People looking from outside the Notts County environment would conclude that this was a very respectable record and that this is a very harsh decision, and it's a perfectly reasonable argument.
However, Alan Hardy has obviously taken the same view as many of Nolan's critics on this message board, that the recent direction of travel has been downwards, and the acceleration in that decline this season has been the tipping point.
I got the impression Hardy liked Nolan and wanted him to succeed, otherwise he wouldn't have backed him to make big signings in the summer. So this decision will not have been taken without a lot of thought and soul searching.