Match Preview: Notts County v Dale
Friday, 21st Mar 2008 09:07

After a lazy couple of weeks, and with nothing better to do on a Bank Holiday, we've decided that the time is right to do a match preview, so here's the match preview for Notts County v Dale.

Back in the mid to late 80's, the
Football League in their infinite wisdom decided that it would be a good
idea to open up the trap door to the Conference. The thinking was that
there were too many teams at the bottom of the Football League treading
water, and there was an argument from the experts that the leading sides
in the Conference were in fact better than many of the sides in the
Football League.

Given that the Dale side of the time included the likes of Alan Young,
Peter Conning and Ian Johnson, they probably had a very good point and
for a club of the size that we were in those days, it was no surprise that we
were amongst the favourites for relegation in that first season.

Of course, Keith Welch, John Kettley's tearful weather forecast, a dog
called Bryn, THE best Dale goal ever, John Bramhall becoming a
goalscorer, and 250 fans carrying little Lyndon off the pitch
post-Stockport later, and the Dale were safe in a season that many fans
remember as one of the best to have been a Dale fan.

I remember the delight I felt upon survival, but then having someone
trying to drag me back down to earth. There was a teacher at school who
didn't share my excitement. He, as a Notts County fan, took great
delight in telling me that whilst we may have survived this particular
battle, we had no chance of winning the war, and that relegation to the
Conference was inevitable within five years for "a club like Rochdale".

Each one of those five years was ticked off as another year of proving him wrong, and so twenty one years, three prime ministers, several jobs, eleven Dale
managers, one child, one marriage, one divorce later, the Dale are still
here proving said teacher wrong, year after year after year.

Indeed, I take great pride and delight in the fact that in the twenty
years of relegation, we have never had to endure that last day drama of
worrying about whether at 5pm, we'd still be a Football League club. Of
course, there was the odd panic here and there, but never have we gone
into the final game in danger of relegation.

Of course, the same cannot be said about Notts County. It was just two
years ago that they went into their last game of the season, needing
vital points to remain in the Football League, before the big gay pile
on between themselves and Bury. "No, you are staying up....."

And whilst I would never want a proper FL club like County to have to
endure a fixture list against non league nonentities such as Histon,
Ebbsfleet Green, Farsley Rangers and Halifax Town, there will be a
certain smugness aimed in the direction of that teacher, even though
he's probably been six feet under for the past ten years. Bit like
Halifax really.

One eye at the table shows that it's not looking good for County again
this season. They've pretty much been in freefall for the past few
years, and they are in real danger of paying the ultimate consequence
this season, as they sit just one place above the relegation spots.

Most worryingly for the Magpies is that the sides below them seem
capable of picking up the odd win here and there. County on the other
hand have only beaten Chester since the start of December, and having
done so twice during that spell, can no longer play the Deva Joker.

Obviously, if they were to drop this season, I will assume full
responsibility for it. Regular readers will recall that on a couple of
occasions in the past few seasons, I have tipped the Magpies in my
pre-season predictions for relegation to the Conference which has
brought massive dummy spits from the Nottingham area to the extent that
I'll still require Salman Rushdie style MI5 protection at Meadow Lane
this weekend.

But having been left with egg on my face as they finished in 22nd or
17th or wherever they ended up, I thought I'd share that optimism and
tipped them for a respectable 11th place this time. Of course, this has
disturbed the FG who have sought to punish me, by sending the Magpies
down in a year when I tipped them for mid table mediocrity. Guess they
were right about my predictions all along.

But whilst County may be dropping faster than a stone, experience has
shown that we'll be in for no walk in the park on Saturday afternoon. We
couldn't see Mansfield winning another game after we thumped them 4-0,
only for them to win away at Bradford the following week. Wrexham were
dead and buried only for them to see County in their sights.

As we often repeat, this time of the year brings up funny results, where
the sides fighting relegation become the form teams in the division, but
its just a question over whether County will be one of those fighting or
the sort of side who accept relegation as an inevitability.

And if we pen a further sideshow to the game, we also have to highlight
Nathan Stanton. Last year's game saw endless tussles as he was the
marker of Jason Lee, and he felt inclined to take on the whole of
Nottingham. There's nothing like a good old fashioned welcome home to
put a smile on your face.

Will we see Stanton v Notts part II? Will he be welcomed on to the
pitch, holding a belt aloft his head? Will the geriatric matchday
announcer scream "Let's get ready to
ruuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmbbbbbbllllllllle!!!" as Stanton strides onto the
turf? Is the game still 3pm or is it on at 5:30am after eighteen hours
build up for that crucial American TV audience?

We'll find out Saturday. We're there in numbers.

Photo: Action Images

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