NOTTS' LONG TERM PLAN WON'T WORK IF IT'S CONSIGNED TO THE PITCH
The term 'new era' is quickly becoming a central part of the Notts fan's vocabulary, stacked up ready for regular use alongside 'goalless draw', 'sideways pass', 'Bialkowski wonder save' and 'relieved of his duties'. Today, however, Notts seem to finally be moving into a new 'long term vision' - which, essentially, seems to be the new era of no more new eras. All of the buzz-words are there in the club's statement, 'strategy' precedes 'homegrown talent' which quickly evolves into 'entertaining, winning football' - if promotion was won by putting the right words in the right order on the right statement, then Notts would already be planning for trips to Ipswich and Barnsley. Yes, i'm trying to make the Championship seem slightly less like a footballing Garden of Eden on purpose.
Any long term plan that Notts have as a club has to be underpinned by more than focusing on youth or a plan to move towards Championship football, as Ray Trew seemed to indicate in an interview with BBC East Midlands Today this week - sustainable growth of our football club needs to be supported by the encouragement of an organic growth in the fanbase, something that i'm still not totally convinced is being encouraged enough. Whilst the phrase 'matchday experience' rivals 'homegrown talent' as the most used in the statement, i'm not convinced that growing Notts' fanbase relies entirely on installing a new TV system, bringing chips back to the Kop (I will keep banging my plastic fork on my non-existent table about this) or sweeping the cobwebs away from the outer reaches of the stadium, which can feel a bit like going up into the attic for the first time in a decade if you accidentally wander into one of them.
I've alluded to this on the messageboard before, but I think there is a psychological issue that Notts, somehow, need to try and address. A vision of the club that outsiders have - sometimes, but not entirely, unjust - of lacking in fun and joy, a perpetual cauldron of misery where people do little but moan from underneath their blankets, whispering names from the sixties into the freezing wind rolling off the Trent. This has been apparent a number of times this season, but a recent example of Haydn Hollis receiving a chorus of boos for having the audacity to pass the ball six yards to one of his teammates is perhaps the most pertinent. What kind of environment is that in which to develop the 'homegrown talent' that Notts are now going to pour all of their energy into producing?
If the NCM messageboard is not just being characteristically melodramatic, appotinting Kiwomya may begin to address that problem - but people threatening not to renew their season tickets because of what is still likely to be the second higher league finish Notts have achieved in seventeen years still need to be replaced. That said, they will be back at the first sign of success, that is just how these things work. If that can be a new type of fan - young, starry-eyed, yet to fall into the sinkhole of despair that is the Main Stand at Meadow Lane, then we can come out of it as a club in a better place. But you have to do something to get these people to come to Meadow Lane - and that is still yet to be addressed properly. The 'long term strategy' may be there on the playing side, but some serious thinking needs to be put into everything else.
I would point at the recent 'kids for a quid' promotion that, following a successful outing against Bury, was extended until the end of the season. Only for under twelves, though. Now, I spend most of my time trying to keep as far away from those under twelve as possible, but my understanding is that they are unlikely enough to tear themselves away from licking trees for long enough to log onto their computer, ignore what their daddy has been looking at and check the official site to see if they can get into the football game for £1 again. These are kids who will come with their parents and who we definitely need to get into the habit of being Notts fans, but that will come with enticing their parents, the £1 price is little more than a token gesture when it costs mum or dad £24 to get in. The age range that Notts need to be focusing on most is those of 13-20 years old, as a broad example, who are just about getting old enough to pop along to Meadow Lane on their own. If, once you've persuaded them to turn up, they can then fall in love with an atmosphere of noise, celebrations, shouting, dodgy burgers and a little bit of swearing, then they might just keep coming back. Maybe they won't even boo because a product of the youth system passes the ball to someone else.
Obviously, this all has to be viewed in the context of our neighbours, who appear to have stumbled upon some kind of formula for success, at least until their owners decide that Billy Davies needs hearing aids and is placed on gardening leave in about three weeks' time. However, what is happening at the City Ground is something that we must view as an opportunity, rather than a threat. They may soon be able to offer Premiership football - at worst, top level Championship football - and a bigger, redder ground. We need to focus on offering the rest - considerably cheaper prices, young, hungry players and an emphasis on localism and the community - all things that might just work when they are intent on forcing their managers to sign Kuwaiti goalkeepers and are certain to increase prices at the first sign of real success. Give the people of Nottingham the option, I say, take on those who wish to be different and become part of a club that cares about them. Get this right and it might just give Notts the chance to blood the best thirteen and fourteen year olds at the club right now into an atmosphere that isn't quite so poisonous. Before that can happen, though, we have to do something make people believe it.
@NottsCountyMad