I before E

Except when your foreign neighbour Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters.

Weird.

As of 28/03/26

1. Robertson

2. Platt

3. McDonald

4. Jones

5. Tangen

6. Dennis

7. Grant.

8. Tsaroulla

As of 03/04/26

Six players on the injured list.

1. Robertson

2. Platt

3. McDonald

4. Jones

5. Tangen

6. Tsaroulla

I'm really worried about the quality of our injured players, but Jodi Jones should be back soon. We need to make sure that those who are available have enough to push us over the automatics zone and stay there.

It’ll end in tears, when will these clubs ever learn.

I personally hope they stay up, and Harrogate and Newport County go down.

I can't stand how entitled Harrogate believe themselves to be, and Newport have been skirting with it for a few seasons. A reset, as the exiles would suggest, would do them some good. Barrow, on the other hand, they are a small fish at this level and their fans are generally good eggs.

Good tip @Sheffield Pie! Every game from now is huge.

Noticed also Bristol Rovers (H) is now on sale, including some Jimmy Sirrel stand blocks for home fans. Hoping there's something to play for and it's a sell-out.

The away support has mostly been outstanding this season, even during the toughest of games and our support can be the twelve man. We need to see the allocation sell out, and Colchester isn't the worst ground to visit. I have many found memories of visiting.

Not much around there, so make sure you eat before and give yourself time to do that but otherwise its a decent day out.

Do they still pay silly money every season to play at the Valley Parade?

I seem to recall them paying quite big in the summer, and were amongst one of the clubs rumoured to be interested in Macaulay Langstaff, amongst over expensive priced players for a League One team massively losing money. Very credible mainstream sources as well.

I had a list of three, Lucas Ness being up there along with Tom Iorpenda and Ollie Norburn.

Though there are more players who digged deep and put in a solid performance, it was great to see Jayden Luker back in the team and I think my thoughts of if we need him should be proven wrong which I am happy for. As if he played longer, I think he would be up there and within most fans consideration. The impact he made in the past, made me hope that somehow we can make a deal to sign him.

He's too good for League Two, and would be a useful addition if we were to gain promotion.

That said, Lucas Ness was outstanding and earned my vote, as he defended like a real leader and gave us much more than just a typical defender's solid performance with his goal contributions.

I think there were some good performances especially in the first half. I thought Ndlovu did well with his hold up play. Norburn demonstrated that despite his disciplinary record, Notts need him in the centre of midfield. Luker did very well when he came on & he has to start at Cambridge. Grant did another great job doing what Grant does.

But for his excellent all round performance, my Man of the Match is Lucas Ness. His goals were well taken & it is very encouraging to see that he is a danger to our opponents from set pieces into the box.

The poll has now closed. Thanks to all who voted. I'm pleased to announce that Lucas Ness has been voted the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match v Newport. Well done Lucas.

Blackburn Rovers 2 v 1 West Bromwich Albion

Bristol City 2 v 0 Sheffield United

Barnsley 2 v 1 Plymouth Argyle

Mansfield Town 2 v 1 Burton Albion

Gillingham 1 v 1 Accrington Stanley

Swindon Town 1 v 2 Walsall

Eastleigh 1 v 2 Yeovil Town

Hartlepool United 1 v 1 Rochdale

The results:

Blackburn Rovers 0-0 West Bromwich Albion
Bristol City 1-0 Sheffield United
Barnsley 0-3 Plymouth Argyle
Mansfield Town 0-0 Burton Albion
Gillingham 2-0 Accrington Stanley
Swindon Town 2-1 Walsall
Eastleigh 2-1 Yeovil Town
Hartlepool United 0-0 Rochdale

@Fan of Big Tone claims the honours this week - congrats!

Overall, @william1984 now has a sixteen-point lead ahead of @magpiejue. I think I need to start to Get Serious™ if I want to win this year!

We have a full batch of fixtures coming up on Saturday, so I'll post on Wednesday (tomorrow) as usual. Thanks for playing all!

Whoop whoop!

A win and suddenly the world is a happy place again. Looking at the team sheet I was a little concerned where the goals were coming from and had pinned my hopes on Ndlovu or Grant to locate their shooting boots. In the end the first two (almost identical) goals came from the unlikeliest source. Following that, the whole ground visibly and audibly relaxed a little too much, and when Newport finally stepped it up and started pressing us in the second half we had a few uncomfortable moments.

In the end Luker delivered a moment of quality to seal the points before deciding he was Pele and shooting from any distance when team mates were better positioned.

What counts is that we got the job done and are now sitting pretty in the top three!

It was a strange one in that the combination of us being so tidy on the ball and Newport being so poor meant the first half wasn’t much a contest in truth. At half-time Newport had a decision to make, carry on doing what they are doing and probably lose 4-0 or go for it and just see what happens. And that’s what they did.

We didn’t really adjust to it, first half where we could have maybe 3 or 4 touches turned in 1 or 2 because they actually pressed us. I know we are limited in terms of players but it does seem like some players on the bench are just purely their because we can name 7. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of Enoru, someone with his pace could’ve been an outlet to turn the Newport defence, I think him and Ndlovu could’ve worked nicely to alleviate some second half pressure.

I’ve been impressed with Luker since his return, he kind of showed what we’ve been missing in his 15-minute cameo. He’s not a really lightweight youngster, he’s got a decent turn of pace and obvious skill. I’d be tempted to stick him as one of our starting No.10s because he’ll cause more problems for defenders and actually looks a goal threat.

I am just nit-picking here, obviously I’m really happy with the win and performance overall especially because after the way we lost against Salford we could’ve come out looking sorry for ourselves but that didn’t happen.

After the first half I thought we were going to go on and win by 5 or 6 goals but credit to Newport they came out second half and really made a game of it, if they’d p,aged like that in the first half the result might have been different. In the second half they gave us absolutely no time on the ball whatsoever by pressing really well. When they scored to make it 2-1 I was worried it was going to be one of those games where they pop up in the last minute with a goal to grab a point but thank god for super sub Luker with that superb goal in front of the kop.

When I found out the results from elsewhere I was even more elated, I hope we can stay in the top three and avoid those awful play offs.

11 hours ago, YoopEyes said:

Sadly, Kouhyar, despite his energy and effort, is nowhere near good enough

Have to agree @YoopEyes . I am inclined to transfer list Dennis this summer. His recent performances have been way below par.

I've been a fan of Dennis this season but I would agree his performances have dropped these last few matches. I would slightly caveat that yesterday in particular we played a lot of high balls to him and challenging big center backs in the air is not his strength. We should've tried to play more balls in behind for him to run onto...

I'm in agreement with everyone else so far for MotM. Belshaw made a really great save down low early in the first half, I was certain it was going in and then his hand appeared from almost no-where and tipped it past the post! Same in the second half, Longelo (who impressed me) cut inside and curled one that was going in the top corner if it hadn't been for Belshaw.

The poll has now closed. Thanks to all who voted.

I'm pleased to announce that James Belshaw is the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match v Salford.

That felt like a kick in the gut. The game exploded into life after 90 mins. Luckily we have a woeful Newport side coming to ML so a bounce back is mandatory.

Definitely a game where we threw away at least a point. You are always vulnerable after scoring, and we sure we're, too busy thinking we had rescued a point, then bang back to square one.

Monday the 6th and get this train back on the tracks against Newport. COYP.

That was really galling. We spent the first half chasing shadows and should really have been at least two down by the break, so we can't really complain about losing it. Belshaw with two incredible saves - the low header he clawed out of his left post was Banks-esque. He didn't deserve to be on the losing team.

The second half was much better, up to stoppage time I thought we looked likelier to score. We certainly had the best chance of the half until then with Hall's miss (more on him below). Then of course stoppage time was wild. The Salford keeper's ridiculous playacting was deservedly punished for our equaliser but as we know events took a different turn.

Regarding the Hall social media pile-on - yes, his miss was bad, and for Salford's second he saw and reacted to the danger far too late. Somebody should have been throwing themselves at that loose ball. However, the point of PL clubs sending us players like Hall on loan is for them to learn - the parent club gets a more complete player back, and in return we benefit from a player is is potentially much better than League Two quality and can turn matches for us. But the flipside of that is that they sometimes make mistakes that senior pros don't. He likely cost us points on Friday, but he'll win us points another day if we don't immediately turn on him. Maybe his finest hour in a Notts shirt is yet to come.

Positives? Salford away is over and done with and we haven't lost too much ground. Five wins and we're up.

Morning all, it’s a cool, dull start to the day here.

We haven’t go much on today so it’ll be a quiet one until tonight when we are having a meal at the excellent local Indian restaurant with our family, well except for grandson Fred who as a 14 year old cool dude has a much to busy social calendar to spend time with his Grandad and Granny. 😂

What plans has everyone else got?

On 02/04/2026 at 19:45, Chris said:

@Michael D Pie.: Congratulations on your retirement. I have the feeling it is very well deserved and I hope you find plenty of things to enjoy that keep you occupied. I am sure the world will be your oaster, and that you will be kept busy. Again, congrats my friend.

Thank you @Chris for your kind words. As expected I already have a list as long as my arm as well as being promoted to head stable boy. No rest for the wicked

On 02/04/2026 at 20:49, StarkMallard said:

Congratulations on your retirement @Michael D Pie.. I can't see any ferrets on those pics, I hope he hasn't escaped

Much appreciated @StarkMallard I am afraid Freddie the Ferret is away on holiday at the moment doing his stud thing up in bonnie Scotland.

@Fan of Big Tone i hope you enjoy the Indian this evening, my favourite food and my favourite restaurant is the Water Lilly in Mansfield. The only catch is that you are overlooked by Mansfield Town FC. 🥴 But for good food sacrifices have to be made i'm afraid.

28 minutes ago, Michael D Pie. said:

Thank you @Chris for your kind words. As expected I already have a list as long as my arm as well as being promoted to head stable boy. No rest for the wicked

Haha... Retired and now promoted to head stable boy! What a dream. ☺️ That's the way to do it, Michael. Have fun.

Members who used the PON Lightweight Fluid theme, please re-select it. A new version has been added since the previous had become outdated and the only way to retain it would be to recreate it from scratch.

This is a performance-based based theme, focused on the fluid forum style which allows you to select sections where you read content from. Much like the dashboard page with regards to having a single place to obtain the latest topics and posts, you get access to a single page with all the forums content.

How do you use it?

Scroll down to the very bottom of the site, in the lower footer click 'theme' and choose your desired theme. Enjoy!

2 hours ago, Fan of Big Tone said:

Big Tone has re-appeared so that’s ok then. 😂

Don’t beat yourself up over it @Chris I’m sure people understand.

I put yours back for testing purposes. 😉

@Chris My display image is now back thanks.

I fixed the issue in the early hours, and can confirm that I have successfully patched the issue that caused it. I am checking the most recent backup that I have and will manually re-upload every members choice that I can identify. If I miss yours, I apologise but I either don't recall what you had as your display image or I don't have it.

Unfortunately, I am struggling to pin-point most due to how expansive the uploads are. 😥

Feel free to re-upload; I will backup display images in the future directly but I will continue to try and funnel through what I have + from the dev site. Thanks for understanding. 🫶🏻

Merhabalar @StarkMallard abicim, adamsın! 😄

I didn’t know about the PiesPlayer service, so I’m really glad I learned about it, thank you very much.I will definitely try to use the service!
In the 1980s, Altınordu was the club with the biggest fanbase in İzmir. Nowadays, they usually have a core crowd of around 5,000 people at matches. The fanbase mostly consists of older supporters, as well as youth academy players and their families.
Due to the current financial situation, the club is in a more conservative and inward-looking position. In the short term, they aim to build a solid core squad without making too many transfers, with the long-term goal of returning to the higher leagues.
Thank you also for your good wishes for Türkiye this evening.

It’s a privilege to support two historic and distinguished clubs.
Come on you Pies!, Bastır şeytanlar! 🤍🖤❤️💙

A big welcome from me @UfkuAcik35

Great to have you on board.

Huge thanks for the welcome, @Robbie !

I’m truly delighted to meet a fellow longtime Notts County supporter and to share in the passion, history, and unwavering spirit of our beloved Magpies 🖤🤍
COYP!

Ouch, those are big losses for such a small club, and things wouldn't be any easier in the National League either. You need deep pockets to run a football club.

The Sky pundits gave man of the match to Palmer and I could see why he had a great game, for me it’s between Palmer and Jatta but I’ve voted for Jatta for his two goals the second one was fantastic.

I like Tagen, he’s clearly a skilful player he just needs to move the ball a bit quicker at times. I think that just comes with a lack of experience of playing in England where you don’t get much time on the ball. It was a shame he had to go off because it was looking like one of his best games.

Maybe it’s just me but Ness makes me nervous, I always feel like we are moments away from a dodgy clearance, bad touch or poor pass. He did play well yesterday though.

But I went for Palmer, he linked our attack and defence nicely and pretty much had control of the middle of the pitch throughout.

The poll has closed. Thanks to all who voted..

I'm pleased to announce that Alassana Jatta has been voted the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match v Harrogate.

I know quite a few jet flying and travellng Notts fans, so I will put a feel out to them and see if there's any who plan to visit Turkey. Hopefully something can get sorted for you, as it would be nice to think in this day and age two people can connect via such a special request. In fact, I had to do something similar by asking @Dripsey3 to allow my son's grandparents to pay for a hoodie that featured his favourite game on and due to the UK being out of the E.U it meant the game studio wouldn't post to the UK, but they would Ireland.

Whilst different, it does show that there is a considerable amount of kindness out there.

That’s incredibly kind of you, I really appreciate you even asking around. It honestly means a lot that people are willing to help with something like this.

Your story about the hoodie is a great example of how small acts of kindness can make a big difference. Football communities really can bring people together in unexpected ways.

Hopefully something works out, but even the effort itself is already very appreciated. Thanks again for your support!

We did what we needed too, I agree with Martin’s post-match comments that it was a professional performance. We do react really well after a defeat, but please can we have mini 6 match unbeaten run now!

I liked that Dennis came back into the side I thought he was decent alongside Jatta, I just wasn’t super sold on the two upfront, but that was more from an out of possession view. To me it looked like Iorpenda and Tangen (and then Grant) were playing like 8’s - not quite attacking midfielders but a little higher either side of Palmer. At times I thought it was odd that they were aggressively pressing Harrogate’s back line whilst Dennis and Jatta just kind of held their positions. It just looked a bit disjointed to me.

Also, the ref let far too much go, I don’t like the ones that constantly blow every time a player goes down but he was the opposite. Even Norburn would’ve struggled to get carded by that ref! He missed the Bennetts foul, anywhere else on the pitch it’s a free-kick. But the most obvious one which we didn’t complain about for some reason was just after Jatta scored, Jodi crossed a really dangerous ball into the box and Dennis was pushed two-handed in the chest by the defender who made no attempt to get the ball… Should've been a red card and a penalty.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/28/harrogate-town-battle-football-league-status-league-two-notts-county

I assume a large portion is transfer fees, but it shows you how mad football can be that a team can lose that amount of money and still exist of their owners without being told to tighten their coffers. I wish I knew more about how expenses like this affected the financial fair play rules.

Though I suspect many Championship teams will be spending quite freely and not comparable to most Premier League teams. It's quite scary...

I've said it before and I'll say it again. There should be a cap on spending, including transfers & wages. The cap level should be worked out for every league to ensure that a team cannot gain advantage by being able to buy all the best players.

Teams being able to buy success should be confined to the history books

Still looking, it's very well hidden.

I can make every conceivable fart noise at every volume with the palms of my hands - I hope it's not that

On 11/03/2026 at 18:41, theAnticlough said:

Still looking, it's very well hidden.

I can make every conceivable fart noise at every volume with the palms of my hands - I hope it's not that

I can do that too, but it's more squeaky than it used to be. Like a fart in a G-string?

I'm good at making coffee and I can play House of the Rising Sun on the guitar. Do they count?

50 minutes ago, StarkMallard said:

I can do that too, but it's more squeaky than it used to be. Like a fart in a G-string?

I'm good at making coffee and I can play House of the Rising Sun on the guitar. Do they count?

They're in. We'll have 'em

But I just played House of the Rising Sun by hand farts, note perfect.

Pity I can't upload an audio file