Roy Carroll talks for the first time about his family links with Nottingham …. and how his dad is an ardent Notts County fan.

The Northern Ireland international keeper recalls his two year stint at Meadow Lane from 2014-16 which co-incided with him establishing himself as his country’s number one choice.

He talks in detail about his depth of feeling for the club and how Notts made a huge mistake sacking manager Shaun Derry.

And he also reveals the sequence of events which enabled him to play for Northern Ireland in Romania on a Friday night … and keep a clean sheet for Notts at Coventry on the Saturday afternoon just 17 hours later.

Roy explained: “My dad’s side of the family are all from Nottingham and my dad grew up as a Notts fan.

“I think he took more interest in my career when I was playing for Notts than when I was playing for Manchester United,” .

“As a young lad I used to come over and remember watching Notts play Forest in the old Notts County Cup final.”

Wonderful story too about how he drove from Athens to Northern Ireland to get ready for his return to English football with Notts.

“It took me five and a half days. I had four dogs, a snake and a hamster in the back of the car.

“I spent most of the time worrying that the snake was going to eat the hamster.”

Friday 14th May 2021

• Roy Carroll – The Magpie Connection (The Magpie Circle)

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*Main image @Official_NCFC Roy Carroll in his Notts County days.