Here we go again

Last updated : 04 August 2006 By Rob Davies
After a summer where all English football fans were left disappointed by events in Germany, Notts fans again prepare for the rough and tumble of League Two with a degree of optimism.

After one of the busiest summers on record at Meadow Lane, the club find itself not only with a new manager, but fourteen new players, a new Chairman and, soon, a new majority shareholder.

While a summer of upheaval was to be expected, some of the changes both on and off the field have taken supporters hugely by surprise.

No longer does the club have a Youth Academy. Scrapped, due to a lack of funding.

Messiah! Messiah!
And while many of the staff behind the scenes have found themselves taken off the payroll, the club is now on the best footing financially it has been on since emerging from administration in 2003.

The appointment of Steve Thompson may have been a largely unpopular one with Notts fans, but even the harshest Magpie has been impressed with the speed with which he has assembled his all-new squad.

The new bolstered budget - and the public admission that Thompson had approached these players while they were employed elsewhere - has allowed the new Notts boss to fend off other clubs to sign the likes of Alan White, Andy Parkinson and Junior Mendes.

It is an all-new squad that has again led Notts fans to believe that they have a team capable of challenging at the right end of the League Two table.

Alongside stalwarts from the last campaign - David Pipe, Mike Edwards and Kevin Pilkington - the new arrivals have blended in promisingly over recent pre-season fixtures, with Tuesday night's 0-0 draw with a full-strength Sheffield United further wetting fans appetite for the season ahead.

Despite the positive approach to the season ahead, Notts have yet to win a game under the new management team of Thompson and John Gannon. Drawing four and losing three of the pre-season fixtures.

But the performances against higher league opposition in the games against the Blades, Doncaster Rovers and Coventry City have given supporters enough belief that they have a team capable of getting off to winning start tomorrow against another all-new side, Lincoln City.

After four unsuccessful playoff campaigns in a row, the Imps mutually parted company with manager Keith Alexander this summer, who promptly took over the hotseat at Peterborough Utd.

John Schofield - who had been working as first-team coach at Sincil Bank - was a popular choice as replacement, with John Deehan also arriving as Director of Football.

Schofield, like Thompson, has bought in a host of players over the summer, as the Imps look to change their approach after coming so close to promotion in previous years.

Remember him?
Mark Stallard will be the most familiar face to Notts fans, having signed a two-year deal last month. The ever-popular striker didn't enjoy his spell with Shrewsbury Town and is desperate to prove that he still has what it takes to score goals at this level, following a series of injury problems.

Stallard may start in a three-man attack alongside another new signing, Jamie Forrester, whose loan move was made into a permanent deal over the summer, and former Hucknall marksman Danny Bacon, who has now recovered from the broken leg that made him miss most of the last campaign.

Highly-rated young midfielders Ryan Amoo and Ryan Semple have also arrived under Schofield, as well as veteran centre back Adie Moses.

Significantly though, the Imps have lost a number of players who were key to their promotion pushes in recent years.

Simon Yeo has opted to leave and is expected to play under Alexander at Peterborough, should the two clubs sort-out a lengthy squabble over the deal. Fellow striker Gary Birch has also left Sincil Bank, after turning down the offer of a fresh deal.

Highly-rated centre backs Jamie McCombe and Gareth McAuley - both of whom were central to Alexander's infamous long ball game - have also moved-on, suggesting that the Imps could be in for a season of transition this time around.

Thompson will be up against his former employers in his first competitive game as Magpies No.1. The County boss - who lives in Lincoln - has no injury worries over his first-team players going into the game.

Teenage centre backs Tommy Hannigan and Bobby Wilson are out, but Gary Silk and Matt Somner have recovered from the knocks that kept them out of the friendly on Tuesday evening.

Silk is expected to replace Dan Gleeson at right back, while Somner is fighting it out with Tom Curtis for the position of the holding midfielder, alongside loanee Ian Ross.

Thompson has to choose two from Jason Lee, Lawrie Dudfield, Junior Mendes and Tcham N'Toya in attack, with the latter two impressing as substitutes in mid-week.

At least eight players are expected to make their full Notts debuts.

Notts (possible): Pilkington; Silk, White, Edwards, McCann; Pipe, Curtis, Ross, Parkinson; Lee, Dudfield.

Subs (from): Deeney, Gleeson, Hunt, Somner, Martin, Needham, Frost, Sheridan, Mendes, N'Toya.



For a full match report, stay tuned to NCM over the weekend.