English Football

EFL chief exec Shaun Harvey gave an interview yesterday in which he spoke of talks on the proposed early summer transfer window closure being at an advanced stage and - remarkably - defended the decision to hold the EFL Cup third-round draw in China at 11:15am local time (4:15am our time). On the window, he said: 'Generally I think the mood is that it will be an improvement. There are some significant concerns at some Premier League clubs around European competitions - the teams they are playing against being able to sign players after them. And from the EFL's perspective we have some real practical challenges to get over as well. Traditionally we start the season at…

I found this fascinating, I already knew a fair bit but this documentary goes quite in-depth. Many fans seem to forget that Accrington Stanley was one of the first clubs to play football, yet this highlights their struggles and ambition to grow further. Well worth the watch.

In another move that will pretty much end up alienating English football fans further, the draw for the third round of the EFL/League/Carabao Cup will take place on Thursday - at 4:15am BST. This is because the draw will be made in Beijing. Normally I'd leave it open to discussion and shirk from adding my opinion, but come on, this is ridiculous. It's a competition being played in England (or Wales, if Cardiff/Swansea/Newport play at home), where 99.99% of the fans going to watch the games will be based in the UK. What the hell are they thinking??

The Premier League transfer window has been in the news this week (well, it's always in the news, but the behind the scenes stuff, I mean) as there are going to be discussions over whether clubs in the top flight should be forbidden from buying players once the first game of the season has got underway. Now, the EFL is also looking to discuss a similar concept with its clubs. A spokesman said: "The EFL Board and its clubs have previously expressed the opinion that closing the summer transfer window in advance of the season commencing would be an improvement on the current position. "On this basis we will be tabling the matter for discussion with clubs in Se…

Nope, not a reference to the Swedish pop band (so no "Dancing Queen" blasting out of the tannoy at half time... what a shame eh), but the new penalty shootout method adopted by the EFL for the upcoming season. So how does this ABBA system work? Over to the Beeb... As the current system stands, teams take turns in a shootout, with the choice of who goes first decided by a coin toss. For example, team A goes first, then team B, then team A again. The new system sees team A followed by team B - before team B goes again. Team A would then get two successive penalties, a little like the tie-break in tennis, and so on until there is a winner. A coin wil…

Ex Notts players on the move. Ben Davies has signed for Grimsby. Kyle De Silva and Civard Sprockel have signed for Ricardo Moniz' FC Eindhoven Myles Weston has signed for Wycombe. Liam Noble and Drissa Traore have signed for Mark Cooper's Forest Green Rovers. Roy Carroll to Linfield. Jimmy Spencer has signed for Plymouth. Zeli Ismail to Bury. Joss Labadie to Newport. Alan Sheehan to Luton. Jason Banton to Crawley. Hayden White - god awful defender - to Peterborough United.

So the first game of the first cup competition of the season (Carabao [League] Cup) has been sorted for Notts County. Scunthorpe United away (again?), game to take place on Tuesday 8 August at Glanford Park, 7:45pm kickoff. Ticket prices are £12 for adults, £8 for over-65s and under-21s, and £2 for under-18s, and will go on sale in the coming weeks - the club will reveal more in due course. Got to be honest, as fixtures go, Scunny away is hardly the ideal tie, but at least it's not too far... plus the prices seem fairly reasonable and the tie is certainly winnable. Anybody making plans to head up to sunny Scunny for the tie? Let PON know.

The list of released and retained players at EFL clubs has been published following the conclusion of the 2016/17 season. Players detailed on the released list can still re-sign or may have now re-signed for their respective clubs ahead of the new season, and so their inclusion does not necessarily mean the player will be leaving the club. The information was correct as of 20th May 2017. https://www.efl.com/siteassets/efl-documents/efl-released-and-retained-list---2016-17.pdf

From the EFL site: The EFL Futures scheme has given a £750,000 boost to those Football League clubs who introduced young English players into their starting line up in 2016-17. The incentive scheme came into force for the beginning of this year and was designed to commit a total of £2.25m to the three tiers for those clubs who actively gave game time to players aged under 21 and eligible to play for England (or Wales for Cardiff City and Newport County). With all appearance data now collected and collated, those numbers have been assessed and the EFL have distributed the first batch of that incentive money out to qualifying teams. Interestingly but pro…

its been entertaining seeing luton v blackpool and exeter v carlisle. i think both luton and carlisle can consider themselves to be unlucky not to have made the play off final. the was a hell of a lot of goals scored in both leagues which will probably see the final either the compete opposite or it will be a thriller. blackpool must be feeling confident going into the final tho. who do you think will win promotion to l1?

Some interesting comments from Accrington Stanley chairman Andy Holt about the EFL Trophy vote, where he talks of a "master and servant" relationship between the Premier League and the EFL.

Every season, most Premier League clubs sack their managers out of fear of going down. Yesterday I stumbled across an interesting article on how this can be solved: promote and relegate more teams. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/mar/05/relegate-half-premier-league-excessive-but-merit Obviously relegating 10 teams would be excessive, but six would be possible. At the moment, struggling top flight clubs are terrified of the drop. So they sack their managers and coaching teams every season. There can't be any question of long-term planning in a climate like that, nor of developing their own young players - experienced, "complete" players from other …

Video technology to be used in the FA cup as of next season. The Wembley meeting also approved the proposals for sin-bins for yellow-card offences and rolling substitutions at lower levels of football from June. http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39157887

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/mar/01/leyton-orient-served-winding-up-order-over-unpaid-tax-bills?CMP=share_btn_tw

Really simple topic, who do you thinks going to get promoted and who will be relegated? And to keep it Notts related where will Notts finish? I'm going to say 16th. Promoted: Doncaster - champions Plymouth - Runners up Portsmouth - 3rd Play off winners: It makes me sick to say it but I can see Mansfield winning it. Relegated: Orient and Crewe

https://mobile.twitter.com/Football_Fours/status/835619580634673152/video/1 Graham Burke's wannabe training partner?

Leicester City won't find another manager who can win the Premier League with a bunch of nobodies, you just know football's gone mad.

The EFL has published some of the key dates for things happening next season. The 2017-18 fixtures will be released on Wednesday 21 June, the opening weekend of the season is that of Saturday 5 / Sunday 6 August, the regular season ends exactly nine months later (5/6 May) and the League Two playoff final is on Monday May 28. For these and all the other dates, they're handily posted on this here link: http://www.efl.com/global/keydates.aspx If you don't want to tempt fate and would rather write them down at the end of the season, tis up to you.

Has a club ever thrown away good wishes and sympathy as effectively as Sutton over the last few days? 1. Ditching their usual sponsor for 'The Sun' for a few squalid pounds - 30 pieces of silver comes to mind. 2.

Lee Hughes has applied to become manager of non-league side Worcester City. From BBC Sport: The 40-year-old has told BBC Hereford & Worcester that he would be interested in succeeding the long-serving Carl Heeley, who stood down last week after 22 years' service. Hughes is keen to carry on playing and said: "I just love scoring goals. "But I'd be up for it. I've spoken to the board about it, outlined my ideas to them and we'll see what they think." Hughes, who has scored 33 goals in 57 appearances since signing for Worcester in September 2015, intends to start doing his Football Association coaching qualifications this summer. But he hopes tha…

Is anybody else watching this dire game of football? Both teams made lots of changes only one player has stood out for me and that's Anya of Derby, huffed and puffed but no ones getting on the end of his crosses into the box. Anybody want to hazard a guess at who'll win and what score?

I just noticed on Twitter that Nigel Clough has reportedly snubbed Forest. There's been comments from both Forest and Notts fans with regards to Nigel, I think the tag 'Non-League Nigel' is quite misfitting. He's proven himself to be a very decent league manager. I also wonder why people, especially Notts think he wouldn't do well? He did for Derby and under their current situation there would probably be no one better for the task of handling a very restraining budget. That said, It's better for Nigel that he didn't step into the poison water.

It might be churlish to laugh at others while sitting 91st in the League, but I just can't help it. What F*rest definitely need now is Gary Brazil! BBC Nottingham Sport 21 hrs · Gary Brazil in charge of Forest for Wednesday's game at Leeds, and says he'd do the job on a longer term basis, if asked... "I've been here for 5 years, I love the football club, and I'll do whatever the club ask me to do" Brazil also refutes newspaper reports that defender Matt Mills is out for two mont…

He even catches the guy in the middle by the arse at one stage! Poor old Alan Stubbs got so confused that he mixed 6 and 9 up.......