Trump has pulled out of the Iranian nuclear treaty tonight and in my book, brings the whole of the region one step closer to chaos.

USA and UK foreign policy in the Middle East has been controversial at best and terrible at worst, but at least the treaty held some sembelence of balance for the region.

If Iran decides to start its reactors again then the whole world we be regretting it and Israel will go into another unneeded war.

https://news.sky.com/story/trump-has-sent-an-earthquake-through-the-middle-east-by-pulling-out-of-iran-deal-11364409

I don't condone violence but if I ever see that prick in the street he'll know about it for the rest of his life.

Play-off semi-final first leg:The Sky Blues (A)

Team: Coventry City

Date: 12/05/18

Where: Ricoh Arena

What line-up should Kevin Nolan 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.

Who was your man of the match for Notts County at Coventry City?

As the title suggests what would be your team for the play-offs?

Was mowing the lawn today and... THE WHEEL FELL OFF! (I promise it fell off on its own.)

Is this a sign of our impending triumph? Perhaps, as I do not own a wheelbarrow, the football gods have attempted to reach me through the medium of my lawnmower...

YOU PIES!

Would you welcome him back next season as Nolan would like to?

IMO he made a good impact in the short time he was available, but the injury issues before he signed was a problem. The latest is just a long line of them unfortunately. If he had have stayed fit, would we have been automatic by now?

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2018/may/nolan-pre-coventry-h-play-off/

Months ago I arranged a camping meet with around 40 friends, it just so happened to be this weekend which is annoying, I never thought Notts would be in the playoffs when I booked the meet but quite by chance one of my friends is a Coventry fan so we are off to the local pub together to watch the match on Sky Sports in the pub.

Should be interesting.

As the title says, what teams do you think have overachieved and underachieved this season

Overachieved - Accrington and Wycombe come to mind but they have built their teams over the last few years and this season, they both finally got there. Newport definitely with their budget. Crawley as well, as they have had a manager, a season since returning to League Two and they couldn't score goals at all in the early months of the season

Underachieved - Mansfield without doubt. One of the biggest budgets in the league and failed to make play-offs. Swindon also for the same reasons. Stevenage had one of the best strike partnerships in the league with Godden and Newton but only finished 16th. Forest Green promised a lot and only just stayed up

The Nottingham Post has been doing a bit of digging round and has seen that Notts County have been given the lowest odds to go up by the bookies.

From the article:

Lincoln, and the Magpies’ semi-final opponents Coventry, are joint favourites to go up to League One, having been priced at 9/4.

Paul Tisdale’s Exeter are 3/1 while the bookies make Notts outsiders to win at Wembley, having made them a 7/2 shot.

Despite Coventry finishing sixth and Lincoln seventh, the bookies fancy those two teams to fight it out under the Wembley arch.

But being written off may be the motivation that Exeter and Notts need to ensure they are the ones enjoying a capital day out.

Obviously we know the bookies get it wrong more often than not and many predictions have fallen short this season especially (Shrewsbury were expected to finish bottom of League One...) but as the article says, could this be the perfect motivation for King Kev and his troops to stick two fingers up to the bookies and go all out?

So Alan Hardy has announced that Notts County's shirt monthly sponsorship packages for next season have been agreed in principle.

In addition, the club is still (as of 10am on Thursday) sorting out the sponsors for the playoffs.

What sponsors would you ideally like to see on the shirts for the playoffs and for next season?

Also, the debate of shirt number colours has cropped up again on Twitter - here is Hardy's post, which contains comments with suggestions if you click on it.

The naturally colour is Red but obviously... https://t.co/7DOfxJU80u

— Alan Hardy (@Bigalanh5) 9 May 2018

Likewise, what do you think the club should have on the back in terms of layout and colours?

As was to be expected...tickets going well so far for both home and away games.

*(Taken from Alan H twitter feed this AM)

Though the season is not quite over yet for Notts, the regular League Two programme is done and dusted, all 46 games (plus all the various cup competitions) now out of the way, so it would be a fair time to assess who's delivered for the Magpies.

Who has been your player of the (regular) season in black and white?

Apologies for the lateness of the uploads of the Grimsby and Luton vlogs. My internet has been very poor of recent and is very slow. It keeps going off and on again very quickly and we've had to reset it a good 3 or 4 times. If someone can recommend internet that has faster upload speed than a washing machine it would be hugely appreciated.

Looks as though crucial goal line decisions will be given a helping hand during the playoffs...

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2018/may/goal-line-technology/

When will this country learn? Just saw a report from Skeg yesterday that people were in traffic for four, yes four, hours to get parked up for a two hour session on the beach.

I know it’s the only chance some people get, I genuinely do get that, but at times like these planning committees need to take a long old look at themselves and think ‘can we cope with the crowds’

How many marks would you give Notts County for how this season's gone?

Obviously the playoffs will have a big bearing on the overall mark but if we're talking the regular 46 games, how well do you think Notts have done out of 10?

I see our average attendance this season is just under 8,000 and we’ve had the biggest crowds overall since the all seater stadium was built, that includes the Munto years. What a fantastic achievement for Big Al and KN.

I remember the “8 through the gate” campaign that Albert Scardino started but I don’t think it was achieved on a regular basis if at all.

Collin - 6 - competent.
Tootle - 7* - good defensively and going forward.
Brisley - 6 - ok against a good attack.
Hall - 6.5 - covered well.
Jones - 4.5 - all over the place defensively, didn't offer much at the other end.
Virtue - 5.5 - not as involved as he has been.
Hewitt - 6 - put himself about well.
O'Connor - 6 - neat and tidy but no real impression.
Grant - 5.5 - seems to have lost his ability to beat a man and shoot.
Stead - 5.5 - never offered any goal threat.
Forte - 5.5 - didn't make the most of the few scraps he got.

Subs-

Alessandra - 5.5 - another winger who can't beat a full back.
Husin - 5.5 - never adjusted to the pace of the game.
Smith - 5 - needs to work on his hairstyle.

Disappointing.  I realise we were facing good opponents, but we were second best throughout.  Even when we were playing 10 men they had the better chances and looked more likely to score. Their passing and movement were a few levels above ours, and I think they'll be disappointed not to finish with 3 points. On the plus side, an excellent crowd and whatever happens in the playoffs we won't be humiliated by the Stags!

Who was your man of the match for Notts County against Luton Town?

Game 46 - The Hatters (H)

Team: Luton Town

Date: 05/05/18

Where: Meadow Lane

What line-up should Kevin Nolan 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.

Any chance Weymouthpie's prediction league could be put on the main page's featured article section, to save having to search for it every week.

The EFL has announced that a vote will take place at their AGM in June to decide on whether producing matchday programmes should continue to be a requirement for each club playing a league home game.

“At is summer meeting in June 2018, the EFL will vote on a proposal that will determine whether or not it is an absolute requirement to produce a matchday programme from the start of the 2018/19 season onwards," a statement read.

“A number of clubs have asked the EFL if the mandatory publication of a matchday programme can be addressed as a result of an overall decline in sales and the proliferation of digital and social media, which has the ability to deliver the same content in a more cost-effective manner.

“Irrespective of the outcome at June's AGM, the EFL will continue to produce a match programme for its five competition finals - the Carabao Cup, Checkatrade Trophy and Sky Bet Play-Offs."

Big news here... if a matchday is no longer a requirement, just how many clubs will choose to opt out, either right away or after a few months/years as more and more clubs opt to stop doing them to reduce costs?

And this would certainly mean that you could no longer get a full set of 46 programmes (or however many league games will end up being played in one season) for home and away, plus extras for cup games, or at the very least the full 23 for home games... wouldn't it feel almost like an incomplete Panini album?

Let's get your thoughts!

From the Notts website:

The EFL has confirmed its partnership with Quest, the Discovery-owned free-to-air TV channel powered by Eurosport, to become the new home of football highlights for the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One, Sky Bet League Two, Carabao Cup and Checkatrade Trophy.

The partnership between the EFL and Quest will guarantee accessible high quality, free-to-air coverage for football fans across the country.

Kicking off from the 2018-19 season the four-year deal will see Quest provide 90 minutes of extensive match highlights, hosted by Colin Murray, in primetime at 9pm every Saturday night.

Quest will also broadcast 10 hour-long highlights shows capturing all the action from every round of mid-week fixtures. In addition, Quest will present eight hour-long highlights shows from the Carabao Cup and Checkatrade Trophy as part of the arrangement.

Quest is available in 27 million homes across Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media and BT TV. With a monthly reach of 12.4million, Quest is Discovery’s largest channel in the UK, and enjoyed its best ever first-quarter performance in 2018.

The EFL highlights will headline Quest’s line-up of sports events throughout the year which are delivered by leveraging Eurosport’s sport production expertise. This list already includes snooker’s Home Nations series, cycling’s Giro d’Italia, British and World Superbike Championships and football’s pre-season tournament, the Emirates Cup.

Each show will feature every goal from every EFL fixture plus in-depth analysis from a selection of expert pundits, hosted by Colin Murray who has proved a popular figure on the existing EFL highlights show and now joins Quest for the 2018-19 season.

The new partnership guarantees the EFL comprehensive free-to-air linear coverage and enhanced digital content across Quest’s platforms, building on the current EFL distribution strategy to engage more fans than ever before. In a first for the EFL, Quest will produce 'the Reaction' - a new weekly interactive Facebook series also presented by Colin Murray. With a strong focus on engaging fans from clubs across the country, the series will offer the opportunity for supporters to voice their views and opinions following the conclusion of the day’s matches.

What do you think about this deal?

As the title says - who do you want Notts to meet in the play-offs?

If we're on our game we've got a good chance against anyone IMO. I'm just very keen we avoid Mansfield if they somehow qualify.

I wouldn't mind Lincoln myself as it's a good ground to visit. Exeter would obviously be a pain.

And it doesn't matter to me whether we're home or away for the second leg. There's no evidence that there's any advantage in playing the second leg at home - if you're away you have the chance to really kill the opposition off with an away goal.

Thoughts?