Notts County - The oldest professional club in England

Virtually unknown manager, Chris Ball, was today hired as Notts County manager.

Magpies fans are understandably concerned at such a strange appointment, with one fan quoted outside Meadow Lane this afternoon saying "what on earth is Ray Trew playing at with this guy...as if things haven't been bad enough with our demise as a football club over the past 20 years, now it seems we are gearing up for non league football next year as relegation is surely nailed on with such an inexperienced manager in charge".

So it seems that Chris Ball is massively up against it here. Taking over the oldest professional football club in England, Chris will have a lot of expectation on his shoulders. Following relegation from League One 2 seasons ago, followed up by a disappointing 17th place finish last year, the club are predicted to finish 12th in this year's League Two campaign but Chris will be setting his sights as high as possible to win over the dubious Magpies supporters as soon as possible.

"We Will Do Better"

Chris Ball attended his opening press conference today, with one simple message for Magpies fans - 'we will do better'

With real conviction, Chris addressed his inexperience in football management, but reassured County fans he was the right man for the job. He promised to bring the good times back to Meadow Lane. Reminding fans and media 'this is a club with a 155 year history, a value of over £4 million, and a 20,000+ seater stadium, playing football in the 4th tier'. Chris went on to simply say 'THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, and I'm here to turn things around. Our fans deserve better and with me in charge they're damn sure going to get it'.

Confident words from Chris. Only time will tell if he can deliver.

First And Foremost

So with the first press conference out of the way, I now talk to you as Chris Ball, new manager of Notts County Football Club.

Stepping into my office for the first time, there were things I needed to review immediately before we even look at the team and tactics I am going to look to employ. Starting with the staff.... lets see who I've got to work with.

Assistant Manager - Mark Crossley

I decided to keep Crossley on as Assistant Manager, stats are not too bad at League Two level and I didn't want to rock the boat too much and keep some stability to the managerial setup.



Coaching Team

Alan Smith is signed up as a player/coach and although his coaching attributes are not fantastic, I tried to offer him a new contract just as a player and he was uninterested so for now he's staying part of the coaching setup.

Richard Thomas is nowhere near the standard I'm looking for in coaches so we agreed a mutual termination of his contract.

Mike Edwards is also on a player/fitness coach contract so for now we will also keep him in place.

Moving Forward

So it was very quickly clear that I would be needing a new coach, and a Head of Youth Development, something I would need to look into right away.

Also, I was shocked to find that I had no scouting team in place whatsoever, so this too would need to be addressed quickly.

A full Physio, Doctor and Sports Scientist, all with pretty decent stats is already in place so I'd leave the medical team as it was.

Happy with the season expectations from the board. Top half finish should be very achievable with my starting squad and a £75k transfer budget is pretty healthy for a League Two club as well. My wage budget is pretty much maxed out at present but I can use the transfer budget to play around with things for new arrivals.

I will be putting some effort into the FA Cup in an attempt to reach round 3 and hopefully draw a big Premiership side to generate some revenue into the club. EFL Cup is of no interest to me and I'll use this to rotate my squad.

Wright & Holland Join Notts County Backroom Staff

I made some quick headway in bringing on a new coach and head of youth development. I went for an all round coach in Pat Holland who can chip in on multiple areas of training, and was very pleased to secure ex Head of Youth Development for Stoke City, David Wright, with some great stats in working with youngsters and judging player ability.

Squad - First Look

So when I looked at my squad, it opened my eyes a little as to why this giant side down in League Two had a pre season prediction of mid table. Players for various positions were pretty thin on the ground, with limited options. The defence was very poor in numbers and quality, no decent right sided midfielder/winger, and my best two strikers Shola Ameobi and Jon Stead (although having premiership experience),were both on the wrong side of 32 and severely lacking any sort of pace up front.

There would need to be new faces brought in and fast.