Swindon Town 3-1 Notts County: Magpies relegated to National League

Notts County conceded a league-high 84 goals this season

Notts County have dropped out of the English Football League for the first time in their history after their final-day loss at Swindon Town.

The world's oldest professional league team and one of the Football League's founder members, Notts are arguably the biggest club to have ever suffered relegation to non-league.

The Magpies needed to win and hope relegation rivals Macclesfield Town lost to stay in League Two, but Sol Campbell's Silkmen drew 1-1 with Cambridge United, while County ultimately fell to defeat.

When Kane Hemmings put County ahead from the spot they looked set to survive - with Macclesfield a goal down at that time - but a Kaiyne Woolery strike and a Theo Robinson double for the Robins consigned the visitors to the fifth tier.

The Magpies were eight points from safety at the end of January but, when Hemmings converted his penalty after Craig Mackail-Smith was felled in the box, the 2,248 travelling fans believed a great escape was on.

Sam Stubbs headed over as Neal Ardley's side pushed for a second goal but it did not matter in the end as Macclesfield got the draw they needed and Swindon then completed a comeback victory.

Woolery slotted a leveller before Robinson pounced on a defensive mix-up to make it 2-1, with the striker turning home a corner to complete the scoring and ensure the Robins finish the season in 13th place.

End of an era for Magpies

Last month, manager Ardley described Notts County's 157-year history as an "extra burden" as they battled to stay up.

Ardley is one of three different managers to have taken charge of County during a tumultuous 2018-19 campaign, which has also seen the Magpies suffer financial problems off the pitch.

Former AFC Wimbledon boss Ardley took over in November after Harry Kewell's sacking, the ex-Liverpool midfielder having only replaced Kevin Nolan as manager 10 weeks earlier.

Under Nolan, Notts County reached the League Two play-offs last season and looked set for another promotion challenge - but they now find themselves preparing for life outside the EFL, having been one of 10 teams to have featured in every season since the formation of the League in 1888.

It is not even clear who will be at the helm in the National League, with owner Alan Hardy saying he had accepted an offer from a "very credible party" to buy the club, though Ardley has already said he wants to stay on at the club.

County are also due to be back in the High Court on 5 June, after a winding-up petition over an unpaid tax bill was adjourned last month.

Analysis

Charlie Slater, BBC Radio Nottingham's Notts County correspondent

"It is the end of an era and ultimately the darkest day in the football club's 157-year history, undoubtedly.

"The club will have to restructure and, unfortunately, an inevitable consequence of relegation could be that people will lose their jobs.

"From a football standpoint, it's the culmination of a season from hell. Only Notts County could start a campaign as promotion favourites and end it staring into the abyss of non-league.

"And there is no guarantee that they will bounce straight back up. As far as I am aware, only three teams in the past 15 years have managed immediate promotion following relegation from the EFL.

"Obviously they will hope any stay in non-league will be a short one but the fear is that the end of this era could prompt the start of a new one based largely outside of the league that for so long they have called home."