DangerousSausage

I only realised it was on our TV when we were already 2-1 up. I saw the last half hour or so. We cruise to qualification with no worries at all - how times have changed! I was surprised how poor Italy were, we never had to get out of second gear.

I can't quite place it, is it facing London Road? Top-quality mural.

How did I miss this thread? It's great to be back! I've missed it too. In fact I was so bored I tried something called "work", but I wouldn't recommend it.

Right, where were we? ???? Firstly, by the time the site went down, this round (11) was done and dusted, I'd posted your scores and the latest table and the usual hilarious banter was underway. Half of the posts on this thread are missing, but the good news is that I've got ALL your scores and the latest table (including round 11) safely on my PC. I'll post them again later. When the site was zapped into cyberspace, I'd posted the fixtures for round 12 and a handful of you had predicted. Obviously that round is cancelled, as well as round 13 (which would've been yesterday). I'll try to fit them in later in the season, or failing that we'll do a couple of rounds with double points. Providing we don't have any more hiccups, I'll post the fixtures for round 14 on Wednesday!

Thank you @Chris and everyone who was involved in getting us up and running again! Good to hear about the new host as well, as least something positive has come of it.

It was really disappointing wasn't it? I haven't seen us get outclassed in a long time. Just our luck for it to be against them. We started brightly, got the quick goal and then handed the initiative to them. Mansfield pressed us hard and played high up the field to put our defence under pressure. That's a risky tactic against us when we're on song as that leaves gaps behind, and we're only a couple of good passes away from a good goalscoring opportunity. But yesterday we showed the opposition too much respect and just dropped deeper and deeper. Much of the possession we had was between the back line, which was an accident waiting to happen. Mansfield were better and braver and deserved to win. Having to change the back line before a game like that is less than ideal. Slocombe couldn't do anything about the goals, but his distribution was poor. The visitors were excellent, but until the second goal (which was a gift) they'd created few genuine goalscoring chances. You can see why they draw games they deserve to win, and without Bostock's unnecessary belly flop and that free header it could have been another frustrating afternoon for them. But of course they absolutely murdered us after that and we really can't complain.

Right, so we've scored 49 goals between us and we're letting in 2 goals a game on average. It's going to be 0-0, isn't it? I'm a bit nervous as this'll be the biggest test we've had so far, and on the back of a chastening experience in Essex. But it's up to the players to pick themselves up, cut out the silly errors and show their quality. They deserve our faith and support; let's get behind them and NOT jump on their backs. We are a newly promoted team and were always bound to be taught a lesson every now and then. Hopefully we can take Saturday's on board quickly.

Alright me lovelies, remember this is a midweek round, so get your predictions in by 7.45pm on Tuesday if you want to take part! @allardyces tash, @AmericanPie, @ARLukomski, @Canadian, @Chris, @CliftonMagpie, @DonnyNotts, @George L, @JIMBO, @jimbob, @Joshua, @KB1862, @KingWilliams, @liampie, @magpiejue, @Nocturnal-Magpie, @NottsCountyKev, @OoooooTommy, @TheSkipper, @thommo, @upthepies

Apparently he played down the left for Sutton, so maybe he's the more attacking alternative to Chicksen. I can't see LW picking him right now given the last few defensive performances, but it's a long season and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do.

The results: Norwich City 2-0 Birmingham City QPR 1-3 Coventry City Port Vale 0-1 Bolton Wanderers Reading 0-0 Burton Albion Gillingham 1-1 Mansfield Town Salford City 2-1 Newport County Halifax Town 2-3 Eastleigh Rochdale 2-2 Southend United --- Some stonking scores this round - best of all @ARLukomski, who netted 15! @ARLukomski - 15 @Chris, @upthepies - 11 @nottsnutter - 8 @cheeky~k8, @DonnyNotts, @Joshua, @Nocturnal-Magpie - 6 @AmericanPie, @Dan, @DangerousSausage, @gtownjohnno, @NottsCountyKev - 5 @OoooooTommy, @TheSkipper - 4 @4everapie, @Fan of Big Tone, @JIMBO, @KingWilliams, @liampie - 3 @allardyces tash, @CliftonMagpie, @Megan_Elizax, @super_ram, @thommo - 2 @magpiejue, @william1984 - 1 --- @ARLukomski has opened up a decent lead after an excellent couple of rounds, while @gtownjohnno holds onto second and @cheeky~k8 moves into the top three. ARLukomski - 68 gtownjohnno - 57 cheeky~k8 - 50 DangerousSausage - 50 nottsnutter - 49 Joshua - 47 DonnyNotts - 46 4everapie - 45 liampie - 45 Fan of Big Tone - 44 Chris - 43 Dan - 43 magpiejue - 42 upthepies - 41 super_ram - 41 TheSkipper - 40 william1984 - 39 KingWilliams - 37 NottsCountyKev - 36 jimbob - 34 allardyces tash - 34 thommo - 34 Megan_Elizax - 32 JIMBO - 31 OoooooTommy - 29 Nocturnal-Magpie - 27 AmericanPie - 26 CliftonMagpie - 25 KB1862 - 22 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- The next round is on Tuesday night and is online now - have a go! Cheers for playing everyone

Ipswich Town 2-1 Hull City Plymouth Argyle 2-0 Millwall Blackpool 1-0 Derby County Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Stevenage (joker) Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Gillingham Morecambe 0-2 Accrington Stanley Altrincham 1-1 Aldershot Dagenham & Redbridge 2-0 York City

Tuesday is a bank holiday, so while you're all slogging away at work (or doing pensioner things, like smoking a pipe) I'm going to put my feet up and be lazy. More importantly, we have a prediction league round on: these fixtures kick off at 7.45pm on Tuesday night, so get your predictions in by then and remember your joker! The scores for the previous round will be posted this evening once I've dusted down my abacus. Ipswich Town v Hull City Plymouth Argyle v Millwall Blackpool v Derby County Bolton Wanderers v Stevenage Crewe Alexandra v Gillingham Morecambe v Accrington Stanley Altrincham v Aldershot Dagenham & Redbridge v York City

This is very true. Also, our recruitment has consistently focussed on bringing in defenders who are comfortable on the ball and can contribute to build-up play ever since the takeover, and overall it's served us well. Our defenders play a lot of football and play high up the pitch. We concede goals as a result, but it's also one of the reasons why we're so creative and difficult to play against. That said, the gifts are frustrating and left us chasing the game yesterday. In particular, Baldwin's decision making seems poor this season and he could maybe benefit from a spell on the bench. Unfortunately we clearly didn't land our defensive targets in the last transfer window and LW doesn't seem to trust the loanees, so that leaves us looking a bit thin. We're still top of the table, but we haven't played any of the more fancied teams yet so some realism is required. All the same, you can only beat what's in front of you and 20 points in 10 games is a great start to life back in L2. On another note, did anyone else notice the kit clash? I like us having blue away kits, but it's always a problem when visiting teams that play in blue and white stripes. We used to have a third kit for cases like this. The similar colour of the shorts and socks made things worse.

Kick-off is Saturday 3pm, as ordained by the football gods. Who else fancies a go? @allardyces tash, @Canadian, @Chris, @George L, @JIMBO, @jimbob, @Joshua, @KB1862, @KingWilliams, @Nocturnal-Magpie, @NottsCountyKev, @OoooooTommy, @TheSkipper, @thommo, @upthepies

Norwich City 1-1 Birmingham City QPR 0-1 Coventry City Port Vale 2-1 Bolton Wanderers Reading 1-1 Burton Albion Gillingham 1-1 Mansfield Town Salford City 0-2 Newport County (joker) Halifax Town 3-1 Eastleigh Rochdale 2-1 Southend United

Funny, I seem to have forgotten that one already Some standouts from the last few years: Lincoln City 3 Notts County 5, January 1998. Notts fans making up nearly half the crowd. We raced to a 3-0 half-time lead, Lincoln mounted an unlikely revival after a Darren Ward miskick early in the second half and equalised, only for us to retake the lead minutes later. The day we looked nailed on for promotion. Notts County 2 Bury 2, May 2006. Our first real scrape with the Conference and such a sickening day. Results elsewhere kept us up. Notts Florist 3 Notts County 3, League Cup, 2011. In keeping with what was going on around the country at the time, this one was a riot. Lee Hughes looked to have won the derby for us in extra time, before Wes Morgan took a punt in the dying moments and we fluffed the penalty shoot out.

My thoughts entirely, they very nearly beat Mansfield too. Maybe they're a side that raise their game for the better opposition? We should hopefully have enough, but we can't afford to let our standards slip in this league.

Apparently Gainsborough did have an agreement with Scunny, but they weren't informed of it at this time and no safety protocols are in place. Pure tinpottery. They're in big trouble. They splashed the cash to bring in players like Cal Roberts and Jacob Butterfield, now they've been given winding up orders and are leaving their ground. Was the money even there to begin with? It doesn't sound like there's a lot of hope right now. Also, Cal Roberts has some serious bad luck. I hope I never end up on a plane with him.

He's the leader of the Liberal Democrats. Better known among politicos as he hasn't led his party into a general election yet, but that'll change soon. So that makes three sitting MPs. Extrapolated to the population of the UK, that would correspond to there being 308,000 Notts County fans. No wonder Mansfield tickets are getting short! ????

These matches kick off at 3pm on Saturday, let's be having you! And remember your joker! Norwich City v Birmingham City QPR v Coventry City Port Vale v Bolton Wanderers Reading v Burton Albion Gillingham v Mansfield Town Salford City v Newport County Halifax Town v Eastleigh Rochdale v Southend United

The results: Leeds United 3-0 Watford Swansea City 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday Cambridge United 1-1 Port Vale Portsmouth 2-1 Lincoln City Morecambe 2-2 Swindon Town Stockport County 5-0 Wrexham Gateshead 3-0 Maidenhead United Oldham Athletic 4-0 Oxford City --- They'll be dancing in the streets in G-Town as @gtownjohnno is our highest scorer this round! @gtownjohnno - 14 @DangerousSausage - 10 @ARLukomski, @cheeky~k8 - 9 @Dan, @thommo - 8 @Fan of Big Tone, @nottsnutter, @super_ram, @TheSkipper, @upthepies - 7 @liampie, @DonnyNotts, @william1984, @jimbob, @Nocturnal-Magpie - 6 @4everapie, @JIMBO - 5 @Joshua, @OoooooTommy, @CliftonMagpie - 4 @magpiejue, @Megan_Elizax, @AmericanPie - 3 @KingWilliams, @allardyces tash, @Chris, @NottsCountyKev - 2 --- @ARLukomski still leads the way, but @gtownjohnno is now just a single point off the top. And look who's third! ARLukomski - 53 gtownjohnno - 52 DangerousSausage - 45 cheeky~k8 - 44 liampie - 42 4everapie - 42 Fan of Big Tone - 41 nottsnutter - 41 Joshua - 41 magpiejue - 41 DonnyNotts - 40 super_ram - 39 Dan - 38 william1984 - 38 TheSkipper - 36 jimbob - 34 KingWilliams - 34 thommo - 32 allardyces tash - 32 Chris - 32 NottsCountyKev - 31 upthepies - 30 Megan_Elizax - 30 JIMBO - 28 OoooooTommy - 25 CliftonMagpie - 23 KB1862 - 22 Nocturnal-Magpie - 21 AmericanPie - 21 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- So now we're finally up to date again. The next round is on Saturday, the fixtures are online now!

Didn't know that! He isn't even the only Notts fan in parliament - there's also the current MP for Bassetlaw, who used to be a frequent poster on another forum and lived in various places around Europe before deciding that Brexit was a good idea. I tried not to get political - did I succeed? ????

If he feels the need to have a pop, he shouldn't be reading it in the first place. Having people publicly discuss your performance or even your replacement is in the nature of working in the public eye, whether you're a football player, a manager, a politician or whatever. That's the case however many people are listening - in the past it was in the NEP, today it's on certain Twitter accounts. Of course football fans are fickle and often talk rubbish, and reading personal criticism about my performance when I'm living from one contract to the next would not be good for my mental health. So it's important to steer clear. Alan Hardy and Ray Trew probably wish they'd stayed away from it, and they were the boss. It does seem a bit unfair that players have to effectively turn the other cheek while the world and its dog is discussing you, but short of censoring all discussions that mention players by their names it's the best way. It's just part of the price you pay for living the dream of being a professional footballer.

Would that be Kevin "Rooster" Russell, briefly of Notts?

He should have kept his thoughts to himself on this occasion. His comment wasn't offensive in itself, but as a club employee he probably has a code of conduct to adhere to when using social media. A club employee telling a fan to button it isn't a good look. If this is the Tom I'm thinking of, CR came in for a lot of criticism after the Sutton game in particular. It was justified however. Claiming only professional footballers can judge football matches and tactics is far wide of the mark - fans might not see what goes on at the training ground, but we have a very good view of what happens on the pitch. There are also qualified referees, coaches and former players among the crowd. Can you only have a favourite band if you play an instrument yourself? Does CR have an opinion on Champions League matches, despite never having played at that level himself? I know that when you criticise a player, there's a human at the other end who's trying his best and might see your comment. That's why abuse is not cool. But analysis and debate should be allowed.