Our Notts County columnist Julian McDougall, is back with a report of the festive period at Notts County FC...
“So near and yet so far.” This idiom is attributed mostly to an Alfred Tennyson poem from 1850, an elegy to grief. It is a substantial poem, being some 131 sections long, written twelve years, then, before Notts County.
175 years since the poem coined the phrase, and despite the poet’s outpouring being devoted to his reflections on the death of a lifelong friend (almost certainly more, but those were less tolerant times), his enduring phrase can nonetheless reasonably be set to work on how December went for the Pies. This was not quite the broken wheelbarrow, but more the nagging sense of a loose axle when it seemed to be fixed.
The month seemed to begin with joyful continuity conti from those absolute scenes at Bristol Rovers with the late winner over the Franchise, a game I was forced to miss but discussed as it unfolded in the House of Commons with Ed Davey (this is actually true). A ‘smash and grab’ 1-0 away followed by a rollercoaster 3-2 at The Lane, with a patched-up team. The Country express. Believe.
On to Grimsby. Winning when you don’t play well. Goals from both strikers. A wonder triple save from Roos. Believe, seriously.
Then twas the week before Xmas, and early doors at The Lane for second v top. Being the league leaders was surely high on the festive wish list for all of us. We were the better team, but couldn’t find the quality to make the superiority count. Other results slipped us down to 4th but the league is once again a gnat’s chuff so the point may yet be precious. Still, top at Xmas. It was, indeed, so far. Then to Chesterfield away and a lack of energy to match the home team and ‘the other side of Roos’ combined to a defeat and suddenly it is the automatic promotion zone which is so near, and yet….
And here come the Franchise again, at their arena of disgrace, and this one looks tough, to close the curtain on the year, but then we are this surprising version of Notts right now, so we follow the abject disgrace at the Spireites with a performance against the high spenders which deserved three points. The goal drought ended and we should have been ‘away by half time’ but one error in possession by a striker and we came away with a point. Could yet be precious, as with the Saddlers, and four points from six against the franchise, after beating them twice last season, is nice. Not only for the fact that they are favourites for promotion but also - in case any Left Lion readers need this perspective - pull up a chair…
The famous FA cup winning Wimbledon FC is now AFC Wimbledon, who we lost to in the play offs last season before they went on to be promoted. In 2002, the club ‘moved’ to Milton Keynes. There was a spurious and entirely unjustifiable commercial strategy behind this, as MK is a large town without a football team and Wimbledon is in London where there are loads. Supporters of the actual Wimbledon started a new club and climbed back through non leagues to now be above MK in League One. This meant our defeat to the real Wimbledon last year was bittersweet. When fans of every club give their preview of the season ahead to When Saturday Comes (including this writer for Notts), MK Dons are not invited, since WSC does not acknowledge them as a legitimate football club. They are an anomaly, an asterix, charlatans, interlopers.
Ok, back to the matter in hand. December. 2 wins, 1 defeat, 2 draws in tough games against promotion rivals. 2026 will start with two home games against opposition who we should beat ‘on paper’. There is, of course, the small matter of the transfer window, Notts’ sustainable financial model, loan players impressing enough for recalls and even Port Vale needing a new boss in Patto’s ‘hood’. That aside, Notts County are four points from the automatic promotion places and six from the top of the league. On the other hand, we are only one point into the play off zone, but on yet another hand, these days we play well after we play badly. This is new. So at the time of writing, a rare optimism is in the air, a reframing of how we read the secret of the star.
Well, at least until we play Accrington.
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