Relegation or dragging ourselves out of this?

[eyepie]

50 / 50

[LaxtonLad]

As soon as we hit bottom spot the heart went out of the players and the manager (whoever it was) saw it but wasn't up to the job of recovery. None of our three managers were up to the job of instilling steely determination to win without mercy, all three thought that whatever they did didn't matter, Notts won't get relegated, we're too good - Macclesfield? Morecambe? Cambridge? HA! Far too late it dawned on AH that owning a football club doesn't automatically give you knowledge of how to run one. Being able to spot ability in industry and promote it is a world away from the loss making joys of being able to say "This is MY club, I own it and can do what I want with it".

Hope is more cruel than reality. Regretably, I have to say, in my opinion, we won't escape this time. Relegation, by two points.

[Dunce]

Ive tried to stay positive. But the lack of goals/chances is ultimately going to kill us. Its a shame really because the two teams we are going head to head with are both very poor and should be there for the taking. We'll need a win against Swindon but will only manage a 0-0 draw. Relegated.

[Frigiliana Pie 1]

Relegation. Apart from the odd good result here and there, there’s no sign of performances improving on a consistent basis and for weeks now we’ve been a few points short of a position of safety. I just can’t see us closing that gap.

[KintoreMagpie]

I've thought the same about luck. Those 3 or 4 months at the start of last season, absolutely everything went our way. We'd play pretty averagely and win 2-0. Remember when we played Lincoln at home? They looked by far the better team until we got lucky with a red card. We went on to win 4-1. Apart from the playoffs, in which we were ridiculously unlucky, things seemed to go for us pretty much all season. Even the last game against Luton was bizarre. They battered us and it somehow finished 0-0.

This season has been the complete opposite. Nothing seems to fall for us. We could play brilliantly and still not win. In fact, in what I think were our 3 best performances this season - Bury at home, MKD away, and Stags at home - we've only managed to pick up 4 points and score 3 goals.

You do make your own luck, of course. And we absolutely deserve to be bottom of the football league.

Footballing gods are against us? Probably not but I will throw my pebble into the water by doubling my charity contribution of £50 to the Children of Yemen if Notts stay up.

[irishpete]

When you can't up the ante is 6 pointers @ home,knowing you will close the gap or catch up & only win 4 out of 19 games,how the fcuk do you expect Ardley to now win 4/5 out of 7?

[Big_Bad_Bob]

It's now 6 hours of football at the Lane without scoring a goal, the last being Hemmings' rebound effort in the 10th minute of the 4-1 humiliation by Newport.

Since then we've suffered successive 0-0 draws against Port Vale and Morecambe, followed by Saturday's kick in the teeth.

Must be close to some sort of record?

Suffice to say, we can't create diddly squat when teams are set up to defend. After spending almost the entire second half camped on the edge of the Exeter box, it's remarkable that the one decent chance was the brilliant tip over from Toots' shot.

A part of me still hopes that we might scrabble another couple of draws at the Lane, and by some miracle fashion a couple of away wins by exploiting the additional space that may be available in behind the opposition, whilst Yeovil and Macc have such dismal ends to the season that 9 or 10 points might just do us.

But realistically I just can't see it. We're down and we deserve to be.

[MagpieMike]

Footballing gods are against us? Probably not but I will throw my pebble into the water by doubling my charity contribution of £50 to the Children of Yemen if Notts stay up.

I've (almost) given up hope. But this is Notts. We've been here before, far too many times. I would love us to stay up. As others have said in this thread, we haven't had much luck. A couple of wins would change everything, including the players confidence. Just need something to go for us, and the players to turn up.

How they react to Saturday will be telling. They can either feel sorry for themselves, in which case we will probably keep losing, or they can get angry (as they should), and come out fighting. 3 points on Saturady would make a massive difference. COYP.

[60YearsAPie]

“It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over” is a thread I started today about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Is it unrealistic to think we can win 4 of our last 7 games?

Based on the last 39 games, definitely and even if we did it might not be good enough with Macclesfield having a game in hand.

I am prepared for the worst but hope for the best.

[nw6pie]

Every time we take a step forward, we then take two steps back. After the Mansfield game I was genuinely finding it hard to see us losing another game. Yet we have had one decent performance since then. There just isn’t that collective will to win that you need in a dog fight, so you’ve got to say relegation.

I can handle the relegation, but it’s the uncertainty over the future of the club that is more concerning. I do find myself imagining an AFC Notts County playing at Basford United in my worst nightmares.