You will remember I mentioned Chris Buckley at Pride of Nottingham yesterday. We got into a conversation about football later and I found there is an amazing backstory to his website cum forum.

In the same way as TheShirt2010 was inspired by Bjørn Heidenstrøm and his cycle ride from Oslo to South Africa , so the Pride of Nottingham was inspired by another Sweden …none other than the recently departed Sven-Göran Eriksson!

Chris kindly gave me an overview. Fascinating!

Chris says, “I previously ran a website that was focused towards writing and art, such as poetry, songwriting and digital art which back then was in its early forms. I started the site at first just amongst family and friends. This was around 2006, it was just a simple message board but I had aspirations of making it bigger.

Around 2009, I met Sven-Goran Erikkson at my work place and he noticed that I was wearing a Notts shirt. This got us speaking and it was him, who encouraged me to take it more seriously. I wasn’t sure, as I am quite reserved in nature but I have a huge passion for Notts County. Obviously, Notts had an amazing season during Sven’s time and we we’re eventually crowed Champions of League Two. This gave me a nudge to start pushing it. It was 2012 when I first promoted the site but the socials was setup in 2010, possibly before. It’s those early days which I feel pushed my passion further, as fans really got behind the Facebook and Twitter pages. I own and run it but I have a dedicated team who assist me with writing fan opinions and moderating. These people are huge to the success of the site itself.

We currently have 1,419 registered accounts, we average between 30-100 active and casual members. Page views is like 25-30,000

I would say I spend about 10 hours on the project most days, with match days being about 5 hours. To be honest, it’s not about the time. I feel passionate about the club and showcasing Notts in the way that the Pride of Nottingham does. I would also say that I have a few health issues and the site helps me focus on something positive whilst at the same time, I hope I am giving something back to all of us who proudly follow Notts.”

Thanks, Chris. Wow, some story! Inspired by Svennis himself – incredible. It is too easy to remember his successes across the continent and with the England team. Let’s not forget what an immense job he did at County in a relatively short period of time. Respect to Svennis….and, of course, respect to Chris. Running websites is never easy. Many of you will know I have a 2,500 website about Spain ….. that is also a real labour of love!

I am just about to ping Chris my thoughts on Gillingham 2024 but in the meantime, if you are a Notts County fan, I suggest that you pop over to see the PrideOfNottingham to see what a huge resource Chris has built.

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