Neal Ardley’s hopes of signing Nathan Tyson are firmly up in the air, as stricken Notts County wait to be sold ahead of another High Court visit next Wednesday.
The former Nottingham Forest striker is on trial at Meadow Lane this summer, and has been in impressive form during pre-season scoring four times, including a hat-trick against Ilkeston.
The future of Tyson on the black and white side of the River Trent depends on the club being sold and its transfer embargo being lifted, but former Magpie Garry Birtles admits making a signing of Tyson’s calibre in non-league would give them a great chance of getting back into the Football League at the first attempt - and lift some of the gloom which has engulfed the club in recent months.
“It would be a heck of a signing for Notts County,” Birtles told Nottinghamshire Live.
“Goalscorers are goalscorers, no matter what level you play at. Everyone’s looking for strikers because they’re so important.
“To have someone of his experience, someone who wants to play and wants to be involved, especially if he carries on like that, is great.”
Notts’ future looks bleak at the moment, after Alan Hardy’s latest promise of the club being sold by yesterday (Wednesday) proved to be yet another false dawn, but Birtles believes if Ardley could clinch a deal for the 37-year-old frontman, then it would give the club a real boost ahead of their first National League game at Eastleigh.
“You just hope if Notts stay in that league and nothing worse happens to them from now, if he does sign then he could give them a real opportunity to bounce straight back,” he said.
“Even put himself in the shop window for Football League teams to say, ‘crikey, look at him, he’s now scoring goals again, we need a goalscorer’ and that can happen.”
Tyson, who was released by Wycombe at the end of last season and had a loan spell at Meadow Lane five years ago, was known for his blistering pace, though Birtles feels that as long as his brain is sharp, it doesn’t matter if he’s lost a yard of that speed.
“You don’t lose the ability to score goals in the penalty box, you might lose your pace but your movement, your intelligence comes into it,” said the two-time European Cup winner.
“Pace isn’t everything, intelligence and movement is paramount.
“It’s good to see him scoring.
“You just hope Notts don’t suffer anymore.”
