As we launch our retro kit for the new season, those of us who won't see 49 again may well be thinking that nostalgia simply isn't what it used to be!
One of the things that comes with age is a wider appreciation of quality over quantity - that's why we follow Notts!
So whilst our enthusiastic but historically challenged younger generation bemoan even the manufacturers red "tick" on our fine new shirts, I wish to lead a charge towards the reinstatement of red in our armour.
Yellow I'm told is not the colour to paint your bedroom if you suffer from depression and has anyone ever won a league wearing yellow? - Norwich fans keep quiet and as for Stags fans, it's amber!
Anyway, I digress. My point is that red is a successful colour. Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool spring to mind and apparently - though I have never heard their fans confirm this - long ago, the other lot won two European Cups wearing red - no, honestly!
For many, that's a good reason to burn anything in red - unless it's your house, or your wife is wearing it at the time - either way you would end up in jail!
But for me, and I sense many more born into the Watling/Crickmore dynasty, red evokes memories of some classic encounters from the past.
To enlighten the non-believers for whom Sir Jimmy Of Sirrelshire rightly has God-like status, we wore red numbers on big white patches during those halcyon days when, as my mentor and friend Colin Slater would say - "Notts' glory knew no bounds!"
That kit was magnificent. It was regal, full of class and distinction and stood about above the norm.
Of course, there were times when we were less than regal in red. Others may remember an FA Cup thrashing at the Baseball Ground when I was almost crushed in the Osmaston Road end as Notts suffered slaughter by the Rams.
We wore red shorts that day with black and white striped shirts and I seem to remember a game at Watford where "Jackson" may have been ill-advised about the home side's new kit and we turned out in black and white stripes with red shorts and yellow socks - a veritable trifle of shame!
That kit was so hilarious it even appeared on a mass produced birthday card I recall - presumably so that it was generic as nobody would have a clue which team it really was!
But I fear I may need a new shirt once the younger generation of Magpies fans have finished throwing their red tomatoes at me!
