I think the transition between the wing-backs and centre defenders going forward needs to be communicated better and organised beforehand.

We have seen at times Connell Rawlinson as the only player in our half. I also think Kyle Cameron is quite neglectful of his defensive duties. I remember reading on here that he used to play in midfield, and it shows.

When he’s committed to defending, I like him a lot. When he drifts so far up the pitch and doesn’t contribute effectively or loses the ball, which he does a lot, he leaves exploits for good players. People may blame Rawinson for being slow, but Aden Baldin and Kyle Cameron need to make sure their priorities are on defending.

Attack when in control; just get back the moment you are not involved in the attack. Don’t remain up when you have little chance to get the ball. The wing-backs need to take their share of defensive duties. This was an area of real weakness; both excellent going forward but average with defending.

It’s an interesting read but I’m not too worried, surely that is just a consequence of how we play?

Our game is about being aggressive and dominant. We push all our players up and defend high which means the opposition have space to attack, usually on the counter when they are likely to be 3 on 3 (or even have an advantage if we’ve given the ball away). So when teams get opportunities they’re usually going to be quite good. Provided you are able to restrict the opposition’s time on the ball it works, like we’ve seen this season, how many times have we said the opposition didn’t get a sniff at goal, plenty.

It’s also just one part of the story, so Boreham Wood have the best defence, both number wise and statistically but they only scored 52 goals from 46 games. Would you then no argue that their great defence is actually impacting their ability to score goals? I can’t imagine they score very high on the attacking side stats, but I'm sure we’ll be near the top of that one!

Unfortunately, Luke Williams never solved our continuing problems in defence, but now we have a new Head Coach who has made it clear that he intends to make the changes that will strengthen our defence going forward.

This may involve a more cautious approach going forward, that may in turn reduce our potency up front, but there has to be the right balance all across the pitch, to be a success in this division.

I think you need to look beyond the matchday experience (or combine the two).  Charlton Athletic are very active in this area (as far east in Kent as you can be without getting wet).  They ran football schools in holidays, they run the National Citizens Service for 16 and 17 year olds. Saracens are heavily involved with local rugby clubs, Wasps players used to coach at local rugby clubs too.  You could also make tickets available through these channels, either free or discounted too, which could cement the relatinship.

Loyal fans come through family ties mostly, especially younger fans. If they make friends with people at Notts, then there is a chance it will become something embedded within them. The issue is keeping fans when we become average or poor, not that I think we will, but we have not had a real test yet since the Reedtz took us over.

I agree with the sentiments reflected on this thread.

It's nice to see that Notts are gaining so many young new supporters, which bodes well for the future Notts fan base.

I think it would be invaluable to chat with the Reedtz brothers and gain an insight into their vision for the club. One question that comes to mind is how they plan on developing the club's youth academy. With more and more top-tier clubs investing in their youth infrastructure, it would be fascinating to know if the Reedtz brothers have similar plans for Notts County.

I would also be interested in learning about the potential transfer strategy for the club under their leadership. Would they focus on players with extensive experience, ready to take on the challenge of pushing Notts County towards greater heights? Or would they seek out promising young talent who could grow and evolve while under the tutelage of established, experienced players?

Beyond these queries, it would be gratifying to hear about their long-term plans for the club. What kind of football would they like to instil? And how would they seek to engage and unite the community around the club? All in all, this conversation would be highly enlightening for any Notts County supporter, and we would be eager to learn about the Reedtz brothers' goals for the club.

I would start by thanking each of the brothers, then turn to asking them about their hopes if and when Notts could return to the Championship. I would like to know about the long-term vision of the academy; as things stand, it hasn’t been good enough despite all the effort that goes into it. Something more rewarding needs to come from the youngsters the club works with and I think it needs investment.

I would thank them for what they have done for our club by saving our club.

I would also thank them for getting us back to the Football League,

I would then ask them what their long term plans would be for the Team and the Stadium.

Good interview. Some of the comments weren’t all that different from the one Notts did when he first joined. The spin on him not caring about money has been caught on, but it shows the quality of PON when it was written here first.

It was a very good interview by Charlie Slater, with many positives and interesting comments. It’s nice to see some different questions being put to David McGoldrick, who does well to answer them.

Very good interview by Charlie Slater.

His love and passion for Notts shon through.

It was massive when he came back to play for us.

Can you explain a bit about the photo please @Piethagoram? Are we looking up Derby Road from the top end of Maid Marion Way with the Cathedral top middle of photo or am I completely wrong?It was a long time ago in my defence.

@super_ram Yes, St Barnabas Cathedral is on the left covered in soot. The photo probably predates Maid Marian Way, as is. In terms of architectural progress, I would rather have kept these old buildings than the mess we have now

i get the ball was different but the players from way back then would need to live the lifestyles of modern players, otherwise no matter how good they were it would be very one sided. football has evolved from these days and much of the success now, is owned to the players of the past. this is a great nostalgic clip, i wished fans were as supportive as back then now, because too many fans dwell on mistakes for far too long.

I watched the game with one of my mates and his dad on their telly.Incredible game.I always remember  'The galloping major'

Yes @super_ram 

Ferenc Puskas, one of the greatest Footballers of all time, and we had another great of all time in that Real Madrid side too, Alfredo Di Stefano.

Lots may disagree but I think that Madrid side could compete and beat all of the top sides today on their day 

I don't want to sound disrespectful if Nuneaton but Matt Palmer took to helping our younger players in the friendly - whilst playing his usual way. It was good to see how he communicated and talked to them, as it shows maturity.

Comparing Matty Palmer to Don Masson is high praise, indeed. Shows the impact he's had on the team.

I don't think I could add to all the kind words that have been written on this thread about Matt Palmer,

All I can say is that writing this 6 months or so down the line, with 3/5ths of the season gone and Matty probably out for most of the season with a bad injury, he has been greatly missed by Notts and our performances haven't been the same since he became injured. That is a testament to how good he had been for Notts last season and the first part of this one.

As I write he is on the road to recovery and hopefully he will return before the end of the season.

It's just a clickbait article really. They do make it clear that it's based on win percentage, but it's still very jarring to see a joker like Jocky Scott on a list of "10 best ever managers". It just goes to show that win percentages aren't everything.

On 19/09/2023 at 23:50, Blake said:

Am I being blind? Where is Big Sam or Howard Wilkinson? Surely they had decent win ratios.

Both had win ratios of 38.6% and just missed out. Howard Wilkinson managed us while we were fighting against relegation from the top flight. Allardyce joined us halfway through a relegation season and took about 12 games to record his first win, and we didn't pull up any trees in our first season back in L1 either. All the same, the achievements of both are head and shoulders above most of the names on this list, stats notwithstanding.

Another example is Luke Williams. When we appointed him, his only experience as a manager was at Swindon, where he had won 26.7% of his games. Does that make him a bad manager?

25 minutes ago, DangerousSausage said:

It's just a clickbait article really. They do make it clear that it's based on win percentage, but it's still very jarring to see a joker like Jocky Scott on a list of "10 best ever managers". It just goes to show that win percentages aren't everything.

Both had win ratios of 38.6% and just missed out. Howard Wilkinson managed us while we were fighting against relegation from the top flight. Allardyce joined us halfway through a relegation season and took about 12 games to record his first win, and we didn't pull up any trees in our first season back in L1 either. All the same, the achievements of both are head and shoulders above most of the names on this list, stats notwithstanding.

Another example is Luke Williams. When we appointed him, his only experience as a manager was at Swindon, where he had won 26.7% of his games. Does that make him a bad manager?

that is the flw and that other similar in a nutshell.

they dont know our club well enough to maintain a flow of good content, so they pipe out things like this. i lost interest in them seasons ago, due to all the clickbait and articles spreading false rumours. false stories at times too, but they get fans support for no effort at all.

For me it shouldn't be on win percentage, I believe it should be judged by your success by getting promoted & winning Cups.

If it were judged purely on that my choice would be.

1 Jimmy Sirrel.

2 Neil Warnock .

3 Tom Harris. FA Cup Winner.

4 Albert Fisher.

5 Eric Houghton.

6 Horace Henshall.

7 Sam Allardyce.

8 Frank Hill.

9 Steve Cotterill.

10 Howard Kendall.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2023/sep/26/david-squires-on-what-next-for-neil-warnock-after-leaving-huddersfield

Darren Moore should perform well, in my view it’s a long-term endeavour but if he persists, he should be capable of improving their luck.

Neil Warnock is an absolute legend at Notts for what he did for us. Leading us from the Third Division to the First in successive seasons, equivalent of going from the League 1 to the Premier League that may never be achieved again by a Manager.

I rate him number 2 behind Jimmy Sirrel and that says much for him because Jimmy was a genius with Neil not far behind.

And I'm proud to have witnessed it all 

I think the league is something we should focus on but i do know the cup games bring in money too.

In my opinion every single club should play their strongest side for every game they play. If they don't field their best team they should be fined or removed from the competition.

There's too much of it in the Premier League because the rich teams focus is on the Premier League and champions league. That's where they make their money. It is even creeping into the lower league teams and I think it is a retrograde step.

Meanwhile, because these Premier  League teams have large squads with superior second string players, they can afford to put out a B team. When this happens the football fan is cheated of seeing the great players in action, and seeing their lower league side compete with the best.

I just don't like it when teams put out B teams.

Dan Crowley has been exceptional, making a significant impact in midfield. His league game performances have been far more impressive than what we saw in pre-season, proving to be nothing short of outstanding. I’m hopeful we’ll see further improvement from him, as I believe he has more to offer in terms of his potential.

Dan Crowley is the obvious choice, but in my opinion, he’s the only real answer. I wish we could see more consistency from some of the other players. The team has been performing well, but there have been periods when certain players could have performed much better.

The Notts side has certainly missed Matty Palmer since he became injured and our slump in form happened more or less when he wasn't in the side. Dan Crowley has done well, but since Christmas Jodi Jones has been absolutely outstanding, so he's my number one choice for now.

Poor Tommy, that's nightmare fuel

Cal was brilliant for Notts County during his time here scoring 20 goals in 52 appearances. He was so good on the ball and our opponents became very weary of him. I was sad that we let him go at the time when he joined Aberdeen, but since he left Notts he has been so unlucky with a series of injuries. I hope he can become injury free, because he is  a footballing entertainer with plenty of dribbling skills to get past defenders. It would be so sad if his career had to end because of reacuring injuries.

He certainly left Notts as a firm favourite with the fans.

I’ll always remember Cal. I thought he would reach the Championship while he was here, but he’s been unlucky with injuries. He was injured almost immediately at Aberdeen and then at Scunthorpe. Unfortunately, his career seems likely to be affected by this issue.

I hope he finally gets this sorted out, but it really doesn't sound good

If he wants to stay in football, he should take his coaching badges. Many a successful coach/manager had their career cut short by injury.

It’s unfortunate to hear about Sven. I hope he’s doing well and continues to enjoy his life to the maximum.

It's very heartbreaking news.

I've always been a fan of Sven. From an England perspective, he gave us some good times. Especially that 5-1 thrashing against Germany.

I feel like he didn't and still doesn't get enough praise for what he did while in charge of England. He had the "Golden Generation" and people are often critical that we didn't win anything with the squad that we had back then. But, people seem to forget that around the same time other teams had star studded teams. France had the likes of Henry & Zidane. Brazil with R9, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo. Just to name a couple of teams and players. Sven still managed to get England to go toe to toe with these teams. There was never a feeling of doubt about getting something out of the game while he was manager of England.

I also like how he addressed the media. I watched Rooney's documentary a year or 2 ago and there is a clip of Sven talking in a press conference telling the media to lay off Rooney and allow him to be free as he is the future of English football. He knew what the media used to do to English players when they were very talented players that had the countries weight on their shoulders. He even mentions during the documentary years after that that he didn't like how the media handled situations involving the England team or managers. 

I think this has been a terrific gesture by Klopp and Liverpool to make his dreams come true

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/20/sport/jurgen-klopp-sven-goran-eriksson-liverpool-manager-spt-intl/index.html

I wish him all the best for what life he has left and I thank him for the memories. 

It still doesn't look the safest of places even back then.

This picture is truly fascinating, as it captures a place that I am quite familiar with, yet showcases a view unlike anything I have ever seen before. I recently found pictures of my former Senior School that was knocked down after I had left it and some members of that group shared photos of the area. Such as Aspley, Broxtowe and Beachdale.

my aunt and uncle used to live on ringwood cresent which is very close to crown island.

old pictures of nottingham are something i like to see, it shows things were like before and that comparison can be very interesting. i dont like crown island either.

This was my regular bus journey home from town. Always dreaded getting on the bus around 4pm as the traffic build up was ridiculous around that time. I wish it used to be as quiet as this picture back when I used to catch the bus 

Been in the Crown pub a few times too, decent pub tbf. Great place to watch any kind of football on sky sports. 

A very interesting and enjoyable read @Robbie.I agree with  @TheSkipper's comments and also hope you take up the invitation to write more.

Jack Peart was a solid player for Notts County. His commitment to the game was notable. He was skilled on the field and was a team player, which made him an important part of the team. His contribution to the team has left a mark in the club’s history.

its good to read about former players, when jj [former admin/ writer] started the alumni series i really looked forward to deep diving into them. that is why i am glad @Chris brought them back. this is fantastic read @Robbie, i also enjoy your posts and writing.

No, I can’t support a second team if I never see them play and I only go to Notts games. It’s costly, and I don’t like the idea of being a casual fan or supporting a bigger club just because they’re successful.

Whoever Forest are playing.

7 hours ago, Elite_pie said:

Whoever Forest are playing.

I always remember T Shirts being sold in New Zealand... I support the All Blacks and any team playing against Australia!

Was Andrrew Lincoln's screen parter called CARLa?

I don't remember seeing Drop the Dead Donkey, I know the name, and it always sounds familiarr. I assume by the time I became aware of what I would be watching in the 90s the show had finished, as I have no memories of it.

Cedwyn Scott could have made a big difference against Barrow, but we need to give players enough time to recover. We shouldn’t rush them back before a medical professional has cleared them and assessed the risk of further injury. We could use all the players who are out, but Notts can afford to give them time.

Good luck to all the injured players. Is Tobi injured now? I haven’t seen him around the squad lately unless I’m mistaken. I think we would always struggle without Scott and Palmer, who are two very strong players.

Palmer and Scott could easily join our squad right now and make a big difference. I like McGoldrick, but he can’t lead us. We need him to think creatively and use his experience to help the club.

I still think we can make it to the playoffs. It’s a challenging time for Stuart Maynard to understand the squad, but it will be a valuable learning experience for him. These games are crucial for our future direction. I’m relieved that we’re just a few points away from safety. I had hoped we could compete more closely for automatic promotion, but I feel injuries have hindered us. If we can defeat either Wrexham or Mansfield, it could boost our confidence. From there, we might improve our form enough to increase our points lead over the teams below us. Ideally, I hope this is achievable. I believe it is, but we need to stay focused.

Hear me out here, please.

I feel like Barrow was a lost opportunity to kick-start Stuart Maynard's managerial time at Notts. I wished the players had at times thought to attack through the centre of the park and attempt to involve Macaulay Langstaff more. I don't think we tried to make the most of the fouls and cards that Barrow collected; this could have made them press less or fearful of getting a card. It's a good point, but in terms of play-offs it does feel like 3 points dropped.

No, Notts won't win every game and that is just football, but I do think a draw makes it somewhat more of a pressure to get a win next.

Mansfield's going to be a test which we will need to be more creative. We can't have a high percentage of the ball and not know what to do with it, so if we can get a result against them, it would be a fantastic outcome.

However, a defeat will add more pressure.

Gillingham, Newport and Crewe on paper are games we should be doing well in.

Wrexham is made more difficult due to our rivalry and currently, I don't think our form or confidence would result in us picking anything up there.

Going on the worst case scenario, 6 points might be all we pick up, 7 if we manage to see out one of the tougher games.

There's no reason why we could get between 9-10, but it's a very tough tim, and it won't be easy. Stuart Maynard has the potential to get more of an insight into the squad and therefore improve things, but as he says it's not going to be instant. It's more about the team playing to their potential and working out the opposition.

4 hours ago, Chris said:

I wished the players had at times thought to attack through the centre of the park and attempt to involve Macaulay Langstaff more.

I said exactly the same thing during the Barrow game. Didzy went through the middle a few times and opportunities were starting to open up for us particularly in the second half. We looked more threatening when going through the middle. Even when working through the middle then moving it wide things began opening up for us.

Mansfield and Wrexham are both gonna be tough games. If we can get a win on Saturday against Mansfield, I think confidence will high going into the other games. 

Gillingham, Newport and Crewe are the games where we have the best chance of getting maximum points.

I'm not sure if these games are going to be season defining as such and I think we will still make the play offs but they will certainly help the cause for getting into the play offs.