Notts County, Nottingham Forest transfer will be remembered for all the wrong reasons: View | OneFootball

Harry Arter's spell on loan at Notts County simply didn't work out.

Key Takeaways

Harry Arter’s 2022 loan move to Notts County was one which simply didn’t work out.

The 32-year-old made the switch across the River Trent from Nottingham Forest to try and galvanise a Notts squad that was preparing for another shot at the National League Playoffs and provide an added bit of top-level quality to Ian Burchnall’s side.

With 94 games of Premier League experience and over 110 games in the Championship, Arter was expected to be the key addition that would drag the Magpies to Playoff success and with it, a return to the Football League.

However, after impressing in the early stages of his time at Meadow Lane, Arter simply didn’t live up to expectations, to the point where he wasn’t even featuring in matchday squads by the end of his spell in black and white.

Arter’s time at Notts ended in disappointing fashion

Expectations were high for Arter when he arrived at Notts. The Irish international had moved to Forest as recently as January 2021 for an undisclosed fee (believed to be around £5million), so was expected to provide a level of quality far above the National League.

While cut adrift from the first team squad at Forest, the former Bournemouth and Fulham man had spent the first half of the season on loan at Charlton Athletic in League One, but featured only six times for the Addicks.

Arter’s start at Meadow Lane was promising. After joining the club on 16th March 2022, he started in the 2-1 away win at Dagenham and Redbridge on 19th March and quickly became a regular in the side.

He started seven games in a row to begin his Notts career, including a four-match unbeaten run which brought wins over Dagenham, Boreham Wood and Southend, as well as a draw with local rivals Chesterfield.

From there however, things began to tail off and Arter featured just twice in the last six games of the season (one of which was a substitute appearance). He wasn’t named in the matchday squad for the last three games, including the Magpies’ 2-1 Playoff Quarter Final defeat at the hands of Grimsby Town.

Those last three games arguably sum up Arter’s time at Notts, in that the man who was brought in likely with the sole purpose of the Playoff campaign in mind, ended up not even making the squad for the biggest game of Notts’ season.

While his performances were strong initially, Arter’s form tailed off to the stage where a man who had been playing Championship football just a year prior, was unable to break back into a National League team.

Arter’s career has faded away since his time at Notts

Notts’ 1-0 win over Dover Athletic on 2nd May 2022, remains Arter’s last appearance in senior English football.

His last appearance for Forest’s senior team came in January 2021 but the Reds’ promotion to the Premier League in 2022 automatically triggered a 12-month extension to his deal.

Forest and Arter failed to reach an agreement to terminate his contract, which left the midfielder reportedly earning £40,000 a week despite being cast away from the first team squad.

He was left out of Forest’s 25-man Premier League squad for his last two seasons at the club and was instead training with the under 23s.

Arter was finally released by Forest this summer upon the expiry of his contract.

Speaking in an interview with the Sunday World, Arter said: “I look back now with no negativity about my time at Forest. The whole situation was taken out of my hands and I feel like I handled it as well as possible.

“The simple reality was, they didn’t want me as a player and I wasn’t prepared to walk away from my contract. So we got into a position that no one could get out of.”

For Notts, Arter’s time in black and white was always going to be fairly low risk. It’s highly unlikely they were paying a significant chunk of Arter’s wages, making it a fairly low-risk and worthwhile gamble on their part.

On the pitch however, expectations were simply never met. While Arter’s performances weren’t poor from start to finish during his Notts spell, he certainly left a lot to be desired for a man who had played at the highest level.