Trent Bridge Cricket Ground was the home of the Magpies from the 1883/84 season. The problem with this venue was that Notts had to play their home games elsewhere at the beginning and end of each season, when Trent Bridge was needed for cricket.
In 1902 they were asked by the Football League to find a ground where they could play all their home matches each season. It was not until they were given notice by Trent Bridge in 1908 that the hunt for their own ground started in earnest. Their lease ran out in 1910 and a new ground had to be found before the start of the 1910/11 season.
Initially, the directors favoured a piece of land off Loughborough Road in West Bridgford, which later became the Sir Julien Cahn Memorial Ground. They eventually decided on a piece of Corporation waste land that lay off London Road between Meadow Lane and the Cattle Market, which served as a snow-tip in wintry weather.
1910 found Notts County, like most years before and since, in financial difficulties. They had been drawn at home against Bradford City in the FA Cup, the tie to be played on Saturday 15th January. When City offered the Magpies a minimum of £1,000 plus 50% of receipts over £2,000 to change the venue from Trent Bridge to Valley Parade, the directors readily agreed. This decision did not go down too well with the supporters but was understandable with the ground move only a few months away.
The week before the Bradford game Notts had beaten Forest 4-1 and following a 3-0 win away to Sunderland the week after the cup game, which Bradford had won 4-2, County found themselves top of Division 1. Centre-forward Jimmy Cantrell had scored 20 goals at this stage.
The Magpies won their next match but then dropped out of contention by winning only one of their last twelve games, to finish 9th. Cantrell missed the majority of these matches and only scored another two goals. The final fixture of the season and their last game at Trent Bridge, was against the eventual champions, Aston Villa. In front of 11,000 fans Notts lost 2-3.
Following the final game of the 1909/10 season, adverts appeared in the local press in May 1910 for contractors to erect the stands and fencing at the new ground on Meadow Lane.
Nottingham Evening Post, 6th May 1910: “TO CONTRACTORS AND OTHERS - THE DIRECTORS of the Notts County Football Club require TENDERS for the ERECTION of about 340 Lineal Yards of FENCING to their new ground in Meadow Lane.”
Nottingham Evening Post, 18th May 1910: “TO BUILDERS, CONTRACTORS, AND OTHERS – THE DIRECTORS of the Notts County Football Club require TENDERS for the ERECTION of STAND, &c, in Meadow Lane.”
The directors had considered all the tenders by 30th May and they hoped to commence building operations in early June and have the ground finished by the middle of August. That meant the club expected to complete the ground in two and a half months, a couple of weeks before the opening home league game of the 1910/11 season, on Saturday 3rd September against, who else but Forest.
(to be continued on this thread)
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