It's time to come together

Just how has it come to this? Top in September, playoffs in January and yet, with a single game to spare, Notts lie in 21st position in League Two, just two points clear of the relegation zone.

To coin an over-used phrase: It's squeeky bum time.

A season that looked to meandering to a dull, meaningless conclusion has suddenly become one that could become a defining one in the history of Notts County FC.

Isn't that worth fighting for?

Relegation has been a mild irritation for the past two months or so, but now it is a distinct possibility. The Oldest Football League Club? No longer, if results don't go our way tomorrow.

But all questions of how we got here, of why we're in this position, should be put on hold for one afternoon.

Because, as fans, it is our duty to give the players one last push. Most of them won't have ever played in-front of the sort of crowd that is expected at Meadow Lane tomorrow.

Positivity from the stands may just help those out on the pitch, who need to produce the game of their lives.

Of course, if Oxford lose at home to promotion-chasing Leyton Orient, all the supporters who travelled to Meadow Lane looking for the sob story to end all sob story's will go home disappointed, regardless of the score.

Likewise, 22nd-placed Stockport County have the task of trying to bring Champions-elect Carlise Utd back down to Earth, in order to preserve their league status.

But Notts can't afford to rely on others. After failing to see-off mediocre opposition - Macclesfield and Rochdale - in their previous two home games, Gudjon Thordarson's side surely won't squander their third and final opportunity to earn their place in League Two for the upcoming campaign.

Heroes

Regardless of the other seven teams - of which Bury are one - who can join Rushden & Diamonds in the Conference next season, Notts must get their own house in order and produce a display that has eluded them at home since the 18th of January.

Then, a Eugene Dadi-inspired Magpies comfortably saw-off Shrewsbury Town 2-1 in a match where Notts' dominance was not reflected in the eventual scoreline.

Ironically, Dadi may make a shock return to the starting line-up tomorrow for what will be his last game as a Notts County player.

How ironic, also, that a couple of goals against Bury will not only mean Dadi will be forgiven for what has been - his debut apart - a hugely wasteful loan spell, but also integrate him into Magpies' folklore.

Eugene Dadi - Notts County hero? It could happen.

But this is not an opportunity exclusive to Dadi. This is a chance given to all the Magpies players who pull on the world-famous Black & White stripes tomorrow.

Win, and all is forgiven - for the short-term at least. Lose and those Xl players, rightly or wrongly, will be forever remembered as the worst Notts County team in its 144-year history.

No pressure, then.

Legend.

While people have compared tomorrow's game to that of the 2-1 victory over Huddersfield Town in 2002 - a match that completed Notts' remarkable escape from the drop to League Two - a fairer comparison of the potential atmosphere could well come by looking at a match against Luton Town in September 2003.

Then, Notts fans faced the very real possibility that the game they were watching would be the last they would ever see from a Notts County team.

Whilst this cannot be said of tomorrow afternoon, a look at some of the club's who have plunged into the Conference in recent years would suggest that it is a far from easy task to take the leap-back into the Football League.

And that's without even taking into account the almighty financial restructuring the club would have to do, just as - after four years of off-the-field struggle - the board had finally got the books in order.

And what of the scenes before, during and after that Luton game. What of Haydn Green, who ploughed £3.2m of his own money into the club on the back of such emotional scenes - on the back of such support?

Did they do this to save a non-league club? Did we do this to see us in the Conference in two seasons?

It mustn't happen. It cannot happen. And as fans, we cannot let it happen. These players have to give their all, but so do we.

But to put it better than I ever could, here was a post on the NCM Messageboard, made earlier this week, telling you just why we must give the lads our backing this weekend.

Enjoy.

'I was born a Notts fan, and can truly appreciate the notion of 'bleeding black and white.' I have watched dreadful season after dreadful season getting genuinely worse and worse since 98/99. (How many of us who went to richos testimonial and thought nostalgically of players that were in their playing days regarded as awful?)

'In the week I find myself embarrisingly defending Notts to those who sneer. I hang my head when I talk to those knowledgeble of the dregs of the football league. And here we are, easily one match from dropping out of the league we partly founded, and I will undoubtly be defending my team again to football followers, teaching some of them the game as I go along.

'I wake up every morning of a matchday, and I never go back to bed from that point. I am up because my team is playing in a match, probably going to get beaten, probably going to anger me, and probably going to waste me more money. But what they never do, not once in my life have they wasted my time. Players are pawns, only a select few would I want to shake their hand.I do not cheer every week for Pilkington, Dadi, Baudet, O'callaghan et al because these are people I want to see winning. I cheer these people on because they are for those 90 minutes representing my club. I cheer the black and white stripes, I cheer the 2 magpies on their chest.

'It is awful, we all know how awful it is. BUT, it is those individuals who are collectively awful, it is not Notts County Football Club who is awful. When priests rape children, it is they who should be disgraced, not the Church. When money grabing good-for-nothing footballing folk rape me and you of our club, it is they who should be disgraced, not those two magpies, not that 144 years of heritage.

'My feelings of Kim, are not of anger or disappointment, but of worry. I fear that there are people at the club who have stolen the club from your heart. Results are bad, yes, but I don't think this is what is at the heart of the discontent. No desire, managers who cannot manage and players who will not play are as far as I am concerned at the root of this decay.

'On Saturday, I will wake up in the morning and feel the same excitement as I always do. It matters not that we are playing for the worst 'achievement' imaginable. What matters is that my team will be playing football and that magic won't be taken away from me whilst Notts County are around.

'Thanks for reading my rant, and I hope everyone will share my sentiments. I must be taken from Notts County before Notts County is taken from me.'

This is just one of many superb and evocative posts made this week. With the club at it's lowest ebb, it has brought out the best in so many supporters.

Now, for 90 minutes we must carry this support through to the end. We must give our vocal support, regardless of the result on-the-field and regardless of the scores at Oxford and Stockport.

Most importantly, we must do our bit to ensure that, come 5pm, Notts County are still the World's oldest Football League Club.