What Division do we 'belong' in?

[GEZMAN]

There's been lots of references across different threads to what our ?natural? position in the EFL should be, so apologies for starting a new one, but I?m intrigued by the idea of Notts fans thinking we should even have a ?natural? position. This is my 63rd season watching Notts, & in all of those years 2/3 of them have been spent in either L1 or L2 (or whatever the old style equivalent was). In that time we spent as much time in the top division as we did in the National League. So for me, based on my 63 years our ?average? status is somewhere between L1 & L2. We're a L2 club for a reason, we fell into the NL for a reason, ie we've been a poor club, poorly managed at both club & team level for the best part of that time. Some fans come across as ?entitled?, ie entitled to expect more, but on what basis?

[the_anticlough]

Whatever it might be, we have to realise how times have changed since we reached the top tier or mixed it up at the top end of Tier2.

For example, check out the number of 20,000+ gates and 10,000+ gates at L1 yesterday.

So many clubs have got their acts together over the last few decades - clubs that were our size or smaller pre-Premier League

- Bournemouth, Brentford, Fulham, Burnley, Millwall, Hull, Swansea and the list goes on

Things change but the obvious answer to the question is L1

[marky]

Until about 10 years ago I thought the Championship.
Now I think realistically it's League One as we've simply been out the second tier for 30 years and our current gates despite being truly fantastic would not be enough to compete at Championship level.
It certainly isn't the crap division we're in at the moment.

[Notts78]

Until about 10 years ago I thought the Championship.
Now I think realistically it's League One as we've simply been out the second tier for 30 years and our current gates despite being truly fantastic would not be enough to compete at Championship level.
It certainly isn't the crap division we're in at the moment.

The whole concept of gates and levels is mind boggling.

When will folk realise that gate sizes aren?t a prerequisite for success. But the squads assembled are and having management in place that aren?t idiots? Bournemouth are mixing comfortably in the Prem and their gates are L1 level? the reality is they are a well run club which has allowed them to build and build.

Notts don?t have the financial clout of a Wrexham but what we do have is a plan for sustained growth. I know some on here would rather X amount invested in the Nest or the pitch have been invested in players.. what the Nest gives us is another revenue source that could lead better players becoming affordable.

I don?t buy in to natural levels. Clubs deserve to be wherever they find themselves. Regardless of club size, stadium capacity or attendances.

[Glad2BeAPie]

The infrastructure is Championship standard sadly the squad is League 2. Unless there's changes in the summer

[jacobncfc]

The infrastructure is Championship standard sadly the squad is League 2. Unless there's changes in the summer

It may have been when it was built, or even 10-15 years ago, but our infrastructure isnt close to Championship standard any more.

I think if you did a big list based on all of the stuff that goes into this we would come out somewhere in the middle of the third tier.

[upthemaggies]

The answers you'll get to this question will always be swayed by who currently owns the club. If we'd had this thread at the time Munto took over or after Trew got us up, I'm pretty certain most would have said half a division to a full division higher than what they've said here. Probably similar or not far off after Hardy.Nolan kept us up and then started the following season so well. When we were last facing winding up orders, no doubt a fair few would have said we'd be lucky to ever get back into the Football League.

[marky]

The answers you'll get to this question will always be swayed by who currently owns the club. If we'd had this thread at the time Munto took over or after Trew got us up, I'm pretty certain most would have said half a division to a full division higher than what they've said here. Probably similar or not far off after Hardy.Nolan kept us up and then started the following season so well. When we were last facing winding up orders, no doubt a fair few would have said we'd be lucky to ever get back into the Football League.

During the first three years of Ray Trew's reign I honestly thought it was only a matter of time before Notts got to the Championship, however he lost interest from about February 2013 before the plot totally after Notts were relegated to League Two.
It's now over 30 years since Notts last played in the second tier and frankly other than the play off final in the first year, we haven't even been close to getting there so we really can't say we belong there but in terms of similar sized clubs to Notts, only Bristol Rovers have been absent for longer.
We need to get to League One ASAP and then consolidate before deciding where we go and what we do next.
League One is a really tough league, the standard is miles better than when Notts last played in it and we would find it tough to do well.

[jacobncfc]

The answers you'll get to this question will always be swayed by who currently owns the club. If we'd had this thread at the time Munto took over or after Trew got us up, I'm pretty certain most would have said half a division to a full division higher than what they've said here. Probably similar or not far off after Hardy.Nolan kept us up and then started the following season so well. When we were last facing winding up orders, no doubt a fair few would have said we'd be lucky to ever get back into the Football League.

It?s possibly different for people who can remember further back, but Ive been going for 25 years near enough now and I think my answer to this would always have been the same. In that time football crowds have risen across the board, but ours have always been League One kind of level relative to the time, as have our ground/facilities, no matter what league we?ve been in. It seems a very obvious ?natural level? for us.

[Bohinen]

Historically, we belong in the second tier, but I understand younger fans will not recognise this as our natural level. Under our current manager, 1) League 2 is the best we can hope for, and 2) with our current owners, probably League 1 is their ceiling, but see point 1.

Close, but we just scrape in

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