I thought we looked very well organised and comfortable on the ball for most of the match. The system suits players like Palmer and Jones who can dictate tempo and create chances. We had them pinned back and just couldn’t get the breakthrough early, which always puts you at risk of something daft at the other end, and that’s exactly what happened.

Second half became a bit disjointed but we still kept plugging away. Really liked the impact from Norburn when he came on, added a bit of steel and composure. Penalty was soft but Dennis did well to force it, and Jones made no mistake. Hopefully next week we turn this kind of control into a win.

A few of the differences I will be looking for this season is for the Notts team not to tire as the second half goes on.. Of course they may need to shut up shop on a few occasions as the circumstances demand, but the side did lack goals in the final quarter of most of the matches we played.

I will also be looking for a proactive approach to substitutions. Last season we always saw around the 60 minute mark, several routine substitutions that used to effect the shape, & we also conceded goals just after those substitutions.

I hope that Martin will quickly change things if a particular tactic isn't working, & if that has to include changes, so be it.

Jones looked sharp again. Took that penalty with real composure.

If you look at Sunday league teams, there’s Celtic everywhere in the names. At least West Allotment Celtic reflects its local area.

I’ve never heard of the village either. It’s a bit odd seeing a place called West Allotment, especially when an allotment is usually where you go to do a bit of gardening, not play football. I’d get it more if the team was called West Park Celtic FC. That would make a bit more sense.

It rings a bell, but I don’t know why. I wonder if it’s been mentioned here or to me in the past. Thinking a little more, it might have been a quiz where I heard about the village.

Quirky things like this are interesting to read about. Celtic is also a very common name for clubs. At least their badge is unique to them and quite nice for a team within the Scottish football pyramid.

Thanks for joining Pride of Nottingham @Chedozie! Dive into the latest Notts news, chat, and matchday excitement with fellow fans.

Hello, @Chedozie. There ae plenty of good posters on here, and a lot of good content. Once you settle in and become used to things you will find there are many ways to engage with content. Welcome to PON!

Hello, welcome to the Pride of Nottingham @Chedozie. I hope you settle in and have fun, this is a very friendly community.

Hello, @one-two pie. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. You can find a lot of good content from the Dashboard page.

Hello, welcome to PON. It's a great site, full of friendly people and most of all common sense. Even if you disagree with someone, we just talk about the points and accept opinions.

Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham, @one-two pie. You will see the community are glad you joined and it just takes a bit of time to get used to the site. Join in and be part of the fun.

i will keep an eye out for the show to hit the tv screens, i am sure it wont be long until it happens. anything half decent gets snapped up. anything good always ends up on sky.

I don’t watch much traditional TV, mostly quizzes and game shows. I do keep an eye out for the occasional drama, so I’ll try to remember this one and see where it ends up being shown here. Stephen King is a brilliant writer, and it’s good to see his work finally getting the proper treatment in TV and film.

I have a digi box that is connected to a Digi Aerial. I can connect to ITV X on the internet. There are scores of films, drama series, sport, comedy & general entertainment.

I watched a complete drama series "After the Flood". There is so much to see just on ITV X Television has been revolutionised over the last few years.

yeah some supporters were panicking that he would get hold of the club and some took it a lot further, be i am glad ah had the common sense to avoid him. it would have been a disaster if he was involved. a con artist running a professional football club wont be success for the long term.

Imagine if his true identity hadn’t been revealed, it was only thanks to the newspaper article that his fraud and prison sentence was discovered.

This is from when he was in talks about purchasing us, "Alex May, when we were first introduced, disclosed everyone about his conviction. He has changed his name. He came clean and told us and everyone involved in this transaction is aware of that". Just baffling Alan Hardy even accepted the talks with him.

I think the reaction from us fans pretty much put a stop to it, but if that hadn’t all come to light I wonder if he would’ve been able to blag his way through all the EFL checks…

It’s worrying to think he nearly owned Notts, even with the fake name and all the noise he made about having the money. That radio interview where he talked about being part of a group that saw the club as a Championship side, there’s just that sense he would’ve stripped the assets and moved money out. I suppose he might’ve put some of the dodgy cash into Notts to make it look legitimate.

I would like to welcome you to PON @muskan761947 with open arms and a heart full of joy.

Dive into the conversations, tomfoolery and never looks back.

Hello, @muskan761947. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. Please do take the lunge and say hello, we all look forward to reading what you have to say to our conversations. See you around PON.

Welcome! Hello, @muskan761947. It's good to be welcoming you, please feel free to reach out if I can help you or if you need help. Until then, care to tell us a little about yourself?

its nonsense to complain about it because it just brings awareness to the issue and clubs and players will still want more money. its the way football is, i do agree it will come back as an excuse.

I don’t like it when newly promoted teams complain about how expensive the step up is or say things are overpriced. Compared to what, League Two? It doesn’t make much sense unless they’re trying to set up excuses early. They should stay positive and get on with it. It sounds like they wanted other players but settled for cheaper ones. What would their new signings think? Maybe they should have asked for more wages.

Bradford City can’t really moan about higher fees if they rush into deals. Players want more these days, and it’s often better to wait and let things settle. If you buy anything the moment it’s released, you usually pay more than if you wait a few weeks. Football’s no different, but they’ve got other things they should be focusing on.

you have set a very high standard to maintain @magpiejue, as someone who had led previous prediction leagues dont let it go to your head and dont over think results. just keep guessing with your head and heart.

well done everyone.

I’m really happy to be in it. It’s been great joining in.

Thanks for making the prediction league fun. I enjoy taking part and guessing the scores!

On 04/08/2025 at 15:29, liampie said:

you have set a very high standard to maintain @magpiejue, as someone who had led previous prediction leagues dont let it go to your head and dont over think results. just keep guessing with your head and heart.

well done everyone.

She won’t be there long I’ll soon knock her off her perch, don’t get comfortable @magpiejue 😂

Hello, @brad88. Welcome to the community, make sure to drop by regularly and to share your thoughts on Notts.

Great to see a new face @NCRichie! We’re all about keeping things friendly, fair, and full of Notts chat.

Welcome to PON.

Hello, @brad88. It's always great to see another new member, so welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. I wish you well with visiting, and getting the most out of the site. If you can, you should grow to love PON.

18 hours ago, Robbie said:

Notts could invite significant investment through a third party investor by using the investor's capital for player acquisitions, stadium improvements, commercial ventures, while also potentially benefiting from the investor's network & expertise.

This is perhaps too simplistic in the scheme of things, especially when applied to football. Either it means diluting the Bros shareholding or if as a 3rd party loan, what security is asked for in case the Club cannot pay it back.

On 29/07/2025 at 21:48, Ash said:

The club really needs money so it can buy good players and pay off the money it owes. If we keep losing money, that’s not something the club can keep doing.

If we spend money wisely and only pay the right amount for players, I’m fine with signing free players too. They can still help the team.

We can't spend loads of money every season, like £300,000 or £500,000. Some years we have to be more careful.

The club has spent £millions over the last few seasons on off the field projects including laying a SIS Hybrid Premier League Pitch.

I was talking about transfer fees, and I think we’re doing okay.

Some fans think not spending money means we’re not trying hard or it’s a bad thing, but that’s not true. Sometimes saving money is smart.

i know the board have dismissed that we are a moneyball club, but that is what it sounded like when they first arrived and there is nothing wrong with it. complaining we are selling players, and denying the club is in better shape or is making any form of progress. it just makes me wonder what those types of fans thought when we were losing players as free agents. players can see its a difficult league and the only way we can get better is through investment.

selling jatta eventually would be a smart move, but a replacement is needed and we need to get him to sign a new deal even if its just two years.

i do worry about him walking away on a free, but i hope his connection to the fans and the opportunity we have given him comes through. his agent might want to make a quick buck, but jatta needs to be the decision maker.

On 03/08/2025 at 22:42, Robbie said:

I agree no player is bigger than the Club.

Don Masson, a Notts County Icon & voted by the fans as our best ever player, was sold to QPR for £100,000 in 1974. Due to inflation that would equate to £1,331,867 now. Every player has his price.

I remember being distraught when “The King” left, I couldn’t elieve they sold him but we survived, I agree no one is bigger than the club.

I was scrolling through a Notts photographer's gallery; he took pictures of the players preparing to go out from under the stands and onto the pitch. Alassana Jatta stood out the most with how friendly he looked; I don't think his agent will turn his head.

If he decides it is his time to move on, I fully believe it will be his decision.

Offering him a new deal, ideally seeing it get signed, should give us some confidence, but at the same time that might just be in the fee we can attract for him. We do have to allow players to leave if it's best for them, and if the money reflects that. All we can hope is that a player can be identified. I was apprehensive about the possibility of losing Kyle Wootton, but we managed to secure the signing of Macaulay Langstaff.

When we signed Wes Thomas, that was a signing that gave me hope that the club could identify goalscorers and bring them to the team. Even prior to Kristian Dennis, Kane Hemmings, and Jon Stead, we hoped that young strikers could be signed. It seems something we are far more capable of doing while avoiding the older legs that are nearing retirement.

Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham @Stevelatimer! Whether it’s matchday excitement or midweek musings, there’s always room for your thoughts.

Great to see a new face @Stevelatimer! We’re all about keeping things friendly, fair, and full of Notts chat.

Welcome to PON.

Step right in @Stevelatimer! From Meadow Lane memories to today’s team talk, this is your space to share and enjoy. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham.

I don’t think you can knock the commitment to the cause but I feel like we’ve over-recruited in a way, possibly bringing in unnecessary players (although that is too early to say at the moment). Even though a good number of players departed over the summer some of them formed zero part of the squad. Players like Cameron, Chicksen, Cundy & Morias, they didn’t need replacing they just to needed to be let go.

We have a number of players who can cover more than the one position so I never thought we needed a massive squad either, but right now we’ve got a large squad, 25 outfield players and that’s excluding any academy players... In the midfield positions, which covers the wingbacks, central midfielders and attacking midfielders that’s 6 spots that get filled each match we’ve got 16 players that can play in these positions!

Sometimes you are better off investing the wages of 2 decent players to get 1 very good player, you take the hit of a smaller squad but get quality over quantity. My slight worry is that we have tipped the balance towards quantity.

7 hours ago, Robbie said:

The Notts match squad looks very different to last season, with Martin Paterson ringing the changes big time.

I don’t think MP had much to do with the recruitment of players that’s the recruitment teams job, MP just works with what he’s given, he may have some input on the type of player but not the individuals.

We may need to be patient while the team gels, you can’t just throw lots of new players into a squad and expect them to work together efficiently quickly, that takes time to learn how each others minds work and anticipate what they will do, I just hope that if things get off to a slow start the fans don’t start to get on their backs.

Quality loans do tend to cost money and good wage contributions, so just because we opted for this doesn't mean we aren't willing to pay. It might be more of a statement that the club believes there are better players to be brought in temporarily while we try to push for a League One return.

The way I think of this season is that the club might be trying to ensure only quality is signed permanently, and those who have arrived on free transfers look to have potential to step up or be allowed to move on without much fuss. League One football isn't going to be easy; a lot of good teams are failing, and the landscape of the division has improved a lot since last year. League Two is more competitive than when we were last here; the issue with football at this level is that some clubs are willing to gamble for promotion.

Accrington's chairman, for example, loved to comment about how his "punching above its weight" team earned promotion. It's been downhill since, and for a club to have such a wonderful season that earned them promotion, I think intent and questioning Notts should not be made so lightly. I know Accrington have a small budget, but their chairman's complaints about fair play, whilst ruining the progress made over one magic season, sort of baffle me as to why he is liked so much.

A striker was on our wish list even after Matthew Dennis; all it takes is one injury, and Mai Traore isn't going to fill me with confidence up top. I think, from what I have seen of him, he's best behind the ball and allowed to run with it.

We only have Alassana Jatta who is a true striker; Dennis still makes me believe he should be playing in a similar role to Jodi Jones and Conor Grant.

Jarvis & Whittaker are no better than Martin & Brown who we let go. Cisse has lots of potential & he's worth a place on the bench. 

Junior has shown that he can score goals. Traore hasn't really showed much since his arrival. 

I would prefer Junior over Traore at this time. He deserves another opportunity. 

Junior Morias Signs One-Year Deal with Yeovil Town.

a lot of ex notts players do tend to end up at yeovil when they are not doing so well, i wish junior morias well, i thought he was unlucky and threated quite badly in terms of him not being given a proper chance. i know some have suggested he might not have trained well, but the club released two videos during his time, where he was chasing everything with a scary amount of pace and we failed to fit him in.

I didn’t go to the match, but I watched it on TV. I thought Jacob Bedeau was brilliant for us. He stood out and made a real difference in the team. He was a big asset and looked confident throughout. I think he had a very good game.

It’s a pity we didn’t get all three points, but the squad gave it everything. I agree there are a few strong choices for Man of the Match.

The Poll has now closed. Thanks to all the 53 PON members that voted.This week we had four popular choices vying for the number one position, Matt Palmer, Jodi Jones, Jacob Bedeau & Tom Iorpenda.

I'm pleased to announce that Matt Palmer came out on top with 21 votes , so he is the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match against Newport. Well done Matt!

Fair play to everyone who voted. It’s always interesting to see how the poll shapes up and to read the different opinions people share. I’m really pleased for Matt Palmer. In my view, he deserves this, and clearly most voters agree.

I hope he can keep playing at this level. It’ll only help show how important he is to the team.

Maybe not a crisis, but a major imbalance that is unhealthy for the game in the long term. The financial gap between the haves and the have-nots has become a chasm. Champions League money is distorting the Premier League and PL parachute payments are distorting the Championship and even League One. The PL is already starting to look like a closed shop. Meanwhile, the amount of money sloshing around the top level is now attracting owners and would-be owners who are looking to cash in. If they fail, things go south quickly.

By contrast, the non-league scene is in rude health with crowds surging. I don't know much about Widnes, but it doesn't all add up - the board were seemingly wrangling with the council about a new ground, and ultimately decided to take their ball home. Hmm - I find it hard to believe they scrapped the first team over a dispute about a car park. Non-league football is full of badly run clubs that have achieved successive promotions on a completely unsustainable basis, only to vanish when they sail too close to the sun.

There is too much money involved in football now, but there's no going back, not in the short to mid term anyway... I wish I had the answers but running a club and being profitable is basically an anomaly these days, clubs are totally at the mercy of their owners and if you get a bad one (or ones) you are stuffed. It's not right that you need to be a multi-millionaire to run a club either and the lower down the leagues you go the harder it is to be financed solely by attending fans. I'm amazed clubs like Accrington, Harrogate and Fleetwood with average attendances of less than 3,000 can even afford to put a competitive team out.

I saw this on social media today, a pretty good way to sum-up how the media view English football too.

i dont know what it is or how to explain it.

i have noticed that it does make a difference, i cant say i know a lot about the mental side of football. its a strange one because most teams are able and there are times when notts has the confidence to perform well for 90 minutes but attacking does tend to be better when its towards the support the team have. maybe we need to try to be louder and more encouraging throughout the games even when its tough or boring? i am not saying newport was boring.

It's a well known fact that football teams tend to play much better at home in front of their own supporters, although I think Notts have bucked that trend over the last few seasons.

I won't go into the advantages here because it's readily available on Google, but they do say that generally there is a psychological boost when playing at home due to the noise of the home supporters & if a team gets good away support.

A big factor unconected to the club support, is the way Notts play as a possession based team & you get teams playing defensively against Notts at ML but they have to come out & attack Notts at their place, thus giving Notts more room to exploit.

I think all of that is a big factor with how successful Notts are from match to match, but I do agree that support is equally important to Notts too, & we have the best supporters in the EFL so that does make a hell of a difference home & away.

i know he signed for alfreton but i agree with the comment in the post, he never seems to settle or play long for a club. in the friendly against us, he was a very good player and was their biggest spark i felt. it does just seem a bit strange that hes off out on loan so soon.

the leading actor is the nutter from happy valley? i will give this a watch when i have the time to commit. if anyone thinks about googling the film title, don't just go here https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m001k3tw/mr-jones

there are so many other similar named films.

from the description it sounds very interesting.

BBC news article on the Mr Jones:

Nice write up, I love it.

It's a very good write up, however I would go further to say we don't have to compare the Club against any other because our Club is simply unique & our Club's uniqueness is beyond compare.

Neil Warnock, a Notts County Icon who masterminded 2 successive promotions & had Notts competing with the best.

It's inconceivable in today's age that his leadership, tactics and style of play wouldn't be welcome at so many clubs up & down the land in this day & age..

But unfortunately that is the sad truth. The continental style of play, the perverbial 3-5-2-1 is the preferred shape of most of the PL clubs & across the EFL. It's the preferred shape at the Lane too.

Neal always talks a lot of sense. He lives football, & knows it like the back of his hand. He has personality & wisdom mixed in with a sense of humour. And he's very good at telling interesting stories.

Neal is the type of football manager that is quickly becoming a thing of the past & that fact really saddens me.

Thanks @DangerousSausage for highlighting this article.

What the article doesn't say, Warnock's success was built around ex #Notts player Mick Jones ( he is the one who identified Jack Grealish and Callum McGregor, when he came back to Notts to help Chris Kiwomya). Mick was Warnock's "database" , he put in the hard miles like Sirrel used to do, to look at players.

3 signings for me, that Warnock should have made at #Notts

Warren Barton ..14/3/90 Maidstone v Notts County Leyland DAF 2,114 in attendance, including me!

Ian Taylor 1992 playing for Notts Reserves (managed by Don O'Riordan) v Port Vale

Brian Deane instead of Tony Agana

Good morning and happy Sunday, it’s a cloudy start and rain showers are forecast for most of the day.

Yesterdays medical emergency at the match against Newport got me thinking about air ambulances and what a great job they do, it’s fantastic they are available for situations like yesterdays. I do hope the fan is ok and they make a full recovery.

On 29/07/2025 at 14:59, Michael D Pie. said:

Gardening completed yesterday so as to free up time (where does it all go?). @The Anti-Clough good luck with your big project, I hope you achieve before the weather changes.

I did thanks Michael - a 3 hour slog at my age is no walk in the park, weeding while standing up is a deceptively tough exercise! I got some help though, my teenage daughter surpassed herself by doing a big chunk of it too.

Holidays over, it's back to the daily grind for me. At least we have Notts games to look forward to again 😊

On 02/08/2025 at 12:23, Dripsey3 said:

Hurling is my passion so I'm looking forward to this. I won't bore ye about the history of GAA at a local level, we'd be here all day 🤣

I once attended a hurling fixture and was taken aback by how fast and violent it is - a great spectator sport for sure

He might become a competent manager one day, but he’s always rushing and hasn’t dedicated enough time to learning. He’ll either be a natural or he’ll fail. I wish him the best, though succeeding at Woking is tough.

Ah yes Schmeichel Doyle, is he goalkeeping coach?