Don’t stay in to watch Strictly – come to see Notts!
IF Ian Burchnall suddenly decided he no longer wanted to manage the Notts County first team, he could do worse than becoming a marketing strategist for the club instead.
It was during yesterday’s prematch press conference that the Magpies head coach accidentally came up with a slogan they could use to draw paying fans to the ground this weekend: Meadow Lane - more entertaining than Strictly Come Dancing.
Sadly, we’re unlikely to see it plastered on billboards around Nottingham, but the quote summed up what County are up against as they try to attract spectators for their unusually late kick-off on Saturday.
Altrincham are in town for an FA Trophy third round tie starting at 7.30pm, a peculiar time for two nonleague outfits to face off, which is why Burchnall is not expecting a sell-out crowd.
He hopes, however, the game represents a more exciting avenue for entertainment than what fans might find on TV, which is where Strictly comes in, with the final of the popular show due to start at 7pm on BBC1. “Quieter than the league games, I think,” Burchnall said when asked what he expected the atmosphere to be like tonight.
“I think people are probably busy this Saturday night. We have a loyal set of fans that I’m absolutely sure will be down there, but I don’t expect anywhere near a full house, put it that way. “But this is Saturday night. Maybe a lot of people are bored of Strictly Come Dancing and they want to get out and watch a bit of Notts County.
“I don’t know if Strictly is still on, I don’t know if it’s finished. My daughter could probably tell us but...” At this point Burchnall is informed that Strictly is indeed still on. “Oh, it’s still on, all right. All right, then maybe people are bored of that. And they want to get themselves down to Meadow Lane, more entertaining than Strictly.
“So yeah, I’m sure there’ll be some down there, but it’ll certainly be a different atmosphere, I’m sure.”
When asked if a smaller crowd would have an impact on the players’ performance, Burchnall was not convinced.
“I mean, we played so many games without fans at all that I guess even having 1,500 there or whatever it may be, it’s going to be great for us.
“So I’m sure whatever fans are there, we’ll make a good noise. And we’re happy to be home in this game.
“Although it’s not ideal to be 7.30 at night, I think the other proposal was playing Sunday, which would have been a disaster for us really.
“So it’s probably the best of a bad situation in terms of when we could have possibly played the game.”
But this is Saturday night. Maybe a lot of people are bored of Strictly Come Dancing and they want to get out and watch a bit of Notts County. Ian Burchnall