Trialist
There is no formula for success in football, sport in general, or entertainment. You can work your guts off daily for 50 years and still end up on the breadline. If there were a formula there would be stacks of millionaires out there and plenty of people wanting to buy the club.
Sadly, the Hardy era can only be described as "All the gear and no idea." Who knows what the Danes might bring in if they buy the club, but computers and statistics don't win games - not on this planet anyway.
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They can certainly help, if they're coupled with people who can do the 'old fashioned' football stuff. Sam Allardyce, regarded as a dinosaur by many in the game, was one of the first to embrace sports science and statistics and it worked well for him almost everywhere he went.
New Member
The Cowleys fully embrace data and analytics and spend a lot of time with the team in the "classroom". Two league tiles, the qtr final of the FA Cup and the Checkatrade trophy in 3 seasons is a pretty good return on investing in new ways of working!Originally Posted by Supporter since 1951
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Read 'My Turn' - Johan Cruyff's autobiography. Pep Guardiola swears by him. There certainly are one or two clues there. Probably the most intelligent football man since the war.
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Kevin Nolan used to talk about time in the classroom too, he'd learned it from Big Sam I believe who was a bit of a pioneer himself in the way he did things.
Unfortunately for him I think he spent too much time in the pub and not enough time in the classroom himself.
As did Moniz, which is probably why he was so good to listen to imo. I remember him getting visibly upset talking about him after his death in an interview
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Define 'success'.
Of 'success' is to constantly climb through the leagues and reach the Championship and the Premier League then there probably isn't a formula for it, or at least not one that doesn't involve some sort of rich benefactor, coupled with good management and excellent recruitment.
However, if you're realistic about what a club the size of Notts County can achieve, which is probably League One status as an average, then perhaps you can define 'success' differently. Perhaps 'success' is being widely respected as a club that grows and develops talent, be it from our own ranks or recruiting from elsewhere. Perhaps 'success' can be about the strength of our links with the local community and developing a reputation for developing "ones of our own" who eventually move on to greater things but benefit us at the start of their journey and through sell-on clauses and increments after they leave. This is the realistic level of ambition and the definition of success that we should have, and who knows, if it does bring success on the pitch and greater crowds with it, the scope of what's possible might expand.
For the past few years we've been chasing an almost impossible dream in a highly impractical way.
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Of course analysis can be used to improve performance in any sphere where you have to make decisions and take a risk. And there are plenty of millionaires out there.
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Yes, like Alan Hardy and Ray Trew. Can't wait for the new owners to come in and try something new, because what we've done for most of the past 20-odd years has taken us to our lowest ebb.
Of course there are no guarantees, but let's hope that tomorrow we witness the dawning of a new era - one in which lion and hyena come together, in a great and glorious future! Oh, hang on, wrong future...
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I know it sounds sordid, but you'll be rewarded ...
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