On behalf of the Board of Directors I would like to offer a warm Edgeley Park welcome to everybody connected with Notts County and, more importantly, you the loyal County fans.

I know what a hard call it is at this time of year to pull yourself away from the ever-cheery Eastenders yuletide omnibus, the dread of having to politely accept the offers of yet more food when you are so full you could happily go a week without opening the fridge, and visits to and from relatives that you haven’t seen all year for a very good reason.

I hope you had a good Christmas but if you didn’t, don’t worry, because all the commercialism and enforced jollity will be over on January 1st so count your blessings and put the whole experience to bed for another year.

I am writing this just after the Bury match, the result of which I am putting down to their awful, chocolatey pitch and in no way at all to the well-fed linesman who certainly could have gone from then until now without opening the fridge and lasted without any ill effects. Bury might just have outplayed us on the day – but am I big enough to admit that? Well, only just, but yes they did.

Now, like many, I was unduly miserable after the Bury match and had to forcibly remind myself to wind the clock back twelve months. Then I wound it back another twelve months. Then another. Then, just for good measure, another twelve months.

Saying that things are wonderful now just because we are not in disaster-mode can, I know, be viewed as me being an apologist and lacking ambition. I’m not apologising for anything and I want County to win the Premiership. Three times on the bounce.

However, after years of turgid performances I really do think we should take a moment to acknowledge the relief that the players and management have brought to us over the last twelve months and, most importantly, cherish it. Blimey, have we deserved it or have we deserved it!

Going back to the Bury match it says so much for how we have progressed that we were miserable after it.

I remember the days in the very recent past when I feared us scoring first in case it upset the opposition into stepping into second gear and walloping us. Thankfully, we were rarely that rude or disrespectful.

I also remember sitting in front of a father and son in the Pop Side – I have to check myself for a moment as a lump still comes to my throat – a couple of seasons ago. The opposition scored. Son looked up to father and asked: ‘Daddy, why don’t WE ever score a goal?’

Like I said, cherish the moment.

Finally, I hope you all enjoy yourselves today and come back again soon. Supporting County is so much more personal and fun than supporting a SKY TV team. But remember, we do have rules and we have them for a good reason, so: no shouting, swearing, diving in the deep end, bombing, throwing paper planes or chatting at the back of the stand.

Apart from that, enjoy!