http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/5358781/No-early-Celtic-comeback-for-ace-McGregor.html

I've just watched that lot thrash West Ham.I hate to admit it but West Ham were totally outplayed.Yes,I know West Ham fielded a much weakened side but where was their passion and pride.With better finishing that lot could have reached double figures!Just settling down to watch The Rams but not feeling very confident.

Before I bore anyone - What have you been upto today? Care to share? Go on

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Early morning

Frantically rushing around to get the children ready, poor Cheeky was given this task. You would think Ava was preparing for trials as an American Quarterback the way she ran around trying to avoid getting dressed. The eldest two sat watching TV, while all this was going off. I really don't think Ava wanted to go out!

Once we was out the door, I had to attend a meeting. I was pretty nervous but there was no need.

By this point I was wondering if it was wise to stay out after, very depressing and the weather didn't help at all. The rain was on and off, I still have an headache I blame on it!

Afternoon

We spent the day having fun, we walked around Bulwell (despite some of the locals, I actually like the area but I wouldn't live anywhere near the main market place/Tesco) We got a few pieces we needed, allowed the children to go on this ride (minus Ava) and then had something to eat at KFC.

Not the most action packed day, however for a none Notts day. I quite enjoyed it, without missing ML to much.

So, I know @tonyhateley spent time trying to work out Mouse Trap but what else did our centre forward get up to today? @liampie What about you or @weymouthPIE?

 

Bournemouth fans have raised almost £3,000 to help Burton supporters travel to their re-arranged FA Cup tie.

 

The original game was called off just an hour before kick-off, leaving around 200 away supporters having made a fruitless 300-mile round trip.

 

Bournemouth fan David Whitehead set up a fundraising page after recalling the generosity shown by Burton supporters when Cherries fans celebrated promotion from League Two at Burton’s Pirelli Stadium in 2010.

Link

I like when teams and fans (especially) can put a-side rivalry and the negative side to our passionate sport, by doing something graceful and very kind. Bournemouth fans have done a very grand gesture here!

Credit to them

For me, Dean Leacock is one of our big players. He's someone I expect a lot from, mainly due to the fact at this level he should be reliable. This season he hasn't impressed me much at all, there's been times we've needed him and he's lacked any sort of interest. Some performances have been blamed due to injury, tiredness and even being ill, however for me - for such a big named player we haven't missed him.

He should be the type of player exactly how we see Gary Liddle.

Massive blow for us, our fans discussed his absence and was probably the main thing I heard yesterday (a-side from Jack & Callum future with us).

Deano just hasn't been the same player this season, yesterday he put a reasonable performance in but still he lacked the passion you would expect from the Captain. At no point did he try to fire up the players, this is something we need. After going a goal down his response should have been pure annoyance and desire to inspire the lads to correct things.

I don't blame him for our season, he's sadly one of many contributing factors but it's an interesting area to debate. I don't think he should be our captain - I'd go as far as he shouldn't be starting as frequently as he does. JCR's time injured and benched did him the world of good, why is Deano to good for this?

Looks like Paul Ince's management style hasn't changed much since Notts.

Nice to be back!

Who do you all think will win the world cup? My votes on Holland as outside bet. Spain have good chances with the squad they have.

 

A family has criticised a Notts GP after an 87-year-old woman changed her will just days before she killed herself – leaving her house to her doctor's daughter.

 

Wealthy Lucie Rose, of Chedington Avenue, Mapperley, changed her will 11 days after her husband died of cancer – and nine days before she committed suicide.

 

Her original will left everything to her two sisters in Germany.

 

But in the new document, the main beneficiaries were a financial adviser and 23-year-old Sharnika Pillai – her doctor's daughter, whom Mrs Rose was not close to.

Unbeknownst to many people, there's a competition starting this week called the African Nations Championship. Played once every two years, it's a tournament for national teams, but with one twist: players MUST be currently playing in a league in Africa. 

Every alternating year, it's the Africa Cup of Nations, which is the all-out, anyone can play, clubs-falling-out-with-players-and-national-federations festival of African football.

Anyone looking to follow the games this year, has followed a ACN or CHAN tournament, or anything like that?

 

"Lambs are delighted with permanent capture of Notts County wideman"

 

Tamworth boss Dale Belford says winger Andy Haworth can become a fans' favourite at The Lamb.

Haworth has signed for the Lambs until the end of the season after being released by Notts County.

Full Article: Here

----My Thoughts----------

I really don't understand why we signed him in the first place, very limited chances with us but looked okay. I am sure we can find better and I am glad that Derry is getting on with business. Fine tuning the squad is very important! I'm just surprised that Notts haven't announced his release, so for now I'm labeling this as a rumour.

Hopefully more news to come soon!

Thoughts?

This seems to have been overlooked, during Shaun Derry's post match interview Colin Slater asked about this rumour. Terry Dolan - I have no idea who he is or what he offers us as the chief scout.
 

As of 1 January 2014 Dolan was appointed chief scout at Notts County.

I've heard he was a good footballer in his day, does anyone know more?

 

I am sure he has some connection with Notts. I am only about to start reading the 4th chapter but already I believe he has mentioned Mad Dog and Steady Eddy ( not by name ). On page 25 and 26 he says:

"A new manager needs to stamp his authority on the squad quickly, and to achieve this very often he will sacrifice a player, as was the case at one of my clubs. It doesn't matter if the player is capable and well liked (actually, these players are the preferred targets). The process generally involves the player being singled out for ridicule in training and made an example of at every opportunity, before being sent to train with the kids and ostracised from the first team. It is meant as a clear message to everyone that the manager is in charge.

I don't like this method: it is completely unnecessary and suggests a total lack of man-management skills. A friend of mine suffered this treatment during the 2011-2012 season and, believe me, he wasn't a lot of fun to speak to at the time. "

I am reading this with interest, and I have the second book. Should I find any more references to what I believe to be Notts players or staff, I will put them in here. I am convinced between us we can figure it out.

Given that we all assume that there will be significant transfer ins & outs who from the non-league would you like to see us sign?

For me we need a central midfielder who can not only tackle but can also pass the ball, so that player has to be Andi @ Thanoj Grimsby Town, how he is still in non-;league is crazy and from what i've been told he soon won't be as a big championship are after him.

 

NOTTS County would like to bring Callum Ball back to Meadow Lane.

The 21-year-old Derby County striker has returned to Pride Park because his short-term loan with the Magpies ended this week.

But Notts boss Shaun Derry is set to get on the phone to Rams boss Steve McClaren over a new deal, which could be until the end of the season.

After moving to Meadow Lane on loan deadline day at the end of November, Ball only played four games for the Magpies because he sidelined over Christmas with concussion.

He did not score in black and white stripes, but he did play a big part in a vital three-game unbeaten run before Christmas, helping Notts to big wins against Gillingham and Colchester United and a 1-1 draw against Bristol City in his last game.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Notts-County-want-bring-Derby-striker-Callum-Ball/story-20399810-detail/story.html

I dont see what the lad actually delivered to the table, he did not score. I would rather see Haber return, who started for Stevenage today.

What did Callum Ball offer us which Murray, Coombes and Co dont?

FA Cup 3rd round weekend, but there are quite a few league 2 fixtures - so 3 FA Cup fixtures & 3 League 2 fixtures.

This Saturday's fixtures:

Barnsley v Coventry City

Stoke City v Leicester City

Yeovil Town v Leyton Orient

Exeter City v Mansfield Town

Portsmouth v Accrington Stanley

Wycombe Wanderers v AFC Wimbledon

Joss Labadie has rejoined Torquay United on a month's loan.

He went to TQ1 towards the end of last season, scoring four goals and helping the Gulls retain their League status.

Labadie will go straight into their squad for tomorrow’s game against Morecambe at Plainmoor.

What do you guys reckon to this development? Can we really afford to be losing a first-team member for a month? Is it part of a larger malaise?

Thoughts please!

"Manny Smith backed to take latest chance at Notts County"

I personally would give him the chance - Sheehan is great at CB and LB, I'd like to give Leacock a rest myself once Sheehan can return to CB. Manny's seemed a little slow getting into games but reliable in my opinion.

Your thoughts?

Hi @Bob Wilson Anchorman, interesting username! Welcome to Pride of Nottingham.

Can I ask where the reference for your chosen username comes from? I feel I should know but don't. Hope you enjoy the site, I will look forward to sharing thoughts and banter.

Welcome @#Luke to Pride of Nottingham, nice to see you take the leap onto our community. I hope you like the site and join in, it will be fun to see your thoughts on all things NCFC and PoN related. Enjoy!

>http://youtu.be/Uk8yl_07Keo

This reminds me something (avoid my rant below, I warned you)

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Just before Christmas I went to see some loved one's at Wilford Crematorium, after myself and my young family went walking towards Asda. Two cars must have crashed into each other, nothing serious but enough to warrant two big police cars (land rover type) and about 6 officers, the majority of which weren't doing anything at all.

Well, as you can imagine there was a big queue and one officer was allowing traffic from one direction, then other.

A motorbike speeding, stopped on the border of each road's side and then started weaving in/out. Until what I suspect was him fearing being seen, by the end he had barged his way right to the front. Narrowly avoiding crashing into a car and blocking the left turn from oncoming traffic. It's by this point I commented what I thought of the biker, followed by a brief rant to poor @cheeky~k8. To my surprise the officer allowed traffic to come from the other direction, even more to my surprise was the response of the biker. He must of grown impatient because he just starting riding in the direction of the incoming traffic - The cop signalling sort of became scared and started waving (like he had some sort of magic power).

The biker narrowly missed this other officer and his car (parked dead opposite the collision). It's by this point I thought that one of the 4 standing around officers would somehow respond. Oh no, no... It appeared they did nothing!

The community is growing so fast I almost missed you.Welcome to PoN @Sid.I hope you join in posting and enjoy your time with us.

We might be left in a difficult situation come the next few weeks. Mac and Grealish return to parent clubs, leaving holes along side the holes already there.

Possibility of a bid coming in due to his exceptional form do you think?

Sell or keep - you decide!

Notts County are braced for a battle over Callum McGregor and Jack Grealish.

The Magpies are eager to keep the two youngsters until the end of the season.

But they are almost certain to face competition from bigger clubs when their current loan deals at Meadow Lane end next month.

McGregor has been a big hit since joining Notts on loan from Celtic and is their leading scorer with eight goals, while Grealish has also shone in League One on loan from Aston Villa.

Magpies' boss Shaun Derry says he is encouraged by talks with Celtic boss Neil Lennon and Villa manager Paul Lambert about extending their loans until May.

But he is also making contingency plans just in case they end up leaving.

"I feel that Jack has really produced in the last two games and we all know where this club would be without McGregor," said Derry. "I'm having conversations all the time with their managers so you're hopeful.

"But you always understand that if they do produce unbelievable performances then the bigger clubs are going to come knocking.

"You have to make plans for that eventuality if that was to happen and that's what I'm doing."

McGregor and Grealish have both told Derry they are enjoying life at Notts, despite them being bottom of the table.

And he hopes that counts for a lot when their next moves are decided.

"They are on loan to get game time and we're giving them that and they're producing performances," said Derry.

"I've had chats with them and they're enjoying their football and if you are doing that you want to stay where you are. I'm hopeful that's the case with the guys.

"I'm sure they'll have a say on their future and you'd hope the clubs wouldn't push them to somewhere they don't want to be."

"I'm hopeful that come the end of the loan their managers will say 'did you enjoy it, would you like to go back to Notts County?' And I'm hopeful they will both say yes."

Credit to Nottingham Post website.

This must be a done deal, we have the advantage of already having them so we could tie this up. We need to convince the parent clubs that we're helping them develop as players and giving time - I am convinced if we sell the positives and get the players to add their two cents, we will see this play out until end of the season with us.

Only problem I see is if we leave it too late and attempt to tie things up similar to as we did with Montano...

We allowed him to go back thinking we could re-sign him if we required him, when that came in... We battled against other sides and lost out, only to bring him back and the spark he had was lost.

Thoughts?

We are having Christmas this weekend with our eldest grandchildren. One present we bought them is Mousetrap but when we opened it there were no instructions even though it is brand new.

I wondered if anyone else had it for their kids and could scan the instructions for me, I've searched on line but can only find instructions for the old version of the game but ours is the newer version.

If anyone can help you would make to disappointed kids very happy.