Notts County Ladies

At the beginning of the season, football coach Andrew Eastwood approached Ray Trew with the idea of creating a ladies side to wear the black and white stripes. It was not a new idea. He had broached it before during the short-lived Munto era but had been rejected. He found the new Notts owner much more community-minded however, and the deal was done within a few minutes. The agreement was mutually beneficial as Eastwood came with a club infastructure already in place. He was manager of Linby Ladies and their senior team adopted the Pies mantle whilst other junior levels became Linby Magpies. All the sides could continue to use the Linby home ground as their pitch. A flurry of publicity launched the new team and trials followed to supplement the existing club members.

The new self-styled 'Lady Pies' were offered the same kit as the mens team and a new badge - based on the current logo but with the addition of their own wording. Their first season commenced in the Nottinghamshire Ladies league. Manager Andy Eastwood immediately set about blending the new recruits and the remnants of his old Linby squad into a competitive side.

The Ladies team badge was similar to the mens but came too late for inclusion on the Ladies kit. This means there is no difference between the mens and women's shirts others than that the latter have no individual player names on them.

One advantage to becoming Notts Ladies - a photoshoot at Meadow Lane

Manager Andy Eastwood chats to Notts keeper Stuart Nelson at a Ladies training session.

The team started well and established themselves in the top three for most of the season. The push was for a second place slot to get automatic promotion so the chase was a tough one, especially as the opposition habitually raised their game to try to beat the new Notts County. There were, however, benefits that came with the name as well. An introduction to the Meadow Lane faithful at half-time during a league game was a plus as was a visit from Notts goalie Stuart Nelson. In the end, third place in the league was enough to gain promotion and was duly confirmed in May 2012 at a game against Bingham.Cue another celebration at Meadow Lane on the last game of the season !

The new Notts County Ladies side celerbate promotion at the first attempt.

A welcome for the Ladies from the Kop