How Notts County Missed Out On Big Money After Contract Dispute

Notts County cost themselves big money back in 2013, when Alan Judge left the club following a contract dispute.

The midfielder was outstanding across a three-year spell at Meadow Lane but was ultimately left feeling disillusioned by the continuous turnover of managers at the club.

The Irishman struck eight league goals and 11 assists in 2012/13 as Notts recorded back-to-back top-half finishes in League One. His form that year earned him a spot in the PFA’s League One Team of the Season.

While Judge’s performances should have earned the Magpies a sizeable fee for their star man, he ended up walking away from the club on a free transfer at the end of his contract.

Blackburn Rovers, freshly relegated from the Premier League, were the beneficiaries, before Judge went on to enjoy a highly productive spell with Brentford later down the line.

Notts will regret how Judge’s time at the club ended

Judge first turned out for Notts during the 2010/11 season, after Notts secured his services on a loan deal from Blackburn. They made the deal a permanent one in January 2011 and, while his first year at Meadow Lane was fairly quiet, his second two were anything but.

The midfielder netted seven goals and contributed 12 assists during the 2011/12 campaign, a season in which Notts narrowly missed out on the third tier play-offs on the final day of the season.

The diminutive Irishman delivered several special moments for the Magpies that season, with his thumping stoppage-time strike away at Wycombe Wanderers to keep Notts’ play-off hopes alive up there with the best.

Judge was also part of Martin Allen’s side that turned out against Juventus, in a game played to celebrate the opening of the Old Lady’s new stadium.

A popular figure at Meadow Lane for his creative, high-quality displays, Judge scooped the Player of the Year award at the club’s end of season ceremony.

He went one better the following campaign, when he was named in the Team of the Season for the entire division, having notched eight goals and 11 assists.

Producing numbers like that in the top half of the third tier should have resulted in the Nottingham outfit receiving a substantial fee for their key creator. However, Judge ultimately left on a free, having become frustrated at the way the club was run.

Over the course of his three years at Notts, he saw heavy managerial turnover, meaning there was no stability whatsoever at the club.

When the club sacked Keith Curle while sat 10th in League One in February 2013, Judge hit out at the hierarchy, telling BBC Radio Nottingham: “I am just sick of it now. I don’t know what is happening to the stability they want to have. Eventually they have to stick with the manager. They cannot keep doing it.”

That essentially put paid to any chance of the Magpies’ star inking a new deal and, sure enough, he moved on when his contract expired at the end of the 2012/13 season, leaving Notts to regret missing out on a potential payday.

While Notts were left wondering what could have been, Blackburn Rovers and then Brentford reaped the benefits of their inability to keep hold of their star man.

Upon the expiry of his deal with the world’s oldest football league club, Judge re-signed for Blackburn.

However, he spent just one season back at Ewood Park (with half of that spent on loan), before he moved to Brentford. A successful loan spell with the Bees saw Judge hit seven goals and three assists as they were promoted to the Championship ahead of the 2014/15 campaign.

He then joined the London outfit for an undisclosed fee and immediately flourished in the second tier. Now 26, Judge registered 12 league assists as Brentford came close to back-to-back promotions, only to be beaten in the play-off semi-finals.

Then in 2015/16, the midfielder produced the best season of his career, with 13 goals and 11 assists, which saw him named in the Team of the Season for both the Championship and the EFL as a whole.

That run of form saw Judge handed his debut for the Irish senior team midway through that season.

However, from then on, injuries started to take their toll and Judge’s career has tailed off. He has had spells with Ipswich Town, Colchester United, Woking, and now Braintree Town of the National League, but has never really been able to hit the same heights again.

At 36, the end of his career must surely be coming soon and, with what he went on to achieve after leaving Meadow Lane, Notts must seriously regret the way his time at the club ended.