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Notts County v Salford playoff final: Latest ticket sales, odds, what both clubs have said

Ahead of the Notts County v Salford playoff final, we take a look at the latest ticket sales, odds, and what both clubs have said.

It all comes down to this, who will win promotion from League Two and a place in League One for the 2026/27 season?

TICKET SALES:

Notts County are thought to have sold around 20,000 tickets for their trip to Wembley, with that figure expected to go up by a few thousand more, the hope is around 25,000.

Salford are thought to have sold around 6,000. Update to come.

Tickets for the game are taken off sale at 2pm on Sunday 24th May is due to the fact that the ticketing information must be sent over to Wembley Stadium at this point.

ODDS:

Sky Bet – To be promoted
Notts County – 4/5
Salford City – 10/11

WHAT NOTTS COUNTY’S MARTIN PATERSON SAID:

The Magpies boss said to BBC Radio Nottingham: “I think some of them are excited. And again, we’ve prepared the same way we’ve prepared for the games this year.”

On how much confidence does he take from the manner of the performance in both legs against Chesterfield, the back-to-back clean sheet: “I think we take confidence from all the things over the season that we’ve done well. We also have a respect and a humility that with no opposition to carry threats and are a good team. Chesterfield were a good team and so was Salford. So we’re quietly confident in what we do, but also not overly confident that we don’t look at the basics of football and prepare properly. So we use the whole season as a platform, but we know it’s a one-off game. So that is something that we’re looking forward to as well because these games, it’s a shootout and it’s a one-off.”

Interviewer: “All season long it’s always been a case of the next game is the next game. Can that be the same here when it is such a big occasion, a big stage? Can you see it as the next game or is it more than that?”

Martin: “No, it’s here’s the next game and I think that’s key, I think that’s really important to go it’s one more game the players the supporters the football club they don’t, nobody needs to be told the importance of the game, it’s there right in front of you it’s organic, everybody can sense that, so my my strategies and my ideas as a person is to go okay well how do we win it and focus on that and prepare the team the same way I prepared all year round and also giving them that balance of detail and freedom to express themselves.”

Interviewer: “That being said of course, you know, it’s still a big stage in Wembley and I know you’ve played there and players in the squad have played there as well. What is that feeling like when you step out onto a Wembley pitch?”

Martin: “It’s different for everyone. I that’s bit of a difficult answer. Everyone feels it very differently. I remember vaguely I wasn’t too fussed about it. My game was such a simple game, if I’m honest, that I ran the channels, got hold of it and give it to the better players. And if I could, I tried to tap it in now and then. So it’s very different for every single player. But what really is important is the way that I give them the belief. And I just believe in my group.”

Interviewer: “There are players that have played at Wembley like you and there’s players that are young and haven’t had that experience yet. Are they asking questions this week about what it’s like? Are you almost mentoring some people this week to be prepared for that moment?”

Martin: “No, not really. I think some of my old players are actually the more boisterous, quite confident chaps, which I quite like as well. So, no, the old players are nice and calm and they’re ready to rock and roll.”

Interviewer: As we’re sat now here in the Jason Turner boardroom, there’s posters on the wall of Notts’ previous trips to Wembley that are still remembered. I one of them’s from 1990 and still remembered now, nearly four decades on. And the people that have been promoted as manager of this football club, the likes of Neil Warnock, Sam Allardyce, legends of the game, Steve Cotterill, Lee Williams, so highly revered amongst Notts fans. Have you let yourself dream of what it would be to join that group and what that would mean to you?”

Martin: “No. No. I stay really consistent and I’m being really honest with the fact that we’ve got one game left. I think that’s a pitfall and a trap that people may fall into. My job is to coach my players and believe in my group and make sure they’re ready. Because whether we like it not, football is all about the players.”

Interviewer: “And Salford, your opponents, of course, the crazy game that happened just a couple of months ago, their place with those three goals in stoppage time and the manner of the celebrations that followed, do you use that as fuel going into that? I’m sure you don’t need any more encouragement going into a Wembley final, but is that in the back of your mind, is that in the back of the players’ minds, do think, to really add to what the game is?”

Martin: “No. No, it’s Wembley game for Notts County. My focus is this football club, my job, and staying really consistent with the way that we prepare and the way that we conduct ourselves. No, it’s not a factor at all.”

WHAT NOTTS COUNTY’S JAMES BELSHAW SAID:

The Magpies goalkeeper told BBC Sport: “There were times when you didn’t know whether you would have a football club to follow because of financial difficulties, and previous things that are well documented within the history of this club.

“Following the promotion to League One and the Munto finance thing [which brought Eriksson briefly to Notts] in ’09-10, to then have success pretty much immediately in League One and then the two relegations, it was a tough time to be a Notts fan.

“There are a lot of Notts fans that would argue that it’s a League One football club and should be playing at that standard as a minimum.

“But to be on the right path to that, I think a lot of Notts fans would definitely take the years in the National League to be supporting a football club that they can be proud of that is ultimately still a football club, because that obviously was real danger.

“To now have an ownership group that cares about the club, that’s a stable club, that has a set way of running the football club in a way that has bought success can’t be overlooked.”

On getting advice from his “first hero” Darren Ward: “Being a goalkeeper, he was the first person that I saw and was like ‘wow, it’s Darren Ward’ when I was a mascot on my sixth birthday here [at Meadow Lane] in a game against Bristol Rovers.

“He reached out over the weekend on Instagram and said ‘look if ever you want to go for a coffee, let me know’. And I was I was like, ‘oh, do I!’.

“So I went for a coffee with him the other day. It was just a two-and-a-half, three-hour chat about football processes, how the Lionesses do things, how we do things, and stories.”

Former keeper Steve Cherry, got in touch with Belshaw: “He wanted to have a chat to me before Wembley.

“So it’s like I have all these people that I grew up watching, and ones that I remember getting promoted, and now I’m in that position.

“I’d like to leave a legacy at this football club, to give something back to the club that’s given so much joy, particularly to my dad over his 60 years. That would be very humbling and a nice way to finish the season.”

WHAT SALFORD’S KARL ROBINSON SAID:

The Ammies boss in his pre-match interview with SCFC TV, as per the club website: “The more I think about it, the more emotional you can get.

“To think, seeing the crowd here in my very first game against Forest Green, and then seeing the crowd here against Grimsby the other day, it is just an unbelievable set of circumstances.

“Notts County are a good team. They are coached really well, they can shift between systems, the manager has worked hard on certain aspects of their game. They have great individual players and a clean way of playing. That is why this is going to be difficult.

“It is two good teams going toe-to-toe in a one-off final. The outcome will be determined on how consistent you stay with your messages, how well you stick to a game plan, and making sure that when your individual talents are questioned, that you come to the forefront of the game.

“Thank you to the supporters, thank you for the support, and thank you for the messages. Thank you for staying consistent in everything that you have done. Thank you for supporting the players.

“But I also want to thank the players for giving their all to this football club as well, I think the feeling is mutual, from the players to the fans, and the fans back to the players. I don’t think there is a disconnect here.

“To play 58 games in a year is unbelievable. We have done so much, and been through so many moments. It is something that we are really proud of. I just hope now that we make ourselves really competitive for one last time and, hopefully, get another win under our belts. If we do that, then I will be happy.”

Salford’s Brandon Cooper and Matt Butcher gave their thoughts…

In an interview with SCFC TV, Cooper said, as per the club website: “We have had some good prep leading into it, obviously off the back of two hard games against Grimsby. The mood though is up, we are looking forward to it, and we cannot wait to get out there now.

“It was a real rollercoaster of a game, but the job isn’t done. We have got one game left, and we have a chance to do something special as a group. It already is a special group, and I think that is what we are looking at really, this opportunity to do something special. We have a great group to do it with, so it is exciting, and the idea of getting a win is enjoyable.”

Butcher said: “We have got so many different characters, so many people with different strengths, both on and off the pitch. I think it just works and gels together, and that is credit to each and every one of them who has worked so hard every day.

“But at the end of the day, it is for this moment, and we all know that finals are about moments. That is the mindset I am taking into it. You look back as a kid on those winning moments in finals and big games, that is what you want to go and replicate as a footballer.

“So, I think that is my message to the rest of the group as well: go and be that person, and go and enjoy it. This is what you grew up wanting to do, so there is no point taking a back step. We have got to go all feet forward and have a right go.”

“I think it is thanks from us,” Butcher added. “These moments over the last three weeks in particular have been really special.

“That last game of the season at Crawley, we could have quite easily been negative. But to bump into the supporters at the service station on the way back up, they brought the positivity and fed that into the group.

“That has allowed us to kick on, and I think in the last two games they have been exceptional.”

Cooper continued: “I feel like Monday would top it off for us as a group. Like Butch said, in the hard moments we have really felt it, like in those little moments away at Crawley where it was tough, they were there.

“They have followed us all around the country this season, so we want to repay them, have a good day out at Wembley, and hopefully we can win.”

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