Notts County FC (initially called Notts Football Club) from the city of Nottingham, and until relegation in 2019 was the oldest in the English Football League, claiming to have been founded in 1862. The club were founder members of the League in 1888 and have since spent periods in all four divisions.  County enjoyed sixteen consecutive season's in the top flight from 1897 to the end of 1913. The Italian football club Juventus F.C. derived its famous black-and-white striped kits from Notts County during this golden period in the club’s fortunes.  They have never won the championship, but did win the FA Cup in 1894 (and are currently the only club to have entered the FA competition every year since 1877). They won the FA Cup by beating Bolton Wanderers 4-1 at Goodison Park, Jimmy Logan scored a hat-trick. This was also the first time the FA Cup had been won by a professional club outside of the North West or West Midlands.  Their victory was remarkable for the fact that it made them the first Second Division team to lift the trophy.  County also reached the final in 1890/91 but lost 3-1 to Blackburn Rovers.  The club remained in the First Division until 1913 when they were relegated. They returned to the First Division as champions the following year before football was suspended because of the First World War.  They resumed their place in the First Divison after the war but were relegated in 1920.  They returned to the top tier of English football two years later but remained only three years before being relegated.  After spending the 1930-31 season in Division Three (North), County struggled in Division Two until 1935 when they were relegated once again. After the Second World War, County developed a fine side with the surprise signing of Tommy Lawton for a fee of £20,000, a new British record. Crowds rose from an average of 9,000 to 35,000, and in 1949–50 the Third Division championship was won and with it promotion to the second division. With Lawton’s departure the club’s fortunes declined and two successive relegations took County into Division Four in 1959. They bounced back immediately to return to the Third Division in 1960.  In 1964 County dropped back into Division Four but promotion in 1971 and again in 1973 took the club back to Division Two  

In 1981 manager Jimmy Sirrell guided the team into the top flight. Two seasons of struggle in the First Division were followed by successive relegations that took County back into Division Three in 1985. In 1987 local businessman Derek Pavis took control and under his regime the club returned to Division One in 1991 after successive promotions from the Third Division only to drop immediately back into Division Two. By 1997 Notts County was in the bottom division (now Division Three) but with Sam Allardyce in charge, County stormed to the championship to return to Division Two in 1998. Notts County has for most of the past two decades played its football in the bottom two divisions, and in 2005-06 season finished in 21st place in League Two and in 89th place overall, the lowest position the club had ever finished up to that point. But their fortunes took a turn for the better when they were subject to a takeover by a Middle Eastern Consortium promising millions of pounds of investment. However the money never materialised and the club plunged deep into debt and faced a winding-up order taken out by HM Revenue & Customs. In December County's chairman, Peter Trembling bought the club for a nominal fee from Munto Finance, the vehicle used by King and Willett to buy the club months before and on 10 February 2010, Trembling sold the club on to a new consortium headed by Ray Trew. Despite these tribulations, County won the League Two championship and were promoted to the third tier in 2010.  After a number of close calls the club was relegated to the fourth tier of English football at the end of the 2014-15 season. Worse was to follow: at the end of the 2018-19 season they were relegated from the Football League for the first time in their history. A penatly shootout win at the end of the National League promotion final against Chesterfield at Wembly in May 2023, secured Notts County's return to the Football League after a four-year absence and with it the mantle as the worlds oldest football league club.