Today is the day! Mr T said that if the club isn't sold by the end of June then he would take us forward!

There has been no news of a takeover for months so I don't expect things to change!

I've started to become somewhat disappointed with Netflix, not only have they recently announced a price hike - they're pulling certain movies and series from their services (most people do not seem to notice this behaviour) and this after they started limiting devices to their plans, which is fair to a degree but to make people pay more for HD - are they serious? It should come as standard.

However, it's happening and it's forced my family to consider if it's of value to us.

I have three children, all of which are very wise to technology and they enjoy watching cartoons - family time is also fun when we can all watch something together and Netflix has always made that easy to do.

Recently myself and Cheeky decided to re-try Amazon Prime (as we did have a subscription before the days of their video service).

I have to say, I'm in the NETEXT camp.

Fast deliveries as standard, music streaming and videos all for one price! Brilliant.

Now, I fully expect Amazon Prime to grow in leaps and bounds which for me is exciting. Their music service is limited to a degree, yet there are plenty of included albums but you do have to be mindful of the one's they obviously want you to pay for. Likewise, this is the same with the movie service and although Netflix appears to KISS (keep It Simple Stupid) - I find Amazon Prime Video to be very powerful, I like the addition of the cast and the little facts you can find when pausing the video.

It's not perfect but neither is netflix. In fact, one of my biggest complaints is paying for HD and getting SD quality packaged as HD, which comes out of sync.

What about you? Do you use either Netflix or Amazon Prime - perhaps an alternative? Discuss...

We are in the north section, the draw is at 1pm on Wednesday 22nd June

Im personally hoping for an away trip to someone like Leeds or Blackburn rovers or Sheffield Wednesday, who are you hoping for?

*I'd appreciate it if someone posted the seeded/unseeded teams, its not working for me so heres the link to them

https://twitter.com/EFLCup/status/745284690475622400

We knew it was coming! Michael O'Connor has officially signed for us today!

I think he's a great signing, someone that doesn't mind scrapping in the middle of the park, I'd hope he would be the hard-worker allowing Aborah to do his magic!

http://mobile.nottscountyfc.co.uk//news/article/2016-17/midfielder-michael-oconnor-joins-magpies-3160375.aspx?platform=hootsuite

He says that he's signed a 2 year deal but hopes we will get to the championship in that time!

2014/15 we had the year of Dad's army..

30+ year olds who was past there best but did a job. Ran out of steam resulted in relegation.

2015/16 we had the year of the imports..

Lots of foreign players who nobody had a clue about. Most of whom flopped majorly and resulted in a low finish

2016/17 the year of the proven player..

Proven winning mentality players who have had success in the lower divisions.

Hopefully this year the transfer tactics work and promotion is achieved!

Dearest EU, 

I'm devastated that it has come to this but the time has come to say goodbye. When we first got together, it was so much fun, we were free to do our thing but loved cuddling up on the couch and enjoying each other's company, but then you changed. You started asking me who I was going out with, you wouldn't let me do my own thing, you said I know what is best for you. You talked about spending my money for me. You told me I would have to welcome a bunch of people that I didn't know and have nothing in common with into my home. 

I hope we can stay friends. Please don't react by breaking my CDs and throwing my clothes out the window. Let's be adults about this. I sincerely hope you reconsider your behaviour and you become all the better for it. 

It's not me darling, it's you. 

I will always love you

GREAT Britain. 

I stumbled across an excellent article by David Conn this morning. Recommended reading:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/28/england-football-team-we-deserve

This isn't a new problem. We have competing in international tournaments for 66 years and have reached a grand total of one semi-final outside our own country. Our footballing achievements have been eclipsed by Turkey, Sweden, Croatia and Denmark. We used to go out honourably to the first genuinely world-class team we met; now we don't even make it that far.

IMO we have a number of problems. One is the chronic short-termism throughout the English game. OK, if Joe Hart had saved the second we may still have been looking forward to a humilia... I mean clash with France. If the FA spends loads of money to attract a top coach (I'm thinking Slaven Bilic) who can make playing for England fun again, pick the right players and get us playing to a system, we may yet do well in a tournament one day. But we will only ever be papering over the cracks.

Looking at the long term, grassroots football. Facilities are poor and are ever more expensive to use. Then there is the quality of the coaching. In Germany, a UEFA A Licence only entitles you to manage up to the fourth level - any higher than that and you need a UEFA Pro Licence. It's no problem - there are over 1,000 holders in Germany, and double that number in Spain. In England we have 200.

I could go on about the sloppiness, anti-intellectualism and greed that runs through the English game, but David Conn describes it better than I can. What do you think?

http://www.seagulls.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/club-statement-gary-townsend-3147270.aspx

Thanks to Skatorna on MAD for picking this up

I believe he was briefly our Finance Director in the Munto season

I have a feeling Iceland will entertain us, which should make this a good game overall.

We need to press them, with their back line expected to be the same as prior games - we may find more space in the final third, provided we pressure and move quickly. I think England will be fine, I predict 2-0.

Thoughts?

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/magpies-bolster-backline-with-dickinson-deal-3158644.aspx?platform=hootsuite

Welcome to Notts County Matt Tootle. Good luck in the coming season!

CoYP

#supernotts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36641989

Good morning. After all the excitement around the referendum, I'm sure we'll all be glad to get back to the really serious business of the prediction league. These matches kick off tomorrow!

To keep it simple, a penalty shoot-out win is treated as an extra goal for the winning team, so a 1-1 draw and penalty win is treated as a normal 2-1 win. So there's no point in predicting draws from now on.

Switzerland - Poland

Croatia - Portugal

Wales - Northern Ireland

Hungary - Belgium

Italy - Spain

England - Iceland

When are our players reporting back for training? I've seen elsewhere that Forest have gone back today, but don't we normally start on the 1st July? I was just wondering if that has changed this season with the 1st being on a Friday.

last night, #PVFC midfielder Michael O'Connor & defender Carl Dickinson agree personal terms with #notts

My experience so far of this is that it is pure propoganda. here is one section of it:

I thought it would be interesting to see who voted for who, so have your say on this.

I'm seeing a lot of people suddenly back 'Belgium' however, they haven't performed that well against the stronger teams they've faced and for myself I think it will be between France, Germany or Italy (I have England as my outside favourites).

Cast your vote!

http://m.nottinghampost.com/Notts-County-plotting-triple-swoop-Magpies-open/story-29370413-detail/story.html

So it looks as though we are trying to sign three players, Dickinson (excellent signing if we pull it off) a midfielder and a goalkeeper(more than likely back up), all key positions we need to address in my opinion. I'd like to hope sign an extra defender as well as Dickinson as that defence was awful last season and one player won't fix that. It's crucial that we sign another striker too because we have Stead - you know what you get with him, Mcleod hit and miss, Gibson is a wildcard he could be great or he could be awful, Campbell/Snijders are wingers for me rather than strikers. So a striker who gives us something different would be ideal. Is that positivity creeping into Meadow Lane again? 

So, the final round of group games, kicking off on the 19th. Don't forget your jokers!

Switzerland v France

Russia v Wales

Ukraine v Poland

Croatia v Spain

Sweden v Belgium

Iceland v Austria

Kyle De Silva has left the club by mutual consent according to BBCRNS

I thought he was a half decent player when he played against Huddersfield last year but he was poor against Salford and never played for notts again

http://mobile.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/kyle-de-silva-departs-by-mutual-consent-3149750.aspx?platform=hootsuite

We start off at Yeovil away! And end the season away at Newport!

We play Mansfield away on Saturday 8th October and at home on Saturday 14th January.

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/?site=desktop

Has anyone heard anything about whether we're having a new kit next season, and what it'll look like?

As we weren't even paying our bills at the back end of the season, I doubt anyone got around to sorting out a new kit, so it'll probably be an off-the-peg design. Which doesn't have to be a bad thing. Personally I'd like us to be rid of Carbrini (hate those shoulder patches - they look chavvy). Puma and Jako make smart-looking kits, I'd be happy with them.

I'd like to see stripes on the back of replica shirts please - we've had so many shirts ruined by ugly black/white squares on the back, that's the reason why I haven't bought one in years. Oh, and anyone with a loose grasp of our history should know that white shorts are a no-go!

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/article/notts-countys-luther-wildin-plays-and-scores-for-antigua-3146518.aspx

Good to see him getting international experience. He should be challenging for a starting place this season

Apparently Roy Hodgson is planning six changes to the team against Slovakia. I'm not happy about this - I can understand some changes (Sterling and Kane clearly need a rest), but to make so many when we still need a result is risky, and you could say it smacks of arrogance. Group games are a chance for the national team to gel and learn to play as a unit; chopping and changing really isn't going to help.

Realistically, even a defeat would see us go through as one of the four best third-placed teams, but we could then easily find ourselves playing Spain or Germany in the next round. Thoughts?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/19/england-roy-hodgson-wayne-rooney-slovakia

Here are the second round of group games for you to predict. These games kick off on Wednesday. I'll post the results from the first round tomorrow or on Wednesday.

Romania v Switzerland

England v Wales

Germany v Poland

Czech Republic v Croatia

Belgium v Republic of Ireland

Iceland v Hungary