DangerousSausage

The only thing I really want it for is PiesPlayer. I suspect it isn't actually finished yet, but was rushed out in time for the start of the new season. I hope it gets better.

We have them in our garden, they're beautiful birds (even when they're dissecting mice on the roof of our shed). I recently found out that "pie" is the older term for magpie (magpie came from maggie-pie, a pet name for them). The pastries were then named after them in honour of mapies' habit of collecting random items. There's also a brilliant song about them:

Did it also keep buffering and showing a little grey circle @Fan of Big Tone? I checked my Internet speed at first, but now I'm certain the problem was at their end.

Unfortunately the iFollow replacement was absolutely dreadful and I gave up on it in the second half. However, I thought the new defensive signings looked solid. Bass had little to do but looked competent. As I wrote above, the game was a bit tepid with neither side looking to take risks, but a point on the road is a steady result.

It's been a really tepid game. We look well organised but pose little threat so far.

I'm attempting to watch PiesPlayer on my laptop (as the app just crashes) and it is absolutely shoddy. Every ten seconds the stream stops and a little grey circle appears (my Internet speed at this time was 185 Mbps, more than enough to stream UHD videos). I was treated to a completely grey screen for about five minutes, at which I gave up and listened to the radio instead (which also no longer works on my phone). I hope this improves because at the moment it is unwatchable. Otherwise I'll have to ask for a refund.

Hmm, I hope it gets better. To anyone trying to log in, you need to make a new account on the club website first, and then sign in with that on the app. That bit worked for me. I downloaded it so I could cast PiesPlayer, but it crashes every time I select it. Looks like the laptop again then!

Nemane might not have been an automatic starter this season anyway, especially when you look at who else we've signed in his position. In light of that, I can understand the club being tempted when offered a possible six-figure sum for a squad player. Time will tell whether we really need another central midfielder. On the other hand, what kind of signal does it send out when we sell to a promotion rival on the eve of the season? I hope the club are vindicated in this.

I can't see us playing Grant, I don't think he's even had a training session with us. If Robertson is fit he'll start, alongside either Edwards, Hinchy or even Crowley. It'll be interesting to see whether we'll persist with three at the back with wing backs this season. SM switched to four at the back at times last season. @NottsCountyKev, if it's a miserable day for the mood hoovers, I think most of us could settle for that!

We seem to have a good mob together, thank you all for taking part! Any more? @gtownjohnno, @True Magpie, @cheeky~k8, @4everapie, @Harry Buckley? Kick off is Saturday at 3!

He deserves a chance. He has a very good record with the England youth teams and already knows the setup and job better than any club manager. Being a club manager and coaching a national team are very different jobs and the idea that a very successful club manager would be a great national team coach is well wide of the mark. We don't need a big name, we need a good coach. Neither of the coaches in the final of Euro 24 had won a single thing as a club manager.

The highest point in Nottinghamshire is 203 metres above sea level, so we might struggle with this. Practicalities aside, obviously Jim and Jack, Albert Iremonger, Tommy Lawton, Don Masson and Balint Bajner.

That's a shock, especially the day before the season starts. We have signed two players for Nemane's position though, so maybe it's been long in planning? On Nemane: it's certainly a loss as he's a stand-out player on his day and can get behind defences. However, I think he's found his level. He ran riot against some teams, but the better L2 defences were able to keep him quiet. Does anyone know much about Grant? The fact that he got regular games in the division above sounds good, but he only actually played 282 minutes and Barnsley couldn't buy a win during that time.

I was told the FA Cup and League Cup won't be available to stream, although I think there was radio coverage last season. That's only two games anyway as we generally choose not to participate in the second round of cup competitions. However, we do get full coverage of something called the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, in which we get to play against Everton under 12s and probably Shrewsbury again. I'm washing my hair that day.

Barrow 1-1 Crewe Alexandra Gillingham 2-0 Carlisle United Harrogate Town 0-1 Bromley Salford City 2-2 Port Vale Altrincham 2-1 Woking Boston United 1-3 Rochdale Halifax Town 0-2 Barnet (joker) Southend United 2-0 York City

When they halved the number of pages it was clear what was going to happen. I think programmes became too bulky (who needs a 60-page volume to read at half time?), so it was necessary to shorten it - but not at the same price as before! The world has largely moved on, but I still think there could have been another way. When I last watched Cologne play, they handed out free fold-out programmes including a couple of basic articles and a team sheet, funded by ads. Of course, the more people read it, the more valuable it is to advertisers, so maybe it paid for itself?

Looks plain to me. The orange shirt has a Swan Homes logo on the back, not sure if the purple one has. I like them both and much prefer them to the awful home kit. Not sure if it's an optical illusion, but the sponsor's logo appears smaller on the orange shirt.

iFollow is dead. Long live PiesPlayer! 140 pounds is good value if you're watching all (or even just most) of the games. And you can finally cast it to your TV too! Important note to all waverers: the price will rise to 180 pounds tomorrow, so be quick. There was a confusing passage in the FAQs, according to which matches could only be streamed in countries where there is no broadcast agreement with the Football League. According to the League's website, however, this is only the case for the Championship and every match in League One and Two will be streamed. I clarified it with the club, who told me that the text wasn't relevant to us and that the matches would be available in Germany. They will have my money today!

Ladies and gentlemen, we are back! A new prediction league season is upon us. It is a time of boundless optimism, we all start from 0 points and there are no points deductions (this isn't the Premier League after all). This is how it works: At least two days before every matchday I will post a thread with eight matches to predict from the Championship, League One, League Two and the Conference. You then reply with your predicted scores. The cut-off time for posting is kick-off (in this case 3pm). At the end of it all I'll then post a table with the current standings. Scoring system: 3 points for a correct score and 1 for a correct result. So if you predict Swindon to beat Walsall 2-1 and they do, you get 3 points; if Swindon win 1-0, you get 1 point. Each round you can also choose one match as your joker - any points you win for that match are then doubled. Why not have a go? EVERYONE is welcome to take part - the more the merrier! Just post your predictions underneath, and remember to assign a joker. And if you have any difficulty, just drop me a line. Good luck! Barrow v Crewe Alexandra Gillingham v Carlisle United Harrogate Town v Bromley Salford City v Port Vale Altrincham v Woking Boston United v Rochdale Halifax Town v Barnet Southend United v York City

Well done for counting them all! Mrs Sausage is very amused that the shirts of the British Virgin Islands athletes have "Islands" taped over...

I hope we'll do well, I fear we'll do badly ???? On the negative side, losing Macca is obviously a blow and means one of our other strikers needs to step up. I'm concerned that Platt is a "head it, kick it" centre half who might struggle with our style of play. To complement our wing backs who are great going forwards but poor defensively, we have signed more wing backs who are great going forwards but poor defensively. Palmer will take some time to get match fit. On the plus side, we now have a year of L2 under our belt and have made targeted improvements with players who are proven at this level. New attacking players could break our over reliance on Jones and make us less predictable going forwards, and we're almost certain to be more solid at the back. I'm quietly confident but not euphoric. We should have more than enough in our locker to compete for the top seven at least. If we don't, the atmosphere could turn quickly.

That's a fair number of us already. I'll post the first round tonight! @True Magpie, it's great to see a new name in the mix. And don't worry about being the best, I've decided I'm going to win it this year ???? @Robbie I think everyone has their own method, whether studying the form table, guesswork, octopuses that can see the future or, in my case, surrendering my soul to the devil in exchange for eighth place in the prediction league.

As I no longer live on our fair isle, I treated myself to an iFollow subscription for 150 quid last season and it was the best money I've spent since the hammock I treated myself to during covid. On top of that, it's money for the club. This season all I've heard is that Sky is taking over domestic streaming rights, but not the international rights, which are to remain with iFollow. However, there has been no word on whether the service will be continued (or what it will cost); the Football League links to the streaming services of each club, but the link to ours (and most others) only produces a "Page Not Found" message. Of the sites I checked, only Orient and Swindon were offering something (with a price hike of 25% over last season). Does anybody know anything? If nothing will be offered this season, I'll probably spend it on German third division coverage instead. But I'd rather be watching (and putting money into) Notts...

The season is nearly upon us - in just over a week, our Quest To Return To League One So We Can At Least Play Leyton Orient Again enters its ninth season. More importantly, the PON prediction league starts again! Next week, I'll post the first fixtures and hopefully a good few of you will be gazing into your crystal ball. So, to gauge interest (and remind you that I'm still here): who fancies a go at it this coming season? Everyone is welcome - it's always fun to see some new names giving us experienced campaigners a run for our money. The more the merrier!

They'll be back in the Highland League then. Every time someone swans in who knows nothing about football and promises to revolutionise football we know exactly what's going to happen. It's like a bad soap opera.