Notts on the box
The 1990�s


Satellite TV
Rupert Murdoch's SKY TV had launched their direct broadcasting service from the Luxembourg based Astra Satellite in February 1989. Initially there were few takers amid widespread derision at ugly oversized dish antenna's required to receive a largely amateurish and uninspiring multi-channel service. A rival bouquet of channels provided by the UK government backed BSB (British Satellite broadcasting) finally went on air in March 1990 which required the installation of a diamond shaped dish (commonly known as 'the squarial'), but this proved to be even less popular.
At this early stage Satellite channels had little British football to offer, BSB had the rights to share the FA Cup and England matches with the BBC whilst SKY merely had the Full Members and the Associate Members (Lower Leagues) Cups. SKY and BSB had to merge to survive, but this proved to be a turning point and they would soon set their sites on capturing exclusive rights to top flight English league football..


1989/90
'Central News East' now began showing the goals from every Notts home game and most from those away, sadly these reports were the blink and you�ll miss affairs set to silly music that we have now become accustomed. Neighbouring YORKSHIRE TV began a 30 minute programme entitled "Goals on Sunday" this season which offered a far superior review of the Saturday action, County appeared on the programme whenever they happened to be playing against a team from the Yorkshire region; there was a 1:26mins report on the 3-1 win at Mansfield Town and other decent length reports on the home and away victories against Huddersfield Town and the 2-1 win at Rotherham United.
Despite this being a promotion winning season, there were no extended highlights of Notts in action, not even of the play off matches, but the goals from the semi-final 2nd leg 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers was afforded a report on the mid-week "Central Sports Special" and a very brief report on the Wembley Play Off final made the national 10pm Sunday night ITV news bulletin which saw Notts (in their first ever visit to the old twin towers) brush aside Tranmere Rovers with a comfortable 2-0 win.


1990/91
Back up to the 2nd tier and a sudden resurgence in TV gantry activity.

10/10/90 Oldham Athletic 5 (Holden,Redfearn(pen),Currie 2,Moulden) Notts County 2 (Johnson(p),Robinson)
               League Cup 2nd Round 2nd leg
               commentator: Clive Tildesley for GRANADA
This was the main match on the North-West Mid-week highlights show "Granada Soccer Night" presented by Elton Welsby. Highlights were also shown on "Central sports special" in the Midlands.
Notts had won the first leg 1-0, and at 2-2 on aggregate the match went into extra-time when the Latics finally made their plastic pitch advantage tell. Notts were to gain revenge later in the season with a victory in the FA Cup.

01/12/90 Sheffield Wednesday 2 (Sheridan(pen),Hirst) Notts County 2 (Draper(p),Bartlett)
               commentator: John Helm for YORKSHIRE
Exclusive highlights of 3rd placed Sheffield Wednesday v 7th placed Notts was shown as the featured match on YORKSHIRE Television's lunchtime show �Goals on Sunday� presented by Nick Powell. Neil Warnock was also interviewed for the programme. The Owls led 2-0 at half time, but in a spirited performance against a side that had been two divisions above Notts only the season before, County came away with a well earned draw (see here for team line-ups and a match report). The next two away trips saw County record victories at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, moving them up to 5th.

BBC in the East Midlands
In January 1991, BBC Midlands news finally followed Central�s 1982 example and split the region's news coverage in two (East and West), again this resulted in more information and reports on Notts affairs. "East Midlands Today" was initially broadcast from York House, Mansfield Road (home of Radio Nottingham) before moving to new purpose built studio's just off the London Road roundabout at the end of the decade.

Saint & Greavsie
County's continuing success was now attracting media attention on a national level, a special report on Notts for the Saturday lunchtime football preview show �Saint and Greavsie� was broadcast by ITV on January 12th 1991, sadly this popular programme was to last only another 18 months. Facing the awkward prospect of being unable to screen any top flight action, ITV decided to axe the show at the end of Euro '92.
 
 
 

16/02/91 Notts County 1 (Lund) Manchester City 0  FA Cup 5th Round
commentator: Tony Gubba for BBC1
The FA cup run of 1991 guaranteed healthy exposure for Notts on the BBC. The highlights of this tie were preceded by film of the Notts players sledging in the snow (as well as the obligatory snowballing of the Manager) at Woolaton Park earlier in the week, this was primarily shot for Football Focus. The game itself only went ahead after supporters had helped clear the pitch on the morning of the match, the only goal was scored from close range by Gary Lund on 89 minutes (Lund had been out of favour for some time and was only selected because Dave Regis was cup-tied), City still had time to hit the cross-bar in injury time. Notts goalkeeper Steve Cherry (pictured) was the hero of the day making a string of fabulous saves. It was screened as one of four Cup ties shown that night - the others being Leeds United 1 Arsenal 2, Portsmouth 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2 and West Ham United 1 Crewe Alexandra 0. Those with satellite receivers could see the whole match, introduced by Richard Keys, on the Sports channel a day or so later, the channel also screened a highlights package. Click the screen grab for the match stats and report.

10/03/91 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Short(og),Gascoigne) Notts County 1 (O�Riordan)  FA Cup Quarter Final
*LIVE*  commentator: John Motson with Trevor Brooking for BBC1
Notts first ever live broadcast was, in all fairness, chosen because the BBC were desperate for goals, all of their previous live cup ties shown this season had yielded goalless draws and Spurs were expected to notch up a hatful. In reality, Tottenham were lucky to avoid a replay (at least) and could count themselves extremely fortunate to have not lost key player and match winner Paul Gascoigne to a red card after he elbowed Paul Harding in the face. Notts led at half-time thanks to a screamer from Don O'Riordan, Dean Thomas had hit the post in the opening minutes, it still remains as perhaps Notts most memorable 45 minutes on Television.
With the draw for the next round still to be made, Notts fans were considering a potential Semi-final clash with Nottingham Forest, but an unfortunate own goal allowed Spurs back into the match before Gascoigne snatched the late winner. BSkyB also covered the game and showed it in various lengths after the game with commentary by Peter Brackley.

12/03/91 Notts County 1 (Johnson) Port Vale 1 (Beckford)
commentator: Alan Parry for CENTRAL
Just 2 days after County's live FA Cup Quarter final came this mid-week highlights exposure. A tired Notts equalised to keep their play off hopes alive. The screen grab depicts Midfield maestro Mark Draper.

Notts had risen to 4th in January but the distraction of the FA Cup saw them slip back to 8th. Although Notts remained hard to beat - back-to-back victories were required to keep up with the promotion pace. Notts obliged with an incredible run at the end of the season, seven straight wins climaxed with a win at West Ham which denied the Hammers the Championship in front of their biggest crowd of the season on the final day. For the 2nd season running, Notts were in the play off's and confidence was sky high.

19/05/91 Middlesbrough 1 (Phillips) Notts County 1 (Turner) Play off semi final 1st leg
               commentator: Roger Tames for TYNE TEES
I believe the whole of this match was shown shortly after it finished in the North East region.
Despite 'boro's last minute equaliser this was still seen as a good platform from which to go through to the Wembley final in the 2nd leg.

22/05/91 Notts County 1 (Harding) Middlesbrough 0 Play off semi final 2nd leg
commentator: Alan Parry for CENTRAL/ITV
A tight match with little in the way of incident yet so much in terms of reward. With extra-time looming, Paul Harding's late goal was enough to see Notts through to their 2nd successive Wembley Play-Off final. Extended highlights of this match were shown on Central sports special in the Midlands late that night, the rest of the country got to see a slightly different edit on ITV�s Midweek sports special. Click the screen grab for line-ups and further details.
 

02/06/91 Notts County 3 (Johnson 2,Regis) Brighton 1 (Wilkins) Play off final
commentator: Brian Moore for CENTRAL & TVS
A half hour slot in Central's Sunday night schedule was found to share this golden moment in Notts County history with a Central Sports Special.
Although Brighton had been on top for the better part of the first half, they still found themselves 1-0 behind at the break, Notts then tore them apart in the 2nd half before the Seagulls managed a late consolation.
As well as interviewing Neil Warnock (pictured) after the match, Gary Newbon also took the unusual step of interviewing the Notts boss on the bench during the actual game. Also interviewed after the match were Tommy Johnson (incorrectly identified as "JohnsTon" by Brian Moore in the first half) and Chairman Derek Pavis who, as with Warnock, was pressed into discussing the prospect of Chelsea poaching the Manager of County's double promotion. Eventually, after a holiday to think things over, Warnock decided to stay with Notts. Click the screen grab for the match stats and local newspaper reports.


1991/92
One subject would dominate the headlines throughout this season, the breakaway "Premier League". The top flight clubs (including Notts) gave notice of their decision to resign from the Football League at the end of the season. The crux of the matter was Television rights, the old First Division clubs were no longer prepared to share their TV income with the lower divisions, causing the League's biggest ever crisis with the lower divisions threatening to cut off the would-be Premiership clubs altogether by refusing to accept the relegated teams. Notts fans were entertaining the prospect of top flight football for the foreseeable future even if they finished bottom of the league! There was talk of Newcastle United, Sunderland & Middlesbrough (all 2nd tier clubs at the time) joining forces with the top Scottish teams for a rival Super League. Eventually the Football League backed down, the Premier League would begin with season 1992/93 and promotion/relegation would carry on as normal.

For this one last season of 1991/92, live top flight coverage was still in the hands of ITV who continued to concentrate their  coverage on the "Big five", Notts TV exposure was most disappointing but at least the whole country now got to see the Magpies goal action at the end of the live Sunday afternoon match.

It was also this season that Central introduced their rather brief and inadequate Saturday tea-time local action round up programme (Some other regions still had much longer and more considered programmes at Sunday lunchtimes). Although the Central programme included a �featured game" (sometimes with commentary) I have decided not to list these because they were so brief.

24/08/91 Notts County v Nottingham Forest
               commentator: Alan Parry for CENTRAL
For some reason ITV always waited until the onset of  winter before beginning the weekly live dose of action, this paved the way for a Sunday afternoon Central sports special. One can only wish they hadn�t bothered. Moving swiftly on......

28/09/91 Luton Town 1 (Gray) Notts County 1 (Johnson(p))
               commentator: Gerry Harrison for ANGLIA
Exclusive Sunday viewing for those Eastern folks on Anglia's "Goals Galore". Notts equalised with a penalty just two minutes from time.

07/04/92 Notts County 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Lineker 2)
               commentator: Alan Parry with Jimmy Greaves for CENTRAL
This was a mid-week Central Sports Special featured match. In the post match interview Notts Manager Neil Warnock conceded defeat over looming relegation. Gary Lineker netted both the Spurs goals.


1992/93
All change. SKY SPORTS had secured exclusive rights to show live Premier League & FA Cup matches. Top flight football would no longer be free, you would need special equipment and a subscription card to view it. SKY offered an extra dose of live action on Monday nights as well as Sunday afternoon and mid-week games plus regular preview, round-up and discussion shows, they also introduced the permanent on-screen scoreboard and clock. SKY's coverage quickly proved to be a huge success and the income generated for the top clubs was phenomenal. The BBC would now have exclusive Premier League highlights leading to a welcome return to a regular Saturday night "Match of the day". If only Notts had stayed up!
The ITV companies were left to make up their own minds as to how they would feature the newly renumbered Divisions 2, 3 & 4 (now to be confusingly known as Divisions 1, 2 & 3) alongside highlights of the FA Cup. Fortunately for Midlands viewers, CENTRAL (with 8 local sides in the 2nd tier) decided to go with near weekly live Sunday afternoon broadcasts of "Division One" matches, Notts trip to promoted Birmingham City being the first.

16/08/92 Birmingham City 1 (Donowa) Notts County 0
*LIVE*  commentator: Peter Brackley with Ron Atkinson for CENTRAL
County's first ever League game to be screened live on television was their first fixture of the 1992/93 season. The Central match live was exclusively for Midlands viewers who witnessed the promoted Blue noses defeating the relegated Magpies with a deflected 9th minute goal by Louie Donowa, Notts twice hit the crossbar in the 2nd half.

21/02/93 Notts County 1 (Smith(p)) Peterborough Utd 0
*LIVE*  commentator: Alan Parry with Neil Warnock for CENTRAL
Meadow Lane staged it�s first ever live match six months after 3 sides of the ground had been re-built during the summer. Mick Walker was now Notts manager, Neil Warnock returned to the Lane to co-commentate just over a month after being sacked. The 9th minute penalty was enough to lift Notts off the bottom of the table and they would go on to avoid relegation on the final day of the season. Screen shot depicts Rob Matthews.
 
 


1993/94
In spite of Forest's relegation, Central chose not to screen live either Trentside derby, nor Notts clashes with Derby County and Leicester City. Based in Birmingham there was still an obvious bias towards the West midlands in Central�s sports department inherited from the days of ATV, Notts finished this season just one place below the play offs yet were shown live only once.

22/09/93 Newcastle United 4 (Cole 3,Bracewell) Notts County 1 (Smicek(og)) League Cup 2nd Round 1st leg
               commentator: Roger Tames for TYNE TEES
TYNE TEES made full use of their window of opportunity to showcase Kevin Keegan's Newcastle Utd (who were now playing in the BBC/SKY exclusive Premier league). The extended Wednesday night highlights were edited down to 10 minutes for Midlands viewers on Central Sports Special following Stoke City v Manchester United & Swindon Town v Wolves. Notts lost the 2nd leg 7-1!!!

28/11/93 Notts County 2 (Devlin,Agana) Oxford United 1 (Elliot)
*LIVE*  commentator: Alan Parry with John Sillett for CENTRAL
Notts only appearance on the Sunday afternoon Central Match Live this season proved to be an entertaining affair. 21st placed Oxford took the lead on 42 but right on half-time 17th placed Notts equalised from a corner.
The winning goal would be a prime contender for a Notts all-time top ten goals on TV, Tony Agana's finishing effort rounded off an impressive series of 11 passes that had covered the length and width of the pitch. The screen shot shows Gary Lund poised to make the defence splitting ball for Agana to score.
The following week Notts won their first away match of the season and began a steady climb up the table.

20/03/94 Notts County 0 Brecia 1 Anglo-Italian Cup Final
               commentator: John Helm for CENTRAL
The Anglo-Italian Cup was a short lived tournament contested by English 2nd tier and Italian serie B clubs, the competition was now in its' 2nd season. For Notts it provided them with their first taste of competitive European Football. The final was played at Wembley and brief highlights were screened after a live match in the CENTRAL region.

20/04/94 Derby County 1 (Dijkstra(og)) Notts County 1 (Draper)
commentator: Alan Parry for CENTRAL
Midweek extended  Central Sports Special highlights of a crucial match that would effectively decide who would make it to the play off's. Notts had risen from 13th in mid-February to as high as 4th in April. As this match kicked off the Rams now occupied 4th position with County 2 places behind in the final play off position.
Having already beaten Derby 4-1 at Meadow Lane, Notts were set to record a double over their local rivals after Mark Draper put them ahead. Yet the lead was to be wiped out with perhaps the most infamous moment in the Magpies TV history, Meindeert Dijkstra�s shocking 90th minute own goal all but ended Notts Premiership aspirations.
Pictured - An extremely deflated Notts boss Mick Walker being interviewed after the game.


1994/95
21/08/94 Notts County 1 (Simpson) Wolverhampton W. 1 (Thompson(pen))
*LIVE*  commentator: Alan Parry with Trevor Francis for CENTRAL
The Derek Pavis stand opens its gates for the very first time and hosts a live Sunday afternoon TV broadcast. Michael Simpson's 34th minute strike was the first goal to be scored in front of the sparsely populated new Main stand, Wolves equalised with a 70th minute penalty.

Mick Walker was sacked on 14th September. Notts had made a poor start to the season (notching up 5 points from their opening 7 games) but the sacking took most supporters by surprise as there had been no calls for the manager's head in the stands. It was later rumoured that Walker had been dismissed following an altercation with Chairman Derek Pavis in front of the players.

23/10/94 Notts County 0 Derby County 0
*LIVE*  commentator: Alan Parry with Trevor Francis for CENTRAL
John Williams and Nigel Jemson missed gilt-edged chances in this "Central Match Live" and Notts remained at the foot of the table still looking for their first league win under Russell Slade.

Three days after the live Derby match, Notts entertained Premiership Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup 3rd Round, Notts won 3-0 but sadly this memorable night only made for goals report on Television. It also failed to kick start Notts League campaign - On the last day of December, with Notts still 24th, an inept home display led to supporters congregating behind the main stand calling for Slade to be replaced, there were also chants of "Sack the board". With 4 clubs (instead of the usual 3) due to be relegated from the 2nd tier this season (due to the Premiership's decision to shrink back to 20 clubs), Notts fight to stay up was fast becoming a lost cause.

08/01/95 Notts County 2 (Matthews,White) Manchester City 2 (Beagrie,D.Brightwell) FA Cup 3rd Round
               commentator: Tony Gubba for BBC1
Despite being given a vote of confidence earlier in the week, this cup tie against Premiership Manchester City proved to be Russell Slade's last game in charge. The match was played on a Sunday afternoon at the same time BBC1 were screening a live clash between Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers on "Match of the Day - The road to Wembley". About 4 minutes of the Meadow Lane match was shown at half-time on the live broadcast and around 10 minutes of highlights was then shown after the Newcastle/Blackburn game had finished. Notts were unfortunate not to progress - As well as twice taking the lead, the Magpies twice hit the woodwork and Gary McSwegan missed a sitter in the dying seconds.
A goals report of the 18/01/95 replay at Maine Road (which Notts lost 5-2) was shown on BBC1's Sportsnight programme.

In a blaze of publicity, Howard Kendall (manager of trophy happy Everton in the 1980's) was announced as the surprise new boss of Notts County on 12th January (Slade stayed on as his no.2). One of Kendall's first new signings was ex-Liverpool star Steve Nicol who arrived on the 20th as County won their first two league games under their new star manager.

Highlights of 28/Jan/95 Grimsby Town 2 Notts County 1 may have been shown on Yorkshire TV's Sunday "Kickabout" programme. Notts first League defeat under Howard Kendall left them 6 points adrift of safety.

19/03/95 Notts County 2 (Agana,White) Ascoli 1 Anglo-Italian Cup Final
               commentator: Gary Bloom for CENTRAL
A 30 minute Central Sports special presentation of Notts 2nd successive, and this time successful, appearance at Wembley in the 3rd and final season of the Anglo-Italian Cup. Notts were the only English side to win it as Derby County had been beaten in the 1993 final. A four-minute report was featured on Channel Four's Gazetta Football Italia.

The Anglo-Italian Cup success was soon overshadowed by the shock departure of Howard Kendall on 1st April, he was sacked following an alleged drinking problem (an issue which the Sunday tabloids were only too happy to exploit). Russell Slade was also given the boot the same day. Wayne Jones, Steve Nicol and Dean Thomas took temporary charge, but Notts were already all but mathematically relegated.


1995/96
With a brand new 20,000 all seater stadium built for Premiership football, Notts instead found themselves in the third tier of English football playing in front of largely empty seats under the new management duo of Colin Murphy and Steve Thompson.

12/11/95 York City 0 Notts County 1 (Legg) FA Cup 1st Round
*LIVE*  commentator: Martin Tyler with Andy Gray for SKY
Notts first live exposure via satellite television. This Cup tie kicking off on a Sunday afternoon.

25/11/95 Swansea City 0 Notts County 0
               commentator: ? (possibly Hugh Johns) for HTV WALES
Exclusive viewing for Welsh viewers on their highlights programme Soccer Sunday.

02/12/95 Telford United 0 Notts County 2 (Gallagher,Legg)  FA Cup 2nd Round
commentator: Clive Tildesley for BBC1
Rare (for the time) Saturday night Notts highlights on Match of the day. 3rd tier Notts proved too much for the non-league home side. A happy Colin Murphy is pictured being interviewed after the game before Alan Hansen discussed the key points with host Tony Gubba in the studio.
 
 

20/01/96 Notts County 1 (Arkins) Wrexham 0
               commentator: Alistair Mann for HTV WALES
Another exclusively Welsh Soccer Sunday broadcast with programme links also filmed at Meadow Lane.

Despite selling Notts most popular players during the course of the season (White, McSwegan, Nicol, Short, Legg and Devlin), Murphy was somehow able to guide a defensively dull Notts to finish 4th.

15/05/96 Notts County 1 (Martindale) Crewe Alexandra 0 Play off Semi-final 2nd leg
               commentator: Gary Bloom for GRANADA
Brief mid-week highlights seen that night in the North West. With some good fortune, Notts managed to squeeze past Crewe to reach yet another Wembley final.

26/05/96 Bradford City 2 (Hamilton,Stallard) Notts County 0 Wembley Play Off final
             commentator: John Helm and Dave Bassett for YORKSHIRE & CENTRAL
A late programme change in the Central region for this late Sunday 1 hour special introduced by Phil Mepham, Yorkshire viewers had their own presentation titled "Your Match - Wembley Special". For Notts, it was their 5th visit to Wembley in just 6 years, by contrast the vastly superior numbers of Bradford fans were enjoying their first ever visit to the twin towers and on the day, even before a ball was kicked, it seemed there could only be one winner and it wasn't going to be Notts. See here for the team line-ups and match stats.


1996/97
Purely in terms of results, this was the ultimate nightmare of all Notts nightmare seasons. Suffering a post Play-off final defeat hangover, County shamefully set a new club record - a 20 match sequence without a win. The management duo of Colin Murphy & Steve Thompson were sacked just before Christmas and replaced by Sam Allardyce in January. 'Big Sam' could not save Notts from another relegation and, unsurprisingly, there was no significant TV coverage of Notts other than goal clips on local news bulletins - even though SKY had now added live coverage of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tiers to their exclusive live coverage of the Premier league.


1997/98
Pictured left is the infamous moment when a Notts supporter from the Sirrel stand ran the width of the pitch to hurl Referee Phil Richards to the ground following his latest controversial decision in the August home derby with Lincoln City. Although the act could not be condoned, the frustration was understandable - Only 5 years earlier Notts had been playing in the top flight, here in 1997 the spectators were still trying to come to terms with the reality of basement league entertainment. Fortunately, in as sharp a contrast to the stripes on their shirts, Notts results this season were to be as outstanding as last season's were awful. Mirroring County's yo-yo manoeuvre, relegated Forest topped the 2nd tier as Notts did the 4th prompting a visit from BBC1's lunchtime preview show "Football focus" who's joint early 1998 report was accompanied by the theme tune to "Neighbours".

County's promotion was mathematically sealed at the end of March with 6 games still to play and the new chants of "It's just like watching Juve'" & "Championi" coming from the stands.

03/04/98 Peterborough United 1 Notts County 0
*LIVE*  commentator: Rob Hawthorne with Brian Marwood for SKY
The 4th tier championship had already been secured before this belated Friday night coverage of the basement division record breakers. Sadly SKY chose to broadcast what was to be only one of five league defeats all season.


1998/99
Expectations were understandably high following Notts instant re-promotion to a 3rd tier now boasting the attraction of Manchester City, Stoke City and Mohammed Al-Fayed's big spending Fuham. But Notts were to lose their newly signed striker Duane Darby to a pre-season injury that kept him out for the entire campaign whilst neither Gary Jones nor Sean Farrell could rekindle even the faintest hint of the form that had made them the league's top scoring front pair.
 
 

19/08/98 Manchester City 7 (Mason,Dickov 2,Bradbury,Goater 2,Jim Whitley) Notts County 1 (Torpey) League Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg
*LIVE* commentator: Alan Parry with Alan Brazil for SKY
Notts had already lost the 1st leg 2-0, making this an odd choice for a live mid-week game. On the night, City were 4-0 up at half-time and were 6-0 ahead before Notts scored a late consolation through on-loan striker Steve Torpey, but City still had the last word with another goal at the end. Ten days later Notts met City again for a League match at Meadow Lane, this time Notts were robbed of a victory as City equalised in the 6th minute of injury time.

18/09/98 Walsall 3 (Simpson,Rammell,Brissett) Notts County 2 (Jones,Hughes)
*LIVE* commentator: Rob Hawthorne with Alan Brazil for SKY
A live Friday night 2nd Division Midlands derby. County had threatened to nestle themselves in behind the play off zone during the early weeks of the season but the majority of their goals were being scored by defenders - Once those dried up, the Magpies began to struggle. In this match the Saddlers were in front at half-time before Gary Jones and Andy Hughes turned the game on its' head with goals on 52 and 55 minutes, but County's lead lasted only 7 minutes. Walsall's winner came on 72 and they went on to win promotion as runners-up.

Notts were at the centre of a national news story on the 8th January 1999 with the "2 million pounds" transfer of 15 year old Jermaine Pennant to Arsenal. Pennant, County's youngest ever first team player, had recently made 2 substitute appearances having been with the club since the age of 8.

A goals report on the Saturday 30th January FA Cup 3rd Round replay at home to Sheffield United made it onto that night's "Match of the Day", Notts had squandered a commanding 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 in extra time.

The press and TV News crews were swarming around Craven Cottage on 20th February as Notts (now in the relegation zone after a terrible period of ill fortune resulted in just 1 win & 2 draws in 12 league matches) visited table topping Fulham currently managed by Kevin Keegan who was now hotly tipped to be named as England's new manager after the departure of Glenn Hoddle. County lost again, 2-1, but then came an injection of new strikers (Stallard, Creaney, Beadle and Rapley) and five wins in six jettisoned the Magpies away from what had increasingly become a hopeless situation. Notts then did enough for the remainder of the season to secure themselves a place in the 3rd tier at the close of the millennium.
 
 

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