Nigel has been a season ticket holder at Meadow Lane from around 1975, but since 1984 he has only missed two matches across all competitive fixtures, both home and away.

This includes the games in Europe during the Anglo Italian Cup ventures, and Nigel is proud to uphold is unfaltering commitment.

He explained: "I suppose I'm proud of the record but it's not something I talk about, unless I'm asked.

"Watching Notts has just become a way of life and I don't think for a moment I'm the only one who can claim such a record.

"The day out, if it's an away game, the social side of it, meeting up with friends for a drink or two before the game is really enjoyable.

"If Notts aren't playing on a Saturday, you'll normally find me watching a game locally somewhere."

At one point Nigel was a member of the much sought after '92 Club', having attended all stadiums in the Football League.

Following the erection of several new stadia, he is now missing just 11 from his collection - Arsenal, Manchester City, Hull City, Sunderland, Bolton, Cardiff, Swansea, Doncaster, Derby, Colchester and Southampton - some of which he hopes to tick off next year.

But which games did he miss? First of all was in his opening year when Notts faced Huddersfield away in the fourth round of the FA Cup - a rearranged fixture during a spell of snowy weather.

Nigel explained: "I was working shifts and should've been at work from 2pm-9.30pm all that week.

"On the Monday afternoon I went into work and persuaded my boss to let me have the Tuesday off for the game.

"Then on the Tuesday afternoon the pitch failed an inspection and the match was put back another 24 hours, leaving me hoping for another postponement, since I couldn't have the Wednesday off at such short notice."

The second match was quite a while later in March 2007, a day when car troubles prevented him reaching the Memorial Stadium.

He said: "On the way my brother's car burst it's radiator on the M42.

"Oh, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth! We were stuck in that lay-by for about four hours, until almost 3pm.

"But it couldn't be helped and it could happen to anybody. My brother just had the car serviced the week before, so it was totally unavoidable."