"Fallen giants" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there for a club whose most successful era ended in 1930. By the same token, you could call Notts a fallen giant as we were part of the furniture at the top level until the mid-1920s. And playing at the "top level" pre-Bundesliga isn't much a boast as the top level was divided into eight regional divisions then. There are village clubs who can legitimately call themselves former top-flight clubs...

Since then, Holstein Kiel have spent much of their existance knocking about in semi-professional football until their rise in the last 10-15 years. They were in the Bundesliga for the first time ever last season but are fighting relegation to the third division this season. All the same, and despite their relatively modest crowds, these plans are unambitious - the revamp will see a capacity of 22,000 (7,000 more than now), including 12,000 seats. Kiel is a big city and the club pretty much has Schleswig-Holstein to itself, so I think it could do better.

Oh dear, what a calamity. You’ve got to feel for the poor bloke.

A positive for Spurs is that once he was substituted Spurs actually drew the rest of the match 2-2. Spurs do have a slight chance of making a comeback in the 2nd leg due to the away goals rule, so a 3:0 win would take them through.

I didn't see it (Champions League football on TV is way too expensive), but it's never a good sign when people send your goalkeeper "messages of support"...

There was a lot of pressure going into the game for him, a few Walsall fans spoke to me before the game and they mentioned how clueless their manager was. It sounded like with every press conference and post match presser he was doing the typical "save my job" comments.

I mean he claimed Walsall played well against Notts, they really didn't.

Only marginally were they any better than us, and attacking wise was their own blessing but still not pretty. A manager can't defend a performance conceding the goals in the manner he did against us, so late in the game. To me it would have suggested that the players just wasn't buying into his vision, and have zero confidence in moving forward under him which does tend to force the deicison to pull the trigger.

Kevin Nolan is out of work…just saying. 🙄

Genuinely disappointed by this. It's a sad day for nominative determinism.

It'll be interesting to see whether they now kick on (as their board are clearly hoping) or it spells the end of their season.

What I took from the presser today, and MP leaves you guessing, is that when he spoke about "being fair' and 'honest' is that the released list has already started.

Maybe MP concluded that he'd go to Hall, Tangen or Bennetts in CM (if the other 4 are injured) before he'd go to Hinchy. Hinchy has to play and put himself in the shop window for his next cotract because his time at Notts is over. That's how I read it, anyway.

I agree with @theAnticlough even when he was recalled from his first loan spell after Palmer's injury and then Robertson's if felt like that was the most obvious pathway for him to get into the team but it didn't happen. I can't see him being here next season but I hope he does well at Wealdstone.

I agree with @menzinho - if Hinchy could hardly get a game during an injury crisis, when exactly is he going to play? Especially with the arrival of Tangen, who has spent much of his career playing in his position. Hinchy needs to play regularly to improve, but just isn't good enough to hold down a place ahead of Plamer, Robertson and Norburn. Catch 22. Hope he does well at Wealdstone but I think this is the end of him at Notts.

Definitely, it's not like our players aren't used to playing in front of big crowds and whenever they get asked pre/post-match they seem to relish getting to play in front of so many.

The bigger attended matches do tend to be against the better teams though, which makes it harder but we've been pretty good this season at home so I'm hoping we get a really good performance and result on Saturday!

It's been a bit disappointing to be honest to see this season's attendance, I understand the start but when things picked up I do think the gates could have been better. I think it's partly the club's fault for increasing the pricing ahead of this campaign, paying what £24 on a match day just won't appeal to floating and casual football fans. I understand that it brings us in line with others, but I do think affordable football is the better business model.

This is coming from someone who prefers gates around 8k, due to anxiety, but it is nice to see them higher.

Meadow Lane deserves to be attracting good figures and I hope when we can reach League One, they are continuing to be at the higher end of 10k. The Championship might bring more, but for a club like us we need the revenue to fuel us despite the recruitment.

Interesting point. My first thought was that the bigger crowds correlate with more difficult opposition, but that isn't quite the case - we beat Cambridge, yet dropped points against Harrogate and Accrington.

I don't know if it's the added pressure or a coincidence, but well-attended matches have a tendency to be damp squibs for us. It really needs to be different on Saturday as we could lose touch with the top three very quickly if we don't keep winning.

It's a real mark of progress that we're still talking about our eighth crowd above 10,000 now that the euphoria of promotion from the NL has ebbed. We used to get those once a season if at all. Like @Chris I think that 24 pounds on the day is too much, but the club would point at its attendance figures.

You get officials like yesterday and players that dramatically throw themselves down making a squealing noise that con said officials, we don't stand a cat in hells chance. Perhaps one of our training sessions should be conducted at theatre school. 🎭

As I get older, I do understand more why some fans seem more 'half full' than 'half empty', I feel quite rational when it comes to what I observe and I try to keep things in mind when times are tough. I wouldn't class myself 'happy clapper', though isn't that what a fan should do when times are tough? I mean, I try to put this out there that during previous regimes we wanted a squad that wanted to win, love the club and respected the fans.

The Reedtz family has instituted this with every managerial appointment: players come in to give it their best shot. Some aren't good, but very few do not care or don't apply themselves.

I felt very worried about relegation out of the Football League, but like many other teams it's done us more good than any previous reset attempts. That's a big reminder that there's always something to remain optimisitic about.

Look, I am one of those fans who support the club, but I will support the players too in their efforts. They come and go, but we remain and if that means we don't hit the expectations I can accept it. Seasons always have their ups and downs, so when you have what we do now we really need to stay humble. Trust the process, try to encourage and so far we haven't had a bad season really since Alan Hardy left.

And there's nothing wrong with ambition, but I can't allow that cause problems for long term success and so I think there's always a balance.

I'd consider myself to be a cautiously optimistic fan but right now I feel pretty positive because I think at this point we have over-achieved this season.

We had an indifferent start not helped by Jatta missing the first month of the season (and now he’s been out for over a month), Palmer has been out for close to 3 ½ months and Roberston can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to being injury free. We also had a goalkeeper for half a season who was terrified of stepping out from under his crossbar and we've had no No.10 with the quality of Crowley or Didzy. Yet here we are 1 point off an automatic place!

I’m pretty amazed to be honest, in terms of finishing the season now it's a bit of a basic response but we've just got to keep doing what we've been doing. We've got much more resilience to us this season and that gives us a good chance of getting over the line.

I think that Maynard has shown that he is a good leader & Head Coach. York City are challenging for automatic promotion in the NL. They are on course to exceed 100 points this season with already accumulating 86 points with 9 matches remaining.

They have the best goal scoring record 97, than any team in the NL & the 2nd best defensive record conceding less than a goal a game. To say that Maynard can't organise and Motivate a team isn't correct in my opinion. Stuart is possibly on the way to exceeding Luke's points and goalscoring totals & we thought Luke was a legend here at Notts.

On 09/03/2026 at 22:49, YoopEyes said:

The key is that Paterson can organise and motivate a team - I don’t think Maynard could do that, certainly not convincingly anyway. He didn’t seem to get the best out of players, either individually or collectively.

It might be the step-up, and the fact he had reinvented himself as an EFL head coach.

He clearly has something about himself; he's doing really well with York City. It would be shame if they were not to go up, but there are levels of pressure, and sometimes we put ourselves under it. It's possible, he just works better with more involvment in the recruitment process.

Maynard couldn’t organise & motivate here, he was extremely 1 dimensional too. Tactically naive.

Until he’s proved himself at league level, I wouldn’t get too excited about him tbh. Nice bloke but still learning his trade.

I’d take Paterson over him every day of the week.

I made up with Kevin when he apologised to me after referring to me as "Arsenal Fan TV" and claiming I hassled the players for selfies. I only have a few, and the whole complaint about his falls apart when I show I had no involvement over JJ publishing the images sent to the FB page from a friend called Ben (R.I.P) Highlighting Liam Noble's training session with us.

This will make me sound bitter, but I had no end of abuse directed towards me on certain social media channels due to his unprofessional comments.

Although he apologised, I must confess that I still harbor resentment.

I was waiting for this to happen, the moment he made some baffling signings and stopped playing someone far better than one certain signing. I am sorry, I don't believe he's good enough to manage. He is biased towards his friends, he doesn't understand tactics as a manager and he's just a bit cocky in believing he can do better. Our fans call Paul Ince, Keith Curle and Chris Kiwomya. All three of those are better than Kevin Nolan.

My tinted glasses can't go as far as declaring Jamie Fullarton as better but they are incredibly close.

I think it was inevitable that his job would be on the line after winning only one match in the last sixteen. Problem for Northampton they are four points from safety with 10 matches left.

A new manager will find it very difficult to save them from relegation at this stage in the season

I can remember a toe-curling interview/game thing that Kevin Nolan did with Alan Hardy and one the questions Alan was asked was something like, “Where do you see Kevin in 5 years time?” and he answered, with no hint of irony; “Manager of the England National Team”.

I suspect if he wanted another managerial/head coach role it'll be either League 2 or the National League for him.

Hi @Gloucester Pie thanks for introducing yourself, it’s great to hear your back story, thank you for choosing the oldest professional football club in the world. Enjoy the ride.

Welcome @Gloucester Pie to the world of wonderful we have here at Pon. COYP

@Gloucester Pie, welcome to PON! I am very sorry I missed this. I hope 2026 has been a great start for you. I also hope you enjoy being part of our Notts community and check in when you want to contribute. We'll always make you feel welcome and at home. COYP!

The YouTube channel dedicated to uploading old highlights, and news has done a fantastic job perserving some of our history, that is how I have been able to watch many of them over the years. Though, I was given several DVDs of old recorded TV full games which I watched. These were given to me by a fan who did a similar thing, but just for personal use as the Magpie Goals channel.

I haven't spoken to the fan in years, everything about the KOP seems to have changed with our success on the pitch but one of the games was this tie. I can't say if it was fully extended or just highlights. I just remembered seeing it, I should try to find the dvds again.

I need to get back to promoting the OTDs, it was something PON first did that I had noticed Premier League teams doing and wondered why Notts never did. I probably have shared this one, I'll check tomorrow but fans don't like being reminded of defeats but some games I do feel are important historical. Therefore they should be shared, win, lose or draw.

Obviously, I would have been just over a year old when this game took place, so no memories or recollections, but you know what, I love reading about fans memories no matter what the result.

I have seen some Derby youth streamed games over the years, and they don't have a bad academy. Even when they were at their worst, it's the academy that gave them something to fill their squad out and some are real gems for the future. Easily Championship, League One potential and if their better prospects get the right time I think they could see more pushing them forwards or being sold on.

I am not surprised they beat us 2-0, to be fair it could have been more and our lads shouldn't dwell on it.

Don’t worry we’ll get promoted in third place, you heard it here first. 👍

Mystic Tone

Charlton Athletic 1-1 Birmingham City

Swansea City 2-1 Stoke City

Blackpool 1-0 Wigan Athletic

Luton Town 0-2 Reading

Gillingham 0-1 Fleetwood Town

Tranmere Rovers 0-2 Oldham Athletic (joker)

Hartlepool United 2-0 Halifax Town

Woking 0-2 Tamworth

Charlton Athletic 1-1 Birmingham City Joker

Swansea City 1-1 Stoke City

Blackpool 1-0 Wigan Athletic

Luton Town 2-1 Reading

Gillingham 2-1 Fleetwood Town

Tranmere 0-2 Oldham Athletic

Hartlepool 2-1 Halifax Town

Woking 2-1 Tamworth

The result:

Charlton Athletic 1-0 Birmingham City
Swansea City 2-0 Stoke City
Blackpool 1-1 Wigan Athletic
Luton Town 2-3 Reading
Gillingham 1-1 Fleetwood Town
Tranmere 1-3 Oldham Athletic
Hartlepool 0-1 Halifax Town
Woking 3-1 Tamworth

Our joint champions this week are @magpiejue and @nottsnutter!

In our big leaderboard, @william1984 still leads but @magpiejue has made some inroads into that lead this week.

And that's yer lot - Saturday's fixtures will be posted on Wednesday as usual. Thanks for playing!

Martin has a few players to choose from for the number 10 role. I think that his selection will be made depending on what type of footballing side we are facing, whether they be a ball playing side or a direct playing one that are very physical for example.

I'll abstain from the vote as I missed the first half, but would lean towards Norburn, the rock in midfield who allowed others to shine. I thought he was a dud earlier in the season, but he's stepped up when we needed him and he's a big reason why we're still in the running for the top three. Bravo.

Kouhyar and Bennetts were both livewires after coming on. For the "penalty", Bennetts went down after feeling contact; those kinds of decisions tend to be given in Germany, but not in England! He's the perfect sub to bring on to shake things up, but no doubt he wishes he was starting more often.

The Poll has closed. Thanks to all who voted. I'm pleased to announce by popular choice, Ollie Norburn had been voted the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match v Walsall.

On 04/03/2026 at 16:05, Fan of Big Tone said:

I’m appealing that red, I was not malicious and no one was injured. 🎵crap refs we always get crap refs 🎵

Strut your smarts like I told you in the PM, I should make it clearer my message is a joke. Though, I do like the idea of randomly whacking people like Granny would joke about. 1 New Notification "Chris has just wracked with GrannyPie's walking sticks". 🤣

On 05/03/2026 at 11:16, Michael D Pie. said:

What you do on here for everyone is really much appreciated @Chris and it is so good to see you back and doing your thing. Thank you 😊

It's nice to be back, and it will be even more enjoyable when the standards I set myself improve, but I know, little steps. I want to make sure I get next season spot on, and planning will help with that. Thanks for your kind words, Mr Michael. 👍

7 hours ago, Chris said:

Strut your smarts like I told you in the PM,

Ok, @Chris in that case I’ll just leave this here

I can do a good impression of Yogi Bear, saying that he's smarter than the average bear. 🤣

On 07/03/2026 at 08:01, Fan of Big Tone said:

Donation page has been revamped with new widgets, as per my coninued effort to be transparent it also shows I would break down the donations. I never expect to reach the goal target, but when it does it would have a breakdown. 9/10 all the funds go towards the dedicated server.

https://prideofnottingham.co.uk/donate/

The Avatar Gallery has been rebuilt and new features such as claiming a display picture are included to avoid other members using the same one.

My full attention turns to the social publisher application I am building, this will hopefully tie into the featured system (not spotlight) and allow for the featured page to bring interesting content.

I am also outlining what will be included for those who subscribe to PON.

Everyone helps massively, so please don't feel inclined to donate or subscribe. As a community we do our best with every single action we take.

Biggest understatement in terms of comments on football: "Suspensions likely to come.". 🤣

What the hell am I seeing? I know South American football is very violent, and Brazil are one of the worst places for that, but the keeper turns a bad 50/50 into something you might see in WWE/AEW, Only they wouldn't do the lamest knee drops, if I were in charge of the punishments I would issue bans. None of this is professional behaviour, and the punishment of bans is the only real way to combat it.

Yes @Fan of Big Tone the old English sayings are definitely ones to listen to. There was a reason behind each and every one. "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" March often begins with rough winter weather and ends more gently.

There is some truth here. In Britain the jet stream often still drives strong storms in early March, while by late March spring air masses start to dominate, bringing calmer conditions. Thought you might like this one to go with your contribution 😀

Here’s another one for you @Michael D Pie. :

"If the oak is out before the ash, then we are in for a splash; but if the ash is out before the oak, we are in for a soak":

I guess it refers to the buds on the trees.

Good morning fellow pies (and Rams of course), how are we all today? It’s matchday of course so we are all full of anticipation and optimism, safe travels to our travelling supporters I’ll be listening on Radio Red which will probably turn into Radio Yellow and Blue as they follow the stags FA cup exploits but hopefully they’ll save some time for the Pies commentary.

Have a great day everyone and COME ON YOU PIES!

I thought today was mostly good, but I feel a bit bummed (down) now. I have been burying my head in code, trying to get parts sorted so that it's easier to return the content to the site. I won't focus on that, but it's like a bomb being dropped on the inside and no matter how many positives I can think of it still not enough to change the perception in my own mind.

That said, whilst I waited for the kick off yesterday's game I finally met someone who I have looked out for at away games for awhile. I thought I had in the past, but I think it's a mismemory.

It's always been a huge pleasure to meet people, and it's one of the many privileges of the site. It's one of the best things about the community aspects, as I still remember not knowing any fans aside of my family and although sometimes I find games to be overwhelming I do look back at all the wonderful people I have met. I'm not mentioning who, it's not fair and respect privacy but they also kindly donated.

When someone does this in person, I find it difficult and I tried politely to say that it wasn't needed. In my mind, I was worried it would be taken the wrong way, but when someone insists I will accept it but it doesn't take the awkwardness a way. Everyone who has helped, it does show me what the site means and I am always thankful for that. It was nice to have a brief chat, but I wished I didn't fall into complaining about a few things. 🤣 Ironically, those views were multipled by the behaviour of some supporters who I am gunning to speak with in person. I won't stand by seeing abuse, and I will call it out.

These people are always the first to want something from the club or the players, even after being a gob*hit* towards them.

In other news, I have made a large step with improvements and I will continue to reach this target. I am hoping to have my social publisher application ready, but I am still stuck on a few parts.

Learning about important figures is something I think more people should do, it's partly why I like posts like this because without them being mentioned you might not otherwise be aware or make the connection that this is the same person who was issued on a stamp once upon a time. There's an element of legacy that makes it exciting to read about those who fought in the war, who made a difference and stood for good.

I was reading an article this morning, Quote, "Approximately 50,000 American soldiers deserted from the US armed forces during World War II, with the vast majority of these desertions occurring in the European Theatre of Operations". 

"While this number represents a significant issue, particularly during the peak of fighting in 1944 when desertion rates rose above 6 percent, it represented a low percentage of the total US military force"

(Source Google)

I hope Jatta is back soon otherwise this could be a worry going into the next three games, if neither Jatta or Ndlovu can play that just leaves Dennis as our only out and out striker.

Looks like me and you better get our boots back out @Fan of Big Tone and give to the cause. 🤣⚽️

I agree with @Chris it was a dangerous tackle that could have resulted in a serious injury, so the straight red was justified as well as the suspension.

But I do remember a bad tackle on Jodie Jones when Notts played Gillingham last season that went unpunished & Jodi finished up being out for months.

There are so many inconsistencies when it comes to dangerous incidents during a game where these incidents are either jumped upon, not seen or just ignored by the officials.

Oxford United 1-1 West Bromwich Albion

QPR 2-1 Sheffield United

Mansfield Town 0-1 AFC Wimbledon

Stevenage 0-2 Stockport County

Barnet 1-1 Chesterfield

Colchester United 2-0 Salford City (joker)

Brackley Town 2-1 Altrincham

Truro City 2-0 Braintree Town

Oxford United 0-0 West Bromwich Albion

QPR 0-2 Sheffield United (Joker)

Mansfield Town 0-1 AFC Wimbledon

Stevenage 1-1 Stockport County

Barnet 0-1 Chesterfield

Colchester United 1-0 Salford City

Brackley Town 0-1 Altrincham

Truro City 0-0 Braintree Town

The results:

Oxford United 2-1 West Bromwich Albion
QPR 0-2 Sheffield United
Mansfield Town 2-2 AFC Wimbledon
Stevenage 2-1 Stockport County
Barnet 1-0 Chesterfield
Colchester United 0-1 Salford City
Brackley Town 0-2 Altrincham
Truro City 2-3 Braintree Town

Congrats to this round's winner @Dan! But the strongest player this week is clearly me, as I'm propping the rest of you up:

Overall, @magpiejue moves into second, 17 points behind leader @william1984...

Keep your eyes peeled for Saturday's fixtures, which will be posted tomorrow. Thanks for playing everyone!

The stadium mockup looks huge for a club that only has 9k+ seats. Parts of it look nice but one side is far too big. I don't know much about the club, but I found it interesting to read.

I like Grant and Kouhyar, I think they offer a lot and improve us. Unfortunately, neither has been much of a threat in the final third, but both serve the team well in other ways (IMO we look better as a team when Grant plays). You can have one player like that, but having two just behind your main striker (who isn't exactly a golden boot candidate himself) isn't a recipe for goals galore.

We really stepped it up in the second half - we started taking risks and creating chances - and I thought we were much the likelier team to win it until the sending off, which was followed by a frankly stupid triple substitution and an unnecessary goal. And even after that we had a couple of good chances to equalise.

We're a good side, accidents happen. Let it be a lesson. Among other things, certain players need to learn to stay cool under pressure and to play to the whistle (Mr Jones I'm looking at you). We need to dust ourselves down and be back on our A game on Saturday.

Probably different cases @DangerousSausage. There's nothing too wrong with our formation or attacking intent, it's just a personnel issue. Our promotion-clinching No.10 was scoring a hat-trick at Orient at the same time.

I'd predict MP calling time on Kouhyar now. In a similar way that he turned against Roos after C'Field. He's been a lively sub for us (albeit w/out goals and assists) but that's 3 starts now in which he's looked nothing like that player who can give a nice 10min cameo.

We all know now what Grant does and what he doesn't do. If we had a productive alternative, his lack of output would have consigned him to the fringes. Both Luker and Hall were ahead of him previously.

That this was our main area of weakness going into the Jan window was obvious to all. We were interested in Ruben of course but that was the longest of long shots. Monty's answer in the end.....Tangan. I hope this season doesn't pass by without him getting the same chance Kouhyar's just had.

I've kind of given up on this weakness in the team being solved this season and there are only 12 (or 15 games left). We have to muddle through and hope MP can come up with something on a match-by-match basis. Can we get 2 or 3 more of early-season performances from Hall for example. Can we ever surprise a team by playing JJ or Tsaroulla there. Or throw in a totally different formation...

certainly i think the defending was better than our attack, but had that near miss of ours where lee ndlovu tried stretching to reach the ball it could have been different but matty platt played brilliantly.

Macari for me, though my vote could also have been placed with Bedeau and Platt

The Poll has closed. Thanks to all who voted.

I'm pleased to announce that Matty Platt has been voted the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match v Grimsby. Well done Matt.