...then you'll be sad to learn of the passing of my father, George "Tony" Priestley who died after a long and brave battle against cancer on the morning of the 22nd, (Friday).

Loving the club in full, he was involved in the committee, starting gate, meadow club, as well as a staunch main stander right up until the Warnock era, when family and business commitments overtook him!  Others may know him as Tony the Fagman, having involvement in the licensed trade all over the midlands.

I was only a youngster in those very different days, but do remember the aftermatch bar; and enjoying the company of all the greats from our team - what an era!   He was at the gala performance of Steak Diana Ross last year and know he certainly enjoyed seeing and socialising with all the faces after all of this time.

I recognise that times, the club - and indeed football - is very different nowadays.  Some or none on here may know him and this is not a post to be morbid nor sad, merely to let people know of his passing.  I write out of respect for him as he was well known at the club in "that" era, and I also wanted to inform anyone that knew / knew of him.

Full details will be in the evening post in due course.

Thank you for reading.

HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY @PTID1862

We missed your birthday yesterday but I hope you had a great day, it's a pity Notts couldn't have given you a win on your birthday weekend.

So what did you get up to? Anything nice that you can share?

Ok, so this evenings 19.45 kick off sees the Magpies away at the massive Bradford City.

The league table suggests a home win is the most likely outcome, with Bradford currently occupying 6th spot and looking to pull away from the chasing pack. On the flip side Notts are languishing at the bottom of the pile 7 points off 20th spot.

Can Notts get anything from the game? well recent performances have vastly improved and it is going to happen somewhere, so why not?

Significant results I can remember between the two:

Play off Misery - losing out to the massive at the old Wembley Stadium.

That opening day 5 - 0 hammering.

I personally cannot see anything other than a miserable trip back down the M1 empty handed, but, just but, its a funny old game...

PTID's prediction: Bradford 3 Notts 1

I've been wrong plenty of times before.... COYP

Radio Nottingham are reporting that Notts are being linked to a 19 year old Canadian winger currently with QPR.

Didn't catch his name, Mike something I think.

Where do I begin? I really don't know.

So, 17th take on 24th in League One. No disregard to the Shrews but this is a game that would annoy me to lose, they're a beatable side and even in our current situation we should be able to take the game to them. I don't see them being an 'easy' touch, more a side lacking the quality they've usually been used to surviving with in this league.

That said, if our players don't turn up they have more than enough players able to punish us.

1-0 win for Notts.

Thoughts?

Welcome to the community @pie_in_shanghai, hope you like what you see.

Hi @alamo

Welcome to the friendliest football community on the net, looking forward to chatting with you.

Another Newpie to welcome onboard.

Welcome @PTID1862 you will find a real friendly bunch of people on here so don't be afraid to join in when you can.

Welcome to our site,Drivingmenotts.I love your user name.Please do join in with comments and, of course ,banter.

Welcome to our great,friendly site,Micool.Please join in with your opinions and comments,your contributions will be much appreciated.

Hello and welcome to our latest member @Kimbopie, do you live in Kimberley by any chance?

Hope you enjoy chatting on PoN, you'll find that we are a friendly community with lots of football related chat and a bit of banter thrown in for good measure.

See you around.

The media have been doing my head in with regards to this game, I really don't care if they slaughter us. I prefer to think positive and tradition says it'll be an eventful game. I hope Roy, see's this more as an exhibition game and continues trying some of our youngsters. I know he named the squad well before the game, I am sure the Germans are comfortable within their own thoughts.

Just go out and try, thoughts?

Ps, My prediction 3-1 Germany.

Where do we go from here?

Losing week in week out, unable to buy a point at the moment, defeat against bad sides and good sides.

All of this with improved performances. I think we've established what is wrong. We have a weak spine, bar Bart. 

So the question is, what is to be done from here? As far as I'm concerned, we have 2 options, 

1. Try and get rid of any dead wood we can in January and bring in some players to try and secure a position outside the relegation zone.

Pros:

- We stay in League One

- We get rid of underperforming players
- We get better players in

Cons:

- We could end up going down anyway
- Cost
- Players available might not be good enough

2. Keep what we have, try and do what we can, and if worse comes to worse, re-group and re-build for next season in L2.

Pros:
 

- Less spend
- Youngsters get a chance
- Derry gets experience
- We can get rid of dead-wood at the end of the season

Cons:
 

- We are back in L2, it took a financial fiasco (Munto) to get us out last time
- This season is depressing, crowds will inevitably fall.
- Some of the dead wood might want to hang on to their wages in L2.


Thoughts?

 

Back to normal with the two fixtures from each league this week.

This week's fixtures:
Ipswich Town v Leicester City

Leeds United v Middlesbrough

Milton Keynes Dons v Bradford City

Wolves v Brentford

Cheltenham Town v Newport County

Oxford United v Morecambe

Good luck everyone

Rumour on twitter that Notts are about to sign George Moncur from West Ham, a ball playing hard tackling central midfielder.

Sounds good.

EA are looking for really knowledgeable Notts County fans who can provide expert feedback on the team and players in the video game of the FIFA series. To register your interest, please visit: http://fifa-talentscout.ea.com/

Convince us that you are the right person to help develop the Notts County data and we'll be in touch!
We also have a twitter profile which is constantly updated with tweets when we need new reviewers for certain clubs.
http://twitter.com/EA_TALENT_SCOUT

This is a great blog from Jim about his visit to watch Notts v Wolves.

He mentions meeting two Juventus fans on the way to the match, possible the two gentlemen you met @NottsJoe?

Any a really good write up and worth a read, he says a lot of very complimentary things about the Notts support.

http://thefootballneutral.com/2013/11/17/the-football-neutral-match-eleven-notts-county-vs-wolverhampton-wanderers/

Some fans might believe this is dooms day, as Notts are expected to lose. I personally see it as a good chance to try some players who miss out, we need to find a balance between 'reliable' and 'consistent' - of course this means some players will have off days but I firmly believe the majority of our fans accept this.

Wolves are likely to win! however, you never say never! This type of thing should inspire and push our players, the desire to do well and cause an upset.

Supposedly someone from Wolves told PoN that they're taking 3k, I'm surprised.

Good for the club if true!

3-1 Wolves is my prediction.

Derby County has sold the naming rights of the Pride Park stadium and it will now be known as iPro Stadium in a 10 year deal that is worth £7 million. I'd be interested in @super_ram's thoughts on this one.

Also how would Notts fans feel if Meadow Lane was renamed. Personally I wouldn't mind what it was called (within reason) as long as it brought in some much needed funds to help us get out of the mess we are in. What do others think?

Sorry I'm a day late putting this up. Due to it being International weekend, we'll have 3 league one fixtures and 3 league two fixtures. I'll forewarn you I'll probably not put the results up till Sunday as I'm doing a long away trip with Weymouth to Corby, so won't be home till late. 6:30 start!

This week's fixtures:
Leyton Orient v Preston North End

Port Vale v Shrewsbury Town

Tranmere Rovers v Bristol City

AFC Wimbledon v Portsmouth

Exeter City v Southend United

Mansfield Town v Oxford United

Good luck everyone

Not only do we have players unavailable through call ups and injuries, we can now add another suspension to the list.

So for the next three to five games, I would make the starting 11:

                               Bialkowski

  Freeman        Liddle         Smith         Sheehan ©

                                 Boucard

 Campbell- Ryce       McGregor       Tempest

                         Murray             Haber

Subs: Speiss, Holt, Thompson, Waite, Coombes

I hope I haven't made an error in picking somebody unfit. But if possible that would be it for me. They keep the shirt until injured, suspended, or perform too poorly.

The others need to work to displace that IMO.

Some other points: If Hollis had been fit, he would replace Liddle, Liddle then replaces Thompson on the bench, (being dropped won't do him any harm)

I read Joe's post regarding non Pies members. I find this a friendly site where inter club rivalry can be put aside and indeed discuss non football related topics.

I am currently wallowing in a pleasant nostalgia zone because I am aware that on a stormy Monday 11th November 1963 I rode my 50cc Paloma Flash racing moped from Westbury (of White Horse "fame") to the Pavilion in Bath to see a new blues band that I liked called The Rolling Stones.

Joe's post indirectly led me to recall a First Round FA Cup match between Trowbridge Town - Southern League - and Coventry City. Coventry won 1-6 but I remember meeting a group of their supporters who gave me a pie. They seemed like old men but that's what it is like when you are 17. This match was on Saturday 16th November 1963 so that was a good week.

Years later, when I worked for a local Peugeot dealership, Jimmy Hill was guest speaker. I had a microphone that Jimmy used, dropped and dented. He was the centre of attention and his wife was left "sitting in the corner". My wife and I chatted to her and eventually Jimmy came to join her and I had a really enjoyable conversation with him. He was intelligent, interesting and very knowledgeable. I mentioned the 1963 cup match and he remembered it and knew the result.

I think Super Ram and Tony H will understand these ramblings: I do not wish to live in the past but it was exciting being a teenager from 1962 to 1966.

Best wishes to all posters on this site. Long may the banter continue.

So the build up to the 2 friendlies has started and already plenty of withdrawals. No quite sure how we should approach these. I think I would be inclined to use this game to try another keeper, and maybe look at our holding ability. Key to international games in keeping the ball and playing with pace (certainly in our case).

So no Carrick, Gerrard, play Jones perhaps in front of the back 4. Townsend is a must, but without Welbeck who to play on the left?

I wouldn't mix it too much but, try the new boys as subs on the hour, using those who he feels will be in the final squad.

He must have a good idea of that make up by now, maybe 3-4 places up for grabs at this stage.

Come on England

Hi guys....I am not exactly new here but it has been a while I have not been visiting....

I am a Juve fan and I will be at Meadow Lane this Saturday for the match against the Wolves.

Any chance to meet one of you for a beer after the end? Hopefully to celebrate...

See you there...Giorgio

When I open a new tab in Firefox, it brings up suggestions as to what sites I might want to visit based on my past usage.

Guess which site it always suggests now? It obviously knows which is my favourite football site.