DangerousSausage

The results: Bristol City 0-0 West Bromwich Albion Huddersfield Town 2-0 Rotherham United Derby County 1-1 Portsmouth Shrewsbury Town 0-2 Bristol Rovers Crawley Town 3-2 Tranmere Rovers Newport County 1-1 Barrow Hartlepool United 0-2 Woking Wealdstone 0-0 Altrincham --- The top scorer for round 8 was @Dan, with honourable mentions also going to @Chris and @DonnyNotts. Congrats! @Dan - 9 @Chris, @DonnyNotts - 8 @ARLukomski, @Fan of Big Tone - 7 @super_ram - 5 @gtownjohnno, @KB1862, @NottsCountyKev, @nottsnutter, @william1984 - 4 @cheeky~k8, @DangerousSausage, @Megan_Elizax - 3 @jimbob, @magpiejue - 2 --- A few big winners this round, most of all @ARLukomski who takes top spot! ARLukomski - 44 gtownjohnno - 38 magpiejue - 38 4everapie - 37 Joshua - 37 liampie - 36 cheeky~k8 - 35 DangerousSausage - 35 DonnyNotts - 34 Fan of Big Tone - 34 nottsnutter - 34 super_ram - 32 william1984 - 32 KingWilliams - 32 Dan - 30 Chris - 30 allardyces tash - 30 NottsCountyKev - 29 TheSkipper - 29 jimbob - 28 Megan_Elizax - 27 thommo - 24 JIMBO - 23 upthepies - 23 KB1862 - 22 OoooooTommy - 21 CliftonMagpie - 19 AmericanPie - 18 Nocturnal-Magpie - 15 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- So those were the points for round 8. Round 9 is now also done and dusted and I'll be posting the points for that in the next few days. The prediction league will continue with round 10 this coming Saturday, with the fixtures going online on Wednesday. Thank you all for playing!

I didn't watch this one as I was on my way back from holiday, but luckily the flight was delayed just enough for me to find out the result! The last time Notts were playing while I was on a plane, we'd bee relegated by the time I landed, so this was a marked improvement I'm glad you were all entertained with lots of goals, although LW would probably have preferred the 2-0. The major wobble in the second half will give him food for thought, but I blame the expert summariser on the PON Facebook page who praised the Notts defence just before the first FGR goal went in! We got away with it, we're top of the league and we play fantastic football in front of big crowds every week. Times are good!

It's just a clickbait article really. They do make it clear that it's based on win percentage, but it's still very jarring to see a joker like Jocky Scott on a list of "10 best ever managers". It just goes to show that win percentages aren't everything. Both had win ratios of 38.6% and just missed out. Howard Wilkinson managed us while we were fighting against relegation from the top flight. Allardyce joined us halfway through a relegation season and took about 12 games to record his first win, and we didn't pull up any trees in our first season back in L1 either. All the same, the achievements of both are head and shoulders above most of the names on this list, stats notwithstanding. Another example is Luke Williams. When we appointed him, his only experience as a manager was at Swindon, where he had won 26.7% of his games. Does that make him a bad manager?

It really wasn't such a surprising decision - Germany had won just four of their previous 17 games, an unimaginably poor record for them. And this in the run-up to the 2024 European Championships in Germany, where the team will be under pressure to deliver. A good club manager doesn't always make a good national team manager, as we discovered with Taylor, Capello and many others. Which brings us to the new man, Julian Nagelsmann, who has been given an eight-month contract. This makes no sense at all - if you're going down the short-term route, you want someone who has managed a national team before, such as Louis Van Haal or Steffen Kuntz. Instead they've appointed someone who has only been a club manager and who prefers a high-octane pressing style that takes a lot of coaching - not something you can really drill into the players during international breaks.

Leeds United 1-2 Watford Swansea City 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday (joker) Cambridge United 1-1 Port Vale Portsmouth 2-1 Lincoln City Morecambe 0-1 Swindon Town Stockport County 2-3 Wrexham Gateshead 2-0 Maidenhead United Oldham Athletic 1-0 Oxford City

These matches kick off at 3pm on Saturday 23 September, remember your joker and good luck! And if you're wondering where your points for the previous round are, I'll be posting them together with the points for this round. Leeds United v Watford Swansea City v Sheffield Wednesday Cambridge United v Port Vale Portsmouth v Lincoln City Morecambe v Swindon Town Stockport County v Wrexham Gateshead v Maidenhead United Oldham Athletic v Oxford City

Garlic beer does sound unappetising @CliftonMagpie, but I won't knock it till I've tried it. I've also had a few beers with honey in them but am not super keen as it can make the beer taste, well, vomity. But one that gets the balance right is Odins Trunk, if you ever see that. That's a lovely drink. Returning to the smokey beer, the good thing about German beers is that they all consist of the same basic ingredients, so there are no artificial flavourings or similar.

Garlic beer? It's the future! Schlenkerla is amazing, the smell is just like smokey bacon although the taste can take a bit of getting used to. I've been to Bamberg a few times so I've been lucky enough to sample it there, I also happen to live near a big beer supermarket that stocks it, otherwise it's difficult to get hold of in Germany too. But keep an eye out at your local watering hole - I know Beerheadz used to sell bottles of it, maybe they still do?

Bristol City 2-1 West Bromwich Albion Huddersfield Town 1-1 Rotherham United Derby County 0-2 Portsmouth Shrewsbury Town 2-0 Bristol Rovers Crawley Town 0-1 Tranmere Rovers (joker) Newport County 1-1 Barrow Hartlepool United 1-1 Woking Wealdstone 1-2 Altrincham Live footage from right now:

Here we are again - post your predictions by 3pm on Saturday, and remember your joker! As I've taken the scandalous liberty of going on holiday while this round is on, I'll be posting the scores at the end of this round a bit later (probably together with round 9). But good things come to those who wait! Bristol City v West Bromwich Albion Huddersfield Town v Rotherham United Derby County v Portsmouth Shrewsbury Town v Bristol Rovers Crawley Town v Tranmere Rovers Newport County v Barrow Hartlepool United v Woking Wealdstone v Altrincham

There's a job for Ian Burchnall, has he applied? Or Moniz even? ???? He started well, but they got stuck in a rut and he couldn't get them out of it. Like England a few years back, the players aren't enjoying themselves and are primarily afraid of making a mistake. The quality of the players at their disposal has declined, but that doesn't excuse some of their recent displays.

The results: Exeter City 1-2 Leyton Orient Stevenage 2-2 Carlisle United Accrington Stanley 0-3 Mansfield Town Colchester United 2-0 Tranmere Rovers Forest Green Rovers 1-4 Crewe Alexandra AFC Fylde 0-2 Aldershot Bromley 4-1 Maidenhead United Woking 1-1 Solihull Moors --- This round's winner is @jimbob, congrats! @jimbob - 8 @4everapie - 7 @allardyces tash, @gtownjohnno, @liampie - 6 @magpiejue, @super_ram - 5 @cheeky~k8, @DangerousSausage, @KingWilliams, @NottsCountyKev - 4 @Dan, @JIMBO, @Megan_Elizax, @TheSkipper - 3 @Chris, @CliftonMagpie, @DonnyNotts, @Fan of Big Tone, @william1984 - 2 @ARLukomski, @nottsnutter, @OoooooTommy, @upthepies - 1 --- Despite his gracious decision to give everyone else a chance, @Joshua is still top of the league. However, we now have a three-way tie with @ARLukomski and @4everapie drawing level! It' still incredibly close. Joshua - 37 4everapie - 37 ARLukomski - 37 liampie - 36 magpiejue - 36 gtownjohnno - 34 cheeky~k8 - 32 DangerousSausage - 32 KingWilliams - 32 allardyces tash - 30 nottsnutter - 30 TheSkipper - 29 william1984 - 28 super_ram - 27 Fan of Big Tone - 27 jimbob - 26 DonnyNotts - 26 NottsCountyKev - 25 thommo - 24 Megan_Elizax - 24 JIMBO - 23 upthepies - 23 Chris - 22 Dan - 21 OoooooTommy - 21 CliftonMagpie - 19 AmericanPie - 18 KB1862 - 18 Nocturnal-Magpie - 15 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- And now I will abandon you for a little while as I've taken the shameful decision to go on holiday. But the prediction league will keep going - the next two rounds are on Saturday the 16th and 23rd of September, and the fixtures will magically appear on the Wednesday prior as per usual. You'll have to wait a bit longer for your points for the next round, but that's the only difference thanks for playing and see you then!

We shouldn't be too unhappy with the draw really, I think that's one of the tougher trips we'll have. All the same, it's a bit of a shame we switched into game management mode after equalising when we seemed to have them on the ropes. Maybe I'm still spoilt from last season! Langstaff was unlucky not to score, the first time he had a leg stuck out looking for contact, but it was a hard cross and spun over. But apart from those we struggled to bring him into the game as much as in previous weeks. In the first half in particular we seemed to miss McGoldrick and struggled to keep the ball in their third for any length of time. All the same, I think we just about shaded the first half and were certainly the better side in the second, but the hosts had their moments too. We can't really quibble. Lovely finish from Cameron, a poor first touch took him into a perfect shooting position and you just knew it was heading in straight away. It was an odd one to watch on the stream - the Notts fans were all tucked away in the top tier and fans were only sprinkled around elsewhere. It looked like we were playing in an empty stadium, there were shades of the Reynolds Arena in Darlington. To those of you who were there, do you think the Franchise really had 5300 there? As a Notts fan I know what a three-quarters empty stadium looks like, and it doesn't look like that.

I believe Keeley is out of contract in December, so the club may have another go then.

Get the kids in if at all possible. It'll be good to give Randall, Morias and the loanees some game time to get them a bit sharper for when we need them. But that's the only thing this game is good for - it's a slap in the face to all teams in L1 and L2 to have to play against B teams and I couldn't care less if we go out. This is one stupid competition I didn't miss.

We've got fast internet here and it never buffers at all. I do always watch on my laptop though - the browser on my TV automatically refreshes every time I enter my email address so it's impossible to log in ???? Perhaps it has something to do with your TV. I'm still a bit annoyed that after several years, iFollow still isn't compatible with Chromecast. The National League stream worked with Chromecast on day one. That said, the stream itself is always reliable.

I remember this, I think I watched it on my computer as Juventus had set up a live stream? Must have been an epic occasion for the couple of hundred or so of us who were there. We were obviously fixated on the match, but really it was an exhibition match at the end of a big programme of events. Even so, playing against a team of genuine superstars must have been unforgettable for the team who played that day.

Hopefully I will. At the time of writing we are still top of the league, and it's great I did wonder if posting this would anger the football gods, but we're protected by the magic powers of the lucky black and white shell I found on the beach in The Hague. Luke Williams and the players may take all the credit, but I know it was that magical stripey shell that actually won us promotion.

Saturday 3pm is kick-off time - who else is having a go? @4everapie, @allardyces tash, @AmericanPie, @Canadian, @cheeky~k8, @George L, @JIMBO, @jimbob, @Joshua, @KB1862, @KingWilliams, @Nocturnal-Magpie, @OoooooTommy, @TheSkipper, @thommo, @upthepies

Fun interview! Would have been longer if Charlie weren't pants at padel board though

It's a nice bit of recognition but a slightly arbitrary statistic - what is a "start"? The first three, six, ten games? I've loved see us top of the league (see other threads), but in truth the only statistic that matters is the 13 points we've collected so far.

Good stuff! Here's a tip for those of you who are new to iFollow - if you've got goal alerts on a football app such as Onefootball, switch them off! Otherwise you might see the alert before the goal is scored on your stream, as with the third goal on Saturday.

That was most definitely Bishop's decision; that said, Gainsborough's poor start might also have played a role. He might simply have decided to concentrate on working life outside of football, as an NPL club are unlikely to have a full-time manager. Or maybe he's been tapped up? Will be interesting to see where he ends up next. Nice photos on that website by the way. Wonder who took them?

Exeter City 2-0 Leyton Orient Stevenage 2-0 Carlisle United Accrington Stanley 1-2 Mansfield Town (joker) Colchester United 1-1 Tranmere Rovers Forest Green Rovers 1-2 Crewe Alexandra AFC Fylde 0-0 Aldershot Bromley 1-1 Maidenhead United Woking 2-2 Solihull Moors