I hate the play-offs. I wasn't there for either of the Warnock finals, but I definitely was for the debacle in 1996. And now this. I never expected us to get this far, but there's still somethig galling about having the prospect of an instant return dangled in front of you tantalisingly, only to have it snatched away again. This was our first go. Hopefully next season we can get the 90+ points we'll need to avoid them.

On a personal note I have a special relationship with promotion play-offs. My adopted team, Waldhof Mannheim, qualified for, and failed in, the play-offs three years running (once after finishing as champions). The first time getting that far was an unexpected delight, only to come a cropper against a much stronger team (sound familiar?) in front of a full house of 26,000. The manager resigned afterwards. The second time they lost on penalties (the player who missed the crucial one turned his back on football afterwards) and the third was abandoned due to crowd trouble with Waldhof trailing 3-1. They finally made it on the fourth attempt as champions after automatic promotion was reintroduced.

So I'm not keen and I'm not sure I could cope with us finishing in the play-offs next season too. But you've got to show the mental strength to go again and be up there year after year, and that's what Notts have to do now. If we bully this league and bang on the door enough, eventually we'll make it. What we can't allow ourselves to do is to sink into mediocrity like Wrexham have done.

Next seson is going to be a difficult one psychologically, the expectations will be higher and the pressure much greater if we don't get off to a good start. But we've got a good team to have got us this far despite everything, and touch wood we'll have a better one next time round if NA and the owners have done their homework. Here's hoping!

Quote

 

We have confirmed our retained list following the conclusion of our 2019-20 Vanarama National League season.

Ten players remain under contract for the forthcoming campaign, while seven others have been offered the opportunity to extend their stay at Meadow Lane.

Sadly, however, five players have been released following the expiration of their contracts and our manager Neal Ardley has praised the contributions they have made towards the club’s resurgence.

“This is always the toughest day in a manager’s calendar, but it’s especially difficult this year as we are saying goodbye to great lads who have given their absolute all to the cause,” said Ardley.

“The relationship I have with these boys goes beyond that of a typical manager and player. They have all bought into mine and the club’s philosophy and helped take us to a play-off final and an FA Trophy semi, achievements we could only have dreamed of at this stage last year.

“Unfortunately football is a cruel sport and disappointing news is par for the course in any player’s career. All I can do is publicly thank each of them for their efforts and wish them all the very best for the future.”

Under contract

Tiernan Brooks

Enzio Boldewijn

Damien McCrory

Jim O’Brien

Connell Rawlinson

Callum Roberts

Sam Slocombe

Wes Thomas

Ben Turner

Kyle Wootton

Out of contract, offered new deal

Richard Brindley

Kristian Dennis

Michael Doyle

Dion Kelly-Evans

Alex Lacey

Joe McDonnell

Sam Osborne

Out of contract, released

Zoumana Bakayogo

Regan Booty

Tom Crawford

Mitch Rose

Scott Wilson

 

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news...d-list-040820/

Really surprised that Crawford has been released. Last season, I would have understood it. He came on so much as a player this season though. Rose released so no surprise to me there. Hope Doyle and JoB are there as experienced heads occasionally when needed (more so Doyle tbf.)

With Fulham joining Leeds United and West Brom in the Premier League, here's my league table prediction.. 

1. Manchester City
2. Chelsea
3. Liverpool
4. Manchester United
5. Arsenal
6. Tottenham
7. Wolves
8. Leicester City
9. Everton
10. Sheffield United
11. Southampton
12. Leeds United
13. Newcastle United
14. Aston Villa
15. Burnley
16. Crystal Palace
17. Brighton 
18. West Ham United 
19. West Brom
20. Fulham

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53637169

There should be stricter regulations, if their ground isn't ready to meet EFL regulations, they shouldn't be promoted

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2020/august/ceo-update-050820/

https://www.barnetfc.com/news/2016/december/barnet-snap-up-tutonda/

an Ardley connection

Notts in the 1st above F*rest, and an interesting team in 3rd league South, Aberdare Athletic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdare_Athletic_F.C.

Let's assume that Covid isn't an issue, budget isn't an issue and all the players would sign if requested. Also ignoring any current contract lengths etc

Sam Slocombe - Keep
Joe McDonnell - Unsure - Looked flappy when he came in. Think we won a lot of games despite him, rather than because of him. Depends how far along Brooks is, but could keep for another season I guess?

Damien McCrory - Unsure - I'm not his biggest fan, but can we find better?
Ben Turner - Let go - He's too slow and will get exposed so many times. The benefit he adds (height) is outweighed by the negatives, I'm afraid. Probably on a wedge too.
Connell Rawlinson - Keep - Starting CB
Dion Kelly-Evans - Keep - Still young and offers a lot of energy and pace. 
Zoumana Bakayogo - Let go - Always seemed like a space filler. Not his biggest fan. Injured a lot
Richard Brindley - Keep - Bad game today, but a good player at this level.
Alex Lacey - Keep - Starting CB. Class act.

Mitch Rose - Keep - Can still offer a lot at this level. I'd rather him be squad player than an important starter, like he is now
Jim O'Brien - Let go - He is too leggy. Good passing and crossing ability, but lack of pace means it's difficult to justify him being on the wing. Defensively he's terrible, too.
Doyle - Keep - Still has it. Perhaps not every game. 
Regan Booty - Keep - Showed a lot of promise. Shame about the injuries.
Tom Crawford - Keep - Showed in the final parts of the regular season how good he can be. Still young.
Sam Osbourne - Keep - Shows promise. Young.

Wes Thomas - Keep - Offers pace and something in behind. Goal scoring is a bit hit and miss.
Kristian Dennis - Keep - Fox in the box.
Enzio - Let go - He's too much of a luxury. You never know what Enzio is gonna turn up, the Enzio curling worldies into top corners from 35 yards out, or the Enzio that floats around the pitch doing not a lot.
Kyle Wootton - Keep - Very good at holding up the play and bringing others in. Needs to work on his ability to beat a man. Still young.
Scott Wilson - Unsure - Not seen much of him
Cal Roberts - Keep - A step above this level. 

That's a total of 14 'Keep's, 4 'Let Go's and 3 'Unsure's. 

What does our starting 11 look like then?

-------------------Slocombe----------------
- Kelly-Evans---Lacey---Rawlinson---???--
----Roberts-----Crawford/Rose---???---???
--------Wootton------Dennis/Thomas------

For me, our starting 11 needs a new LB, centre mid and left back. 
 

Template

Slocombe * -
Brindley * - 
Lacey * -
Turner * - 
Bagan * - 
Roberts * 
Rose * -
Doyle * -
O'Brien * - 
Wootton - * - 
Dennis * - 

Enzio * - 
Thomas * - 

Kelly Evans

Playoff final - Sulphurites

Team: Harrogate

Date: 02/08/2020

Where: Wembley

What line-up should Neal Ardley 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.

Received a reminder of this, this morning. Had totally forgotten about it to be fair and, for a millisecond, considered cashing in now, but no. Hope springs eternal.

Hi Pies,
Sheffield United fan just popping in to wish you good luck. Been keeping an eye out for you all season and am so glad you've got to the playoff final (even though it's behind closed doors... bloody corona).
I didn't think you'd have the potential to bounce back so quickly and I hope you win and go on to "do a Luton". Pretty much every other Blade is wanting Harrogate to win because of Jon Stead- will you have any hard feelings against him if he scores the winner?

After having no kit and no players, Notts County have a shot at redemption

Gregor Robertson talks to manager Neal Ardley about an extraordinary couple of years before their big clash with Harrogate

 

Gregor Robertson

Saturday August 01 2020, 12.00am, The Times

Ardley was in charge when the club dropped out of the Football League last season but has turned them around in just over 12 months

PA

 

Just over a year ago, Notts County could not even afford to pay for a new set of strips. England’s oldest Football League club had just lost that famous status after suffering a painful relegation from League Two.

Funding had dried up and the club was on the brink. Players and staff had not been paid for two months. A fourth hearing in as many months at the High Court over unpaid tax was approaching. The club’s plight was raised in parliament by MP for Nottingham South, Lilian Greenwood. Greenwood was even moved to ask Juventus, who County furnished with those famous black-and-white striped shirts in 1903, if they would consider returning the favour. Oh, and the new season was little more than a week away.

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Fast-forward 12 months and victory in tomorrow’s National League play-off final at Wembley, where Notts meet Harrogate Town for a place in the Football League, would complete a remarkable turnaround.

“From where we were last year, how broken we felt the place was, my message to the players has been how proud I am of them to have come so far in a short space of time,” Neal Ardley, the manager, says. “They’ve brought the club together, back to feeling like a proper football club again. If they can put the cherry on top on Sunday, then great.”

Ardley has more than played his part in dissipating the cloud which had engulfed the 158-year-old club. Green shoots of hope finally appeared on July 26, 2019, when Danish brothers Christoffer and Alexander Reedtz — owners of Football Radar, a football analysis company — bought the club and their calm, discreet and professional approach has been most welcome after the tragicomedy that unfurled towards the end of Alan Hardy’s tenure.

Hardy, the former owner, was never far from front and centre when the cameras were rolling, and a prominent voice on Twitter until, you may recall, he accidentally uploaded a rather intimate picture in January 2019 when Notts were staring at the abyss.

Hardy had boldly claimed that Notts would be challenging Nottingham Forest, their neighbours across the River Trent, in the Championship within five years and labelled manager Kevin Nolan, who led County to the 2017-18 League Two play-offs, a “future England manager”. Nolan was sacked five games into the following season and his successor, Harry Kewell, was hired and fired within 74 days. When Ardley arrived, in November 2018, he found a club saddled with a squad of 38 players, filled with passengers, and a £3 million wage bill.

“I’m quite an honest guy, quite a proud guy,” Ardley says, reflecting on relegation at Swindon Town on the final day of last season. “I want to go into a club and make it better. So when I came in to do a job — albeit a tough job with loads of different things I was firefighting — and you don’t achieve that, you feel like you’ve failed. To stand in front of people in tears in the crowd, crying because it’s the first time they’ve experienced [relegation from the Football League], you feel like a failure.

“It took me a while to get over it. And I did think I might not get the opportunity to [continue]: 25 managers in 20 years at Notts — you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know the likely outcome. But here we are now, and hopefully there’s a story there.”

The Reedtz brothers paid staff within days, cleared debts and, once a transfer embargo was lifted, helped Ardley sign 13 players in the space of a “mad” two weeks. “We had to act quickly,” Ardley, the former AFC Wimbledon player and manager, says. “I think we had 14 games in the first 54 days of the season. And any players we were bringing in hadn’t had a pre-season. We were literally trying to get them fit as the season was going on, and trying to bring a group of players together.”

The Reedtz company, which has offices in London, Liverpool and Bulgaria, provides analysis to betting companies and has access to in-depth data from leagues around the world. “They’re very knowledgeable,” Ardley says. “We’ve put together a recruitment structure, which I’ve never had before. I’ve always had to do the recruitment myself. But between us we funnel through a pool of players to see who would improve us, and how.

“I could see a player I like, we go through it, we analyse it, and if it’s not one the owners feel is going to improve us after looking at the data and the stats, then we don’t do it,” Ardley says. “On the flip side, they’ll put forward some that look strong, but if I don’t like them, we move on and find another one. When everybody is part of that process and everyone says, ‘Yes, this is someone who can improve us’, then it’s great, because we’re all in it together.”

Ardley cites Kyle Wootton and Callum Roberts as two examples of the success of their approach. Wootton, 23, joined from Scunthorpe United and is the club’s leading scorer with 13 goals, while Roberts, also 23, scored a wonderfully nimble-footed goal in County’s 2-0 win against Barnet in the semi-final last week. The former Newcastle United winger, plucked from Blyth Spartans in January, has been a revelation.

Ardley is also quick to praise the value of experienced pros such as Michael Doyle, Ben Turner and Jim O’Brien who drove standards relentlessly after a start in which County won only two of their opening ten games.

O'Brien has provided experience, which has been key for County

LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/GETTY IMAGES

“The club’s come so far in a short period of time,” O’Brien, the former Barnsley and Coventry City midfielder, says. “I was out of contract, the club weren’t in a position to offer anything, but I came back for pre-season, because I wanted to be at the club. It was tough. We were having meetings with the staff, the office staff, the chefs, the ground staff, everybody — and we got to know what people were going through. I think having that togetherness, in the long run, has helped us.

“Then when the owners came in we had a get-together, a barbecue. They made a speech, very brief, thanking us for sticking with it through some tough times, talking about how they want to move the club forward. You could see the relief on people’s faces. Everyone could finally take a deep breath, and get on with their jobs.

“There’s definitely a feeling of ‘let’s right the wrongs of last season and get us back up’, and hopefully all will be forgotten with the supporters. The club have really engaged with the fans this season though and it’s been a great atmosphere. I really hope we can get it over the line for them.”

Harrogate, who finished second, a place and three points ahead of Notts when the season was curtailed, stand between Notts and an immediate return but have their own bit of history to create. “There are two really good stories here,” Ardley admits. “Harrogate have never played a League game, and are trying to get there for the first time; and Notts County, as the oldest football league club previously, are trying to get [that status] back at the first attempt.

“For us to get that [status], which means so much to the club, back would be fantastic. To give the owners the success they deserve in their first year at the club would be fantastic. And after all the adversity we’ve had to overcome in the last 18 months, a celebration would be fantastic.”

● Harrogate Town v Notts County. Tomorrow, 3pm, BT Sport

https://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/callum-roberts-aka-geordie-messi-leaving-newcastle-united-might-be-best-thing-me-ahead-wembley-final-2929989

Welcome to the site @Joshbenzah!

I hope join in our community.

Tomorrow's game could be a decisive point in our history. It's certainly far too important to leave to chance. Will any of you be deploying lucky rituals before the match? Will lucky underpants or shirts be worn? Will pets or children be sacrificed to the Football Gods? Let us know!

I don't have any lucky items of clothing myself, but I sincerely hope the players aren't forced to wear white shorts tomorrow as there lies doom and certain defeat. Two magpies live opposite my house. I hope that both of them will pay me a visit - and if only one shows up, it will be greeted. Better safe than sorry!

This is a discussion a little out of the ball park a little, however, it's always good to learn something about the community, and its members.

Are you duel footed when it comes to playing football? (can you control/kick/pass/score with both feet) 

Which foot is your primary side?

--

When I was younger, I used to find it difficult to hold my pen in my right hand so I would switch to my left hand. My writing was pretty weak with both hands, yet dramatically worse in my left. With time, I managed to improve it enough to get by, and I took this new learning into playing football. I started playing dominantly with my weaker foot. I forced myself to train, shoot, tackle, pass and run using my left foot.

It's virtually natural now, I can do everything I can with my right foot but with my left.

On the pitch, I believe it gives players an advantage when it comes to using the weaker side. It's not something which gets taught, which I feel it should as it's the only way to improve. I've been involved, and see multiple youth setups including Notts and no focus was put on using the weaker foot.

Having a primary preference is great, especially if you can excel above other stands but duel footed is something special.

Thoughts?

Well, Hissing Dwarf has been well and truly retired! Long live the Feral Fox!.

Hissing D had been around a long time, but I was ready for a change!

And when I saw this beauty, I knew he was fit to be my new avatar!

Pick your all time Notts Starting 11

Rules are -

They have to have played a minimum of 5 games for both Notts County and in the Premier League. Can also include loan players, as long as they have 5+ games while on loan. 

Here's mine.. 

Kasper Schmeichel (GK) 

Steve Finnan (RB) 

Dean Leacock (CB) 

Matt Richie (LB) 

Hayden Mullins (DM) 

Shaun Derry (CM) 

Alan Smith (CM) 

Jack Grealish (AM) 

Shola Ameobi (ST) 

Lee Hughes (ST) 

Jon Stead (ST)