Another point is that Big Sam gets misrepresented. I watched a lot of his Bolton side, they were skilful and entertaining.

A midfield of Campo, Okocha and Nolan, Diouf ahead, Matty Taylor? They had more of a no nonsense approach at the back though, including the RB Hunt who played for us for a few games. But that midfield was absolute class, they were a joy to watch

Jay-jay Okocha was a joy to watch during his spell at Bolton.

Sam Allardyce was a good manager, and I think there is an element of underestimating what he did. He did wonders for Blackburn Rovers and tended to make teams that were "average" play much better. Both his Blackburn and Bolton teams were made up of hard-working players and supplemented by exceptional talent. I know there's a lot of hot air about Big Sam's dealing with Bolton and how he secured some of the players, but Bolton was the underdog team in the Premier League that made it exciting to watch.

It's inaccurate to claim he had a single style; he constantly blended various influences, keeping things fresh and dynamic. He was one of those old-school managers who would make changes reflecting his strengths and how to counter the opposition.

The drinking and laddish culture is true; he wasn't strict with the players, and that's partly how he tended to get the best out of them.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/24654604.sam-allardyces-top-bolton-wanderers-moments-25-years/

Regardless of what people say about Big Sam, his Management Record speaks for it's self. He'd have probably made a Decent England Manager if the Press and certain F.A Officials hadn't set up the Sting to get Rid of Him. His attitude in training his teams also paid Dividends. Nowadays it's Don't do this, Don't eat that, be in Bed by such and such a Time etc etc. Interestingly during his playing Career former Forest and Leeds Player Duncan McKenzie, is reported to have smoked 40 cigarettes a Day.

Neil Warnock also took a more casual attitude to his Training Routine. The night before a Wembley Playoff Final, instead of packing the Notts Players off to Bed early, he played them a Tape of Roy "Chubby" Brown, it must have done some good because the Magpies won 3-1. This even got back to Chubby who in his version of Glen Campbells hit Wichita Lines Man, he sings I am a Linesman for Notts County.

Warwickshire are 79 for 4 and trail Notts by 37 runs.

Durham 133 a/o. Notts need 18 runs to win. Tea has been taken.

Notts have won the match by 10 wickets finishing 20 for 0.

I thought it would just be audio, since that's what a podcast usually is. These days, though, the word seems to be used for videos too. The interview itself is very good. I found the video a bit distracting, so I ended up just listening to the audio.

Chris Gill moves around a lot, which feels a bit much, especially with how shiny his forehead is.

George Lawtey came across really well. He seems suited to his role and spoke nicely about Luke Williams.

Don't need it for Skeggy

Things will feel normal after a while, though it's not something I would worry about. I can understand those who travel being concerned about the data that is wanted and the challenges some of that data could face.

7 minutes ago, super_ram said:

Don't need it for Skeggy

I don't know, haven't you heard of JKEStar? There might be tax implications for you, particularly in Skegness. 😅

Perhaps in a few years, coastal erosion and climate change, Skeggy may become an offshore tax haven. All water under the bridge🤣

It might be a challenge to win once you sign over the ownership by EFL rules: you take on the historical debts, and it's up to you to do your due diligence. 7 million is a lot of money to be concerned about; it does make me wonder if the court challenge is due to the new owner not having the funding to take things on. Alan Hardy claimed that he was subjected to historical debts which weren't covered during the sale, but I always felt that was him lashing out at the childish games between him and the Trews.

At least in my opinion, and he did tweet stuff about considering pursueing action but nothing ever came of it.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether the new owner is successful. If he is, and it does not distract from how the club performs in the league, then it could be worth the effort. It is not a small amount of money involved.

Apparently its possible to take out an insurance policy to cover the possibility of finding hidden unforeseen debts....its happened at Meadow Lane a couple of times in the past !!!!!

I agree it depends on who we’re playing and where that extra attacking player fits best. I don’t always think sticking with three defenders suits us, and the debate about one or two strikers feels similar. I don’t get why no head coach is willing to pick a formation that gives us the best chance to win. I know we’re built around this system, but it really depends on the opposition and how we use our strengths.

I'm worried about what might happen if one of the strikers gets suspended, or worse, if one is suspended and the other gets injured. That could really affect the good run we're on and knock the confidence that's come from winning games.

Alassana Jatta coming back into the starting eleven has made a big difference. It's given the team a lift. Matthew Dennis has shown he can lead the line against certain sides, but in other matches, it might be better to stick with Jatta.

There will be times when playing both makes sense, but unless there's a backup plan in case something goes wrong, I don't think Martin Paterson should rely on it every week. I'd rather see it used as a well-thought-out tactic, something planned to give us more variety up front.

I'm not against using two strikers. The match away at Tranmere Rovers showed it can work, and that was encouraging. But the game against Gillingham reminded us that strikers need service. If both end up dropping into midfield too often, it doesn't help the attack and isn't always the best choice.

I'm worried too @True Magpie if one or both of our two main strikers sustained an injury or got suspended. It would leave Notts very short of striking power.

The positive thing on Saturday were Luker & Hall's performance in the 2nd half when they came on as substitutes, Luker creating three goals & Hall scoring two.

But I do believe that Martin Paterson needs to be able to field an alternative recognised striker to replace Jatta or Dennis off the bench when required.

I still believe that Traoré & Jarvis shouldn't be ruled out completely from coming good in the games ahead. I think that putting one of them on the bench, could still be a good move.

Billy Kee was a player I always hoped we would sign, your classic lower league dependable forward. Given the East Midlands is where he is based it feels like we missed out on a really easy signing here!

I’m not that surprised though it felt like a few seasons ago our scouting and recruitment consisted of putting some names in a hat and drawing them out, let’s not forget we went for Tyrell Waite but not Che Adams 🤦‍♂️

It was real shame that he chose to stop playing professional football, but if it wasn’t making him happy and he was struggling in the end it was the right choice for him. Maybe had he played for us, and therefore would've been much closer to home, his career would've panned out slightly differently.

darren huckerby was one of my early football heroes, born in nottingham and had a stint with forest but one hell of a striker that could have stayed playing in england instead of going off to the us. he was not that injury prone to my knowledge, but did retire early. he would have been fantastic at notts.

imagine him signing the munto season and teaming up with lee hughest, luke rodgers, karl hawley etc

Darren Huckerby would have been some signing @liampie

There is a significantly higher number of Football Managers in the EFL than there are Head Coaches with a Director of Football above them. Head Coaches are much more prevelent in the Premier League.

Notts are in the minority when it comes to having a Manager as opposed to a Head Coach/ Director of Football.

Personally, I prefer the traditional Manager role where the Manager has a broader scope of influence & responsibility, overseeing not just the team's performance but also the wider running of the club.

I think that giving the Manager more responsibility gives the manager the ability to implement a unified club strategy, which is so important, the power to influence player acquisition & development through direct involvement in contracts & transfers,

As far as recruitment is concerned, the Manager can delegate that responsibility to an Assistant Manager who would oversee the scouting personnel at the club.

Managers can also delegate training, development & team tactics to a First Team Coach, however, the manager would be overseeing those operations & have overall responsibility.

Some argue that a Manager has too much responsibility which takes his focus away from team operations, however the Manager can still delegate if he recruits competent staff that report to him.

I don’t always think it’s best for managers to make the signings themselves. Even when the Trews owned Notts, I felt a good director of football could have helped bring more stability and given better advice on recruitment. With the Reedtz brothers, we’re lucky to have access to proper football data, and it’s helped us bring in players from outside the UK. I don’t think a director of football should make every decision, but when it comes to finding players and giving the head coach more time to focus on the team, it’s a smart move.

Getting the Director of Football role sorted before climbing higher in the league feels quite important. Some might see it as a role we don’t really need or as a bit of a luxury, but having stability in key positions can make a big difference in football.

When it comes to networking, I like knowing the Director of Football is the one making contact, looking at players and having those early talks. It means the manager can focus on coaching. Football has changed a lot since the days when managers did everything themselves. While some might still prefer that, it does come with problems, like being less open to feedback.

It depends on the manager’s style. If he enjoys scouting and has a good eye for talent, it can work well. But it’s easy to fall into bad habits, like signing mates or missing what makes a player truly good. Martin Paterson has said he watches the opposition, which makes me think he’s fairly confident when it comes to judging players.

Still, having someone who understands the data side of things and can handle the time-consuming jobs is a real help. I like knowing the head coach has choices and people around him suggesting players. I’d be interested to know how much say Paterson actually has, especially since he asked for reinforcements and nothing came of it.

Was it someone above him who decided not to bring anyone in? The interview with Chris Reedtz made it sound like they were happy enough and maybe thought Paterson was just being cautious because of the injuries. I do think the head coach should have a voice in these matters, and I wonder if Paterson shares the fans’ view about needing another striker.

I’m fine with the head coach not being too involved in the early stages of signings and scouting. But once things move forward, his input should count. It’s about finding the right balance.

On 17/09/2025 at 13:44, McPie said:

I’m with you @Robbie, we need toughen up, but at the same time keep our footballing principles. I don’t accept we have to revert to ‘kick and rush’ football to get promoted from league 2. Teams who play that way often come back down very quickly. We need to embed our playing style in to club and recruit accordingly. It will pay in the long run.

this is how i see it, and i think @McPie sums it up well.

the players coming in need to offer us something different if we need it, but more importantly they have to fit in with the style and identity of the club. some players wont make it, but the majority should and i dont think there is much needed to be changed. i think its more a case of slowly implementing the things we learn, as a way to iron out what does not work.

The Reedtz brothers have done far more than any owner before them. The squad is more consistent, and now it’s just about working hard to get the results we need for promotion.

The club keeps looking at the data and learning from it, and I trust that process. I don’t want Notts to change how we play or how we recruit just for the sake of it. Things have been better in this era, and we should only make changes that help us improve.

It’s a process, isn’t it. You have to make changes that help improve the parts that aren’t quite working. The old saying about not fixing what isn’t broken fits well here. A shift in direction can be a big deal, and maybe we’ve seen signs of that already with how the season has started.

Even though new people have come in and things seem to line up, there might be differences that aren’t easy to spot. For example, the club has changed its coaching setup. A new head coach and assistant have come in, and there’s also a new Director of Football. He might have suggested a different approach to recruitment compared to past seasons.

There were a lot of signings, spread out across the window, and not much time to get the full squad together before pre-season. Martin Paterson will have his own way of doing things, and the players are now adjusting to what they think he wants. The coaching style has changed too.

The whole team no longer trains together before kick-off. It’s just the match day squad, and some players aren’t even part of the warm-up if they’re not on the bench. A new head coach can be hard for players to get used to, and with so much going on this season, some of these changes should have been sorted sooner.

I think Notts should stick to their core values and make small changes where needed. We should avoid too much disruption, because having a settled environment makes a big difference. Players need to come in and know what’s expected of them, beyond what fans might think.

Paterson probably has higher standards than he shows in interviews. Even when things aren’t going to plan, the players will still be trying their best.

It makes you wonder if he did any due diligence and why he didn't think about forming his own group of investors. I would never invest any amount of money in something so risky with a group of people I don't know.

I am surprised Louis Tomlinson didn't have anyone advise him differently on the deal.

There goes my plan to get Jake Bugg to help invest in "buying" Notts from the Reedtz; he will never trust me now.

It's a shame that people who can't afford to lose money were caught out. Even though Louis Tomlinson is in a different position, it's still worrying when someone gets involved in something that doesn't seem safe.

Older people are sadly seen as easy targets. It's not fair, and it happens too often. But when a well-known figure like a popstar is fooled, it makes you wonder how convincing the pitch must have been.

Louis must have really wanted to be part of the ownership. That kind of hope or excitement can make someone overlook warning signs. It's not right that it came to that.

Hello, @Cedric. Welcome to Pride of Nottingham, glad to be saying hello.

Hello, @Cedric. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. We are a friendly group, who love to see what people have to say, and I hope you join in at times.

Hello, @Cedric. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham! Thank you for trying to help the gaffer out. We sure do appreciate it!

Welcome to Pride of Nottingham, glad to be saying hello, @Marks.

Hello, @Marks. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. We are a friendly group, who love to see what people have to say, and I hope you join in at times.

Hello, @Marks. Feel free to introduce yourself, but until then welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. Please do reach out if you need any help.

Welcome to Pride of Nottingham @NG10 Pie, glad to be saying hello.

Hello, @NG10 Pie. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. We are a friendly group, who love to see what people have to say, and I hope you join in at times.

Hello, @NG10 Pie. It takes a little time to get used to the site, but I hope to see you joining in with the Pride of Nottingham. Until then, welcome to the community.

Welcome to Pride of Nottingham @Eastcoastpie, glad to be saying hello.

Hello, @Eastcoastpie. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. We are a friendly group, who love to see what people have to say, and I hope you join in at times.

Hello, @Eastcoastpie. Welcome to PON! The Pride of Nottingham community will be eager and hopeful to see you join in. Please don't drift into the background but contribute as and when you can.

9 of the first 12 games completed. 3 quarters of the way through the first quarter of the season.

Apart from MK and Gillingham looks like the pundits weren't too far off the mark.

Looking forward to reviewing where we are after Crewe, Oldham and Swindon.

@TheSkipper is very close with his predictions. I’m glad MK Dons are struggling, because their way of building a team seems to be spending money on players they think are the best from nearby clubs. It doesn’t look like they do much research into what those players are like or how they’ll fit in. There doesn’t seem to be a proper plan for bringing them together.

Gillingham are the best team I’ve seen so far. It’s not just because they beat us 1-0, but also how they’ve played against other teams who look more settled than we do. They seem well organised and confident.

On 22/09/2025 at 14:40, OoooooTommy said:

@TheSkipper is very close with his predictions.

Yes. Agreed! Looks like the prize money is heading to TheSkipper at the moment. Wonder how he knew about Gillingham? 🤔

21) Mick Waitt's flick on for David Hunt to score v Spurs ,ref unbelievably gave a foul against Mick. Pre match headline in The Sun ( Waitt-watching) 🙃

22) A "Sliding Door" moment to keep and cherish.... Substitution of Slocombe with Mair at Wembley. (Slocombe had never saved a penalty for #Notts)

Wouldn't it be tempting to give a sports betting book, like what Biff had, to someone like Derek Pavis?

He could have invested years of funding into Notts, making us a more established team at the top level. You never know, he could have done what Jack Walker did for Blackburn Rovers. It would have rewritten much of what I had experienced growing up supporting the club, but no doubt other achievements might have come our way such as a League or FA Cup win.

Maybe even a Premier League title or two.

hello, welcome to pon @Nat. join in with the notts talk when you can.

Welcome to Pride of Nottingham, glad to be saying hello, @Nat.

Hello, @Nat. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. We are a friendly group, who love to see what people have to say, and I hope you join in at times.

welcome @SoccerLord!

please do join in when you have the time, pon is a very good community to discuss notts and we would welcome your thoughts too.

Welcome to Pride of Nottingham, @SoccerLord. Glad to be saying hello.

Hello, @SoccerLord. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham. We are a friendly group, who love to see what people have to say, and I hope you join in at times.

43 minutes ago, Jimbo78 said:

I’m not no. I’m a Derby fan (sorry about that.. please don’t ban me)

Don’t worry we suffer @super_ram on here, so another one won’t harm. 😂

Hello, @Jimbo78. Welcome to the community, I wish you well with finding your father safe travel to and from games, it would be a shame for him to miss out on them.

Hello, @Jimbo78.

Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham! I also hope that your father finds a way to make it to Meadow Lane and back, it would be nice to know that he can continue his supporting journey. I am sure someone here will be able to find out for you.

After being out with injury, it's great to see Robbo back in the team. He's shown the head coach that he's ready and still has plenty to offer.

His attitude and recent performances make him undroppable in my view. He adds more to the side than Ollie Norburn has so far.

It might even help Norburn settle and find his form more easily. Well done Robbo, keep it up.

It's great to have Scott Robertson back in the team. He's always looked like someone who could do well next to Matt Palmer. Seeing Robertson score gives me hope. It shows we might have more goal threats beyond the usual names.

Well done to Scott Robertson, he played very well, and it is pleasing to have him back in the starting 11.

Congratulations to him for winning the official and PON Man of the Match awards.

Crawley Town looked decent on the move, but out of it you can see why they struggle so far. Their passing wasn't the best, as we would pick up a fair amount of stray and weak balls. Harry McKirdy showed a lot of spirit, and I believe he was their best player. He had some good chances, which he failed to get on target or to really test Kelle Roos, who for me seems to be getting better by the game.

Kabongo Tshimanga, who I recall Notts fans wanting us to sign when we were in the National League and who has always seemed to play poorly against us, was incredibly poor again.

Notts has to be praised for the way the team started the game; I thought there were spells when Crawley, at least at the beginning, looked to be building momentum. Yet, defensively we looked very comfortable, and I felt nervous a couple of times when Rod McDonald and Jacob Bedeau were high up for corners, and Lewis Macari had to get into position. Likewise, later on, when Nick Tsaroulla had to deal with cutting out breaks after Crawley tried to counter.

I had Matt Palmer down as my Man of the Match early on, at least up to the 30th minute and perhaps some time after, but it was around this point that I started to see Scott Robertson winning more challenges, getting the ball forward, and passing it into creative areas.

I would like to praise Nick Tsaroulla for some of his very clever passes, which came from him taking players on and drifting in more centrally.

Robertson had a few times when I thought he was going to strike the ball, though I honestly didn't think he was going to place his scoring effort into the top corner so well.

The first half felt very routine; I didn't feel much of a threat from Crawley, and I was pleased that in the second half we started pushing for a second. Thankfully, Tyreese Hall put the game to bed, with excellent play from Jayden Luker. Games can sometimes change quickly, which is why it felt encouraging that we didn't become complacent.

I do feel sorry for Crawley, as it did become a bit of an exhibition game and we have all been there. I didn't rate their on-loan keeper from Liverpool. Harvey Davies made some good saves, but a lot, especially before we scored, were a bit godsmacking in that he would punch instead of catching efforts, which looked like he wasn't paying attention or had caught him by surprise.

Chest height, easy to cup and smoother with both arms, but he just reacted weirdly.

Look at Alassana Jatta's goal; it goes straight through, and it really did look like Jatta had lost confidence when it came to shooting until he found the net.

Very pleasing win, excellent team performance, and whilst I hope they enjoyed the win. If I were Martin Paterson, I would be telling the squad to stay focused, keep working hard, and remember that we have come a short way from some of the disconnected performances.

I watched the game through the club's service and thought Notts gave a good account of themselves. Crawley didn’t seem that strong, though. I don’t mean that to take away from how well Notts played, but I do think a better side might have closed the space more and tracked the runs better. Even so, Notts didn’t need to force anything. They found space, used it well, and made chances that led to goals. It makes me wonder if Martin Paterson has been working on attacking drills in training.

Jayden Luker made a real difference when he came on. You have to wonder how the score might have looked without him. He played with real team spirit, setting up Tyreese Hall twice with perfect passes. Hall finished both chances well, but Luker deserves credit for making them happen. He used his time on the pitch brilliantly.

It was also great to see Alassana Jatta get a goal. The 4-0 win was a fair result for a game we controlled from start to finish. Crawley didn’t offer much threat and we looked confident throughout.

I agree that Kelle Roos had his best game for us. His passing from the back helped us push forward quickly and gave us a strong base to build attacks. It was good to see that kind of movement and intent.

The problem that Paterson has is that half the squad are trying to play the Maynard way & the new players are trying to play the Paterson way.

Paterson needs to be getting all of the squad to play his way. That could prove a little difficult & may need several further games more before we see it happening.

As far as the team makeup is concerned, Ness needs to come into the defence for Aljofree, with Aljofree on the bench

I would revert back to one striker, Jatta with Dennis playing just behind him in a similar role that Didzy played. I would put Jones back on the left wing instead of the number 10 role, Tsaroula on the bench & put Iorpenda alongside Dennis.

Any long balls could be aimed at Jatta to try to retain possession, but I wouldn't want to see as many long balls as we have seen lately. Notts should largely persist in building from the back, in the Williams/ Maynard style.

They are never going to give away the secrets to how their prediction model works but I’d be so fascinated to see it. I would guess it's very complex but surprisingly accurate. I’ve heard snippets of the Luke Williams interview (on the Not The Top 20 Podcast) and he mentioned it was predicting with 99% certainty that Wrexham would win the National League and that was in the run in stage – It didn’t feel like it because it was so neck and neck, but their model proved to be correct.

And that’s probably why Stuart was let go, because the data probably told them we were lucky to finish in the play-offs. They probably ran a programme to predict the play-offs and I’m pretty sure our chances of winning it would’ve been a very low percentage.

If the brothers want to go in a slightly different direction, they’d be mad to abandon it 8 matches in. And 8 matches is a small sample to take data from, I could be completely wrong here but I’m always under the impression to get more accurate data you need a bigger sample. For example, I guess their model’s current prediction for winner of League 2 be is hard to predict right now, but 36 matches it’ll probably have a pretty good idea.

In terms of the new coaching staff it's the first time Martin Paterson, Andy Edwards and Sam Slocombe have all worked together and we had a high turn-over of players this season. We are in an ok position in the league with lots of matches left to play, it's about seeing steady progress for me and becoming that team that Martin is trying to make us... Ok it might not work out but you've got to give him a chance.

i think we need to give martin paterson the season, much like we said to give stuart maynard his full campaign, but its a reminder that you have to give people a chance to show that they have improved. i wonder how maynard would be doing had he stayed, but i do think paterson would edge him in ability and most of the vital managerial stats. every departure leaves a transitional period, notts are one of those teams that struggles unless they are one of the best teams. it was easier for managers to come in when we were in the national league, as notts felt very much on the front foot in terms of seeking promotion even though we struggled a bit under ian burchnall.

league two has so many teams capable of doing well, and even now some of the teams who started much better than us have slipped up at times. its a also a lot harder to predict because the teams and quality is much higher. i do hope we can get the most out of andy edwards, and i wonder if it was him who recommend some of the young loan players, rather than just roberto gaglardi.