Features

Transfer sagas are usually the domain of clubs in the upper echelons of the football pyramid. Virtually all the players currently in the middle of the annual soap opera currently play for one top team and are rumoured to desire a move to another top team. Will David de Gea move to Real Madrid? Will Diego Costa return to Atletico Madrid? And so on and so on. It's basically the sort of cliche love triangle storyline you get in your typical soap opera / reality TV show, but adapted to the beau

Over the forty years I've been following the Magpies, the club have had some good, some bad and some indifferent loan players, and to be honest I wasn't bothered about it at first. However, over the years there have been some loan players who have pulled on a Notts Shirt and have stood out for me, namely, Jack Grealish, Callum McGregor from 2013 and Jorge Grant and Ryan Yates from 2017. I remember Grealish's home League debut, I believe it was against Tranmere Rovers (I stand to be correcte

As a 49-year supporter of Notts County Football Club, you’ll appreciate that over the years, I’ve seen managers come in to this club; and I’ve seen managers go! Truth is, with our past record, if you’ve been a Notts supporter for more than five minutes, you’ll probably have seen your fair share, too! However, having thoroughly enjoyed the ‘stability’ brought to the club over the past 18 months, and all that’s come with it, I openly admit to being more-than slightly phased that anyone’s

In the current day of football with new younger managers playing new tactics and styles, announcing a captain and a vice captain, sometimes the captains don’t always do the role that a club or fans expect so they come under fire for it. For me players don’t always need the armband to be a club captain. This applies to our David Vaughan, he is old school and many may think he is coming to the end of his career, what with his age and how injury prone he is becoming. I think this adds to

Notts County put on a brave fight in the second half of their League Two game at Accrington Stanley but after conceeding three goals in the first half, the Magpies' could not undo the damage as John Coleman's side claimed all three points - the final score 3-2. Billy Kee put Stanley ahead after firing past Roy Carroll, and Rommy Boco then carefully timed his header to make it 2-0, after connecting with Piero Mingoia's cross to double the advantage shortly after.&#

Every team, sport-related or not, needs a captain to lead and guide teammates, to help achieve the best possible outcome at the task in hand. A good captain is experienced, talented and level-headed (amongst other attributes). Before the 2019/20 season began most of us looked to Michael Doyle (aged 37) to lead his fellow teammates through this campaign. Since he is a mature player with experience and talent, he was the perfect candidate for the role. However, following his red card incident

Being a Notts County fan, you will obviously have countless memories of your club from years gone by, from legendary players to incredible matches that you will never forget. In this piece, Phil Dexter counts down his top 5 Notts County games of all time. Number 5: Notts County 3 Manchester City 2, Second Division, 6 May 1985 This was my first ever Notts County game, an end-of-season relegation battle fixture at Meadow Lane which saw Justin Fashanu, Rachid Harkouk and Alan Y

Is the National League competitive? When fans speak about the National League, words and phrases such as “tinpot” get used. Some fans seem to expect that because their club is “big” because of fans, revenue, stadium etc, that they are entitled to not be watching non league football. However as I alluded to in my last article, if you are playing in the National League, you are playing there for a reason. You were either too poor in League 2 the season before, not good enough to gain promotio

Everyone is no doubt entitled to an opinion, no one can take opinions away that's fair enough.  Do I agree with the Neal Ardley out crew? No. Do I see some of the points they make? Yes. Do I believe they expect too much? Yes. Here's my thought process - Ardley arrived at the club last season which can be described as an absolute mess. We had a chairman who couldn’t keep quiet or leave social media alone, which resulted in us losing loan deals from our nearest neighbours Nottingham Forest th

Recent results have certainly created a whole raft of opinions about whether the squad is good enough, whether the manager is good enough, is the system right and a lot more, but let’s have a look at where we are. Two seasons ago, we came into the National League in complete disarray and most of us were simply hoping we’d avoid successive relegations.  We managed to get stronger as the season went on, making the playoff final (and I think we’d have had a chance of automatic promotion i

I should nail my colours to the mast before we start here. I’m firmly on the side of ‘Ardley In’. In the last 10 years we’ve had 15 managers and he’s only the third to last over a year. In that time, we’ve been to the brink of League One play offs and now face our first season in non-league, having to qualify for the FA Cup proper and making our first appearance in the FA Trophy. We will never prove this, but in my mind one of the reasons for that is the lack of stability caused by cha

Last season was not a memorable one from a Notts County fan perspective. Relegation to the National League for the first time in our history, thus losing the title as the World's Oldest Football League Club. Hopefully we can bounce back at the first time of asking. But while we are playing in the National League, there's something for fans to look forward to, especially if you are a fan who loves to groundhop. Many fans have been ticking off grounds they have visited during our time in

To usher in the Alan Hardy era I thought I'd start a new piece that will be a fortnightly ramble about all things football and also some things slightly away from football with the focus being on what effect this has or could have on Notts County. This week I will be starting with the January transfer window. The two transfer window periods only favour the teams paying the biggest wages - they can attract the better players at the start of the season, leaving very little, low-lying fru

There has been a big change in how some clubs assess whether any potential player could possibly make the grade, our own chairman recently commented on this very subject on his Twitter account. Even a club the size of Manchester United have taken this new style approach which critiques a player's mainly physical attributes and that is the grading for whether or not a player is good enough. They all forget the one golden question that you cannot coach into anyone. Can he play?

Finally, FINALLY, Notts County’s wretched season of 2015-16 has come to an end. Finally, we can consign one of our worst, most embarrassing and most mentally draining campaigns to the dustbin of history. But where do we go from here? I had actually felt somewhat guilty after posting my previous column, where I had longed for the season to be over, but I then found out that a lot of people shared my views. And when I say a lot of people, I mean virtually everyone I’ve spoken to at and a

And so ends another season in the Football League, and luckily for us Notts County fans, we had the luxury of being able to sit back and enjoy the last few fixtures of the campaign without crippling anxiety - some supporters even had the luxury of complaining about losing the final game, against Newport County, describing it as "finishing with a whimper". I will take a season which fizzles out on a losing note with a lower-mid-table finish any day compared to what the prognosis was just a f

With just two days to until the 2016-17 League Two season gets underway, Rob Davies has produced an extensive analysis of the Notts County squad which will be in contention for the first fixture against Yeovil Town on Saturday. The sensible, no-nonsense approach of John Sheridan has been typified by a summer of transfer activity that seems to have been led by something badly missing from Meadow Lane before his arrival – logic. Sheridan has ‘only’ made seven permanent signings this summ

When Notts County fell to a 3-0 hammering at Coventry City in the first matchday of the season, the Black and White Army could have been forgiven for thinking "and... here... we... go... again!" The Sky Blues were rampant, while the Magpies looked like rabbits in the headlights. Of course, this now feels like it could just as easily have been years ago, because it proved the shock to the system which galvanised the team, with all the players outraged they could allow themselves to fall to s

Notts County has made an exciting decision by bringing Stuart Maynard on board as their new head coach.  At 43 years old, Maynard is joining us from Wealdstone, where he made a name for himself with his accomplishments and unique style of play in the National League. As a fellow fan, I couldn't be happier with this appointment, and here's why. Firstly, Maynard has proven that he can do extraordinary things with limited resources. He took the reins at Wealdstone in March 2021 and guided

As the weekend’s game against Luton Town quickly approaches, Pride of Nottingham felt it would be a good idea to get the views from within our own camp ahead of the match. Notts-Joe has taken the time to put several questions to Jaymee Comrie, a loyal Notts fan and follower of PON. Here’s what he had to say to the following six questions. You Pies!! How do you feel the season has gone so far and which players have made a difference for Notts? Before this season begun I ha

Were you looking for an early Christmas present? Perhaps Notts County and Alan Hardy have given you just that. After protracted negotiations lasting several months, Ray Trew has agreed to sell the club and his 100% stake to Magpies supporter Alan Hardy. Whilst nobody is expecting immediate fireworks, it will be a relief for most Notts fans to see new ownership of our beloved club. A lot of people will be hoping for an end to the winding-up orders and so on, which I’m sure Mr. Hard