I would like to urge all members to read weymouthPIE's latest BLOG.

I think it sums up what all us football fans put ourselves through each season with whichever team we support.

I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I did.

Does anyone have any holiday or weekend break plans for this year (no need to write when)?

Are you going abroad or staying in this country? and How do you like to spend the time away from home?

We know Tony has gone away on a trip to spain, but it would be interesting to hear about other peoples plans.

Good, positive, experience for the youngsters. I hope they grasp this, as it could go along way. It will be exciting to see our youngsters get out and about, hope they enjoy the pre-season 2014/15. We never know, they might get used to visiting other European cities. Great stuff!
 

The Notts County Academy have been awarded funding for a cultural exchange next summer...

The Notts County Academy have been awarded over 55,500 Euros after applying for funding from the Leonardo da Vinci programme and will be travelling abroad to Europe as part of a cultural exchange in the summer of 2014.

 

The funding, which is available for all clubs and youth programmes, will be used to help the team and staff travel abroad for pre-season ahead of the 2014.15 campaign. 

 

Each year three clubs are selected from the Football League, by the League Football Education (LFE).

 

The Academy has taken huge strides since its reintroduction four years ago and they can boast a number of achievements that helped secure this funding including:

 

- 100% pass rate of all the scholars completing their ASE education programme

- 16 players coming through to feature for the First Team 

- 7 professional contracts

- 2 LFE scholar of the month awards presented to Fabian Spiess (April 2012) and Haydn Hollis (November 2010) 

 

Academy Manager Mick Leonard told the Official Site of his delight after securing such a large amount: 

 

“I am hugely pleased about this news.  It took me by surprise. I had to re-read the sum a few times to get my head around it! It will only enhance the programme as we go forward. 

“After seeing other clubs successfully go through the process and looking at ourselves, I thought we were well deserving of that after our progress in the past three, four years. 

 

“We deserve the reward after so much hard work to get the programme back on its feet since the dark days of administration, where the whole programme was closed. 

 

“I put together an application which initially wasn’t accepted, despite showcasing how far we have come in such a short space of time. I now believe we are up there as one of the best Academies at our level. 

 

“We came very close to securing a deal, but we got there finally thanks to the help of the LFE after they saw how well we have developed over the years and we got the great news about the grant.

 

“LFE Project Manager Dan Jolley and Project Assistant Sarah Stonehouse in particular worked tirelessly to secure the funding and I’d like to thank them for their help.

 

“We now have something fantastic to look forward to and the lads who get to go on the trip will learn a lot about the culture of that country and also get to use excellent facilities.

 

“Other English clubs have travelled to places such as Holland in recent years and it will all help with their education and also improve them as players.”

COYP! Thoughts?

@weymouthPIE @MuddyPatchPie @super_ram @liampie @upthepies @tonyhateley

There are bound to be lots of things going on at Notts County this coming two weeks or so, high profile signings, takeovers etc., it always happens when I go on holiday. We are away on Tuesday for two weeks in sunny (I hope) Spain in our camper van, every time I go away things start to happen.

I particularly remember one year we were abroad and I got a text from my son saying that some billionaire Arabs had bought Notts County, I thought he was having a joke but he insisted it was true, I couldn't believe I was away and missing all the fun. It was of course the beginning of Munto fiasco and we all know how that ended up.

So I am expecting big things while I am away, hopefully they will all be good.

Anybody going to bother with tonights England match v Brazil?

Well Done SUPER RAM!

Not only does Super Ram frequently visit, post and help out. He's been writing an excellent addition with his 'History of Football' articles and his dedicated is only rightly acknowledged. He's been in the running, just like others and narrowly missed out at times.

I'd like everyone who reads this to spread a bit of community spirit, which is one thing I really enjoy about doing web sites and take the time to congratulate Super Ram. It's always nice to see, especially previously. Myself and Cheeky were discussing a little while back about who deserved it and it's very hard. Though I am sure those who know how much work Super Ram puts in, will know he deserves this and I hope he carries the touch onto the next in good fashion.

I see the pitch is being relaid at the moment. I hope they are seeding it with some good hard wearing grass because we will have the men's team, the ladies team and the rugby team all playing on it next season. I hate to think what it will look like in January next year.

Hello,

My parents have finally allowed me to join, can you guess who I am?

Neil Warnock's Notts County made it back-to-back promotions to the old first division with a 3-1 win over Brighton at the old Wembley.

Full highlights of that game here -

Anybody on here there that day?

I brought this picture off of EBay of the 1894 Notts County side which won the FA Cup.

Something else to go up on my bedroom wall, along with many other Notts County related pictures

I remember reading in a match programme from our division 3 play-off semi final against Bolton in Colin Slaters column a bit about Jimmy Logan. Jimmy became the first player ever to score a hat-trick in an FA Cup final as Notts beat Bolton 4-1 to become the first side from outside the top division to win the Cup.

We brought Jimmy from Aston Villa for £15! A lot of money back then but today that sounds crazy!

The story of Jimmy Logan is quite tragic really. After lhis time at Notts he moved to play for Dundee and then Newcastle United before ending his career with Loughborough FC.

Loughborough were on their way to play Newton Heath (now Man Utd) but en route they descovered their kit had been lost. They could not barrow any shirts so they were forced to play in their ordinary clothes. It rained heavily throughout the game and the Loughborough players had to return home wearing the same clothes they had played in. Jimmy caught a cold but shook it off to play a game against Crewe Alexandra. However shortly after that game he relapsed, caught Pneumonia and passed away at the age of just 25.

While we were at the pub for a family meal for Jake's birthday....Harry had a go on one of those prize everytime grabbers.....and Jakey spotted what he called 'a notts county bear' and helped Grandad (superram) win it for him....Harry is now the proud owner of a JUVE teddy!!! Fancy finding that in a toy grabber crane!!!

We also won Jakey one too!!!

It's a bit quiet football wise, so here is a joke to cheer you all up.

----------------------------------------------------------------

A man walks into a bar and orders three beers.

The bartender brings him the three beers, and the man proceeds to alternately sip one, then the other, then the third, until they're gone.

He then orders three more and the bartender says, "Sir, I know you like them cold, so you can start with one, and I'll bring you a fresh one as soon as you're low."

The man says, "You don't understand. I have two brothers, one in Australia and one in the Ireland. We made a vow to each other that every Saturday night, we'd still drink together. So right now, my brothers have three beers, too, and we're drinking together."

The bartender thinks it's a wonderful tradition, and every week he sets up the guy's three beers. Then one week, the man comes in and orders only two. He drinks them and then orders two more. The bartender says sadly, "Knowing your tradition, I'd just like to just say that I'm sorry you've lost a brother."

The man replies, "Oh, my brothers are fine -- I just quit drinking."

What the heck has gone wrong with the weather today, you could be mistaken for thinking it is November. It's blooming freezing and blowing a gale out there.

England v Republic of Ireland tonight then in an International "friendly". To be honest, I always struggle to muster up any enthusiasm for England international matches these days, especially friendlies. They're always so dull and lethargic, and generally pointless.

Still, I'll watch tonight. Nothing else on, who else is watching?

I hope the game passes without incident. Let's hope tommorow's headlines are about the football match and not chants from the crowd

Tony Pulis has been sacked from his job as manager of Stoke City.

I don't think he'll be long out of a job.

Today is William and Vicky's (Harry's dad and mum) wedding anniversary, so congratulations from Mum and Dad.

They were married and held their wedding reception at Meadow Lane

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/blackburn-rovers-versus-old-etonians-1889290

£35,250 for a football programme! Think the most I've paid for a programme is about 8 quid lol

Jeff Hughes has decided not to sign a contract extension at Meadow Lane and his instead signed a two year deal at Fleetwood Town, allegedly with a six figure signing on fee.

Surprised he's joined Fleetwood and very dissapointed we couldnt keep hold of him myself. Whilst he may not have been as sharp last season as he was the previous season (although he has been in and out and played here and there) he seemed to be re-discovering his form towards the end of the season. Always very reliable and a great asset to us. Can see this being a case of not quite realising what we had until he leaves.

Still, best of luck for the future Jeff!

Liddle want to swap number with Bish.

He would like to wear number 4 instead of number 8.

Bish can come back at his 10. I think he also gonna leave the Club in this summer.

I prefer number 8 as Liddle reminds me my fav player Marchisio (Juventus number 8), but he says number 4 is for defenders, the role he wants to play

Guess Who John has drawn here.



Please use

this to hide your guess, so others can play freely please.

Just toggle the button near the eraser the post editor and then select 'Spoiler' inserting your answer. Alternatively you can

[/ spoiler] Please make sure you remove the space I added to the latter "/ s" to "/s".

Should be a very interesting match tonight, Bayern Munich v Borrussia Dortmund. Surely Bayern won't bottle it in the final again?

For me these two have been the best two sides all the way through the tournament and deserve to be in the final. Could see this going all the way, although if it goes to penalties we could be here all night with both sides being German!

Anyone else watching tonight?

And this time it's just about as unbeleavable as it could get.

Thurrock FC have been deducted 3 points, and subsequently have been relegated from the Ryman Premier league to the Ryman league Division 1 because one of their players failed to pay a £16 fine from a Sunday League match that took place in 2011!

Absolutely ridiculous. For a club like Thurrock this could be an absolute disaster, its absolutely shambolic on the FA and Ryman league's part.

But I bet you wont find any coverage of this on any sports news channel. After all, football dosen't exist below the premiership to them does it?

Come on we know you are out there lurking, please come and say hello, you will get a friendly welcome from like minded people.

This is the friendlies football forum on the web, we'd love to hear from you.

Andy Watson former, Glasgow Rangers, Birmingham City and Scottish National side Assistant Manager has been appointed first team coach at Notts.

Sounds like he's got plenty of experience. Good appointment?

http://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/article/watson-appointed-first-team-coach-829894.aspx

This made me laugh a year or so ago when Balotelli was playing for Man City.

>http://youtu.be/k-oKSDL09YA