2 new inbounds this week?

Grimsby and Leyton Orient have also been in the top division and dropped to non-league.

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Originally Posted by tied_up_in_notts

Grimsby and Leyton Orient have also been in the top division and dropped to non-league.

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we are staying up...

New sign to replace the Oldest League club one, which needs changing after all these years, and a freshen up. "WE'VE BEEN IN ALL 5 DIVISIONS. HAVE YOU?" Not even the likes of Liverpool can claim that title.

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Originally Posted by ForeignLegion

New sign to replace the Oldest League club one, which needs changing after all these years, and a freshen up. "WE'VE BEEN IN ALL 5 DIVISIONS. HAVE YOU?" Not even the likes of Liverpool can claim that title.

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You just created a great quiz question (possibly). Which Notts County Manager has managed 2 football clubs which have been in the top 5 divisions.

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Originally Posted by Big Bob

If the money is right they'll play for anyone

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Of course they will if nobody else wants them?

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Originally Posted by queenslandpie

You just created a great quiz question (possibly). Which Notts County Manager has managed 2 football clubs which have been in the top 5 divisions.

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Russell Slade?

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Originally Posted by ForeignLegion

New sign to replace the Oldest League club one, which needs changing after all these years, and a freshen up. "WE'VE BEEN IN ALL 5 DIVISIONS. HAVE YOU?" Not even the likes of Liverpool can claim that title.

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If the National League is to be considered League 5 history has shown than whenever there is a new division we've been fairly quick to visit it so we are due another drop. Pity Everton who've only briefly flirted with being out of the top flight all their existence. Boring.

I'm guessing that the "2 or 3 players have been offered deals and have gone away to think about it" have not come back

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Originally Posted by nw6pie

The home form has been key every time we've performed a great escape. Under Nolan we only lost once at home after he joined in 2017 (and that was against champions-elect Portsmouth); under Derry in 2013-2014 we won our final five home games of the season (and this was a team that had been thumped 5-1 at home by Walsall in January); and in the original great escape season of 2001-2002, we again won our last five home games in a row.

What's noticeable in that last fantastic run is that we also started keeping more clean sheets (6 in the last 10 games) and also had some great performances away from home (4-0 at Bury; 1-0 at Peterborough; 2-2 against promotion-bound Brighton, from 2-0 down, thanks to Marcel Cas' great volley).

In 2007-2008, when we finished 21st, we won our last two home games 1-0 (including that Richard Butcher goal against Wycombe), but again got better at keeping clean sheets (again, 6 in the last 10 games).

The luckiest escape was most definitely in 2005-2006, when we won only 1 of our last 16 games (that stat sounds familiar) and scraped a 2-2 draw with Bury on the final day of the season.

What's interesting (to me at least) is how many of the League 2 sides in that 2006 season are either no longer in the league or have been relegated and bounced back - two-thirds (16 out of the 24). Carlisle, Bury, Northampton and Notts are the only ones still in L2, albeit having spent some time in L1.

On the plus side, 7 teams who subsequently went down and returned: Lincoln City, Bristol Rovers, Mansfield, Grimsby Town, Macclesfield Town, Cheltenham Town, Oxford United. If we get relegated, I think we will share a unique "honour" with Oxford and Luton: the only winners of a major trophy to be relegated from the Football League (us the FA Cup, the other two the League Cup).

On the down side, these teams were subsequently relegated and have yet to resurface: Torquay (currently top of National League South); Wrexham (National League); Stockport County (National League North); Darlington FC (National League North); Chester City (National League North); Rushden & Diamonds (dissolved); Boston United (National League North); Leyton Orient (currently top of National League) and Barnet (National League). (Tranmere also get relegated, in 2015, and came back this season.)

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An excellent post. My concern is if we were to get relegated it would be a pivotal moment in the clubs history. It could be a positive in that we could start again from scratch and re-build and come back stronger like Bristol Rovers, Oxford United and Luton Town. Or the negative is that we stay in there for a number of years (Wrexham) or even drop down further and wither away. I guess it's how the club approach the future.

The last time we had a season as pivotal as this one could be if we do get relegated was in 1994/95 when we dropped from the 2nd tier to the 3rd tier. That's the line between the lower leagues and the higher leagues. It will be 24 years at the end of the season in which we last played in the 2nd tier which is a generation ago.

I only hope that if we were to be relegated out of the football league we don't end up on a path where it will be a generation that passes since we went out of the football league. I do believe the club is strong in the sense that even in the 5th tier there would be a core of 3,500 - 4,000 which would make us a very heavily supported and big club at that level. In a sense that additional income means we should be able to build a competitive squad. It's not that simple though as big clubs like Leeds, Portsmouth, Sunderland and others have found out when they've dropped into the lower leagues. You then become the team everyone wants to beat.

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Originally Posted by MAD_MAGPIE

An excellent post. My concern is if we were to get relegated it would be a pivotal moment in the clubs history. It could be a positive in that we could start again from scratch and re-build and come back stronger like Bristol Rovers, Oxford United and Luton Town. Or the negative is that we stay in there for a number of years (Wrexham) or even drop down further and wither away. I guess it's how the club approach the future.

The last time we had a season as pivotal as this one could be if we do get relegated was in 1994/95 when we dropped from the 2nd tier to the 3rd tier. That's the line between the lower leagues and the higher leagues. It will be 24 years at the end of the season in which we last played in the 2nd tier which is a generation ago.

I only hope that if we were to be relegated out of the football league we don't end up on a path where it will be a generation that passes since we went out of the football league. I do believe the club is strong in the sense that even in the 5th tier there would be a core of 3,500 - 4,000 which would make us a very heavily supported and big club at that level. In a sense that additional income means we should be able to build a competitive squad. It's not that simple though as big clubs like Leeds, Portsmouth, Sunderland and others have found out when they've dropped into the lower leagues. You then become the team everyone wants to beat.

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On the Totally Football League podcast this week, Caroline Barker was trying not to get too excited by the prospect of having Notts in the National League - in case it didn’t eventually happen. It would be huge for non-league football if we went down, but let’s hope we deny them the pleasure. Still, if it does happen, at least we have the example of our neighbours and their “On loan to...” T-shirts when they first dropped into League 1 to help us avoid making stupid statements.

As for the 24 years in the lower leagues, that is depressing - especially as you can only call about 5 of the subsequent seasons enjoyable. I feel for those supporters who missed out on seeing Notts under Sir Jimmy or Warnock.