Sunday's Fixtures:
Cardiff City v Watford

Wolves v Brentford

Crawley Town v Colchester United

Rochdale v Fleetwood Town

Carlisle United v York City

Shrewsbury Town v Wycombe Wanderers

Slap bang in the festive season, apologies for lateness in this game's submission...

Too big for division four, Benito Carbone, Stan-the-man are all immediate thoughts relating to the Bantams.  I think of uncle Colin's hometown club and, of course, "that" debut by Lee Hughes / Munto.

Players - well, present company excepted (3 of 'em!), Ricky Ravenhill and Graeme Lee are my offerings to start with.

Over to you - those that are not up to Valley Parade. 

Another tough game, one which Alan Smith's knowledge of MK Dons will be vital.

I'd be tempted to give Smith the nod, rough them up and use him as someone to kill the game. No doubt they're a seriously decent side at this level, however I don't fancy them for promotion despite currently being second. I think Notts will have to match their intensity to get anything from here, they must not be allowed to get into their flow.

Otherwise this could be Bristol City again, which I am hoping isn't the case.

Notts need to get a solid grip on their defending, I don't expect us to be beating Bristol City, MK Dons etc but I do expect to see us stand tall and mark exactly how we know we can do. The amount of goals we are conceding is a concern for me, I have to be honest. Naturally this will have an effect on morale, goal scored and performances.

I'm hoping for a draw, which if so I'd say would end at 1-1 but I have a feeling MK Dons will sneak a winner.

My prediction is 1-2 to them.

Thoughts?

Boxing Day Fixtures:
Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers

Rotherham United v Huddersfield Town

Doncaster Rovers v Coventry City

Port Vale v Sheffield United

Newport County v Plymouth Argyle

Wycombe Wanderers v Luton Town

Wish him all the best at Christmas. A solid player, but also an outstanding guy who stood up for his beliefs in his role as PFA chairman. Lets hope the injuries stay as non-life threatening.

Airlifted to Leeds instead of Nottingham though?

Former Professional Footballers' Association chairman Clarke Carlisle is in hospital after being involved in a serious road accident on Monday.

The ex-Burnley defender, 35, was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary.

The cause of the accident is unknown, although the BBC understands his injuries are not life threatening.

Carlisle is an ambassador for equality campaign body Kick It Out, who tweeted: "The thoughts and prayers of everyone here are with Clarke and his family."

The tweet added: "Stay strong our dear friend - keep on fighting."

Police have appealed for witnesses to the collision, which happened on the A64 near the village of Bishopthorpe, at 07:30 GMT.

A police spokeswoman said: "The collision involved a male pedestrian and a lorry.

"The injured man has been airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary with serious injuries.

"The road was closed to allow the air ambulance to land and to allow collision investigators to examine the scene."

Part of the road was closed for a number of hours while investigations took place.

The Football Association tweeted: "The thoughts and prayers of all at the FA are with Clarke Carlisle and his family at this sad time."

Centre-back Carlisle made more than 500 appearances during a playing career spanning 16 years at nine clubs, including Leeds and QPR,

He retired from professional football in 2013 after his last club, Northampton, were beaten by Bradford in the League Two play-off final, before working as a TV pundit.

Carlisle, who left school with 10 Grade A GCSEs, has earned a reputation for his intelligence, appearing on Channel Four's Countdown and the BBC's Question Time.

And through his role with Kick It Out, Carlisle - who is married with three children - has become a vociferous campaigner for inclusion and equality in football.

Burnley FC tweeted: "The thoughts of all at Burnley Football Club are with Clarke Carlisle and his family.

I didn't think I had seen a topic posted on this, but let me know if I just missed it.

Did everyone see who won the £250k transfer fund as part of the Sky Bet comeptition?

http://www.football-league.co.uk/news/article/2014/win-250000-thanks-to-the-sky-bet-transfer-fund-2145910.aspx

It is non other than those lot across the river, 2 days after their transfer embargo kicked in

Luckily for them they can use it on loan player wages so it isn't completely wasted.  Might they get Falcao on loan for a week maybe?

I'm not sure if they can use it to pay their tax bill?

With apologies to @BromPie and anyone else who's already fed up with the run up to christmas.

I was listening to Gold on the radio last night when they played Boney M's  'Mary's Boy Child.Not long after they played @Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.The christmas ads have been on tv for what seems like ages but last night was the first christmas songs I've heard on the radio.

Anyway do any members have a christmas song that they like or are you like @william1984 and have a moan every time you hear one?

>http://www.angryduck.com/pictures/2014_11/nice_prank8857.mp4

For anyone interested, Richard Butcher's mum, Gail, has written a book about her son from schoolboy to professional footballer.  The ups and downs, the laughs and the tears they lived through together.

Gail insists "It's not just a book about football."

The title is: "BUTCH - The Wings of Football"

It is available from Amazon including Kindle format

Hopefully everyone has sorted out all the christmas presents and the food and drink is all organised.Have you now got a week or so off work or will you be one of the vital ones keeping everything safe and running smoothly?What have you got lined up for this season of excesses?

Wow. Take a look at the first video of the silo.

Seriously cool ! Serious money as well !

If you were stupid rich would you buy into this?

Do you consider yourself as a doomsday merchant?

http://news.sky.com/story/1395842/us-families-prepare-for-modern-day-apocalypse

I know I read alot of doomsday books, but the extent of my prepping is making sure when we get to the last tin of beans in the cupboard I add it to the tesco order 

Seems a tad extreme. Has anyone read the 'wool' series of books though? Seems that the premise might be coming true!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wool-Trilogy-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B00873GRU4

Seriously good books. Very addictive.

>http://www.surenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Quentin_Sommerville_struggles_complete_his_piece_to_camera.mp4

Remember folks...

they're bad for your health, unless you need a stupid laugh!   

Died at the age of 70. A voice pure in soul and as gritty as it should be.

A true British musical legend who deserved so much more. 

Like his cover said..

A little help from my friends...

RIP

so, the on-the-road-record still stands in contrast to some stuttering home form.  up next to test the meadow lane mettle are MK Dons, and the evergreen question of "are they related to the SW london lot of pre-2004 or not?".  kilobyte upon kilobyte of internet space has been consumed by this, quite frankly right or wrong, they're here, and here to stay.

as a hypothetical thought -  "wakefield magpies" anyone...

onto links.  being a relatively young league club - either with our without the wimbledon FC history - links are to be few and far between.  i'll start with one from each,

adam nowland (old club)

mad dog (new club), and it therefore stands to reason that jude sterling would also feature...

Two surprises in the Notts line up when it was revealed that Colby Bishop was absent due to his inclusion in the first team squad which was playing at Rochdale.  The second was their regular 'keeper Monty Parks was out injured and was replaced by the Notts County under-15 'keeper.

After only six minutes into the game Notts took the lead over Burton when Rico Fyfe turned sharply about 12 yards from goal to fire a shot just inside the post.

Four minutes later Notts went further ahead when a quality cross from right-back Tom Rigby, one of many Tom provided during the game, was headed home firmly by Larty Sarpong.

Notts were playing some really good football with lots of close control and plenty of good passing in tight situations and were well on top in the game.  Completely against the run of play Burton scored twice on 35 and 36 minutes after a couple of defensive errors allowed the visitirs back into the game with a half-time score of 2-2.

Ten minutes after the restart Luther Wildin put Notts back in front when he picked up a loose ball 12 yards out to shoot past the Burton keeper to make the score 3-2.

Notts continued to be the better team but couldn't find one more goal to 'kill off' the threat from Burton.  Despite plenty of chances no more goals were forthcoming so Notts won a highly entertaining game 3-2, a scoreline that does not reflect their dominance of the game.

 I would like to wish all my PoN friends a very Happy Christmas and a healthy and Prosperous New Year.

I hope 2015 will be a successful one for whichever club you support (unless it happens to be Fword).

As I like to remain an international man of mystery I have put this picture on of me toasting your health with a nice glass of red.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Black-Friday-Nottingham-emergency-services-ready/story-25737834-detail/story.html

Another good test coming up Saturday, although it's not one we should be fearful.

If we go into the game prepared and structured, I'd fancy us to win this game but it's never so straight forward. Having lost two games, we could do with responding now and I would take a draw.

Rochdale aren't impressive to me, rather standard side in this league and are exactly the types of teams we need to be doing well against. They're a good side don't get me wrong, however considering our recent histories it should be treated like a local derby and one of them we do not want to lose.

I think the score will 2-0, supposedly it's pay on the day only? That might impact attendances.

Thoughts?

This Saturday's fixtures:

Blackburn Rovers v Charlton Athletic

Ipswich Town v Middlesbrough

Barnsley v Leyton Orient

Peterborough United v Preston North End

AFC Wimbledon v Mansfield Town

Luton Town v Newport County

Borrowed this thread from 'the other board' as the link points you to a great trip down a Nottingham Memory Lane.

Some great pubs on the list and brought back lots of memories!!!

Which pubs do you remember? Any you dank in regularly?

For me it was more about the places that had good paying fruit machines and pool tables. Used to be a bit of a pool shark back in the day. Would target certain pubs where me and mates knew the gaming machines hadn't had the correct win percentage set in them so used to play pool until Joe Public had filled them nicely then emptied them out totally. Back then it was only £20 jackpot, but do that a few times a night and it was good money!

Potters, The White Hart on Mansfield Road, The Star inn Basford, Nell Gwynn and the list goes on!!!

Mostly Home Ales tied pubs now I think of it.

http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/nottinghamshire/nottingham.html

Well Done @liampie for being named the Member of the Week.

The team here voted for you, along with @Dripsey3 and @PTID1862 being mentioned. Keep up the fantastic work buddy! You certainly do a lot for us here on PoN and via our social pages.

Keep an eye out for next weeks! Oh, yeah. Please congratulate Liam.

YOU PIES!!

Can Heroford survive

What is your PoN reputation? Easy one, so I hope you will join in but to warn you I'll be keeping tabs on attendances .

Click on your username/ Visit your profile.

As of when I typed, it's 5684 - Jaw drops! Close to my post count which is 5,390.

What about you?

Following the JPT exit - which was totally overshadowed by the sad news Tuesday brought - the maggies are back to league action tomorrow. If ever there was a time to 'pull a performance out of the bag' this season, then tomorrow must surely be it, in paying tribute to a fine lady and supporter of both Notts and this online community.

Once a small Lancastrian club destined to be anchored in "division 4", our Munto season also saw the 'dale rise for the first time in years.  14pts, Keith Hill and cheating all spring immediately to mind, as well as a packed kop singing their thoughts unto Keith Hill one fine spring evening...

Connections?

Gary Jones - NOT Sean Farrell's onetime partner - for starters...