Many clubs claim to be the oldest club in a particular league, region, or country. However only one club can claim to be the oldest professional football club in the word – and they’re rightly proud of it too!
The Football League is formed
Back in 1888, 12 Football Clubs founded the English Football League consisting of Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Pre-dating that moment in history though is the formation of Notts County on the 28th November 1862. That’s a full 26 years before the inception of the football league. It would be wrong at this point not to mention that whilst Notts County are the oldest PROFESSIONAL football club in the world, the OLDEST by a few more years is Sheffield FC founded in October 1956.
The history of Notts County reaches far and wide. In 1903 the famous club from Turin, Juventus, adopted the famous black and white stripes of the English club for themselves – in-fact “It’s just like watching Juve” is etched into the stadium concrete.
Back in the Football League
Back in 2019 Notts County had to take down their signage which recognised them as the “oldest football league club” when they were relegated on the final day of the season. That was then. Now, Notts County are back having won promotion back from the National League in the 2023 Play-Off Final.
The 2023/24 season saw Notts County finish in 14th place in League Two and a good start to the season for the 2024/25 campaign sees them sitting in 7th position ahead of the match we were attending. Undefeated in their opening four matches, the last two games have received maximum points with a thumping 4-1 home victory over Grimsby Town and a good 2-1 away win at Swindon Town last time out.
Meadow Lane
The home of Notts County is Meadow Lane where the club has resided since 1910. Previously this this Notts County played their matches at Trent Bridge as tenants of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club.
Nottingham of course has two football clubs, with Nottingham Forest currently enjoying life in The Premier League. The grounds are not far apart apart and you can see in this video just how close that is!
Outside Meadow Lane
Outside the stadium we found a mural of local legends Brian Clough, of course known for his success as Manager at both Nottingham Forest and Derby County, and also Jimmy Sirrel, a club legend having got the club promoted from the 4th Division to the 2nd Division across a four year period in the early 1970’s.
After a brief spell at Sheffield United, Jimmy returned in 1977 and after saving the club from relegation, turned things round once more to guide the club into the 1st Division Division during the 1980/81 season. The club legend has the County Road Stand named after him.
Mural of Jimmy Sirrel and Brian Clough
Just up the road was a statue of Jimmy Sirrel and Jack Wheeler which was paid for by a supporters fund appeal after a six year campaign costing £105,000!
Statue of Jimmy Sirrel and Jack Wheeler outside Notts County Football Club
Pre-Match Entertainment
You cannot go wrong for great pre-match entertainment and we sampled two different areas. First we headed to “The Nest” which was a spacious venue with a gigantic screen at one end (claiming to be the largest in Nottingham!). Food and drink was available and a really friendly atmosphere. There is also a Sports Bar which was very much a family friendly zone with table football and the club Magpie Mascots attending too.
The Nest – pre-match entertainment venue at Notts County Football Club
Notts County v Accrington Stanley
This was a comfortable match for Notts County, clearly brimming with confidence following their unbeaten start to the season. The occasion started with a one minute applause for Sven Goran Eriksson which was brilliantly respected.
David McGoldrick grabbed a brace as “he’s one of our own” reverberated around Meadow Lane. The first arrived after just 18 minutes as he looped one into the top corner from 25 yards (watch here). With other efforts from the Irishman coming close, he finally secured the three points in the 67th minute. Once that goal had gone in, an already comfortable win was settled.
Final Score: Notts County 2 Accrington Stanley 0
Notts County finish the evening in second place, an automatic promotion spot, with 11pts after 5 matches. During the match there were chants of “Going Up” and whilst it is only September, why not!
Summary
We had an amazing experience at Notts County, and we would go as far as to say the club and the fans are THE most friendly we have experienced!
Covert Football Trips
Who are we? Covert Football Trips create Mystery Football Weekends. Choose from 2 or 3 Night experiences which include your flights, accommodation and match tickets. We are a travel agent so your trip is ATOL protected whilst we use our own experience to create amazing weekends.
Choose grounds to avoid, select the dates you want to travel and note the airports you would prefer to fly from and then sit back and let us do all the hard work.
You can book a 2 Night Mystery Trip to Germany for just £10 deposit per person! Get the gang together and choose your weekend of choice!
