Notts County will be in Europe next year - if there's a war!

Meadow Lane in the 1970s - rustic terracing but plenty of atmosphere!

THERE'S a Jasper Carrott sketch from donkey's years ago, which was funny then but has aged considerably with time, when the comedian recalls the time watching his beloved Birmingham City at Old Trafford while surrounded by Manchester United fans. 

He'd failed to get tickets for the away end.This was well before the corporate days of the Old Trafford prawn sandwich brigade where few of the Stretford End fans had Manchester postcodes.

No, this was a black and white era when United's fans had somewhat of a nasty reputation around the football grounds of England because when the Blues unexpectedly scored, an exuberant Jasper Carrott stifled his celebration with a simple nod and a quietly spoken "yep", while home supporters yelled abuse at the leaky Red Devils defence.

Fast forward to last Saturday and Meadow Lane, Nottingham, the home of Notts County for their League One clash with Swindon Town. I'd travelled to the game with some Swindon Town fans who had bought tickets for the away section in the Jimmy Sirrell Stand - I was the only County supporter among the travelling few who had made the trip from flood-ridden Wiltshire.

To be fair, they weren't the most rabid of fans. A vociferous few at the back of the stand tried to taunt the County fans, who are also a pretty tame bunch. Most of the crowd was made up of folk wrapped up like Michelin Men braving the wind and cold by nursing cups of tea and tucking into pies.

When the Magpies did score their first half winner, mine was also a stifled "get in there" as I spent the rest of the match taunting my Swindon friends about their team's inability to score despite enjoying the lion's share of possession. It was good to see County get the three points, but it tells you something about a team who are hanging on when they start time-wasting with half an hour of the game left.

This was the first time I'd been back to Meadow Lane for about 10 years. I grew up watching Notts County toil away in the old Division 4. To quote another Jasper Carrott classic, I always told friends how Notts would be playing in Europe next year - if there was a war.

The aforementioned Jimmy Sirrell was the manager, the team was very average in quality, but County were my team and each week my nan would send me cuttings from the Nottingham Evening Post to glue into my scrapbook - cuttings featuring names like Les Bradd, Brian Stubbs, Ian McCulloch, Ian Scanlon, Eric McManus, Steve Carter, Don Masson, Eric Probert and Pedro Richards; names which would mean nothing to any football fan unless you were a County anorak. But these were my heroes.

My aunt and uncle are still season ticket holders at Meadow Lane and my grandfather was the man who initiated me into the world of Notts County, taking me to watch a 1-1 draw at Brentford's Griffin Park in the early 1970s.

Returning to Nottingham at the weekend was a bit sad. Never mind the steep £24 for a ticket, it was revisiting a ground which had lost its soul. You could never describe Meadow Lane as a fortress, but the ground as changed in character.

The old Spion Kop where I used to stand against the terrace barriers as a kid has now gone and replaced by an all-seater stand. Meadow Lane looks like any other ground. You can see the Kop in the picture above, the terracing in the far distance.

There used to be a big buzz about the ground. County fans were passionate about the club, the atmosphere as thick as the smell of woodbines and meat pies which filled the air on match day. At half time all eyes were glued to the huge scoreboard stationed high above the Kop giving us the half-time results from around the country. You had to work out the letters on the scoreboard to the matches listed in the match day programme.

On Saturday, an announcer with a monotone voice and clearly reading from a script gave us a flat build-up to the match. There was not much singing or chanting during the match when the atmosphere was flat, the banter dull and the atmosphere extremely depressing.

This week, Notts County is holding a 150th anniversary bash to celebrate the birthday of the world's oldest football club when Jimmy Sirrell will become the first inductee into the Hall of Fame.

Fund-raising attempts are currently going on for a statue to be erected at Meadow Lane of Sirrell and the legendary trainer Jack Wheeler, the sponge man who was part of the spirit of the football club.

The hope is to reach the £75,000 target for the statue to be erected in September 2013, five years to the day of Jimmy Sirrell's death.

Football moves on, time moves on, but I lament those golden years. The standard of football may have been shoddy, County lost more matches than they won, but Meadow Lane had soul which has now been lost. I wonder what wee Jimmy is thinking as he looks down at Meadow Lane in the 21st century.