NEARLY two decades after retiring as manager of the Magpies, Jimmy Sirrel took centre stage at Meadow Lane on the final day of the 2005/06 season to rally the club's supporters.

With Notts facing the disastrous possibility of relegation into non-league oblivion, Sirrel took to the pitch ahead of the game against Bury to a standing ovation from more than 8,500 fans.

His entrance raised the roof and he gave a rousing speech.

He reminded the club's supporters of the extraordinary significance of the game, which he described as the biggest in the club's long and illustrious history.

It is impossible to know just how big a part Sirrel's speech played on that day as the Magpies fought back with two goals in the dying minutes of the game to draw 2-2.

But the cries of "there's only one Jimmy Sirrel" that echoed around the ground with five minutes left and Notts trailing 2-0 tell their own story.

Perhaps it was those chants that stung the players into life.

Perhaps it spurred them on to stage their late, late heroics.

Perhaps they did it for Sirrel.

Just minutes later the ball dropped to Dan Martin inside the six-yard box and he fired past Kasper Schmeichel.

And then Julien Baudet held his nerve to beat the goalkeeper from the penalty spot.

Notts would have avoided relegation even in defeat in the end, as Oxford United slipped out of the Football League after a 3-2 defeat to Leyton Orient.

But still, the pitch at Meadow Lane was a sea of black and white at the final whistle, with a mass outpouring of relief from the supporters.

Everyone saluted the Notts players, who had made their way to the directors' box, and Sirrel.