Over the forthcoming season, I will bring you some thoughts, observations and comments from my 30^th season as a football reporter.

The appointment of Craig Short to what has become the warmest of managerial hot-seats in recent months is one I welcome.

Not just because, from my time reporting on Notts for Radio Nottingham I recall Craig - and his brother Christian - as the most likeable of men, but also because he has put his money where his mouth is and shown himself "Hungary" for management whilst at Ferencveros.

With respect to all concerned, we don't need another ex-pro on the staff in order to claim the club has a link to the past - we have a thriving ex-players association and a bootroom that even now, two years since most were appointed , are still recalling tales of triumphs and tribulations from the early nineties - and before!

In Short - that's two bad puns and I've barely started - we have someone who ticks all the right boxes for commitment, desire and passion, but more importantly brings an awareness of just what it feels like to play at this level, and more importantly to win at this level.

It is amazing how almost every week, I come across somebody either on a pitch or behind the scenes who has graced either the pitch or the corridors of Meadow Lane.

Those are the people I shall catch up with and update you on in this blog.

Craig's brother Chris is just one of those people - I met him most recently at Middlesbrough over Easter where Crystal Palace had just earned what proved to be a valuable point in their battle against relegation.

As Craig turned to management, Chris turned to rubber gloves and has been well trained in the art of physiotherapy.

But he was always well schooled in politeness and courtesy and so it was, despite Palace racing for a charter plane from Insolvency Airlines at Teeside airport, Short junior still arranged for Alan Lee to do an interview with me for the BBC.

It's things like that which make you grateful for people like the Short brothers - and we have those great people in abundance at Notts with Dave Kevan, Tommy, Drapes et al.

To read Andrew's next blog stay tuned to the Official Site.