page_title: Notts County F.C.
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Notts County F.C. / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of Jimmy Sirrel and Jack Wheeler manager and coach of Notts County FC in the 1970's and 1980's. Situated on Meadow Lane near Notts County football stadium.
context_page_description: Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participates in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1862, they are the oldest professional association football club in the world, and predate The Football Association itself. The club became one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888. They are nicknamed the "Magpies" due to the black and white colour of their home strip, which inspired Italian club Juventus to adopt the colours for their kit in 1903. After playing at different home grounds during their first fifty years, including Trent Bridge, the club moved to Meadow Lane in 1910 and have remained there since. Notts County hold a local rivalry with city neighbours Nottingham Forest, as well as with other nearby clubs such as Mansfield Town.
  Notts County finished third in the top flight of English football in the 1890–91 season, which remains their highest ever league position. They also reached the 1891 FA Cup Final, finishing as runners-up to Blackburn Rovers.
context_section_description: Notts County is the oldest professional association football club in the world, having been
  formed in 1862. The club predates The Football Association and initially played a game of its own devising, rather than association football. At the time of its formation, Notts County, like most sports teams, were considered to be a "gentlemen-only" club. Notts County are considered to be one of the pioneers of the modern game and are the oldest of the world's professional association football clubs (there are older professional clubs in other codes of football, and Sheffield F.C., an amateur club founded in 1857, are the oldest club now playing association football). In November 1872, the Notts County full-back Harwood Greenhalgh played for England against Scotland in the first-ever international match, thereby becoming the club's first international player. In 1888, Notts County, along with 11 other football clubs, became a founding member of The Football League. They finished their first league season in 11th place, but avoided the dubious honour of the wooden spoon, which went to Midlands rivals Stoke City. However, the club did achieve their highest ever league finish of third in 1890–91, an achievement they repeated 10 seasons later.
  On 21 March 1891, Notts County played in the FA Cup final for the first time. The Magpies were defeated 3–1 by Blackburn Rovers at The Oval, despite having beaten the same side 7–1 in the league only a week earlier. County made up for this on 31 March 1894, when they won the FA Cup at Goodison Park, defeating Bolton Wanderers 4–1 in a game in which Jimmy Logan scored the second hat-trick in FA Cup final history. This achievement is also memorable for Notts County becoming the first club outside the top division to win the FA Cup: Notts County finished third in Division Two that season. In 1910 they moved to Meadow Lane. County were relegated in 1926 in what was to be their last season in the English top flight for over half a century. The 1925–26 season was the last season that famed giant goalkeeper Albert Iremonger played for the club. Legend among Notts County supporters it has been said he had "hands like the claws of a JCB and was a seven foot tall monster".
  The club suspended all fixtures during the 1941–42 season after Meadow Lane was hit by enemy bombing. In the 1946–47 season, the ground was used temporarily by Nottingham Forest after the River Trent flooded both Meadow Lane and the City Ground. Forest again used Meadow Lane in 1968, after fire destroyed the main stand at the City Ground. The 'golden age' of the club came just after the end of World War II. County stunned the footballing world by signing Tommy Lawton from Chelsea for a then-record fee of £20,000 (equivalent to £788,300 in 2019). Lawton's arrival increased crowds by over 10,000. One incident during this period saw 10,000 fans locked outside the ground. In the 1949–50 season, Notts County clinched the Third Division (South) championship. Crowds averaged 35,000 as The Magpies held off Nottingham Forest in a thrilling championship race. As the 1950s drew to a close, Nottingham Forest replaced Notts County as the city's biggest club. After the 1957–58 season, the two clubs did not play each other again in a League match for 16 years, on 26 December 1973.
  The Magpies struggled during the 1960s, being on the brink of financial ruin and striving to avoid the indignity of having to apply for re-election to the league. This situation continued until Jack Dunnett, a local member of parliament, took control of the club. He appointed Jimmy Sirrel, a charismatic Scot who had once played for Celtic, as manager in November 1969. In the 1970–71 season, County clinched the Fourth Division title in record-breaking style, remaining unbeaten at Meadow Lane. Two seasons later, Notts County were again promoted, this time to Division Two. Sirrel departed for Sheffield United in October 1975 but returned two years later. He completed the remarkable transformation of Notts County in May 1981. He had turned The Magpies from Fourth Division strug
caption: Jimmy Sirrel & Jack Wheeler statue at Meadow Lane
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