So the WSL 2016 season is over. Notts County Ladies have finished sixth (out of nine) on 16 points, 26 off champions Manchester City.

In addition crowd attendances for the Lady Pies games have fallen by around 17% from last season.

From BBC Sport:

Notts County, the only WSL 1 club who experienced a decline this season that was willing and available to talk to BBC Sport, put their "slight drop" down to a number of factors, including sporadic scheduling of matches and absence of a cup run, having reached two cup finals in 2015.

On four occasions, there were breaks of a month or more between home fixtures at Meadow Lane.

"The scheduling of matches has been a frustration for both clubs and the league since the inception of the FA WSL," said a club spokesperson.

"We understand that there are many factors, some out of the club's control, which can attribute to a slight drop in our average attendance.

"Last season's achievements of reaching the final in both cup competitions certainly helped to create a momentum and build attendances for Notts County.

"Without having a run in either competition this season, it has undoubtedly had an effect on our attendance."

Hopes are high that the switch from a summer league to a winter competition from the 2017-18 season will help scheduling of matches.

But with change comes new challenges, as there will be a shortened Summer Series before the campaign starts in September 2017.

"With the winter season still 10 months away, it's hard to tell yet what the effect on attendances will be," said a Notts spokesperson.

"We understand that any adverse weather could have an effect. However, we are also aware that a consistent run of fixtures will have a positive impact on the attendances."

So what do you think about Notts Ladies' season, in terms of performances on the pitch, matters off it and also fan interest in the team?

Boreham Wood are based in Hertfordshire. Their stadium is used by Arsenal reserves and Arsenal ladies. It looks good the times I have seen it on telly. The surface looks fantastic. The ground holds around 4K and it will be full on Sunday as tickets are selling like hot cakes according to the club. 

BW are 9th in the National League. 30 points from 48 is more than decent. They have won 4 of their last 5. They seem to be a difficult side to break down, especially at home. 

As mentioned above, BW have a decent back 5. Joe Devara has league experience from his days at Barnet.

Midfield is their real strength. Conor Clifford who was on loan at Notts, is the midfield general. They also have a guy called Kenny Davis who has an eye for goal. They signed him from Braintree in the Summer. A fine player at this level. They have 2 young players worth keeping an eye on if they start. Bruno Andrade & Anthony Jeffery. Andrade is finding his feet after his move from Woking. He's one Notts will have to keep quiet. Anthony Jeffery is exciting to watch. When he's good, he's very good. 

Morgan Ferrier is their top scorer. 7 goals in 13 games but he has missed their last 3 games through injury. He should be back on Sunday which is bad news for us. If they play 2 up front, Angelo Balanta from Colombia will partner Ferrier. Balanta is not exactly prolific and it depends if he is in the mood or not. 

BW will have an almost full strength squad to pick from on Sunday. They are going well in the league and will be confident on home soil. Notts record in the FA Cup recently is very poor indeed. Given that the league is our top priority and our record away from home recently in the FA Cup, I'm going for a home win. 2-1 to BW. We'd all love a run in the FA Cup so hopefully I'm wrong. 

Collin 5 Didn't have a lot to do, 2 goals conceded but cannot put blame on him

Tootle 4 had a torrid time when faced with pace, better in second when moved to midfield

Laing 5 still no where near the form first time round. Expect better

Hollis 5 no aerial threat to face but was exposed to pace

Dickinson 4.5 too slow, make a comparison with Boreham's left back. Are we receiving value for money?

Rodman 3 Why is always picked? Perhaps Sheridan likes playing with a passenger

Richards 5 Thought he was unlucky to be subbed at half time. Tidy but maybe needed to be more imposing

O'Connor 5 An enigma, some good, some bad. Always expecting him to stamp his supposed class but still waiting to see it

Milsom 4 solid but no mobility.

Collins 3.5 Poor touch, gave up tracking back, a disappointment

Oliver 6 Thought he won 90 per cent of the balls, played up to him. I thought he was onside for the disallowed "winner"

subs

Campbell 7 rescued us and showed he had pace where the rest of the side are lacking. Game changer

Forte 5.5 was able to occupy their defenders to stop them pushing forward

Hewitt 5 more effective than Tootle

The Belgian equivalent of Match of the Day must have been good last night. 3 Europa Cup games contained 23 goals!

Anderlecht 6-1 Mainz 05

KAA Gent 3-5 Schaktar Donetsk

Athletic Bilbao 5-3 KRC Genk

Anyone else here (or went depending when you read this). It should be a great night for Nottingham as a city, but I hope Notts gets a fair mention.

Lower division football is in danger from the near-extinction of 'home advantage'.

This season in the 4th division there have been more away wins than home wins. This is not a good thing for attendances. Overall only 35% of games this season in the 4th have been home wins, so one way of looking at this is that only on 1 out of every 3 matches do the home fans go home happy. Not enough occasions for attendances to grow.

It's slightly better higher up, but not much: in the 3rd division 40% of games have been home wins, in the 2nd - 46% and in the top division 41%.

I haven't looked at previous seasons but my gut feeling is that it used to be higher than this - certainly one didn't see more aways than homes in an entire division...

Home 62

Away 64 W 54 D

I've been saying for more months than I care to remember that we have to avoid relying on Jon Stead, obviously keeping him in form is the main aim and injuries do happen but really this could be a setback for the club.

We have seen Adam Campbell take his chance whilst at Portsmouth which is a good thing, we do have Collins and Forte but neither seem to be the 'answer' (watch them now prove me wrong). However, this will be a period whereby it will enable other fringe players to step up and for us to truly rate what this Notts squad is all about.

If we can get other players scoring, Stead's return will be like having a new signing but if we struggle it may take him time to step back up to his a game.

Ideally I would like to keep fighting for a play-off space but its not the end of the world provided we are moving forward as a club, anywhere above last seasons finished will be a bonus but I am wonder what folks here think?

As the sexuality of footballers is again in the press and the apparant surveys etc of those narrow minded few who say they won't go to games if their team had an openly gay player.

I thought why don't we as supporters of Notts County and therefore Justin Fashanu put a far more positive and progressive stance and celebrate hand in hand his time with us and his sexuality?

If this only made one supporter / player / member of society feel welcome and accepted then i'm sure we would all feel better in the knowledge that they feel this at a forward thinking and progressive club like ours can and should be.

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/notts-county-youth-cup-fa-youth-cup-3375658.aspx

Support the young Pies

The return of the greatest cup competition in the world this weekend. Those of you who've been taking part for the last couple of years will know that we use a different site to run a prediction league for the FA Cup. If you havent already signed up you'll need to log onto the website and join the PON FA Cup Prediction League 16/17. 

You will need to enter the pin number of 992678 to join the league

Once your in just lock in your predictions as normal. The website sends an email to remind you to enter your predictions

The link is here: https://facup.predictthefootball.com/minileague/join

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/24/julian-nagelsmann-hoffenheim-prodigy-thomas-tuchel-rejected-bayern-munich?CMP=share_btn_tw

If anybody fancies reading an interview with Jamie Fullarton about his struggles with management at Notts County, well, here you go.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37838678

HE'S BACK FROM THE MANAGERIAL GRAVE AND HE'S COMING FOR NOTTS COUNTY!!!!

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Not really. Just thought we'd try and scare you all!

Happy Halloween folks!!

Saturday's Fixtures:
Brighton & Hove Albion v Norwich City
Preston North End v Newcastle United
Rochdale v Oldham Athletic
Walsall v Coventry City
Barnet v Hartlepool United
Yeovil Town v Grimsby Town

Collin - 5.5 more assured, still with odd lapse on decision making 

Laing - 6 - Good tackle early on, comfortable on the ball

Duffy - 5.5 - Still slow at times and occasionally caught out of position 
Hollis - 7.5 nice to be able to give good marks to Haydn MoM
Dickinson - 5.5 - An OK performance 

Rodman - 5.5 - Only appeared with confidence late on. Still unsure if he is any good

Richards - 6 - Slowly goes about his work and gives defence protection 

Milsom -6 - Solid in midfield 

Forte - 7 - Got stronger as game went on. 

Campbell - 5 - All effort no creativity nor end result 
Collins - 5.5 - Missed a good chance,  and  header cleared off the line.

Oliver - 7 Still was unsure of his confidence on the penalty. Just don't think he is a natural goal scorer 

O'Connor - 5.5  I am still waiting to see what the fuss is about. Hot and cold performance.

A play-off clash, if you can call it that this early in the season. 

Alan Sheehan returns, and had a few nice words to say about his time with us:

It's nice that he won't celebrate if he scores, though I'd rather you do us another favour Sheez and don't score at all, unless it's in your own net. 
 

It's a bit quiet here. It's a bit difficult to moan about things when you're sixth. I think a massive punch-up in the fans' forum initiated by John Sheridan would provide a few talking points.

Anyway ... see thread title. What do you all do for a living?

I'm a translator for German to English, doing everything from technical manuals to adverts and books.

JS - “You don’t have to play great, but if you go out there on the front foot and show some desire you get a buzz around the supporters.."

Fingers crossed that's what we see tomorrow. COYP
 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/27/bury-gigg-lane-winding-up-order-league-one?CMP=share_btn_tw

Be careful what you wish for...borrowing against the assets of the club

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37551803

The announcement of Cardiff parting company with their manager

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/live-updates-cardiff-city-boss-11975415

Just proves the fact that throwing money at a football club, if not spent wisely, can result in disaster.

Michael Johnson and **** Bate are on Cardiff's backroom staff.

For Notts, I mentioned on another thread about the importance of the scouting network... I often wonder if it was an unsung scouting hero that spotted Grealish and McGregor. Is that scout still at Notts? @erindoors

Stan Collymore's tweet:

Man City. 52 scouts worldwide. Villa. 5. And 4 are analysts. Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure.  

We are sixth in November! Where did you expect us to be at this time of the year?

As I won't be able to go to the lifeline meet the manager nor am I a hack for a media outlet I would like someone to ask our manager why Alex Rodman keeps getting a game before either Aaron Collins or Genaro Snijders or even the tea lady to be compeltely frank as we are always playing with ten men in the games I have attended this season. 

For me the management team get so much right but why he gets a game is beyond me

This new book from Paul Mace sounds quite interesting ... Martin Allen made a motivational video on the banks of the Trent at 5am on the morning of the F*rest match. Dragging a club employee along to shoot it. It was cold apparently.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/former-notts-county-manager-martin-allen-waded-into-the-river-trent-at-5am-to-motive-teaam/story-29839689-detail/story.html

I wonder if that video is still lurking in a cupboard at Meadow Lane?

The scorer of the greatest team goal in world cup history has passed after a heart attack aged 72.

Was part of the best team the world had to offer at that stage, says an awful lot about his quality.

Will never forget that goal