array of natural penalty takers. But to give ourselves the best chance we should have started practising them already.

That's why LW was different class. He didn't shirk from this and had them practising 'their' penalty, until it was ingrained in them. When we look back at Wembley....Maca's, Ruben's and Jodi's penalties had the hallmark of serious practice time.

I don't mind them starting this after tomorrow. It may be a distraction from a really tough game. But the next game could be pens and we have to be ready.

We can't lose because someone like Hall/Kouhyar/Belshaw miss a sudden death pen because they weren't really ready

Hmmm. The problem with Salford is that they have Graydon!

They demolished MKD’s a few weeks ago and they looked strong, sharp and clinical when it mattered against both them & us. Yes, we chucked it away after seemingly salvaging a point - but that was the difference. In a one off with Salford we’d have to improve, considerably, and they’d have to, effectively, “not turn up”. I don’t feel optimistic about beating any of these 3 tbh but I reckon Grimsby would suit us the best.

If, and it remains a very big if, we beat Chesterfield then it’s “game on” at Wembley. Personally, I’d prefer the fishy folk tbh.

Fair enough,

It's such an evenly matched play-off line up.

I'll be in a minority here, but I have very modest ambitions for these play-offs. Like 80pts was an improvement on 72pts, and 5th place on 6th, I'll take the below in these play-offs, which we didn't have last year...

• a goal in 3 hours of play

• some fight and showing that you care

Above that will be a bonus. But on our day, we can get past Chesterfield and beat the other two. So all to play for.

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.

Has it really been 7 seasons? Wow, it doesn’t seem like it, I’m certainly enjoying the ride, I wonder what the stats are for the attendances since they took over. I foresee a statue outside Meadow Lane at this rate. Long May our success continue.

the former admin mark posted something very similar yesterday and leading into the final game on the facebook group. we need to be thankful and understand that the club is ambitious but we just need that extra bit to go further. win promotion this season, its going to be a tough time for some to see us require time to adapt to league one. we are thanks to the reedtz comfortable in league two but things can change. thats football and i just hope we can just give a good account of ourselves.

afc wimbledon outplayed us in both legs, we did not look strong enough and that was bitterly disappointing. this time we have to try harder, even if it means we are out played by a team who deserves it more.

It's easy to take things for granted; by nature we all do to some extent. However, I think that the Reedtz have done remarkably well for new owners of a football club when they first arrived. I think the fact they allow staff to go about their roles without interference, and they remain focused on their core values and not promising the earth makes the club fare more focused on its own progress.

There's different levels of "good business owners", and not all are equal, but I find they have strong core values which act as a moral compess when making their decisions.

Those supporters that are becoming fickle and demanding, do not understand what the Reedtz have brought to the club. They just take everything for granted, and hide behind the cheers when things are going well, then creep out the woodwork at the slightest chance to critise them. On one hand, put all the good things they have done, and in the other place the things you would suggest they got wrong.

If you think they are remotely equal, or not immensely inbalanced, then I would love to know those thoughts because the Reedtz almost make us feel content with the club's direction. We are moving forward, perhaps not at some fans desire but that is an element of entitlement and taking things for granted. Of course, we could have done better last season, and this past campaign, but really would anyone truly say we failed?

I grew up witnessing Notts' decline, characterised by mediocrity, and eventually, we became a struggling club. A club without a vision, fighting only for survival, and some fans believe that the Reedtz lack ambition? They aren't spending money? Be content, but wish for better but most importantly support the club, the players and the people putting in the effort.

A lot of complaints about various problems, a few asked me if I could tell the club but I don't involve myself in that side any more. It's not appreciated, and nothing ever gets done about it. I wish those that had valid concerns, and it's not for me to suggest which are but they should be contacting the club because the more that do, the more things will get resolved.

Every ticketing site that Notts has used has been poor. I don't know if we are still using Ticket Master but they are notoiously known for being awful.

@Chris yes it’s Ticket Master, to be fair I always get my tickets online and print them at home I’ve very rarely had any problems until yesterday but I assume it was due to the amount of people trying to buy tickets at the same time.

It seems a lot of season ticket holders seats have now been released which is annoying I could have got a lot better seats nearer the centre half line in the Pavis stand almost every seat was greyed out when I got our tickets now they are available.

During the summer I listen & watch the Nottinghamshire County Championship matches on You tube. I couldn't do it so much before I retired but it's nice to see a bit of live cricket on the TV now.

i listen to the general radio more than certain artsists, the last song i played was sad, sad, sad by the rolling stones. before that, probably something of r e m.

@StarkMallard reminds me of a better eurovision song.

Can't stop listening to this New Order masterpiece this week - Vanishing Point

ch?v=ZonOHDWn1Dc&list=RDZonOHDWn1Dc&start_radio=1

Sad song, but what an ending

''My life ain't no holiday
I've been through the point of no return
I've seen what the man can do
I've seen all the hate of a woman too

And they gave him away
Like in 'Whistle Down The Wind'
By the look on his face
He never gave in''

What is even more insane is that they are at £14.6m at losses, £10m of that being covered by their owner. Now, didn't the Reedtz write-off a large amount of debt from us? Yes, but some of that was historical debts and investments.

Silly money for a club that could easily re-find themselves back in trouble at the wrong end of League Two.

I don't wish it, I hope for their fans the owner starts to play it smarter but when you think of all the money involved. You have to ask, is it worth it? Can they sustain the large amount of losses without losing momentum and what will the future look like? You spend a lot, and sooner or later, owners will reduce their expenses. Fans become disillusioned and the club could very well be at risk.

Fair enough @Piethagoram, on PiesPlayer (filmed from the Main Stand) my initial reaction was that he'd gone down too easily. But looking at that it's a stonewall penalty, the defender was nowhere near the ball. Good job it counted for nothing in the end.

I was sitting in the Sirrel stand quite close to the incident I honestly couldn’t believe it wasn’t given it’s a definite stone wall penalty.

Not that it mattered as it happens because Cambridge got the point they needed.

'Looking for a penalty' is a very misleading phrase. Of course the attacking team is looking for penalties - goals or fouls made against them

Why not run at players? Unless they tackle you cleanly, you either beat them or win a free kick. Get into the penalty box, and the reward is a penalty. For sure, by the laws of the game one of the incentives of getting the ball in the box is to win a penalty.

Maybe one of the main things Tsaroulla had in his mind was to win a penalty. I hope it was. That's the way it should be and there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is with officials being more reluctant to call fouls in the penalty area than out of it.

I think it's great we're having this discussion at all - it's not so long ago that we were struggling to fill 25% of the ground.

The capacity is adequate for our needs right now, everyone who wanted a ticket against the cider quaffers got one. All the same, I'd like to see our existing seats filled (and not covered by adverts or tarpaulin) before there are any thoughts about filling in corners.

Standing could be one way of doing it. It's possible to have two or three fans per seat in standing areas, so that could add a few thousand to capacity (while hopefully allowing us to offer cheaper tickets). To do that, the club would need to add smaller steps between the existing steps, and I don't know if you can do that for structural reasons.

One other issue is the concourses. There might be scope fo expand them behind the Kop, but the Sirrel stand is difficult because it backs onto the street. Even if it can be done, some seats will always be unavailable due to the away block.

Our lack of a proper dedicated away end creates all kinds of problems. It's a shame we couldn't use the Meadow Lane end for it as the stand is a perfect size; unfortunately, that's a non-starter due to its location.

its hell when we are over 12k and it does become uncomfortable the higher it gets. i love seeing meadow lane filled, but the ground was redesigned in the 90s and even then it was kept traditional. that is not a bad thing, there are loads of quirks and its what makes it a great stadium but everyone feels on top of each other when the kop is busy.

toilets become far worse than they would be otherwise, you are lucky to be served at half time so you have to leave early to just get a drink without queuing for ages. even the use of cards only has not sped things up all that much.

some people said the navi made a mistake by creating its fan venue, but the nest has showed that there is still the demand for fans to have somewhere to go before and after. this last saturday, there was huge amounts of fans just standing near the main gates, and lots walking around. again its a good thing, but if you dont time your entrance well, it is a swarm of hell.

There are plenty of home tickets left for the Chesterfield game - maybe 1,500 - especially in the family stand, I guess due to the kick-off time. So we've sold 'only' 13k to home fans. That's a pretty good effort in a few days and we'll probably sell out, but they've not been snapped up which suggests a 20k stadium is still more than enough. As everyone has said it's just the configuration. If they could upgrade the Sirrel somehow so that more seats could be used and there was a large segregated away end, and maybe the corner nearest the Kop filled in, that would be great.

I'd like the safe standing expanded to more rows in the Kop. I know some people who like to sit would be displaced but it would enhance the atmosphere even more I think.

sad, sad, sad by the rolling stones. @Fan of Big Tone

i used to hear this song a lot as the weekend approached when i was younger, my dad would be singing it and even the opening make me know that it is this song. i hope everyone is okay.

@liampie your dad has very good taste, that’s my favourite band.

@liampie Keeping on a Rolling Stones theme, here is a song based on your mood, for you and your Dad. Happy - Rolling Stones.

Tsaroulla for me too

I think some of the criticism of Jatta is a little harsh. Harbottle, like when he played for Wimbledon last season, had Jatta in his pocket. Dennis coming on weakened the team as did Palmer for Norburn

out of all the starting 11 for me it is nick tsaroulla and jodi jones.

i think jones played his best match for us for awhile, he looked like he used to do before he got injured. some of his crosses just needed better attacking, which is part of where my criticism for jatta would come in. he never positioned himself all that well, and wasted what he did control. i though lucas ness and rod mcdonald did very well. ollie norburn made some poor passes, but worked hard to keep notts on the front foot. if our attack was a little more focused i think we could have been more up before bristol rovers scored. this is not solely aimed at jatta, but grant, luker and others when it comes to shooting on goal.

The poll has now closed.

I'm pleased to announce that Nick Tsaroulla is the pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match v Bristol R. Well done Nick.

I have fixed the issue with the leaderboard notiifcations, unfortunately, it did send out a few days worth from the past. I have patched this so that it doesn't reoccur. This is because it created a back log, and when I fixed the issue they all went out at the same time.

1 minute ago, Fan of Big Tone said:

@Chris I’ve now had 7 notifications that I’m on the leaderboard.

You beat me to it, as I was typing the above part of my message.

Thanks for confirming.

@Chris i cant post to the suggestions page it says "The suggestion could not be submitted. Please check the form and try again."

it looks great and i love all the new changes.

3 minutes ago, liampie said:

@Chris i cant post to the suggestions page it says "The suggestion could not be submitted. Please check the form and try again."

it looks great and i love all the new changes.

Thanks, @liampie.

I'll patch it up now and edit this when I have fixed the issue.

Fixed.

On 30/04/2026 at 16:56, Fan of Big Tone said:

Would be worth you approaching the club for a match worn shirt or other merchandise?

I don't know, I am doubtful they would support it. I might have a better chance speaking to the players, but then I wouldn't want to bother them. I am unsure if this is likely to happen (the raffles), I'll see tomorrow and see what support there is from the wider community. It might not be viable because of the cost of living. I don't know how impacted our fan base is, but even football is expensive, so I fully understand that this might not work.

I don't think this would be a good usage of my time, so I have conceded the idea.

There is an amazing amount of support which I know is there, but I think focusing on subscriptions and donations might be a better means. Plenty of people offered interest in this; however, I do feel it would be a case of obtaining worthwhile prizes and the first might just break even. I don't think for a second that nobody cares, or that there's not that support there. It is solely down to the cost up front, and the time involved being big issues.

maybe in time it could return but the cost does seem to outweigh the point at the beginning, no doubt to put people off but i am sure people will support you in other means. i need to make more donations regularly, i am not against subscribing but you know my feelings on wanting to be a regular member that helps out.

That could easily have turned out as an utter disaster at the back.

On 30/04/2026 at 23:36, Robbie said:

That could easily have turned out as an utter disaster at the back.

If it was Notts, it would have but that's the difference between us and Arsenal.

I wish we could rely on a few bodies to put away crosses, we tend to have that many it becomes a bit like pin ball as to who might strike the ball. I wished Martin Paterson would tell some to hang back at the edge of the D, and then make runs to split the defence.

and people are calling arsenal for scoring set pieces and from corners, they are one of the best teams to watch on their day. i find some clubs like man city to be boring.