Notts County owners told to make big Magpies changes ASAP - "Real work needs to be done" | OneFootball

FLW's Notts County Fan Pundit has expressed his contentment with how the club is being run.

Notts County have made it back to League One for the 2026-27 season, reaching the third-tier for the first time since their relegation in the 2014-15 campaign.

Having returned to the EFL in 2023 following a stint in non-league, Notts County finished in the middle of the pack before reaching the play-offs in the 2024-25 season, knocking on the door of promotion.

They eventually went through that door via the play-offs last season, hammering Salford City by three goals to nil at Wembley Stadium to secure their spot back in League One.

The Magpies appear to be settled for the 2026-27 campaign, keeping hold of manager Martin Paterson, despite interest from Barnsley towards the back end of last season.

Having experienced a turbulent 20 to 25 years or so, owners Alexander Reedtz and Christoffer Reedtz appear to have the club in a solid and stable position, ready to kick on – and that is a sentiment that has been expressed within the County fanbase.

No major issues with Notts County’s ownership ahead of League One return

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Munto Finances’s takeover of the club in the late-2000s began a period of fairly rapid decline for Notts County, leading to Ray Trew helping the club avoid bankruptcy, only for his tenure to end with the club subject to winding-up petitions and a feud between himself and supporters in 2016.

Alan Hardy then came in and saved the club before he himself put it up for sale amid winding-up petitions in early-2019, a situation only salvaged by the arrival of the Reedtz brothers in the summer of 2019.

The Reedtz’s took control of the club after relegation to the National League but they have since rebuilt it. Three successive play-off finishes were eventually followed by County’s promotion via the play-offs in 2022-23, despite amassing 107 points to finish behind Wrexham that season.

Now, as they kick on again through the EFL, FLW’s Notts County Fan Pundit Gareth Parr is very content with the direction of the club, with very little that worries him about the running of the club – perhaps bar the state that Meadow Lane finds itself in.

Gareth told FLW: “It is difficult, really, because I think it is being run particularly well with a lot of onus on sustainability, financial stability, which is important historically as far as the club is concerned.

“Some real work needs to be done in terms of infrastructure in and around Meadow Lane. The Kop is an old stand now and it’s not particularly accessible and some of the concourse around the place is, not physically dangerous as such, but difficult to get around.

“Those are the kind of things that I think the owners are fully aware of and are trying to do their best and improve the matchday experience with the opening of The Nest and different levels of hospitality packages and stuff like that.

“I think in terms of how the club is being run, it is being run really well. The owners are relatively open when they can be. We have annual forums where they sit down for two or three hours and discuss what is going on behind the scenes with fans.

“The club is obviously very guarded about transfer ins and outs, which I think most clubs are nowadays.

“Do I think the club owners truly understand what the fans want? Yes. I think they are fully aware and want the same kind of stuff.

"They want success on the pitch, which is what every fan wants. I think behind the scenes as well, they are doing a lot of work in building the academy and developing younger players that is what effectively now a feeder club is potential income for the club.

“Bringing players from the academy, developing them, moving them out on loan and moving them on to better things. In much the same way where the club is used by bigger clubs, where they send players to us on loan to help develop them; and that seems to be working really well.

“We have had some good loanees in the past and looks like we have some good loanees this season so it will be interesting to see. Notts appear to have a reputation now among Premier League and Championship clubs that it is a good place to send their players to develop and that can only really be a good thing.

“That is maybe a part that an average fan doesn’t see. It’s a part of all that other stuff. The tie-in to the University, too, that gives the club ground-breaking fitness and nutrition and business management – and that has got to be a good thing for the future.”

Notts County should have big ambitions in League One

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Throughout the EFL, whether it be Birmingham City and Wrexham going up from League One and to the Championship last year, pretty much any team heading from the National League and into League Two or perhaps Milton Keynes Dons most prominently in League One this year; newly-promoted sides often feel as though they can ride the wave of momentum and challenge once again.

Notts County may not be able to bring in the experience and quality that MK Dons have brought in but there is a feeling that relegation straight back down to League Two is unlikely and that their aspirations may well be to assert themselves in the top half and potentially even flirt with the top six and the play-off places.

Their biggest blow this summer has been a couple of key departures with Alassana Jatta having been sold on to Portuguese top-flight outfit Casa Pia, while Tyrese Hall has returned to Tottenham Hotspur at the end of his loan spell – albeit yet to sign for anyone else and so hope of a return must remain.

Despite that, Notts have held on to manager Paterson and been able to strengthen key areas over the summer with some impressive signings.

The loan signings of Ollie Cooper and Ishe Samuels-Smith from Swansea City and Chelsea respectively have caught the eye, as well as the £200,000 addition of midfielder Dean Campbell from Northampton Town and the signing of striker Luka Smyth from Finnish outfit VPS, effectively aiming to replace Jatta.