With Nottingham being a six-hour round trip for me, at the end of the season my attendance at away matches can often outnumber those played at Meadow Lane. Yet there is always something special about wearing the black and white (or green) on foreign turf. In my opinion two things in particular are worth the entrance money alone – the vocal support of the Notts faithful, and later checking on Facebook to make sure that Dan Westwell has captured my best side.
I decided to put Dan in focus and discover more about the only guy on the planet who can make me look almost human.
Until I got to know you Dan, I assumed you were a Notts fan. I believe there may be a couple of other teams higher in your personal pecking order?
“You’re not the first to say that to me! I’ve had a few County fans come up to me over the years and say, ‘I always thought you were a Notts fan – but you’re not!’ in a really disappointed tone after they’ve found out that I’m actually a Stags fan! I think the biggest compliment I’ve ever had from a Notts fan was when one said, ‘I used to really hate f-ing Mansfailed Town, but since I found out you were one of them, I don’t hate them as much as I used to!’”
“It’s high praise they think I’m ‘one of their own’ because it means they like what I do, and believe I do a good job and I go out of my way for them. I’ve been a Mansfield Town fan ever since we moved there from Peterborough back in 1985. I also love Glasgow Rangers who I actually started following when I lived in Cambridgeshire, so I’ve actually been a Rangers fan longer than a Stags fan which might surprise a few people.”
When did the tradition of taking photographs of the away support begin and how many shots do you normally take?
“I have always taken the odd crowd photo whenever I’ve been at a match, no matter who was playing. I can remember doing a few shots of fans for the club as I thought it would be a good idea to put them on Facebook so that people could tag themselves, and also the club could do a page of fan pics in the programme – football is nothing without the fans.”
Asking Dan when the watershed moment was, he smiled broadly and recounted Sheffield Wednesday away. “I can remember being at Hillsborough, and the Notts fans were all sat in the upper tier of the away end. I made my way towards them, then all of a sudden someone started waving, then someone else did, and before I knew it loads of people were waving. My cover was effectively blown!”
Since that moment, the club’s Facebook page has experienced a significant uplift in engagements, quickly reaching eight thousand members. This rocketed to around one hundred and twenty thousand when Bálint Bajner was signed, with the social media reach embracing distant parts of Europe.
Dan continued, “Some of the comments are comedy gold – ‘Who the hell took that?’ – ‘Where’s that from?’ – ‘I didn’t see that being taken!’ It completely erupted!”
You would be forgiven for thinking away days are a tribute to the Alan Partridge scene where he thinks he sees his mate Dan in the car park! “All you will hear from the away end is DAN! DAN! DAN!”
Dan explained that editing the fan pictures has now overtaken the time it takes to review the match action. “I usually take three or four of the same person or people because you can guarantee someone will blink or look like they’re asleep. I can take between two and four hundred, whittling them down before editing and uploading to Facebook. It can take me up to five hours, tagging people I know and sharing the album to all the different Notts social media pages.” Dan confirmed that this is an act of altruism since he doesn’t get a dime.
What is your favourite Notts photo and why?
Dan pondered for a moment or two before confessing, “I would struggle to choose just one as there’s been so many over the years. But Kasper Schmeichel’s overhead kick in the last minute at Morecambe in the famous Sol Campbell match would be up there. Had that gone in to make it 2-2, I think even I would’ve been on the pitch celebrating!”
Then there was ‘The Great Escape’ (one of a few Notts have negotiated since I started following the Magpies in the early seventies). “Alan Sheehan’s penalty at Oldham in the great escape and subsequent celebrations is up there as well.”
Turning to mainstream print media, in his customary humble manner, Dan recalled a moment of professional satisfaction. “I got a couple of pictures in the national newspapers of Kasper Schmeichel coming out to punch a ball away at Hereford United, conceding a penalty that he subsequently saved! This made me really proud as the big agency photographers were there too.”
Capturing County glory brought a beaming smile to Dan the Man. “Mike Edwards scoring an overhead scissor kick goal at Darlington confirming Notts as Champions was also another one. I saw Mike after the game and he said, “I bet you didn’t get that did you?” and I just showed it to him on my laptop. He was over the moon!” For the record we won 5-0!
Notts have celebrated some tense moments on the road. What image best represents the elation of the travelling Magpies?
“There’s a few of these for different reasons. Many were at the epic Oldham Athletic encounter. Notts managed to get a 1-1 draw which was enough to see them stay up. It wasn’t plain sailing though as they went 1-0 down after sixty-eight minutes. For seven minutes they were relegated until Alan Sheehan calmly slotted away a penalty.” I remember that match. I aged seven years during that moment of terror.
“The fans spilled onto the pitch after the game and I took a shedful of photos. I got some from the dugout at Boundary Park of the Notts fans on the pitch which look good, and one that stands out in particular is of a Notts fan kissing the badge on his shirt.”
They think it’s all over …
No, it isn’t! COYP!
We are staying up! We are staying up! Elated Notts fans with a young Jack Grealish.
Love is …
Is there one image that sums up the spirit of Notts?
Dan was understandably drawn back to that day at Boundary Park, but since variety is the spice of life and reserving author’s rights I kind of like these!
What is your most memorable Notts match and why?
Dan couldn’t help himself – “I could be cheeky and say Mansfield Town 5 v Notts County 0, or even Mansfield Town 3 v Notts County 1. But perhaps not!”
There was only one place – a suburb of Greater Manchester on Saturday 3rd May 2014.
“The entire day was just incredible. I think Notts took something like five thousand fans there. I spent a lot of the game watching them because their reactions were priceless as they followed the other scores on their radios and mobile phones. It was an absolute honour and pleasure to be at that game and it’s still the only game where I had to do several albums on Facebook because I had taken so many photos.”
On behalf of the travelling faithful thank you for capturing what it means to be a Notts fan and keep clicking!
© Ian Kirke 2022
All photographs reproduced with kind permission of Dan Westwell