Hemmings off to Dundee

[legs77]

That is correct Tsanho along with Rose clearly our best player.

I knew he would go and to be fair I cant blame the club his wages are simply too high for L2 nevermind NL.

If someone was able to match Dennis/Enzio wages they will be gone too I think we all know costs have to be cut.

Campbell might get his chance tomorrow to see if he can step up if Tyson/Dennis are not fit enough to start.

[drillerpie]

Is it only Notts fans who are happy when their best striker is sold?

Can't wait to see the reaction when Hemmings replacement is announced.

His replacement will almost certainly be less well known but hopefully will affect the game a bit more.

I never saw this great lower league striker in Hemmings. I never even really saw him closing people down, apart from jogging or half sprinting in a "look at me I'm pressing" kind of way, with no danger of ever intercepting or forcing an error.

His goal returns remind me of an Italian football saying, which is that you don't count goals, you weigh them (heavy goal means important goal in Italian).

He might score 15 in a season but he never gives the impression of being a talisman who'll up his game at crucial moments to get the last minute goal that saves a point or wins all three. In fact from what I saw of him he's more likely to miss a last minute sitter or make completely the wrong run.

Speaking of talismen he doesn't give you the outlet that another lower league striker did (Stallard) by holding the ball up, fighting with defenders to gain territory and get the team up the pitch, allowing you to claw your way back into games by sheer force of personality. He mostly stayed on the periphery playing misplaced one-twos in front of the defenders.

The best compliment I can give Hemmings is that he was a bit better than a past it Jon Stead.

As I said, good look to the lad but if we use his wages wisely we're better off without him.

[slack_pie]

His replacement will almost certainly be less well known but hopefully will affect the game a bit more.

I never saw this great lower league striker in Hemmings. I never even really saw him closing people down, apart from jogging or half sprinting in a "look at me I'm pressing" kind of way, with no danger of ever intercepting or forcing an error.

His goal returns remind me of an Italian football saying, which is that you don't count goals, you weigh them (heavy goal means important goal in Italian).

He might score 15 in a season but he never gives the impression of being a talisman who'll up his game at crucial moments to get the last minute goal that saves a point or wins all three. In fact from what I saw of him he's more likely to miss a last minute sitter or make completely the wrong run.

Speaking of talismen he doesn't give you the outlet that another lower league striker did (Stallard) by holding the ball up, fighting with defenders to gain territory and get the team up the pitch, allowing you to claw your way back into games by sheer force of personality. He mostly stayed on the periphery playing misplaced one-twos in front of the defenders.

The best compliment I can give Hemmings is that he was a bit better than a past it Jon Stead.

As I said, good look to the lad but if we use his wages wisely we're better off without him.

Perfectly summed up my opinion of Hemmings too.

The problem with players like Dennis, Hemmings and Enzio is that they are too nice to play against. Can you imagine an opposition CB dreading facing them, or coming off the pitch battered and bruised after marking them? I want us to sign players who are up for it physically and mentally, not the type that drift around the pitch with a sulky look on their faces.

We've already mentioned it, but someone like Matt Rhead would have been perfect. Can you imagine playing against him? It would be horrible, whether he scores or not. No defender would look forward to facing him. That's what we need.

[Gubbie]

I really want Dennis to have a run of games what i saw of him early last season he put a lot of work in and made the runs into chanels and can obviously score goals.

[jackal2]

Is it only Notts fans who are happy when their best striker is sold?

Can't wait to see the reaction when Hemmings replacement is announced.

I don't think it's a case of being 'happy', but perhaps being 'realistic'.

I would hope, after our third dance with death in the last 15 years, that many fans now realise we have to operate in a different budget environment than we did previously, and Hemmings and certain others are remnants of the previous era in terms of the wages we paid them.

I would imagine Notts fans might be underwhelmed by the names of some of our future signings compared with those that went before, but that doesn't matter if the new players turn out to be better value. Accrington Stanley don't make big name or big wage signings and they're now operating in League One.

Someone criticised me once for saying we should aspire to the business models of Accrington and Burton, because they said Notts County was a much bigger club. That may be true in terms of history and past reputation and perhaps even budget capacity, but right now we're much smaller than them in terms of league position and achievement.

[TSANHO]

His replacement will almost certainly be less well known but hopefully will affect the game a bit more.

I never saw this great lower league striker in Hemmings. I never even really saw him closing people down, apart from jogging or half sprinting in a "look at me I'm pressing" kind of way, with no danger of ever intercepting or forcing an error.

His goal returns remind me of an Italian football saying, which is that you don't count goals, you weigh them (heavy goal means important goal in Italian).

He might score 15 in a season but he never gives the impression of being a talisman who'll up his game at crucial moments to get the last minute goal that saves a point or wins all three. In fact from what I saw of him he's more likely to miss a last minute sitter or make completely the wrong run.

Speaking of talismen he doesn't give you the outlet that another lower league striker did (Stallard) by holding the ball up, fighting with defenders to gain territory and get the team up the pitch, allowing you to claw your way back into games by sheer force of personality. He mostly stayed on the periphery playing misplaced one-twos in front of the defenders.

The best compliment I can give Hemmings is that he was a bit better than a past it Jon Stead.

As I said, good look to the lad but if we use his wages wisely we're better off without him.

Good post but I disagree on most of it 😂

I haven't looked over the stats but I suspect that Hemmings provided more than his fair share of 'heavy goals' last season. I know we got relegated but it'd be interesting to see how far adrift we would have been without him and his goals.

No-one liked Stallard more than me but its unfair (I understand it was only a comparison) to suggest Hemmings didn't do as much because Stallard was in a team with players, especially attackers/midfielders who could supply him and play to his strengths....Hemmings has had the best part of naff all all year and still ended up with a decent return.

Strikers are unfortunately, for the most part, only as good as the sum of what is going on behind them....they can't be the supplier and finisher all the time. I think Hemmings has great positional sense, he's pretty much always where he should be but those charged with feeding him have been totally inept, and in that regard is where Ardley has to accept some criticism.

Whoever we find won't be as good as Hemmings in my opinion, I understand we need to release some wages to get a big lump in but our supporters apparent glee in seeing him leave seems bizarre to me. Alongside a half decent Ameobi type player Hemmings would bang in 25+ goals a year.

[TSANHO]

I don't think it's a case of being 'happy', but perhaps being 'realistic'.

I would hope, after our third dance with death in the last 15 years, that many fans now realise we have to operate in a different budget environment than we did previously, and Hemmings and certain others are remnants of the previous era in terms of the wages we paid them.

I would imagine Notts fans might be underwhelmed by the names of some of our future signings compared with those that went before, but that doesn't matter if the new players turn out to be better value. Accrington Stanley don't make big name or big wage signings and they're now operating in League One.

Someone criticised me once for saying we should aspire to the business models of Accrington and Burton, because they said Notts County was a much bigger club. That may be true in terms of history and past reputation and perhaps even budget capacity, but right now we're much smaller than them in terms of league position and achievement.

I agree totally with your views about Burton and Accrington, they are an example to all clubs our size and below on what can be achieved. What can be noted about those two clubs is the stability they have shown with their managers.

You do appear more realistic than most on here but I have seen no end of posts on social media (not always the best indicator of rational minds) that have been delighted to see the back of Hemmings. I'm not saying we don't need other options up front, just that Hemmings is no where near as poor as what people are thinking...and we will notice that when he replacement comes in.

Every good striker I can remember watching at Notts has had a partner who makes him look even better, Hemmings had Jon Stead.

How many goals would Lee Hughes have got in last year's side?

[bouncingoffthewalls]

I've just had a quick look at the stats...


Of his 14 goals (3 of which were from the spot) 11 of those either put us in front or drew us level at that point in the game.

[i961pie]

His replacement will almost certainly be less well known but hopefully will affect the game a bit more.

I never saw this great lower league striker in Hemmings. I never even really saw him closing people down, apart from jogging or half sprinting in a "look at me I'm pressing" kind of way, with no danger of ever intercepting or forcing an error.

His goal returns remind me of an Italian football saying, which is that you don't count goals, you weigh them (heavy goal means important goal in Italian).

He might score 15 in a season but he never gives the impression of being a talisman who'll up his game at crucial moments to get the last minute goal that saves a point or wins all three. In fact from what I saw of him he's more likely to miss a last minute sitter or make completely the wrong run.

Speaking of talismen he doesn't give you the outlet that another lower league striker did (Stallard) by holding the ball up, fighting with defenders to gain territory and get the team up the pitch, allowing you to claw your way back into games by sheer force of personality. He mostly stayed on the periphery playing misplaced one-twos in front of the defenders.

The best compliment I can give Hemmings is that he was a bit better than a past it Jon Stead.

As I said, good look to the lad but if we use his wages wisely we're better off without him.

He isn't a talisman like Stallard who can hold the ball up but a player who would feed off one. Playing to his strengths would imo bring the best out of him, but we will never know now. Let us hope is replacement gets those 15 goals+ that we desperately need.

[jackal2]

Every good striker I can remember watching at Notts has had a partner who makes him look even better, Hemmings had Jon Stead.

Absolutely. Lee Hughes benefitted massively from the industry and tenacity of Luke Rodgers. Gary Jones wasn't anything like the same player after Sean Farrell got badly injured, Danny Allsop was an underrated foil for Mark Stallard, and Gary Lund's guile benefitted various strike partners he played alongside, including Gary McSwegan.

I think we really were squeezing the last drops out of Jon Stead's career last season but I wouldn't dispute that he did offer support to Hemmings, either by setting him up or occupying defenders. With Hemmings gone we need to invest in a proper target man who could bring Kristian Dennis back to life. Dennis is a goal poacher with a record of getting goals in this league, but he just didn't fire alongside Hemmings or Stead because neither were proper target men. I'm convinced Dennis is a confidence player who can rediscover his true form if we find him the right strike partner, and given that he's another high earner we need to be getting that value out of him. He's too expensive to be used as a bit part player.