Notts County had the course of their season altered by 2018 Nottingham Forest decision | OneFootball

Forest's decision to recall Ryan Yates back in January 2018 completely derailed the Magpies' season.

Summary

Notts County had the course of their 2017/18 season altered by Nottingham Forest’s decision to recall loanee Ryan Yates.

The Reds opted to bring their young midfielder back from his spell with their city rivals back in January 2018, before loaning him out almost instantly to League One side Scunthorpe United.

Despite being young and inexperienced in senior men’s football, Yates had become an integral part of Kevin Nolan’s side, who were flying in League Two at the time.

When Yates was recalled, the Magpies were sat second in the fourth division and seemingly destined to finish in one of the three automatic promotion spots, at worse.

However, without him, Nolan’s men laboured to a fifth-placed finish, before ultimately being defeated in the semi-finals of the play-offs by Mark Robins’ Coventry City.

Ryan Yates’ recall hugely affected Notts’ season

Right from the opening game of his loan spell at Meadow Lane, Yates’ talent was clear to see.

He debuted in the EFL Cup penalty shootout defeat away to Scunthorpe in August 2017 and, despite the Magpies’ loss, the Forest loanee was praised by boss Nolan, who referred to the youngster as a “leader” who had “bags of potential.”

He quickly became a huge part of Nolan’s plans. The then 19-year-old was already displaying the combative nature that has seen him have so much success at Forest over the years.

He also had an extremely valuable habit of scoring extremely important goals. The holding midfielder netted a brace in a matter of minutes as Notts came from 2-0 down to dump League One outfit Bristol Rovers out of the FA Cup at the start of November, a cup run that would include an impressive victory at Brentford.

He then followed that up with a vital stoppage-time winner against Colchester United later that month, a result that helped keep the world’s oldest football club level on points with Luton at the top of League Two.

When Yates was recalled early in January, Nolan’s men were sat in second place and enjoying a run of just one defeat in their last 12 league games.

The Forest youngster was recalled ahead of the 2-2 draw away at Lincoln City on 13th January and Notts were affected almost instantly, losing three of their first five games without the midfielder.

The Magpies had built up a five-point gap between themselves and the fourth-placed side Exeter City by the time Yates left. By the end of the season, they finished fifth and sat seven points behind Wycombe Wanderers in the final automatic promotion spot.

Nolan’s men were ultimately knocked out of the play-offs by Coventry, in a tie that saw several key decisions go against them. Despite being favourites for the title over the summer, they were then relegated out of the Football League in what was a catastrophic campaign the following season.

Ryan Yates has gone on to have an excellent career

In that 2017/18 season, Yates wasn’t the only youngster Notts had on loan from the other side of the Trent. Fellow midfielder Jorge Grant also impressed at Meadow Lane, having notched 16 league goals that season.

Despite Grant’s exploits in front of goal, Yates was always more important to Notts’ success, which was highlighted by their disappointing end to the season after he had left.

It's no huge surprise then that Yates’ career has gone from strength to strength since he departed the Magpies.

After concluding the 2017/18 season in League One with Scunthorpe, Yates returned to Forest that summer and immediately became a first-team player.

He made 16 appearances in the Championship the following campaign and has gone on to become a staple in the Reds’ side over the years.

He made 43 appearances in the league as Forest were promoted back to the top flight for the first time since 1999 in 2021/22. He was also named in the Championship’s Team of The Season, having played a key role for Steve Cooper’s side and even managing to net eight times in the league.

Since then, the 27-year-old has gone on to become the regular captain of the Forest side in the Premier League and has even added his name to an exclusive club of players who have scored in each of the top five divisions of the English game.

For Notts, it must surely be rewarding to see another player who developed fantastically at Meadow Lane go on and have such success at the top level. However, there will surely be an element of regret as to what could have been during his season at Meadow Lane.