menzinho

The purple one is probably the best shirt this season and we can’t even buy it! ???? To call the orange kit ‘designed’ is a bit of stretch though. It’s an orange shirt with a black trim around the sleeves and neck! I think I might apply for a job at puma because literally anyone could’ve designed it. I know football shirts are expensive but come on, for nearly £50 it should be bespoke with someone actually putting some time and effort into the design! The club has been very lenient with Puma’s poor service, I personally think they should’ve said more because revealing the new kits two days before the start of the season, with one still not available for purchase was clearly not the plan. If Puma had been annoyed with the club for being transparent with the fans who spend the money on these kits, then so be it. There are loads of other kit makers who would be far better. The partnership with Nottingham Uni sounds very good though, the facilities are excellent and whilst we are looking for our own permanent training base this is probably the next best thing.

Barrow 2-2 Crewe Alexandra Gillingham 2-1 Carlisle United Harrogate Town 1-1 Bromley ????JOKER Salford City 0-0 Port Vale Altrincham 2-1 Woking Boston United 1-0 Rochdale Halifax Town 1-2 Barnet Southend United 1-0 York City

I thought that too @Fan of Big Tone usually these would be taken and then the players who sign at a later date are usually given the numbers in the 20s... In Spain for example the first team are only allowed numbers from 1-25 and the goalkeepers must wear 1, 13 or 25. Purely from an orderly point of view I like it when all the numbers flow and there are no gaps in the squad list! I guess some players have some sort of affiliation to a certain number... Tsaroulla wore the No.25 at Crawley, likewise Cundy was No.24 at Bristol City. Jatta wore the No.12 shirt at Viborg and it is the day of his birthday so I thought if he hadn't got the No.9 he would've switched, but obviously not!

It's almost time until the proper football resumes again but over the pre-season it’s very easy to sometimes just get wrapped up in perceived negatives after losing a few friendlies and equally it’s easy to get carried away with the excitement of all the new signings. So what are your biggest reasons to be hopeful about next season and equally what is giving you cause for concern? You can have as many points as you like – but just try to balance every negative point with a positive one too! - No massive lists of just negatives, plenty of that on social media ????‍???? So here are mine to kick us off! Reasons to be concerned: 1. Losing an amazing goal scorer in Macca 2. An injury hampered pre-season could result in a slow start 3. Our attacking wingbacks may still leave the new defenders with a lot of work to do Reasons to be hopeful: 1. We’ve added 4 dominate centre backs who should make us better defensively 2. Jatta looking very sharp over pre-season and he’ll be even more settled now 3. Palmer and Robbo as a midfield pairing ????

For those that are interested I've found the highlights from the Peterborough site, they are free to view! Highlights of the first match: https://www.theposh.com/video/player/0_qr5ds7cb?feed=572d5031-67d2-44eb-90e1-19cf03693c7d&section=9029b27b-2dd9-4a50-8844-77c477038c99 Highlights of the second match: https://www.theposh.com/video/player/0_idoqe8ih?feed=572d5031-67d2-44eb-90e1-19cf03693c7d&section=9029b27b-2dd9-4a50-8844-77c477038c99 Second match is, um, more entertaining... ???? ????

Sadly he's probably a lot better than any of our strikers that are also 18. He's scored plenty of goals in the Premier League development Leagues and the then did well in his short spell in the National League. A move to a League 2 club would be a good next step for him. As for the photo though ????‍♂️ It could be a number of players to be honest, it's very hard to tell who it is as it's so far away! Maybe a touch of wishful thinking to say it's Dajaune Brown, but it could be...

I'd have liked to have seen Will Evans here, but if it's not to be then it's not to be. Although we've received a good fee for Macca we'll still operate in the model of not over-paying for anyone. And by all accounts he's only got 1 year left on his contract, so paying upwards of £250,000 when you could get him potentially on free next year doesn't make much sense from a financial point of view. I'm sure we'll have a list of attackers and we'll just move onto the next target now. In an ideal world it would've been great to have the whole squad complete before the first game but I think everyone in league 2 is in a similar position to us. We've still got just under a month to bring in a couple of new players, not quite panic stations yet!

I think the ‘model’ is more flexible and the board are open to making changes. That’s been shown in this season’s recruitment where we’ve added 4 dominate box-defending centre backs and prioritised that over their technical abilities. There isn’t an arrogance to me in the philosophy, but a willingness to adapt, so who knows over time maybe we’ll see more changes too. I don’t think the style of play needs a drastic overhaul either and we aren’t likely to get one. Stuart Maynard’s football philosophy fits Notts’ current philosophy and that’s a big part to why he was hired. The team has been built with the style in mind and it would be madness to suddenly suggest we play long and bypass all our technical midfield players. The likes of Didzy, Jones, Crowley, Austin & Palmer running around to constantly try and win 50/50s wouldn’t play to their strengths. I think our style can be and is effective in this league (or any league for that matter!) Stockport, albeit were very well backed play a similar style, MK Dons who are possession based finished 4th and Crawley who were probably the closest to us in style got promoted last season so I’ve no doubt we can also get promoted playing a possession-based style.

Maybe he sits in the stands to get an elevated view? ????

It would be funny but it would only ever be a short PR stunt and I think that kind of goes against how Notts do things anyway. It’s mad how close we actually pushed in them in that National League when you think our 5 of our 6 summer signings came from the National League North/South – (Scott, Macca, Baj, Austin, Tobi) and the other, Baldwin had played less than 20 games in 3 years prior to joining! Wrexham were signing players from League 1 and even the Championship…

That would be the dream @Robbie! And then he leaves Millwall at the end of the season by mutual consent and re-signs for us!

Not sure you could technically call them a fan if they weren’t supporting the club and just one player in the first place... I’d find it very strange if that was the reason not to renew a season ticket. The only exception here is Macca’s family - if they live up north they will have to travel even further now to watch him! ????

I get the concerns about not having a starting 11 that would more resemble the starting 11 against Tranmere, I feel like this pre-season we’ve struggled more with injuries than is being revealed. It’s not helped all the games have been away games so fewer fans have seen the team, most fans are relying on the club to bridge the gap and our media coverage is usually top notch but it feels like we’ve been fed scraps this season. The updates on the games have been minimal and highlights non-existent. I’m having to watch other teams highlights and interviews to try and gauge how we got on! I’m still not overly concerned, yet… But I totally understand why fans would be concerned that we couldn’t score, but conceded against a team with 10 men. A post-match reaction from Boston would’ve gone some way to help calm and explain. I’ve heard we’ve been doing double sessions before games, so if that’s true it would explain why we seem to tail off as games wear on.

I don't think the squad is too far away now, I think the fact Morias has departed means another attacker will be signed and then I'm actually struggling to think what other position we need to sign a player for! We don't have the budget to do a Stockport/Wrexham and have a big squad. If we replace Morias that would give us a squad of 23 (excluding the youngsters). I think that's fine to be honest, I’d rather have a slightly smaller squad with quality players that can play more than just the one position - which is what we have done (hopefully!). Yes we are going to get injuries but we’d have to have some sort of voodoo curse if 3 players end up suffering season ending injuries before the winter again!

Some highlights for those that are interested. Oh and the trialist midfielder was apparently Jake Taylor, he came through Forest's academy before playing for Port Vale and Morecambe.

The only let off is that it's pre-season! That's a calamity! We had some bad moments last season but none of our defenders gave a goal away quite as bad as that. The ball didn't even get out of the 6 yard box, talk about gifts, I think that would get recorded with an XG of 100 ????

I’d say we are ticking over quite nicely, we’ve got the bodies in CM now and I’d want to see Robbo, Edwards and Palmer get a bit more game time this coming week as it should be 2 from the 3 starting come Tranmere. Scott perhaps understandably will take a bit of time to get back in the swing of things considering the amount of time he was out injured. The good news is Jatta is looking very sharp and if he carries on like he has when the real matches start I think the worries about Macca’s replacement will disappear. I’m not overly concerned with the result, it’s meaningless and all the players know it – they’ll just be wanting to build up their match sharpness and avoid a potential injury.

Not going to lie but the fact he didn’t play at all last season does worry me and he had injury issues at Bristol City too. If he stays fit I think he’ll be a very good signing but at the same time it would be disappointing if he only managed a handful of games. Given their age and potential I was hopeful one of Kirk or Mnoga would’ve signed but I’ll trust the judgement of those that have seen them all in action. I just hope Cundy doesn’t spend most of the season on a treatment table!

Happy with that, in Palmer and Edwards we’ve got two experienced CMs, so another younger player with potential is perfect. I’d say there’s some very good competition in midfield now and both Crowley and Austin could always be used deeper if needed. Always reassuring to read good comments from fans at his last club, they are usually the harshest critics! And he couldn't have been that far off potentially getting into Brighton's squad if he’d been training with their first team. The premier league was probably a step too far, too early, but hopefully he can thrive with us.

My earliest memories of Notts revolve around us being in League 2 and struggling so it's slim pickings for me and others from the younger generation. The munto season bought in some fantastic players albeit under false pretences, but had it not been we probably wouldn't have seen the likes of Ben Davies and Kasper Schmeichel. Agree Macca is the most recent best player, his goal record was incredible.

I’m going to echo the sentiments of @Fan of Big Tone, it’s very decent that you’re thinking of those who watch the vlogs but I think ultimately your enjoyment is what’s most important. I know the feeling of not feeling skilled or good enough when you’ve invested time and effort into something. And it is hard when you look at other people doing similar things, you do compare yourself against them. But ultimately, it’s not helpful or useful – everyone has a different skillset and everyone will create something different. Focus on you, that is the only person you can compare yourself against. And actually, you don’t give yourself enough credit by saying you don’t feel you’re skilled or talented, because you are. I went back and looked at your first vlog and compared it to the Stockport one – I’ll tell you this now just 15 seconds in I saw a massive improvement, it was that obvious! Even if you don’t think you are, you are constantly learning and getting better. So don’t tell yourself you’re not good at it because you are. In terms of offering some practical advice, whatever your first game is next season maybe just go to it with the sole purpose of watching Notts, then after it see how you feel. You might feel like you missed capturing the game, maybe you'll have enjoyed just watching it and want to take a break from vlogging. Whatever you choose to do is the right decision.

I’m still cautious to predict and top 3 spot, we did finish 14th last season and getting in the top 3 would be quite a jump, I think play-offs is a very realistic goal though and I’d hope we’d finish in them or at worst miss out by just a point our two. And again I could be completely wrong here but the two big spenders in Wrexham and Stockport are gone and Mansfield weren’t exactly on a shoe-string budget either so I’d expect the league to be quite close when it comes to the promotion spots this season. Still think we need a few signings before the season starts, so maybe I'll predict an exact position just before the Tranmere game!

Yeah, very interesting, I will add to your ideas @Wheelbarrow repair man I think you’d need to up a win to 4 points, if you wanted to award 2 points for a score draw. A 1 point gap between a score draw and win doesn’t feel fair to me, a win needs to be properly rewarded. And in your system a score draw and a win on penalty shootout gets you 3 points too! Feels like you're over-rewarding drawing. Also @Robbie part of me thinks if you’re going to add bonus points for scoring would it then makes sense to reward good defending too? Add bonus point for a clean sheet?

I was a bit of fussy eater when I was younger and so vegetables in general were a struggle. I didn’t mind eating them in meals, my parents used to do the old cut it up small and cover it with sauce trick, but the stand-alone carrot or courgette staring up at me from the plate was a no-no. Funny how looking back I can’t really describe why I didn’t like them, I just didn’t. Nowadays I eat pretty much most veg, there’s not much I don’t really like and living with a vegetarian I’ve learnt to cook it in a lot more interesting ways than the standard boil it and serve it with some potatoes and meat! Horse-radish has always been a massive no and still is for me, just something about the flavour being way too strong.

A 15-year-old knows what they are doing but at same time the parents knowingly knew he had access to the guns and were alright with him using it – I know it’s not a view shared by all in America but how can anything be gained from letting a child use gun!? Personally, it might be harsh but if America isn’t going to do anything about gun restriction, these mass-shooting will just keep happening. A ruling like this would at least make parents think twice about letting their child use a gun. I genuinely feel sorry for the kids at schools in America, it's unacceptable that they have do gun drills to prepare for a shooting. Like how tragic can that be teaching a 6 year old to hide under their desk… And the sad thing is, the drills don't really protect them it’s all just down to luck, really bad luck, at the end of the day. It’s bizarre so many Americans can’t see the issue here and all because of some poxy statement written nearly 250 years ago. Society has moved on it’s about time America did too.