It's going to be good to see the players a few games into the pre-season, although the training is top-notch. I think some of the youngsters will get up to speed, so please don't think I am being harsh for the sake of it.

Youth Players:

Lucien Mahovo: He struggled a lot, defending at times was quite good. The issue was his shirt pulling and lack of awareness at times. He did do some nice defensive touches, passing he seemed fine.
Ryley Reynolds: Looks to be a decent player, who will only get better with more experience. Notts may consider loaning him out.
Brad McGregor: I would like him to be around the first team, he did some good stuff and looked comfortable going forward.
Charlie Gill: He needs more time with the youth team, he did okay but made some poor decisions and gave the ball away a little too much.
Luther Munakandafa: Looked eager to get forward, could do a bit more defensively, but he's a lively player that has the ability to go further.
Madou Cisse: This lad looks pure class, really talented, and I agree with comments about him being of the mould of Aaron Nemane. They're very much alike and it's really uncanny.

All the senior players did fine, some additionally had their wobbles, but it's nothing to be taken too constructively. The only reason why I have given my opinion on the youth players is that I hope to pass on my recommendations onto other fans and maybe any glancing eyes may find it useful too. It's not a knock on them, one game doesn't say a lot, but I am impressed. I hope Luke Williams figures a way to fit some of them into our plans this season.

Thank you to everyone who went and has shared their thoughts; it’s useful, and I am thankful for the time you have taken because it gives me a better idea of what’s happening. As an exile, this is a gold mine and makes you feel in the know.

i thought most of the youth players put in a shift, one or two need to gain more experience its clear but they showed some great potential too.

the wing backs and midfielder were great.

Has there been any actual news on the CEO? I know the Business Desk reported that the search had begun, but has anything else been said? With the pre-season beginning, I can’t imagine it will take much longer to appoint a new person to the position.

@AmericanPie there’s been no official word only rumours, I can only imagine the brothers are doing their usual thorough job of meticulously researching to make sure they get the right man and as with signings we won’t hear anything until the deal is done.

its a position they will want to ensure can be around for years to come, a manager is an easier appointment i feel and we may have a group of people still being narrowed down. the club might have hired someone but decided to keep it quiet for a later stage.  

we simply won't know until an official announcement.

I honestly can’t remember doing anything special last week, I sometimes find it hard to remember what happened yesterday. 

Hang on I’ve just remembered my brother rang me on Tuesday to apologise for forgetting my birthday, bless him he’s getting on a bit now, we’ll into his 80s, it was quite a depressing phone call he was telling me all about the various ailments he and his wife suffer, he worried that his wife is slipping into dementia he has to put notes up in the house to remind her to switch things off etc., it’s very sad, they’ve spent their lives travelling the world, working in different countries, now they just sit at home watching tv and never go anywhere.

Thursday - I went with Kate to B&Q and The Range.

Sunday - I went for a walk with my brother and then went to see Super Ram.

We had issues that put delays to doing other things more noteworthy, not the most exciting week and this coming up is no different.

I didn’t attend the game, but from what I’ve read from those who did, Aidan Stone seems like a promising goalkeeper, very vocal. If he can perform like this against Stoke or Forest, he may become the first-choice goalkeeper.

I wasn’t able to go either, but it’s good to hear who played well and to hear about the youth players that featured. The result doesn’t matter, I know people are pleased with the 3-0 win. The main thing is the chemistry the players pick up ahead of the new season.

It sounds like we have some promising young talent, but whether Luke Williams will be brave enough to play some of them during the season, only time will tell. With 7 subs, any games where we are a few goals ahead would be the ideal time to throw one or two on just to gain experience.

Good Luck to him, Its a good signing for them.

Yes, this is a very good signing for Dagenham & Redbridge. With Frank Vincent being from London, it benefits both parties. I wish him well.

I hope Frank Vincent settles and finds his form; he could be a key player for Dagenham & Redbridge.

It can't be as bad as last seasons shirts... the home one was horrid and the away wasnt much better. Its abit hard to say what it looks like from tha though although possiblt not the horrible pin stripes.

At this point, I really don’t care what the shirt looks like. Many teams at this stage have already released their new designs and most have already shown them. We are holding off as a promotional push to drive sales and it’s becoming frustrating. It’s making me very uninterested in when they do get released.

I understand the frustration; it doesn’t help with Puma delaying the kit’s release, but I think that’s not solely their fault. Hopefully, the club will show what the kits look like, and both prove to be popular.

All good things come to those who wait; that’s what I have been told many times in my lifetime. It’s good that Aaron Nemane has decided to stay, and even better that we should get two more seasons out of him.

Nemane is the one player I wanted to keep the most. His speed and determination are something we may have struggled to replace.

Aaron Nemane being praised against Nuneaton is further evidence of Luke Williams cleverly encouraging him; you would expect him to run rampant against them. It’s good to have him committed for a further two years.

hes just trying to push people into paying but twitter is not worth paying $8 a month. i think if it included multiple accounts for content creators, it might make a difference but to make the average user pay for something. good luck with that!

I don't really know much about twitter, but mainly because i don't use it and cannot get access to any content on it without having an account. Its always appeared way to public and confusing to me and i can just about handle one social media. He will draw people away from it by making people pay though.

Twitter has transformed into a personal plaything for Elon Musk. I wasn’t fond of it previously, but now it’s even more unbearable.

I think it’s probably true that Luke Williams knew what Aaron Nemane was going to do. There’s a rumour that he asked for an extended holiday, and that seems more believable than the club holding the information back for multiple weeks to push sales of season tickets. It could be delayed for a week to keep the focus, but nothing more than that. I am just glad it worked out well for us.

When I used to watch Wasps (before they folded) it was common for the club to have signed contracts way before the announcement, sometimes months.  This was partly due to the way rugby contracts are negotiated, but the release of signings was normally carefully choreographed to supply a steady stream of good news, and to mitigate bad news.  There was usually one late 'surprise' just before the start of the season.  I think that was a bit more opportunistic based on who couldn't get a contract for the next season (or were still playing in Australia and NZ).

The announcement of Ruben leaving and the following and preceding good news was very reminiscent of this, so I suspect that they knew Nemane was staying for a good while and they were timing the news to cover the close season / season ticket sales, 

Now we have the pre-season friendlies to get excited about, it would appear that bar possibly one more signing the transfer news is finished. 

I did expect the news to come, but sooner than it did.

I have started to see a lot of content from PON in my Google news feed. I am wondering if it’s Google trying to promote people away from Twitter and back to them. Whatever the reason, it is good to see.

You can search for PON and now add it to get the news; something I have done because I did start seeing some suggestions of forum content, and I think this is a great thing for the site.

Its good to see, ive not seen any yet but it will be nice to.

7 hours ago, Chris said:

Yesterday, I did nothing of note. I just worked on PON and spent time with my family. Ellie and Kate played Monopoly junior, which is a faster version of the game, and we all enjoyed that.

Today, I went for a walk with Jake, my brother and niece.

We met up at a local park, did a walk around the outside of it and then walked to my dad's It was nice watching Luna interact with @super_ram.

Yes,very nice to see you all.Luna's like a whirlwind and so comical,especially throwing the plastic balls at everyone.She makes a fuss of us all,running from one person to another and laughing until she's told she can't do something.Then she's comical trying to get her own way..It's funny how a bit of blackmail works with her too

I went for a few drinks on Saturday, not more and not less. I had a nice evening, then came back to some proper English food. I didn’t get a kebab or go on a bender. On Sunday, I relaxed and sat watching TV. Surprisingly, I enjoyed watching the films that I found.

It was meant to be a relaxing weekend apart from homework time with my youngest but i ended up cutting the hedge so took quite abit of time as its a big hedge that needs more maintenance. Sunday was abit calmer and i was quite happy to have abit of time off and a break.

I use Chrome and am not worried about Google obtaining my data. There are plenty of others who collect data and sell it. I think it’s a good browser and efficient for my needs.

I use Chrome myself. It’s just a convenient browser, and I haven’t had to download it. I don’t see much difference between Firefox or Chrome in terms of speed. They are both perfectly fine.

Android and Windows have Chrome within their ecosystem.

I use Firefox and Chrome, just on different devices. I have Chrome installed on my computer, but I prefer Firefox’s layout and the ability to add extensions that are only found on their browser.

I think Australia will win the Ashes; they seem to have the better team all round. With their batters and bowlers, it’s hard to see one or two good England players overturning what is a pretty weaker team.

Well it’s 2-0 to the Aussies now, did anyone see the controversial stumping? The English batsman (cant remember who) was walking out of his crease after the over and was stumped, he obviously assumed the over was done. It wasn’t very sportsmanlike of the Aussies but within the rules.

It even caused some booing from the members in the long room which apparently is unheard of it’s normally polite clapping. Oh dear I don’t know what my grandad would make of cricket these days it used to be a gentleman’s sport.

Laws @Fan of Big Tone, cricket doesn’t have rules.

Disgusting dismissal by the Aussies and their captain should have withdrawn the appeal. To stay within the spirit of the game, Bairstow should have been warned of their intention if he did not stop it.

No complaints over the score line, as the tourists have been the better side over the last two tests, but some of their actions have left me shaking my head. I knew straight away that the Starc catch was invalid as he grounded the ball trying to stop himself sliding, but that was probably more a case of the player not knowing the law than trying to cheat.

Cricket used to be played hard and fair with mutual respect amongst the players, not anymore by the look of things.

I believe Leroy Lita played for both Notts and Nuneaton.  

Frank Upton began his career with Nuneaton, he joined us from Derby County in 1966. @super_ram

24 minutes ago, RetroPie said:

Frank Upton began his career with Nuneaton, he joined us from Derby County in 1966. @super_ram

I remember me and my uncle Stan being upset when he left to join Chelsea but  he returned after 2 or 3 seasons before joining Notts. He was one of several exRam players who were one of the attractions at Alfreton carnival in the late 70's.

Wish him all the best. It's great when a Premier League team takes chances on lower league players. I think he'll remain at that level or there abouts. 

He’s a good keeper, and at 29, it’s the perfect age for him to make the step up. It depends on who’s in front of him, but Burnley is usually a good defensive team. He should do well with them.

Good luck to him. Sometimes players reach their potential later in life, and a good keeper can easily play until his late 30s. If he does well with Burnley, it will be pleasing to see how far he’s come in the game.

On 29/06/2023 at 22:24, TheSkipper said:

I think the retro shirts are awful. The badges don’t look right. The older single magpie looks fine, but the collar puts me off. The 1992/93 replica shirt mostly looks good, but it’s the smaller details that make me dislike it.

Agree I have this shirt and quite like it but am annoyed by little details like the fact it doesn't have a second yellow stripe across the back of the shoulder like the original if you are going to make one with one yellow stripe make the 89-91 shirt

I am fond of retro shirts and do not mind that they are not as close to the original. As mentioned in the shirt update thread, I intend to purchase some with my shirt order if they have my size in stock.

They look fine for what they are, a bit more attention to detail would make them better but I don't think the Terrace is the place to get that quality. 

Rudesheim, Germania monument, in @DangerousSausage country!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niederwald_monument

What a fantastic holiday you are having @Piethagoram thanks for sharing it with us.

Cracking pictures @Piethagoram! I went to Rüdesheim last year but only saw the monument from afar as I didn't fancy going on the shonky cable car.

Where are you heading next? If you're heading up the Rhine, the area between Rüdesheim and Bonn is really picturesque with more castles than you can shake a stick at. 

It’s annoying, but that’s Puma for you. We will always have trouble whilst we accept it, and it’s unlikely to change. We have five more seasons of this, so my words of wisdom would be just to forget about the delays.

14 hours ago, thommo said:

If it were a one-off, I don’t think anyone would mind, but we have issues with them every season.

Other clubs are already selling their new Puma kits, so i doubtit's all due to them. Perhaps we put our order in later due to uncertainty around the sponsor?

I'd have liked something new, but I doubt the delivery times would have been any different. 

I may order some replicas in when I buy my shirts. I don’t expect them to be 100% the same as the original. I am not sure if I intended to wait, so fans can get theirs before I do, but I will be buying several as I always do. The date doesn’t affect me, but I understand how it would others.

57 minutes ago, DangerousSausage said:

Monster in my pocket. They were little plastic monsters that you put in your pocket.

They were cool collectables. My brother had the display piece which was the mountain, and he had every single one of them. I had the majority too.

I also collected the monster wrestlers that were out in the 90s.

Instead of wrestling though, I played football with them.  

Deeley boppers from the 1980's.Basically a headband with 2 springy antennae sticking up with silly decorations attached.I could never understand why a young kid would want to make themselves look like some kind of insect or an alien.They were very popular though.

The Air Up fad makes me laugh. I get that it’s amazing how there’s no flavour to water and the pods allow you to mix flavours, but the number of people who use them as a prop or wave the bottles in your face, as if to say “look at my special cup, my water’s better than yours,” is just laughable.

Having a throwback to the past seasons sounds great @lambleypie, as @CliftonMagpie has said Incorporating past design elements, especially from seasons where the club performed really well, could potentially bring about a sense of nostalgia among the fans, and propel the team's performance.

I can't help but agree that the preference for traditional black and white with no gold or yellow trim. Keeping it simple and traditional has its own beauty. The focus should be on the quality and fit of the fabric rather than on flashy colours. The players need to be comfortable in their kit while reflecting our club's traditional colour scheme.

I had hoped for a back that wasn’t entirely white, but the teaser seems to show that it will be. I think it might have a bit too much white for my liking; stripes never look good on a lot of white. They look better when they’re equal or slightly different.

I’m still hoping we sign a left-back/wing-back, a centre defender and maybe a defensive midfielder. Someone aged 21-23 who can learn from John Bostock and Jim O’Brien.

Will a defender arrive? It’s starting to look like we might be done with our recruitment. I do feel a centre-back is needed, as others have said.

I’m hoping Luke Williams brings in a centre-back. If he can double up as a left wing-back, that would suit us. I know we have Richard Brindley, but he’s better out wide for me.

I can’t explain it, but even when I close my eyes, I hear what I’m thinking about. If I don’t think of anything, then I hear a weird noise that sounds nothing like anything else. It’s strange how the mind works!

I have seen a similar thing with colours. It’s our brain interpreting the sound to hear or see what we want. It’s a neat trick.

On 28/06/2023 at 16:38, super_ram said:

I also got Greenstorm and brainneedle 

The sound clip actually plays both, you just hear what you focus on because your brain overpowers your eyes and makes your ears respond to it.

@Joshua couldn't do the blind boxes myself, if you could have a selected few teams that are guaranteed then maybe. I can understand why people do it and it does look like fun collecting kits not knowing what's gonna come out but personally it has to be a team I like and not random, irrelevant of how nice the kit looks. 

I'm gonna keep my eyes out for more definitely. 

I own a few good England shirts, but I haven't bought any since Umbro was replaced. I don't tend to like the designs. The price, as a one-off purchase, is affordable for me, but it's been a few years since I felt the England shirts looked worth the money.

@upthepies since switching to Nike I think I've only purchased 2 tbf. They're not as appealing as the umbro ones were. Should have stuck with them but I don't get how they can make the Lionesses kits brilliant but the Men's just have not that likeable designs. Can see why many choose to buy Lionesses shirts over the Men's tbf but even they're expensive. 

Very interesting, its hard to compare players in detail as they all have different aspects that make them work together well.

I think it depends on the type of comparison and how far you compare the players.

When I talk about Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard - I do compare them up to a certain point. Then it comes down to personal opinion. I believe technically Gerrard was the better player but ability wise, Scholes had techniques miles better than him or Lampard. All three were superb players; the reason why Lampard and Gerrerd didn't work well with England mostly comes down to the formation and tactics.

This is where I feel a comparison comes into play, as if we take the Notts formation. Lampard would take the Ruben Rodrigues role and Gerrard would fit into the Matt Palmer role. Leaving someone like Owen Hargreaves to play the John Bostock role.

Lampard and Gerrard have a similar style, but one is better suited to play behind the strikers and the other can make attacking runs. Maybe they could even rotate positions, but Lampard wouldn't be good playing too defensively. You would have to give clear instructions on what they can and can't do, with a level of freedom.

Clubs use comparisons as a means to replace talent. If anyone read or watched the Dan Crowley interview, he spoke about how he was labelled similar to Jack Wilkshire.

Comparisons can be helpful when you want to find a player who suits your system and playing style. They can help you find a direct replacement from the transfer market or train a young player to take that position.

I think they can be useful and fun for talking points, but also negative because it's very difficult to make a fair comparison.

Both Messi and Ronaldo are amazing players, and it's fairer to compare them when they were playing in Spain. Yet once they went their own ways, joining Juventus/Manchester United and PSG. It really does end.

@Chris You're right comparisons are fun talking points as there are ways of comparing players but factors must come in to play. 

As you have compared Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard, it's a fair comparison that you've laid out as there's context and thought behind it. But when people use the whole "Gerrard never won the Premier League" as a way of ruling him out of the debate is where the comparison becomes void because you can't base a players career and ability on team performances. As the saying goes "1 players doesn't make a team but he can make a difference" and that's what Gerrard did. Had it not been for Gerrard, Liverpool wouldn't have achieved what they did. Especially in 2005 against AC Milan. He single handedly dragged Liverpool back from 3-0 down and got them that UCL. 

Then, if they decide to go down the route of team performances, take Lampard and Scholes out of their clubs that they had success with and trophies they won would Chelsea and Man United have still gone on to win those things? Quite possibly cause they both had great players. 

5 hours ago, Chris said:

the reason why Lampard and Gerrerd didn't work well with England mostly comes down to the formation and tactics.

100% agree with this many pundits like Gary Lineker also mention this when talking Sven. Plus add in the fact that England at that time was divided with the club rivalry that was going on behind closed doors which didn't help matters. Sven never found a way to get Lampard, Scholes, Gerrard and Beckham working as a super midfield that on paper it should have been. 

5 hours ago, Chris said:

Both Messi and Ronaldo are amazing players, and it's fairer to compare them when they were playing in Spain. Yet once they went their own ways, joining Juventus/Manchester United and PSG. It really does end.

This is another comparison that is subjective to factors. It's a great debate and can go either way but when things get thrown in about Ronaldo at the age of 21 compared to Messi at the age of 21 is incomparable as Messi was at Barca with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldinho etc. While Ronaldo was coming from Sporting to trying to make it in the Premier League with Man United. There's a big difference. But as you said when they were in La Liga the comparison becomes a level playing field then up for debate. 

I do get the whole point of comparisons to add to the team but when it comes to transferring players, there's more of an assessment in the comparisons as they compare playing styles for how they'd fit in the team as you said. 

There's ways of comparing players and then there's comparisons that need to have factors taken in to account.