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Happy Days at Meadow Lane
Times have been hard for Notts County since they went into administration in 2002 and twice in the space of three seasons, they have been in serious danger of slipping out of the Football League as they entered the final fixture.
Fortunately, they are still able to claim they are the oldest League club in the world, and despite all the trials and tribulations of recent years, many members of the Former Players’ Association have great memories of figuring in successful teams.
For example, not too many clubs can claim to have twice celebrated promotion to the top flight over the past 25 years or so, and we take a brief look back at those successes - and Notts County’s other post-war promotion triumphs.
1949-50
Even allowing for the fact that football immediately after the War was attracting huge crowds across the country, that was an exceptional period of Notts County’s colourful history.
It was inspired by Tommy Lawton, who was actually the current England centre-forward when he signed from Chelsea, and he packed the grounds wherever he played.
Strangely, the great man failed to inspire them to promotion in his first two seasons at Meadow Lane but it was a case of third-time lucky in 1950 as they finished top of the Third Division (South).
Lawton contributed 31 goals in 37 games that season and strike partner Jackie Sewell, who was honoured by the Former Players’ Association a few years ago, netted 19 in 32 games.
Stan Newsham | 1959-60 County had slipped into the Fourth Division for the first time in their history in 1959, but bounced straight back as runners-up to Walsall. The success was built on three prolific goal-scorers as Bob Forrest, Stan Newsham and Peter Bircumshaw contributed 60 goals between them. Manager Frank Hill also introduced a number of players that year who were to become active members of the Former Players’ Association from the outset. One of them was Tony Hateley, who burst onto the scene in dramatic fashion that season with eight goals in the final 10 matches, and others included Alex Gibson, Dick Edwards, John Newton and Frank Cruickshank. |
1970-71
A seven-year stay in the basement division was ended in 1971 when Jimmy Sirrel breathed new life into the Magpies and they stormed to the title as runaway champions.
Evidence of the transformation is easy to find. For example, the attendance for the opening home fixture against Barrow was just 5,826 but for the final home game against Exeter, by which time promotion was already assured, 18,002 turned up.
Sirrel built a formidable unit, most of whom served the club for many years, and it was hardly surprising that they became the backbone of the Former Players’ Association when it was formed.
Bob Worthington, David Needham, Jon Nixon, Don Masson and Les Bradd have all been on the committee from the start, and the likes of Tony Hateley, Richie Barker, Mick Jones, Geoff Ball and Roy Brown regularly support the functions.
For the record, Notts finished nine points clear of Bournemouth that season and it was to be the start of arguably the most successful era of the club’s history.
Brian Stubbs | 1972-73 Having narrowly missed out on a second promotion in successive seasons, Notts made no mistake the following year as they returned to Division Two as runners-up to Bolton. Tony Hateley had departed by then – Kevin Randall was signed from Chesterfield to become goalscorer-in-chief – but the squad otherwise had a very familiar look to it. David Needham and Brian Stubbs were still the rock in the heart of the defence on which success was built, Don Masson continued to rule midfield and Jon Nixon enjoyed an outstanding season, scoring 17 goals from the right wing. The way things worked out, Notts completed the season with three home games on the trot – watched by a combined attendance of 62,022 – and there were scenes of great delight when Randall (2), Nixon and Needham got the goals on the final day that beat Tranmere 4-1 to clinch a return to Division Two. |
1980-81
Notts had banged on the door of the First Division on several occasions over the previous eight years but each time, they fell away over the hectic Easter period.
That wasn’t the case this time, however, and for Jimmy Sirrel and his young assistant Howard Wilkinson, it was an incredible achievement for a club with such slender resources to win promotion as runners-up to West Ham.
Don Masson was still very much at the hub of activities and he was aided by a mixture of home-grown talent and players brought in to fill key roles.
It was a superb advertisment for the Meadow Lane youth scheme that Pedro Richards, Tristan Benjamin, Brian Kilcline, Paul Hooks and Gordon Mair were regular members of the line-up.
The imports included Yugoslav international goalkeeper Raddy Avramovic, who cost of a club record fee of £200,000, Iain McCulloch and Ray O’Brien.
Mark Draper | 1989-90 Although Jimmy Sirrel’s team survived for three years in the top flight, Notts took two steps backwards before the end of the decade and were under new ownership by the time they turned the corner. Long-serving chairman Jack Dunnett, who had seen the club progress from the Fourth Division to the First, sold out to Derek Pavis in the summer of 1987. And it was an inspired decision by Pavis some 18 months later when he appointed little known Neil Warnock as manager. He led Notts back into Division Two at the end of his first season – via a 2-0 win over Tranmere on their first-ever visit to Wembley – and yet again it was a triumph for the Meadow Lane youth scheme. Dean Yates, Mark Draper and Tommy Johnson were right at the heart of the success and numerous other former apprentices, like David Kevan and Paul Barnes, made contributions along the way. As with Sirrel’s team of the early-70s that won two promotions in three seasons, Warnock’s team were a close-knit bunch so it is no surprise that many of them are active members of the Former Players’ Association. The likes of Johnson, Draper, Yates, Steve Cherry, Craig Short and Dean Thomas regularly support the annual dinner and golf competition, and they’re in their element reliving the good old days at Meadow Lane. |
1990-91
As so often happens when a team grows accustomed to winning, they get up such a head of steam that one success is soon followed by another.
That’s what happened so impressively during the Warnock era and it was at its height in 1990-91, which must surely go down as one of the finest seasons in the history of Notts County.
Right from the off, when they won 2-1 at Hull City on the opening day, they had the look of a team destined to mount a determined challenge for promotion.
And they also found time to fit in a glorious FA Cup run which took them all the way to the 6th Round, where they were controversially beaten 2-1 by Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
When they needed to put a foot on the gas in the closing weeks of the season to set up a return visit to Wembley, that’s exactly what they did – finishing the campaign with seven straight wins.
That included a 2-1 success at Upton Park on the final day, which cost West Ham the title, and having stormed into the Play-offs for the second successive year, no one was going to stop them.
A crowd of 59,940 were at Wembley for a thrilling final against Brighton, where two goals from Tommy Johnson and another from Dave Regis provided County with a passport back to the top flight.
1997-98
Sam Allardyce experienced two incredible extremes during his first 16 months at Meadow Lane. He had to wait 15 matches for his first win as County plunged back into the basement section but the following season, they proved to be unstoppable.
They were clear at the top of the table by mid-December and pushed on from there to become the first team in League history ever to clinch the Championship before the end of March.
A long list of club records were broken en-route … highest number of points, longest winning run, most away victories, most successive away victories and so on. Quite simply, they were a class apart, inspired by the goals of Gary Jones and Sean Farrell.
Many of that team went on to play at a higher level – notably Steve Finnan, Shaun Derry, Andy Hughes, Darren Ward and Mike Pollitt – but sadly, very few as yet have stayed in touch through the Former Players’ Association.
The exceptions are Ian Baraclough, Ian Richardson and big Devon White, who have all either attended the dinner or taken part in the golf competition.