Awful

[navypie]

I experienced this last season when we visited Reading, the Fawaz out brigade waving their out flags were caught up rows with other Forest supporters, and 2 so called brothers fighting each other in the row in front of me, the atmosphere was rancid the minute we walked in, horrible day it was.
However, at least you guys have something to play for.

And who could ever forget the shocking piegate scenes.

[jackal2]

No doubt we've made massive progress since Hardy and Nolan have arrived, but the worry thing is we seem to now be going backwards. Yes, we're in the playoffs, but the way we've been playing since Christmas would suggest it's a false position, made possible only because of a purple patch during the first three months of the season. If we start next season the way we've ended this one, we'll be kicking around mid-table - I doubt fans will accept that after this season.

I'm not confident about our chances in the playoffs. If we have one of those days when we just don't turn up, we'll be out of sight by the end of the second leg. Equally, I don't think we'll be set up to put daylight between us and the opposition if we find ourselves in a winning position - we'll end up dropping deep and conceding late instead.

I just can't understand why we performed so poorly yesterday. It was a massive game for the club, and a game we should have won. But like Chesterfield and Barnet away, we just rolled over to one of the worst teams in the football league. Why does this keep happening? Why don't we go for it from the whistle?

Big summer coming up. Fans will expect at least the same as this season in terms of a league finish. If we recruit decent, young, hungry players to fill the gaps, then why not. If we start the season with Stead as our main striker and Smith on the bench, then it looks unlikely.

I think our exceptional form at the start of the season was a bit misleading, and since then we have seen a levelling off, but the table after 46 games will be a reflection of the whole season and it will tell us we're at least 10 places higher than we were last season, so I don't think that can be construed in any way as going backwards.

In every other respect though, I agree with your post. If we aren't successful in the play-offs this time, then fans will expect at least another play-off place next season, otherwise we obviously will be going backwards. Overall I think the squad this season has done a good job, but there are weaknesses which we should be looking to address early this summer, predominantly in central defence and up front. We will also need a couple more decent wide players assuming Jorge Grant goes back. As I've said in another post, I hope we have already scouted and identified the players we need, and that we get our business concluded before pre-season. We won't make progress if we again end up signing a bunch of triallists and mythical "ones for the future" in the final two weeks of pre-season.

I too suspect we might not win the play-offs in the end, because of the weaknesses still evident in the team, but obviously we should aim to win. There's no point looking a gift horse in the mouth. If we do get promoted, then Notts fans will need to be very realistic that next season could be a tough one, but with the right signings, tolerance from the supporters and a bit of luck we could do OK. I thought Blackpool would really struggle this season given that they only finished 7th in league two last year and have endured absolute turmoil behind the scenes, but they've done remarkably well to finish mid-table, due I'm sure to excellent management by Gary Bowyer (ironically enough, the man I would have chosen last winter to manage Notts, but I'm certainly not complaining about the job Kevin Nolan has done so far).