https://www.saddlers.co.uk/news/2024/january/mo-faal-joins-the-saddlers-on-loan-from-west-bromwich-albion/

Took Walsall's goal well

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

"EFL clubs have unanimously approved a record domestic rights deal with Sky Sports over a five-year period with over 1000 matches to be broadcast each season – a record number of games for any club football agreement.

Running from season 2024/25 to 2028/29, the arrangement will be made up of guaranteed payments of £895m and £40m in marketing benefits".

Week 29 of 46

Notts' v Stockport match has been postponed.

Only four games in league 2 have escaped the weather.

MK Dons v Morecambe

Newport v Wrexham

Gillingham v Forest Green

Barrow V Crewe

David Noble and his assistant Neil Banfield have been relieved of their duties at Wealdsone. David was only appointed on 26th January following Stuart Maynard going to Notts.

A poor set of results sees Wealdsone in danger of relegation.

I enjoy reading the points of view other Fans on PON. Sometimes  their remarks are Serious other times Funny and other times Thought Provoking. However it's come to my attention that other Authors on other Media platforms are stealing (for want of a better word) ideas comments and authors remarks from the Notts Fans who write on this sight. Case in point the other day I suggested that perhaps Luke Williams may speak to the Swansea board about signing Macca and low and behold a couple of Days later some Hack had taken my comment and had written an article around it. There have also been other segments of articles I've seen and as I read it I think I'm sure I've read this on PON. While I'm sure there isn't anything we Fans can do about this, should you be one of these people who take Notts Fans remarks stories or Topics from this site, then at Least Have the decency (which probably something New to you) to quote the Pride Of Nottingham as your source. Any other PON Members come across this?

I’ve stumbled across a table that might be similar to what was in the Reedtz Brothers recent statement. It ranks the teams on how well they create chances (Expected Goals - XG) and how easily the opposition create chances against you (Expected Goals Against - XGA). And then it calculates the points from that.

You can view the table here: https://footballxg.com/xg-league-tables/ You then need to click on the drop down menu on the right hand side which says "League" and change it to: England - league 2.

A little XG explanation for those who need it:  XG, it’s a is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal. So if one player has a chance from two yards out in front of an open goal, and another player has a shot from 40 yards out and near the touchline, clearly one has a far greater chance of scoring than the other. XG simply assigns a value to every shot. So if you are producing a high XG but not scoring many it likely means the players are simply not good at finishing (or you keep coming up against very good GK, unlikely though). Whilst at the same time if your XGA is very high but you’re not conceding many goals it probably means you’ve got a great keeper amongst a bit of luck (cos the chances of the opposition constantly missing chances would be slim).

This is my first time seeing this table too, I know a little bit about XG but I’m not claiming to be an expert. I certainly don’t think it’s the be all and end all of stats as I know there are many aspects of football that you can’t really measure and you can still have a dangerous attack that doesn’t end in a shot for whatever reason. But I get how it can be helpful when assessing a team’s performance in terms of how well they attack and defend.

It's helpful that they’ve used colour coding, green for good and red for bad (there are no surprises for the colours for our chances created and conceded here!) So in this table we are in 8th position and if the games were decided by XG we would've had 6 more points. We’re very good at creating chances, we’re also very good at giving the opposition good chances too. Interestingly we are overperforming our XG, but to be honest all good attacking teams will usually do this. Even though we've conceded the most goals, by our XGA stats we aren't the worst in the league - just the third worse! It is still high/bad though and giving away all those penalties won't have helped either. That said based on these stats it suggests we’ve conceded 8 goals more than we should've. That would most likely come down to a few long-range goals but also probably some shots our keepers should’ve saved…

You can change the "start date" by just typing in "20/01/2024" to see the table from SM's time (that was his first game). Whilst you can’t argue the fact we’re bottom of the form table (only by a point now though), we’re mid-table based on XG/XGA and this data has us with 9 more points in that time period too. I guess this is why the board are more hopeful than the majority of us fans!

League 2 Morecambe have been deducted 3 points by the EFL which will be effective immediately, and basically ends their bid to make the playoffs.

They drop to 14th place, 2 points ahead of Notts, having played one game more than Notts.

Further information in the link below.

This lad sits near me in the Pavis he’s definitely passionate.

Notts chief executive, Joe Palmer, provides an update on several exciting projects – including news that their plans to develop a state-of-the-art fanzone and events space have been approved

Swansea were well beaten at home by Southampton yesterday although watching the highlights they had some good chances, Williams said after the match it will take time to get their ideas across. I wonder how patient the Swansea fans are?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68703922

Well it's that time of year when Notts have come to their last four games of a long season.

It has been a very entertaining season that began with so much promise, but as other teams found a successful way to play us, the season fizzled out somewhat because as many as we have scored we have almost conceded. And losing an exceptional Head Coach at the end of the year didn't help either.

But we can take some really good positives such as our attacking unit being the most potent strike force in League 2 by scoring an impressive 83 goals with four games to go 

My shortlist for player of the season will suprise no one, being chosen from our impressive attacking unit.

Macaulay Langstaff, who has followed up his record of most Notts County goals in a season, by scoring 25 this term in league 2 with 4 assists.

David McGoldrick, who came back to the club he started his career with and played a supporting role to Langstaff and has scored 12 goals and has 3 assists.

Dan Crowley: When Ruben Rodriguez left Notts, it was always going to be tough for Notts to replace him, however, Dan has gone a long way in proving people wrong in that regard, by being so influential from an attacking midfield perspective for Notts, scoring 14 goals with 9 assists.

Jodi Jones has been an absolute sensation for Notts this season. Much of the attacking threat has come through Jodi on the left side, so much so that he is had the most assists in the football pyramid with a phenomenal 22 and he's also scored 5 goals.

Aaron Nemane, has been another big attacking threat from the right side, with his pace, he's always going to be dangerous to our opponents. Aaron has scored 7 goals , with 3 assists.

I want to give a special mention to Alassana Jatta who joined us during the January transfer window has has made a big impression since he arrived scoring 5 goals from 9 appearances with 1 assist.

It's been hard to choose a winner because they have all contributed so well, however, my winner has to be Jodi Jones, because 22 assists is absolutely exceptional.

So my top three list is

1, Jodi Jones.

2, Macaulay Langstaff.

3 Dan Crowley.

I hope this doesn’t come across as insensitive but it seems like every match now there seems to be a round of applause start up on a particular minute of the match. On Saturday I didn’t even know what we were clapping for which seems a bit futile really. I get it if a former player or manager dies but it just seems like it’s every week.

Why we’re we clapping in the match against Harrogate does anyone know?

There is of course a lot of talk of where Macca and Jodi may end up next season.  So here are my thoughts.

During the January Transfer window there was a lot of speculation that Macca was on the move and some Media even declared he was on to way to several different Clubs. Sunderland Birmingham City and near neighbours Derby County were mentioned, thankfully nothing materialized and it was just paper talk. However the rumour mill will soon be bubbling along and Macca will come under the Micro Scope of other clubs so if Macca does move where will he Go? If Derby renewed their interest and paid a decent amount for his services and he moved to Pride Park I think there may be a lot of Notts Fans who might just nip down the A52 for a look and see how Macca would deal with life in the Championship should the Rams get Promoted. Don't be surprised if Luke Williams doesn't try and convince the Swansea board to take a look at Macca. Finally it certainly wouldn't be (I think) out of the realms of  possibility that our Friends over the Boarder in Wales Wrexham put in a Bid should they get into League 1. It will be up to the owners to convince Macca to stay at the Lane ( I hope they do) but with the signing of AJ the return of Cedwyn Scott and Didzy  will it be hoped by the Notts Board they have enough cover should Macca be Sold to another Club?

Jodi Jones Record Breaker, Jodi Jones League 2 Player of the Season (Possibly) Shush keep it quiet. But a player that good Notts can't keep his skills and Talent undercover. At the age of 26 beating 3 ACL injuries looking at a possible early retirement from the game, shows beyond any shadow of a doubt Jodi Jones is also a Fighter a Guy who doesn't know the meaning of the word quit, and Now (hopefully) with his injury worries behind him, clubs higher up the Football Pyramid are Taking Note. Could Jodi hold down a place in the Championship? Maybe but I think it's more than likely should Jodi leave the Lane this coming off season it will be to a League 1 Club and that's where Wrexham (should they be promoted) come in. If the Red Dragons  do (and it seems highly likely) get promotion then a Double Bid for Macca and Jodie (I believe ) wouldn't be much of a surprise they would of course face opposition from other League 1 Clubs  in Jodi's case and League 1 and Championship Clubs in Macca's.

What ever the outcome  and I hope both are still playing in the Black & White Stripes of Notts County next season, both Guys will hold a Place in the Hearts of all Magpie Fans  and each deserve our Thanks for the Huge contribution to they have made to the History of Notts County Football Club. Thoughts?

There isn't any

It's Matchday. It's the first day of four Notts V Essex at Trent Bridge. Updates will follow.

Saturday is the fiftieth(!) anniversary of Abba winning Eurovision with Waterloo. And with the PON prediction league, too, the winner takes it all*. So get your predictions in by 3pm on Saturday, and remember your joker!
* not actually true.

Sunderland v Bristol City

Watford v Preston North End

Burton Albion v Oxford United

Charlton Athletic v Barnsley

Bradford City v Gillingham

Tranmere Rovers v Walsall

Boreham Wood v Wealdstone

York City v Eastleigh

Game 43 - Sulphurites (H)

Team: Harrogate Town

Date: 06/04/2024

Where: Meadow Lane

What line-up should Stuart Maynard opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

I believe that Stuart Maynard should stay.

But what do my fellow PON members think?