Two mistakes lead to the unthinkable happening - and now Notts County face a fight to get back to where they belong

This time last year, it was almost unthinkable that Notts County would end up facing a future in non-league football.

Well, sadly the unthinkable has happened. Disaster has struck.

And it is hard to avoid the notion that a series of bad decisions; of terrible mistakes, have been leading up to this.

Roughly a year ago, the Magpies were preparing for a play-off push they hoped would lead them into League One, under a bright, highly regarded young manager.

They missed out against Coventry, but then were unsurprisingly installed as favourites to win promotion this season.

Kevin Nolan after his final match in charge of Notts County (Dan Westwell)

How wrong could be the bookies be?  But their mistake will only have made them money.

Alan Hardy’s mistakes have cost him a fortune - and cost fans of this great club even more.

It is a disgrace that the Magpies have dropped out of the Football League. This should not have been allowed to happen.

And for me, the fact that it has boils down to two moments; two huge errors.

Hardy was too quick to get rid of Kevin Nolan; too hasty when it came to deciding to make a change, before the end of August, even.

Then he confounded that error by making another, in the appointment of Harry Kewell, who was a big name as a player, but had little in the way of experience as a manager.

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By November - November! - Notts were on their third manager of the season and on the slide, down that slippery slope.

At that point, the damage had been done. Neal Ardley inherited a right old mess.

The players all clearly liked Nolan; many of them obviously felt that he had been poorly treated.

Neal Ardley, manager of Notts County applauds the travelling fans (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

It may have created divisions in the dressing room - you can see for certain that it certainly had an impact on the pitch, one way or another.

Momentum had swung in the opposite direction and there was no halting it, despite Ardley’s best efforts.

And now they face a battle to regain their title as the oldest Football League club in the world.

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It is one that could take years to win. Because the Conference is no walk in the park. It is a tough, tough division. One that has taken some big teams a long time to escape from. A few are still stuck there.

But let’s hope that this damage; this downward spiral is only temporary.

This club deserves better and, whatever happens, hopefully they will begin their climb back, to where they belong, in August.