Football Season Guide

Notts County had a season of real turmoil, starting it strongly and looking like possible Play-Off candidates, only to start losing their early form, which resulted in manager Craig Short being fired. Paul Ince, who took over from him, had initial success and led the club to a famous FA Cup run, but saw his side badly struggle in the league, with Martin Allen taking over and saving the club from relegation with a good run of form late in the season. When he took over at the Magpies, Allen was adamant that he will be looking to make a massive summer squad overhaul if he was appointed permanent manager, and kept his word, with Notts County getting rid of a number of underperforming players, with striker Alan Gow perhaps being the only surprise in the list of the departed players. On the other side, the list of signed players looks very impressive: Allen can very much build a new back four with the summer signings he made in this department, while midfielders Jeff Hughes and Ishmel Demontagnac are both proven assets at this level. Notts County have been underperforming during most of the previous season, but the talent was always there, and this time around, they will have an even more well rounded squad than they had last term. Needless to say, they should have nothing to do with the drop zone this time around.