Ian McParland has secured his first recruits for next season … a family of exiled County fans.

Magpies fanatic Dougie Pullen sent his photograph to the cult Saturday morning football show, Soccer AM while he was serving in the armed forces in Iraq for use as part of their feature about football fans based away from home.

McParland was watching when the photo appeared on the show and set about tracking down Dougie and his family.

Dougie, better known as Commanding Officer of 148 Sqn EFI RLC, is retiring from his role at the end April and will be returning to Nottingham for good.

And along with his wife Sue, he has accepted the manager's invitation to attend a first team fixture at Meadow Lane at the start of next season as his guest.

They will be treated to a pre-match meal in the restaurant, meet all the County squad and management, and also grace the Meadow Lane pitch.

Douggie was deployed in Iraq with NAAFI's military unit, 148 Squadron Expeditionary Force Institutes which is a Territorial Army Unit belonging to the Royal Logistic Corps. Along with Aaron Briggs, another County fan, he was based at the Contingency Operations Base near Basra, providing essential welfare support to the coalition forces.

Said Dougie: "I 'retire' from my role as Commanding Officer at the end of this month and, as of yet, I'm not sure what I'll be doing. But one thing is for sure - we'll be watching Notts again next season.

"I've been an ardent fan since moving to Kimberley in 1992 and the very first time I saw Notts County was in the early 80's when I lived in Catterick garrison, and saw them play at Darlington.

"I'm currently in Germany and we are preparing to return to our cottage in Kimberley at the end of May.

"When I'm in Germany I do all I can to get to Notts County games, but not as often as I would like. My wife and I were within 30 minutes of Aldershot when that particular match was called off earlier this year. I'm a converted Kop-ender too, having started life in the Family Stand.

"I'm really looking forward to the ups and downs of following the Pies across the country. I've been spoiled to a certain extent in Germany as I've been a season ticket holder of Borussia Monchengladbach but it will be great to get back to the passion of English football.

"Although we've been away from Nottingham for 10 years, we have avidly followed Notts' fortunes on Soccer Saturday. Both Sue and I will be honoured to be the Manager's guests when we are back. It is a very kind thought to invite us."

Dougie's 20-year-old son Sam, who is also a County fan, arrived in Iraq at the beginning of February to join the EFI drawdown team for three months and has applied to join the Royal Air Force when he finishes this tour.