League 2 General Chat Thread

[RLC]

We’ve gone overly defensive because of the horror shows at Crewe and Grimsby.

Attacking wise we are one of the better sides in this division but we aren’t playing to those strengths because we are too worried about McNulty getting exposed.

I disagree. We won at Cheltenham and were unlucky to lose at Bury with the 532, creating plenty of chances.

There are still certain games away from home where that system is appropriate, and today's was one of them in my view. It is difficult to assess the performance after playing sixty minutes with ten men.

However, I agree that McNulty is coming to the end now.

 

[NCFC Kim]

Interesting piece on Hardy here (unless you're a Notts fan and know most of it already).

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...hardy-notts-county-league-two-football-league

I'd heard about the WhatsApp stuff at a couple of games recently. Interesting to see it reach print.

It's mostly a good article, though the Forest angle is a bit weird.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

I'd heard about the WhatsApp stuff at a couple of games recently. Interesting to see it reach print.

It's mostly a good article, though the Forest angle is a bit weird.

It’s like the most patronising Forest twat down the pub has got the chance to be a football writer for the Guardian.

FFP, ticket prices, unequal distribution of tv revenue, b teams, fa cup, no the big football story is the Notts County chairman. I know what Hardy has and hasn’t done, I don’t need a supporter of a club not exactly famous for their smooth running ownership to tell me.

 

[NCFC Kim]

It’s like the most patronising Forest twat down the pub has got the chance to be a football writer for the Guardian.

Yeah I definitely think an interesting article has been tainted by that. He's done it to Mansfield too. No doubt their Forest players have played an important part in getting them where they are, but from that article you'd think their success is purely down to Forest's charity.

No doubt a lot's gone wrong at Notts under Hardy's ownership, but falling out with the Reds (as unprofessionally as it was handled) is pretty far down the list of problems.

 

[JJ1532]

Really feared the worst when we went down so early, thought Col U would click through the gears and power through us, but good to see that restored belief help us fight back. 2nd best home record in the division, incredible run we've been on at Gresty Road. Only really Carlisle next week and FGR at the end of the season who come with decent road records as well, the rest of our home slate is very winnable.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Really feared the worst when we went down so early, thought Col U would click through the gears and power through us, but good to see that restored belief help us fight back. 2nd best home record in the division, incredible run we've been on at Gresty Road. Only really Carlisle next week and FGR at the end of the season who come with decent road records as well, the rest of our home slate is very winnable.

If this was cycling, our transformation would stink and we’d be hauled into anti-doping on a hourly basis.

Not sure how it’s come about, is it just that Artell/Lunt are ‘getting it’ in terms of the management game? At the moment it doesn’t seem to be a flash in the pan either as it’s been a gradual build up since pre-Christmas of playing good stuff to now finding consistency and results too. It is the best footballing Crewe side since Dario (I’m calling Lunt’s influence on that). Still aspects to improve on, such as faffing in defence, midfield occasionally being overrun and Bowery flattering to deceive, but it’s nitpicking.

Finish this season strong and hopefully stand in good stead for next year. I can’t remember the contract situation but I’m not too worried about this team being ripped apart.

 

[Luke Imp]

Oh dear, Alan.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/more-controversy-notts-county-owner-2474945

 

[NCFC Kim]

I like how Notts have been a non-stop drama for almost the entire 30+ years I've supported them and yet we still find new and hilarious ways to keep it going.

 

[The Jovial Forester]

One thing you can say for Dale Vince is he'll never make you look at meat and two veg unexpectedly.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Hardy appears to be seriously unstable. He’s deleting twitter again which is probably the best for all concerned, If they turn us over next month though he’ll be back.

 

[NCFC Kim]

Hardy appears to be seriously unstable.

I'm actually a little concerned about his mental well-being. All this is obviously getting to him. That said I can't understand why he persists in using a medium that's actually exasperating the situation. Even if this season had still gone as it has done he wouldn't be getting 90% of the stick if he weren't on Twitter. And you're absolutely right: he'll be back as soon as there's something he can take credit for.

I genuinely don't think you could make up Notts' off-field history over the past 20 years or so. The Derek Pavis era was wild on the pitch (top flight to fourth tier in 5 years at one point) but since he sold the club things have just been so crazy. First, we had Albert Scardino, who wanted to combine the lucrative ITV Digital deal and investment from a bank in the United States to get us back into what's now the Championship. Except, of course, that ITV Digital went bust, the investment bank in question had its offices destroyed on 9/11, and the team they put together struggled, so instead of the anticipated 8,000+ crowds we were getting about 5,000 a week. All this inevitably led to administration, which ended up lasting a record 18 months.

When that finally ended, the club ended up in the ownership of the Supporters' Trust. Notts being Notts, the Trust descended into in-fighting after a few years and ended up under the control of a small group of people who weren't running it (or the club) democratically at all. At least though they were always just about preserving our league status.

The chairman then sold the club to Munto, having apparently been convinced of their genuineness by being taken on holiday to the Middle East and being allowed to ride on a camel. We all know what happened next but (Notts being Notts again) we actually came out the disaster in good shape. Crowds up significantly, a huge boost in the number of young fans we have, and what initially seemed like a sensible owner. Yet he couldn't stick with one manager for any length of time and, although we narrowly missed out on the League One playoffs in 2012, that eventually caught up with us. After Trew made one particularly baffling managerial appointment, which proved to be as disastrous as everyone thought it would be, he put the club up for sale in a massive huff, but then ended up hanging around for another year.

All that (eventually) led us to Hardy, who has invested millions of pounds to see Notts (probably) end up in the Conference, all the while arguing with Notts fans and supporters of local rivals for no apparent reason. And now he's sharing pictures of his anatomy, which will make things much better I'm sure. Notts have been a wild club to support for two decades and I'm honestly not surprised by any of this.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

If this was cycling, our transformation would stink and we’d be hauled into anti-doping on a hourly basis.

Not sure how it’s come about, is it just that Artell/Lunt are ‘getting it’ in terms of the management game? At the moment it doesn’t seem to be a flash in the pan either as it’s been a gradual build up since pre-Christmas of playing good stuff to now finding consistency and results too. It is the best footballing Crewe side since Dario (I’m calling Lunt’s influence on that). Still aspects to improve on, such as faffing in defence, midfield occasionally being overrun and Bowery flattering to deceive, but it’s nitpicking.

Finish this season strong and hopefully stand in good stead for next year. I can’t remember the contract situation but I’m not too worried about this team being ripped apart.

It's all come about because they've finally realised that Chris Porter is an excellent number 9 in this league if you give the man service and play to his strengths rather than fuck about with Bowery and Miller in the central striker role.

The return of Paul Green has motivated a lot of the younger players into realising they need to perform to stay in the side. Every single first team player apart from Miller and Nicholls (the latter is only backup anyway mind) has improved since Green has returned from injury and that's really revitalised us and turned us into a very difficult side to beat.

I reckon Garratt, Ray, Bowery to all leave despite being offered deals, Raynes to be released which is obviously happening and Miller to be transfer listed because he really doesn't fit the current winning system. Unless he's injured or banned, Porter isn't going to give up his place to Miller anytime soon. Very ironic though that as soon as we drop Miller, we go on a run of form from deep in the bottom half to the top half though, where have I seen that one before?

Can see Green and Nolan signing new deals but one or two being sold in the Summer as well. But at least the long term futures of our key assets (Jones, Ainley, Kirk, Ng and Pickering) are all under contract for a long time. Build the team around the young lads and bring in some to complement them next season and I reckon we'll be in very good stead to compete.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I'm actually a little concerned about his mental well-being. All this is obviously getting to him. That said I can't understand why he persists in using a medium that's actually exasperating the situation. Even if this season had still gone as it has done he wouldn't be getting 90% of the stick if he weren't on Twitter. And you're absolutely right: he'll be back as soon as there's something he can take credit for.

I genuinely don't think you could make up Notts' off-field history over the past 20 years or so. The Derek Pavis era was wild on the pitch (top flight to fourth tier in 5 years at one point) but since he sold the club things have just been so crazy. First, we had Albert Scardino, who wanted to combine the lucrative ITV Digital deal and investment from a bank in the United States to get us back into what's now the Championship. Except, of course, that ITV Digital went bust, the investment bank in question had its offices destroyed on 9/11, and the team they put together struggled, so instead of the anticipated 8,000+ crowds we were getting about 5,000 a week. All this inevitably led to administration, which ended up lasting a record 18 months.

When that finally ended, the club ended up in the ownership of the Supporters' Trust. Notts being Notts, the Trust descended into in-fighting after a few years and ended up under the control of a small group of people who weren't running it (or the club) democratically at all. At least though they were always just about preserving our league status.

The chairman then sold the club to Munto, having apparently been convinced of their genuineness by being taken on holiday to the Middle East and being allowed to ride on a camel. We all know what happened next but (Notts being Notts again) we actually came out the disaster in good shape. Crowds up significantly, a huge boost in the number of young fans we have, and what initially seemed like a sensible owner. Yet he couldn't stick with one manager for any length of time and, although we narrowly missed out on the League One playoffs in 2012, that eventually caught up with us. After Trew made one particularly baffling managerial appointment, which proved to be as disastrous as everyone thought it would be, he put the club up for sale in a massive huff, but then ended up hanging around for another year.

All that (eventually) led us to Hardy, who has invested millions of pounds to see Notts (probably) end up in the Conference, all the while arguing with Notts fans and supporters of local rivals for no apparent reason. And now he's sharing pictures of his anatomy, which will make things much better I'm sure. Notts have been a wild club to support for two decades and I'm honestly not surprised by any of this.

Just seen he’s put the club up for sale. Again probably the best for himself really!

 

[Amber Nectar]

Just seen he’s put the club up for sale. Again probably the best for himself really!

Probably best for NCFC and it's fans.

 

[NCFC Kim]

It was naive to think a weekend without a game would be quiet.

 

[Agombar stool]

Pre-match on Saturday there was a bit of a buzz at the CG after our away win at Prenton Park last weekend. There was a niggling belief that we may actually be able to challenge for the play-offs. A home game against Crawley, who haven't won since August looked like manna from heaven. Crawley kicked off an we immediately won the ball with a heavy press. Wow, the players look hungry today I thought. Crawley spent the first 20 minutes looking like a Sunday league outfit and things were rosy in the garden. After that, wow, the level of ineptitude on show from Swindon was pathetic. Doughty didn't like the attention he got from being man marked from a 40 year old and instead of running around the pitch, dragging him out of position to create space for others, he gave up. Canice Caroll, a midfielder on loan from Brentford was played at Right back and was shocking from start to 89 minutes (he won the penalty).

Our passing was shocking, overhit passes, underhit passes etc. After 30 minutes I said to my dad that this game had 0-1 Crawley written all over it. A minute before half time Crawley scored via 2 deflections off both of our Centre Backs and into the net. (who were the only players on our side to come out of the game with any credit)

And that was about it. Crawley soaked up our 'pressure' with ease and the game fizzled out without us ever looking like scoring until we managed to finally string a couple of passes together down the right and the calamitous Caroll won a penalty. EVERYBODY around me groaned with Keshi Anderson stepped up (our penalty taker Doughty had been taken off) and his penalty was saved easily and that was that.

It is so frustrating how bad we are at home, we have been for 3 years now and we haven't solved the riddle. The number of bad sides who have rocked up to the CG and show a modicum of organisation to take home 3 points is getting tiresome now. Crawley showed absolutely no quality whatsoever (the Centre Back number 5 was good) yet take 3 points. Have to give a shout out to the Crawley keeper, who literally had nothing to do the whole game yet managed to pick up an injury about 10 minutes from the end which required 2 minutes of treatment. I presumed it must have been for frostbite or something as the ball was the other end of the pitch and he hadn't done anything of note for ages! Classic trolling by Crawley

 

[Casey]

Agombar; your report pretty much tallies with the Crawley fans who went except they say both teams were shocking in the first half but we improved a little in the second. That by the way is Cioffe's first away win...ever!

You're praise for our number five (McNerney) is good to hear. While I don't think he will ever set the world alight he is a decent stopper at this level but he was dropped and ostracized by Kewell and it doesn't look as though Cioffe rates him highly either as when everyone is fit he doesn't play. Hey! We're only fans what do we know?

Casey

 

[Agombar stool]

Agombar; your report pretty much tallies with the Crawley fans who went except they say both teams were shocking in the first half but we improved a little in the second. That by the way is Cioffe's first away win...ever!

You're praise for our number five (McNerney) is good to hear. While I don't think he will ever set the world alight he is a decent stopper at this level but he was dropped and ostracized by Kewell and it doesn't look as though Cioffe rates him highly either as when everyone is fit he doesn't play. Hey! We're only fans what do we know?

Casey

Its a little tough to judge how good/bad Crawley are/were as we were abysmal and so I don't know if it was a case of you coming down to our level etc. To be honest throughout the second half you passed the ball better than us and whilst not creating anything at all, you really didn't have to.

The 28, at times, looked to have a bit about him, Camara is it?

I agree with you about having a decent stopper at this level. We seem to have finally found 2 centre backs who aren't afraid of heading the bloody thing when its around the box! McNerney made one superb intervention first half when we got to the byline and it was pulled across. Superb defending to get ahead of Woolery who was waiting to get on the end of it.

The usual gallows humour of 'how shit must you be, we're winning away' rang around the County Ground from the 145 hardy souls that bothered. Made me smile as our home form is an absolute guarantee for a struggling team to come and be gift wrapped 3 points

Good luck for the rest of the season.

 

[Alain]

Having been one of the 145 supporters in attendance supporting Crawley - I can say that we were a lot worse the previous week at home against Port Vale - Doughty who had previously played for us on loan when at QPR was under the wing of Dannie Bulman then so he probably took pity on the old man, so much so that it affected his game - over recent away matches Stevenage and Mansfield we were the better side and should have got results but you don't get the luck you deserve sometimes - it wouldn't surprise me if we got something next week at Bury. We are very inconsistent and that sometimes down to Selection, Suspensions and Injuries - which now seem to have been cleared - its now 9 games unbeaten against Swindon - long may this run continue. See you next season

 

[Carver]

WHY do MK Dons still get called 'THE' MK Dons by TV reporters??

I noticed this on the football league highlights on Quest at the weekend and I remember Sky Sports presenters would always call them 'The' MK Dons!

Why not just MK Dons?

Is there something so great about them that we were never told for them to receive that kind of privilege? They are supposed to be hated by every neutral. You never get any other clubs in England who get to be called 'THE' whichever club.

There is no logical reason for it at all.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Simply bad grammar combined with the Wimbledon/The Dons association.

 

[Blue Lion]

Isn't it a bit of an American thing? In which case it fits in with the whole 'franchise' idea pretty well.

 

[GTFCfish]

In our programme on Saturday v MK Dons in the past encounters section it had games against Wimbledon included.

 

[UTS]

WHY do MK Dons still get called 'THE' MK Dons by TV reporters??

I noticed this on the football league highlights on Quest at the weekend and I remember Sky Sports presenters would always call them 'The' MK Dons!

Why not just MK Dons?

Is there something so great about them that we were never told for them to receive that kind of privilege? They are supposed to be hated by every neutral. You never get any other clubs in England who get to be called 'THE' whichever club.

There is no logical reason for it at all.

Imagine getting so rustled about the use of the word ‘the’.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Imagine getting so rustled about the use of the word ‘the’.

In fairness, I get rustled by a certain band called "The The". Like seriously, what is the point in that name? No wonder they were shite...

 

[Deepcut Cobbler]

WHY do MK Dons still get called 'THE' MK Dons by TV reporters??

I noticed this on the football league highlights on Quest at the weekend and I remember Sky Sports presenters would always call them 'The' MK Dons!

Why not just MK Dons?

Is there something so great about them that we were never told for them to receive that kind of privilege? They are supposed to be hated by every neutral. You never get any other clubs in England who get to be called 'THE' whichever club.

There is no logical reason for it at all.

'The' Arsenal.

Why are they still called 'Dons'?

 

[GodsGift]

'The' Ukraine is the one that pisses me off.

 

[northstandexile]

What about THE argentine

 

[shoddycollins]

Ironically the one professional club in Britain whose official name do start with 'The' never get called that.

 

[shoddycollins]

Will keep a close eye on things this evening as we could be down to 6th.