Football Season Review

It has been a season of false hopes and bitter disappointments for Notts County, who will play League Two football next season after two late goals by Gillingham in the last game of the season confirmed their relegation to the fourth tier. The Magpies, who produced a stunning late escape to avoid the drop last season, started the season riding the wave of optimism that was present following their great escape, and found themselves near or inside the play-off places in the first three months of the campaign. Things looked very bright to the untrained eye, but not all of their fans were happy, as they played some rather poor football even during that period and heavily relied on keeper Roy Carroll and poor finishing of opposing players to get results. They luck eventually run out, and reality started to strike them in late October, as they went on a run of twelve games during which they won only twice. They also lost two key loan players in Louis Laing and Stephen McLaughlin in that period without properly replacing them, and it eventually became clear that they would be fighting against the drop, and not for promotion to the Championship. Shaun Derry started to experiment with his lineups quite a lot in January, but nothing that he did changed his side's fortunes, with the side's form leaving the board with no other realistic option but to part ways with him. The Magpies managed to bring in the experienced Ricardo Moniz as Derry's replacement and, despite steadying the ship a bit and putting the Magpies above the drop zone going into the final round, Moniz was unable to help them escape the drop. They were on course to stay in the league until the 89th minute of their game versus Gillingham, as the Gills scored a late leveller to send them back into the bottom four. The goal left them with no other choice but to attack in numbers, but the hosts scored a late third on the break to condemn them to a defeat and end all of their hopes of staying up. Their relegation hardly comes as much of a surprise, as they have spent the last few seasons hovering just above the drop zone, and they now have a big summer of rebuilding coming up.

Player of the Season: Roy Carroll