So Jake Bugg, who has sponsored Notts County for November, releases an album next month and goes on tour in the UK in - November.

Pity he won't be making a visit in his home city though eh?

Game 1 - Sky Blues (A)

Team: Coventry

Date: 05/08/17

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.

Name: Young supporter travels from Chicago for first away game
Category: Official Notts Videos
Date Added: 2017-08-08
Submitter: Chris

Young Notts County supporter Elliott Peacock made a mammoth journey to watch his very first away game last weekend.

Young supporter travels from Chicago for first away game

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Name: Coventry City 3-0 Notts County
Category: Match Highlights
Date Added: 2017-08-08
Submitter: Chris

Highlights from the Ricoh Arena as a Jodi Jones hat-trick handed the hosts an opening-day win.

Coventry City 3-0 Notts County

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Elliot Hewitt is the first of the Notts players to extend their stay into the upcoming season after signing a new two-year-deal. Elliot has enjoyed spells in the right back position but has also moved further up the field.

How do you feel about him extending his stay? Is the contract length long enough? Let us know your thoughts.

So next season us Notts County fans have the option of choosing one of several sponsors on the front of the new Puma shirt, and there is also the option to get one without a sponsor.

I have to say, I was skeptical with how it would work, but the club has pulled off a masterstroke - and it seems so easy and logical.

Personally, I will opt for the Notts shirt with Jake Bugg's name on it - I can see it becoming a bit of a cult fashion item in the years to come.

But many purists will love the idea of a shirt without sponsor, and in all fairness I would have opted for that were it not for the Bugg sponsor.

So what are you opting for? Sponsor or sponsor-free? And if it's the former, which one are you going for?

Let PON know!

Based on a mean of 5

Collins 6 - Normally a critic of Collins, but did seem to be more commanding of his area. Thought he was slow to read their first but fault lay with Jones. He saved a couple of 1-on-1s but still feel he was outshown by his opposite in the Coventry goal

Jones 1 - A mare, in simplistic terms. I was nonplussed on his return, rather like the signing of Idle, and the 100k + blown away....Whether it's lack of concentration or failure to accept responsibility. How can our recruitment, swing from finding a gem like Bola to return to Dickinson's bargain basement in talent.

Brisley 5 - Just very average. Yes, a few errors

Duffy 5 - Normal service resumed...difficult opening but was just OK

Tootle 6 - Best of the back 4 ... at least he showed some fight

Hewitt 2 Nolan says he's not a Right Back....agreed...but he ain't a centre mid. Long throws, don't make me laugh, barely made the outside of the penalty box. Zero creativity, zero tackling ability..and we gave him a 2 year contract? Centre Half only possible position open to him..

Alessandra 5 & Hawkridge 5 - Recruitment is everything, Coventry identified Jodi Jones, from Dagenham, just streets ahead of our 2 wingers.

Walker 6 - Thought he looked tidy and was unlucky to be subbed

Stead 3 - whether the legs are going, a la Jason Lee....no impact
Ameobi 5 - Holds ball well with back to goal and some nice lay offs...but no goal threat

----------

Grant - 6 - Should have been introduced earlier
Milsom 5 - Just OK

I thought it would be a shame if we missed a round, or completely abandoned this as I do enjoy it (last year things became very busy and I missed rounds) - I want to amend this seasons! Hopefully even reclaim my title!

However, provided Super Ram doesn't win all is well with me.

Same rules as last season - 3 points for a correct score, one for correct result. Select one of your six predictions as your "joker" and double your points. Let's have as many as possible taking part this season.

Saturday's Fixtures (5th August)

Fulham v Norwich City
Aston Villa v Hull City
Bradford City v Blackpool
Milton Keynes Dons v Wigan Athletic
Forest Green Rovers v Barnet
Wycombe Wanderers v Lincoln City

@weymouthPIE @The Mascot @super_ram @GrannyPie @Who r ya?? You Pies!! @magpiejue @Dan @Elite_pie @DangerousSausage @ivansneck @4everapie @Northants Pie @barnet11uk @Fozzy @Riverleeno @Canadian @Rianch @Super_Danny_Allsopp @Blackville @william1984 @UnitedPie @Joe Jones @liampie @Piethagoram @BromPie @gtownjohnno @TheSkipper @Anti-Red @upthepies @CliftonMagpie

Good Luck!

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

The squad numbers have been released, what is everyone's thoughts on them?

For me there's no real surprise at all, but I still hope Kevin Nolan will consider playing if we need that extra bit of quality.

Have your say below, and join in the discussion?

PS. What Number have you got on your existing shirt?

I have a request for any fans willing to help our new model company 'Premier Models Ltd' to create an authentic replica of Meadow Lane. Any photo's of the stands, pitch- side views etc?? We have already received some really great advice and images from other fans and sources via the internet. Any specific details anyone thinks we should try to include to better the model will be gratefully taken on board! Thanks for your time and hope to hear back from you at the email address below.

Cheers

Andy, Premier Models Ltd

So, tonight Notts play their first real opposition in a friendly against Nottingham Forest at Meadow Lane. The club has announced that there will be minute's applause before the game in honour of our former Chairman Derek Pavis. Despite only being a friendly, I welcome this additional news because I think despite the score being irrelevant - it will add a little more appreciation to the friendly.

What do you think the score will be? General thoughts?

Discuss below folks...

Nope, not a reference to the Swedish pop band (so no "Dancing Queen" blasting out of the tannoy at half time... what a shame eh), but the new penalty shootout method adopted by the EFL for the upcoming season.

So how does this ABBA system work? Over to the Beeb...

As the current system stands, teams take turns in a shootout, with the choice of who goes first decided by a coin toss.

For example, team A goes first, then team B, then team A again.

The new system sees team A followed by team B - before team B goes again. Team A would then get two successive penalties, a little like the tie-break in tennis, and so on until there is a winner.

A coin will still be tossed to decide who goes first.

It will be implemented in all ties in the Carabao Cup, Checkatrade Trophy and EFL playoffs.

So... a good idea or another unnecessary p*ssing about with the game's rules? Your thoughts, let's git em!

jorge grant has re signed for us on loan. this is a big boost! brill news!!

On the back of @Joe Jones's feature (shared below) - I would like to know your favourite loan signings for Notts since 2010.

It would be interesting to see what @Piethagoram and @Elite_pie would say.

Have your say below.

Pretty self explanatory. Out of the new arrivals - Dan Jones, Shaun Brisley, Liam Walker, Terry Hawkridge, Jorge Grant (up to you if you want to include him in the selection or not), Lewis Alessandra - which for you will have the most impact? Let's hear your thoughts.

Hey you!

Yes, you!

Do you enjoy witnessing something so embarrassing that it literally makes your nether regions shrivel up?

Do you like the sensation of dismay, embarrassment, and humour all colliding into one very strange emotion?

In that case, "cringe" might be what you are after.

And if you fancy having a good cringe this Tuesday afternoon, look no further than this offering by Mansfield CEO Carolyn Radford.

July is almost upon us and this is what the squad is looking like so far. I'll update this list as pre-season progresses.

GK:

Adam Collin, Joe Searson-Smithard (youth)

DF:

Matt Tootle, Carl Dickinson, Richard Duffy, Haydn Hollis, Elliot Hewitt, Mike Edwards (player-coach)

MF:

Alan Smith, Michael O'Connor (injured), Rob Milsom, Curtis Thompson, Sam Osborne (youth), Kevin Nolan, Alex Howes (youth), Terry Hawkridge

FW:

Shola Ameobi, Jon Forte, Jon Stead, Lewis Alessandra

That currently leaves us with 13 senior pros excluding injured players and the management team, which is very thin indeed. We need more than 4 new signings looking at that. We know for sure that KN is looking for a defender (Jake Buxton signed for Buxton yesterday) and a midfielder (Liam Noble, which probably won't happen). I'd like to see one, preferably two centre-halves, a left-back to compete with (and preferably replace) Dickinson and alternatives across the midfield.

I get the feeling that we are banking on more talented loanees, but this is a risky game. Jorge Grant and E Bola probably won't be coming back so they'll need to be replaced. I wouldn't mind a young, hungry striker with pace to complement the old hands we currently have there.

I had Alessandra down more as an offensive midfielder, but he's listed as a striker on the OS. It'll certainly be good to have some versatile players on board as the days of massive squads seem to be over.

The Football League has launched a new streaming service for overseas fans. For €130 a year, you can watch all matches not selected by Sky live using an app.

Is anyone else thinking about this? On measure I think I'll give it a try. I hope the current radio/highlights package will still be available, but it's a long time since I've been able to watch Notts regularly and radio just isn't the same.

I had no idea where to put this, so I'll put it here.

I also write (very) occasionally on a Waldhof Mannheim forum. They haven't found a shirt sponsor and are probably starting the season sponsor-free, so they were having a debate on shirt sponsors. I decided to post about what Notts were doing with the monthly sponsors, as it's genuinely a bit different.

Within five minutes, the first response was this (translated): "By the way, Notts County is the team whose shirts were delivered to Juventus by accident 100 years ago. That's why Juve now play in black and white striped shirts."

This came from a fan of a German club with no connection whatsoever to either Notts or Juve. It made me feel a little bit proud and brought it home what a special and famous old club we all support. We should never forget that.

On the back of Kevin Nolan's comments which mentioned that Notts needs to get 'nastier on the pitch', I'm wondering if he refers to us becoming the Stevenage, MK Dons type of team or if he simply means we need to be more physical in our game?

Personally, I just think Notts need to press more and mark better. We give opposition teams a lot of free time on the ball, there's virtually no closing down at all. I was impressed in the friendly against Forest, as we did start off looking like we wanted it back and marked quite well. Yet we just tend to run around and waste energy by not effectively marking or making the decisions when it comes to winning the ball back.

The perfect example would be how Tootle lost his man against Forest, ran backwards and only just managed to win the ball back.

He could have easily turned and positioned himself in a way that made it harder for the Forest fan, yet he decided to allow their player to run and this is an area where we tend to be punished rather easily.

I don't want Notts to become a team whereby we are dirty or aggressive, I just want to see closer marking and better pressing off the ball when we are trying to retain it. What about you?

Name: Shaun Brisley signs for Notts
Category: Official Notts Videos
Date Added: 2017-07-25
Submitter: Chris

Defender Shaun Brisley speaks to iFollow Notts after signing for the Magpies.

Shaun Brisley signs for Notts

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Trialist Liam Walker, a Gibraltar international is being linked with a move to Notts but who is he? He's a 29 year old centre midfielder, who can list Portsmouth(when in league 1), Lincoln Red Imps, Europa Fc among his ex clubs. He's a similar player to Jorge Grant who he will likely provide competion for. A look at his Lincoln Red Imps career shows 43 games 23 goals and at Europa FC 26 games 15 goals. What's he done at Notts over the last two games? The quality of Forest stopped us from seeing how he was against them. Against Wigan he played some good football (as did Notts on the whole) tried to get some shots away, they was blocked alot of the time. 

As Leigh Curtis has alluded to it being an experienced centre half who do we think it will be and who would you like.

I'll go for Mike Williamson for both.