Our latest offering from the terraces comes from Notts County specialist Joseph Waplington - who believes the Magpies' play-off disappointment in League Two last season will fuel a concerted promotion push this time around.
Rate of Notts' progress?
Last season was one of over-achievement, with the new duo of Alan Hardy and
Kevin Nolan (owner and manager) both having their first full seasons at
Notts County. Consolidation seemed the goal before the season began, following a relegation scrap in 16/17, and an extremely modest summer transfer window.
Nonetheless, the loan signings of
Jorge Grant and
Ryan Yates from Nottingham Forest along with the rest of the squad, which had struggled the previous season, were transformed by Nolan with the team playing a very effective style of football. Notts found themselves top at Christmas, however the recalling of
Yates by Forest seemed to derail Notts title hopes.
After a few contrasting performances,
Notts eventually finished 5th and with a play-off place. Notts felt they bore the brunt of plenty of poor refereeing decisions, none more important than an awful decision to award a penalty in the away leg at Coventry that turned the tide of that tie, which seemed to be in Notts’ favour. A 5-2 aggregate defeat over the two legs suggests that, overall, they were beaten by the better team.
From player to manager
Nolan is relatively new to football management, with last season being his first full one as a manager. His illustrious career in the upper strata of English football, as a goalscoring midfielder, seems to have set him up well for a successful career in management, however. Nolan is clearly greatly influenced by the philosophy of his long-time manager
Sam Allardyce, adopting a pragmatic and effective brand of football, disregarding style or flair to try and achieve the best results possible with what he has at his disposal. This has led to accusations of Notts being a ‘long-ball team’ - and, while this certainly was true in some instances, the league table from last season shows that Nolan's methods were successful. He prefers an organised 4-4-2system, with his strikers winning knockdowns and bringing their wide men into play.
New blood
The impressive new signings made in this transfer window may allow Nolan to play a more expansive brand of football this season: with 2 pacey wingers, and the passing ability of
David Vaughan being key to this.
Kane Hemmings’ hold up ability means a direct style of football is still possible. This season Nolan has his own players, so it is a real test of his true credentials as a manager.
Signings:
Notts have done all their business early on in the window, leaving them as one of the favourites for promotion ahead of the 2018/19 season, with a lot of investment being put in. They fought off opposition for 21-goal
Kristian Dennis from relegated Chesterfield, as well as drafting in Hemmings from Oxford. The pair, if they can form a good partnership, should provide 35+ goals. Six-figure
Enzio Boldewijn, along with
Nathan Thomas offer pace and industry down the wings, which will be difficult for League Two full-backs to deal with.
Despite all the money spent, the stand out signing seems to be David Vaughan from Nottingham Forest, who, from every player to play 10+ games in the Championship last season, had the highest passing accuracy.
Tom Crawford,
Will Patching and
Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain seem to be mid-to-long-term investments, but all have pedigree and will certainly boost squad depth. The extension to the contract of marauding full-back
Dan Jones is also tidy business.
Should automatic promotion be the target?
Going into the 2018/19 season, Notts find themselves in a very strong position, their summer investment adding to a squad which already finished in the play-off positions last term. With a developing manager who now knows the division, and the backing of a chairman who has the greatest interests of the club at heart, Notts County should really mount a challenge for automatic promotion in a competition that appears to be wide open this season.
A strong strikeforce, and quality throughout midfield could make this a reality. Howevr, despite being the division's third best defence in terms of goals conceded last season, an ageing backline could prove a hindrance, while the lack of a clear number one between the sticks could derail a season which, on paper seems like it should be very good.
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