Give the manager more time

[1955pie]

I don't like some of the snobbery implicit in the criticism of Maynard's relatively humble background. Judge him by results by all means, and so far they haven't been good enough, but he hasn't had anywhere near enough time to truly show what he can do.

The fact that Maynard isn't a big name with previous Football League experience doesn't mean he can't become one in the future. We've had more than our fair share of experienced/marquee/big name managers with great careers behind them and it didn't stop us ending up in the National League. As with Luke Williams, I'm not bothered if nobody knows his name when he arrives, I'd much rather he makes his name with us.

Like I said in another post, Maynard has basically inherited a team that can't defend at this level. If he can find a way of getting this group of players to stop conceding so many goals, at least until we have the opportunity to bring in reinforcements in the summer, then he'll be due some credit. That's his biggest challenge at the moment, and regardless of whether we agreed with his appointment or not, we surely all want him to succeed in that, in which case give the man a chance. There's no point making his job more difficult than it already is.

Well said.
Whatever some might think of his background (at least he was doing a proper job) I think we all pretty much agree that he has inherited a defensive mess of our recruitment teams making.

[the_anticlough]

All three of Sirrel, Warnock and Williams had been full-time football league managers prior to their appointments

[MAD_MAGPIE]

He will not but Pietastic deserves credit for using a new example and not the well worn cliche of Alex Ferguson's start at United. Posters would be well advised not to challenge UTM on stats, he will always find some from somewhere to see you off. Like MadMagpie using SM's last 6 games to prove he was no worse than LW, when actually it showed his projected results over the season would give you 30 points, bottom place and relegation.

Trying to be objective, I would have to say the jury is out on the club's ambition, but that could be down to FFP. The jury is also out on on Football Radar's ability to analyse defenders. We can accept consolidation if that is what people want but I would rather that was 8th/9th/10th than 20th/21st/22nd. Whatever, this weird period where Notts have had huge support may be coming to and end. It felt odd anyway to someone who went on one of two coaches (with Claude Bishop or Neal Hook) to away games in what is is now the Championship. And half of those fans had sandwiches and a flask, and a tartan blanket.

What we can (or maybe not in some cases) agree on was it was a nice moment to see Forest lose to an 89th minute goal last night, with a double celebration after 4 minutes of VAR confirming it. You Pies.

A sample of seven games is not enough data to predict with any degree of accuracy the projected points for a team over an entire season. Especially when it's a selection of games where we only won one game so it's bound to show us as being relegation fodder. Plus most of the games in that sample were teams in the top seven.

The comparison I did between LW and SM was to show that the results of those games apart from Gillingham were almost identical to the point the goals for and against were nearly the same and that SM's results in those games were no worse than LW's. They are the facts because that is what has happened. They cannot be disproven.

Likewise I went to Mansfield and Wrexham and we were unfortunate to not get something from those games. We did enough in both but such is football. The performances in those games were not bad.

This is why I am still undecided about SM where others made their minds up as soon as he was appointed and why any sensible and rational owners would not be so quick to write SM off and pull the trigger at this stage.

Also I've looked at the Shrewsbury howlers that someone posted on another thread and the defensive errors were evident then under LW. I honestly believe we would have beaten them that night without those mistakes.

This is also why I don't think had Neil Warnock come in or another manager that all of a sudden they could have stopped the mistakes and errors that we have been punished for since day one at Sutton right through to day 34 against Sutton.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I'm also trying to be objective and look at the bigger picture as to why things have suddenly gone tits up after enjoying a continuous upward curve for 18 months. I think that on and off the pitch we've lost three important parts of our success, maybe the three most important parts. Jason Turner, Luke Williams and Matty Palmer were the heartbeat of the club and would always be very difficult to replace. Hopefully we can arrest the downward spiral soon, it would be sad to end the season on a downer.

I think you have hit the nail on the head there. Three major key players no longer involved. So we have a new CEO, a new manager this season and a key player out injured. That is a lot of change.

It’s true we are showing relegation form at the moment and I’m hoping for everyone’s sake which includes players, fans, owners, and SM that we can start to pick up some results. At least finish on an upwards trajectory and give us something to be optimistic about going into the summer when the proper transfer business can be done. For me the January transfer window is a bit of a sticking plaster and not a magic bullet.

[Woodypie]

How much time should the manager be given before people can judge? Ten games, rest of the season, a year, five years?

[SmiffyPie]

How much time should the manager be given before people can judge? Ten games, rest of the season, a year, five years?

Well, the remainder of this season, see what transpires in the close season and ten (or so) matches into next season? Unless there is an absolute implosion over these last 12 games, if that happens I would have thought there would be a new man in pretty sharpish?

[ThePieWhoCameIn]

Hasn't it been said that they look for players on the fringes of teams with potential for developement and potential for resale and that they cost little if anything? That must include players carrying injuries because we have had a few (and I don't really get that? Must be a gamble that the player recovers enough to warrant the risk (some have I know)). They most certainly don't look at players that are currently performing well for their teams and would cost.

I suppose if they are looking for established players - who presumably have enough match history behind them to be meaningful - that have been sidelined for whatever reason, one of those biggest reasons will be injury. Which does explain why our recruitment seems to feature a lot of crocks!

Other reasons I suppose are:
Young and inexperienced - so you don't have any 1st team action to put into the model. Those kind of players you'd expect to pick up more reliably through traditional scouting? Is that how we found Warner?

Square peg, round hole. Player is decent but doesn't fit the team he's with. I'd put Robertson in that category.

But we ask a lot of our defenders, I'm not sure the square peg players will exist. Anyone who can defend well AND play football on the deck won't be sidelined, they'll be first name on team sheet.

So that leaves younger players which are going to be much more of a gamble than Radar would have you believe, or players fresh off the treatment table. Maybe Radar should start up a medical offshoot!

[queenslandpie]

How much time should the manager be given before people can judge? Ten games, rest of the season, a year, five years?

Mr Maynard gets the rest of the season surely and then we reset and go from there. It would be ludicrous, in my opinion not to give him that as a minimum. Yes he doesn't interview very well and has made a few errors here and there but he's trying to move away from a style that was increasingly not working in L2. He is trying things. Most have failed. Let's see how he is backed by the analysis mob and please dont play Rawlinson again unless absolutely necessary.

[Richard1984]

I think the next couple games are decisive. Take positives, could easily of taken wins at Mansfield and Wrexham. Perhaps confidence is lacking from bad luck. While Sutton result is very poor, as Maynard said in the interview-it’s only marginal silly errors causing these results. I think we will hit more consistent form next season (I hope!)

[NottsNotCounty]

Having had Saturday postponed may work as a blessing in disguise to Maynard as he gets a week to hopefully address and ‘tweak’ some of the defensive frailties. The next 4 games though I see as key for his tenure with some mid to lower table opposition after Wimbledon visit the Lane. The owners have possibly put him under more pressure by declaring back in January that they were targeting automatic promotion still so on that basis he needs 10 points or he is falling well short of their short term expectations.