Be fair to Hardy

[ivansneck]

I have no sympathy for him due to his arrogant attitude to everyone else. His wounds are entirely self-inflicted and his attempets at self-justification were just hubris.

[legs77]

He is a grade a pr*ck and people shouldnt forget that.

You can always judge people's character when the sh*t hits the fan he hid away totally different to 12 months ago.

It took him weeks to tell people Alex May was out of the running he should have been ruled out when the Mirror exposed him he deserves no credit for that its common sense.

He has also taken it to a week before the season starts ok its better than what could have happened but if he lived in the real world could have accepted a fairer price and given Ardley a better chance this season now we are in reality choosing the dregs.

Anyway enough about him glad he has gone lets hope the new guys operate us in a proper business like style.

[Masson4]

The below posts adequately describe my thoughts on the man. Apart from below, what I note that is largely not mentioned is that there are strong indications that the excellent and dignified patronage of the Haydn Green Estate forced Hardy to capitulate. It appears that he was prepared to gamble with the existence of the club right down to the wire next Wednesday in order to possibly profit himself.

There was no grand gesture to sell the club to 'suitable' new owners here as he previously claimed - it was enforced upon him by people who actually do care about the club. We may easily have been looking over the demise of the club due to him and I wonder how forgiving people would have been in that instance.

I don't have the time or energy to devote to hating Alan Hardy - or anyone for that matter - but there will be no magnanimous words from me, just because it worked out for the best - despite his actions. No softening or rewriting of history.

The attitude towards his speeding ban, imagining himself a 'special case' and general unsavoury stories long circulated about him are further strikes.

My only sentiment is rejoice at his severing with Notts County.

agree entirely that we need to move on and I don't hate him but I can't believe some of what's been posted here.

Alan Hardy's mismanagement and desire to have someone else pick up the tab for his little Football Manager adventure came closer to killing this club than anything else has managed. Which is saying something.

The VAT issue would have been known about way before the first hearing. Winding up petitions don't just materialise as soon as a debt falls due. It will have been at least on the horizon when he decided we would play like Barca, when he bought Hemmings, Vaughan, Enzio, Dennis and the rest, when he paid the Kewell compo etc. He did it anyway because that's what Big Al wanted to do. There was clearly no other way to raise the necessary funds to pay it with no playing assets to sell and significantly increased playing overheads. The inability of Paragon to bail us out was not because he 'took his eye off the ball' but because he plundered it to fund his ego trip. He already knew the well was dry but clearly ploughed on months before we knew of the problems.

Let's be honest, it's almost certain we're where we are because the HGE forced his hand and stopped him gambling with dozens of livelihoods and the existence of the club trying to have his cake and eat it. If he had had his way we'd already be in the hands of property developers just so he could squeeze out a tiny bit more cash (which he would have known had he been remotely rational that he was never going to get).

His conduct on social media has been an embarrassment. He is a grown man in his fifties, not a fif**** year old and he alone made us an absolute laughing stock. When we had just lost a huge part of our identity - so important it's written on the stadium - he was needlessly posing in a dugout looking pained. And anyone who thinks he was remotely truthful throughout the last six months is deluded.

As has been said elsewhere you get the leaders you deserve. Everyone is human and should not be crucified for minute errors but this willingness to write off absolutely everything because he 'tried his best' (at what?!?) is misplaced. If we don't honestly hold people to account we will only end up back here or worse.

But yeah, let's welcome him back when he wants to come, shall we? By the time it happens and we shower him with rose petals just remember that if he'd had his way the place would probably be a Laser Quest or Wacky Warehouse by then.

It was the pathetic attempt to justify the speeding thing that did for Hardy for me.

[TSANHO]

He also swept "Pullengate" under the carpet.

Pullengate?

What was all that about?

[jackal2]

Hate is a useless emotion. As the Italians say, be prepared to dig two graves.

Absolutely true, and Hardy proved another old adage as well, that pride comes before a fall.

Standing back and seeking to be objective rather than emotional, the facts are that Alan Hardy promised sound financial management ("nailed") and upward progress on the pitch ("5-year plan"), but he actually delivered increasingly poor financial management and relegation out of the Football League.

To be fair, in his first year and half it looked as though he was delivering his promises by-and-large, but this apparent success only reinforced the egotistical and over-confident side of his nature which was to prove his undoing from last summer on onwards.

I don't think he was helped at all by a manager who lost his own discipline and didn't do the groundwork necessary to get the best out of some expensive signings last summer, but the bottom line is that the owner/chairman is responsible for the direction of the club, and over the past year he made some very poor decisions, compounded by his wreckless use of social media, which I think skewed his decision-making even more.

Alan Hardy's tenure must ultimately be regarded as a failure. HOWEVER, it does appear, based on the evidence available at this early stage, that he has kept his promise to sell the club on to people with Notts County's best interest at heart. We can all try to second guess the things that were going through his mind during the past few weeks and how close he came to making one decision or another, but the fact is that did not hand the club over to convicted criminals or property developers, but instead to people who seem to come from a football-motivated background and whose initial statements suggest that they do have the club's interest very much at heart.

I hope for Alan Hardy's sake, but primarily for the club and the supporters' sake, that his final decision as owner of Notts County may ultimately prove to have been his best, and that over time his mistakes will be remembered as a minor blip in our great history, which he at least partially redeemed with his last act.

[optipez]

On the plus side, he did his bit to get a buzz back at Meadow Lane with the increased attendances but at a very high price in the end.
His behaviour from the off was poor, he tried to swindle John Sheridan out of his rightful compensation, it took Sheridan and the union going to arbitration before he coughed. He basically tried to ruin Sheridans reputation rather than pay him what he was due.
He then got rid of the half time youth games. It sounds like nothing but as an ex coach of one of those teams it was quite a big thing for those kids when the away fans cheered them scoring goals to be replaced by his poor son saving penalties. Awful behaviour as a father to put that pressure on your lad week after week.
That's just little details that show what makes him tick. Myopic, egotistical, petty.
Glad he's gone, entirely unbothered as to what becomes of him.
Bernard Breslaw I think is pretty much spot on.

[Bridg4d_Pie_]

I have no words of sympathy for the man known as Little Dick or Bean Head more polite titles amongst the others , in fact I am just waiting for the powers that be to take the Nottinghamshire and the Nine****th off his hands, and then I will be more than satisfied, only a complete pillock could take a club like Notts County out of the Football League.

[Old_pie]

Pullengate?

What was all that about?

Wasn't there something to do with a previous SLO?

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news...rom-the-heart/

Can't remember the details now.

[Big Bob]

What’s clear to me is that the guy tried his very best to bring the good times to Meadow Lane, bent over backwards then spent too much trying to achieve success.

He’s lost his business and Notts and quite probably his beloved golf course.

When it all started imploding he lost it somewhat but who wouldn’t?

Personally I cannot hate the guy.

It’s time to let bygones be bygones. We are Notts County we move on.

Love and peace to everyone.

See you all at Eastleigh

Stuff Hardy