Kevin Nolan

[Freeman25]

Is that true? Ardley built a new squad from Jan onwards and wasn't it them that actually took us out of the League? I remember them, no discernible shape, no discernible style playing nothing football, quite a lot like now AIH. Wonder why???

Nolan "built" the squad that started the season and was the one responsible for their pre-season, any players brought in by managers after him were brought in because the squad he'd left them with was a mile away from being good enough despite him spending 6 figure sums on 3 players and bringing in a past it central midfielder on stupid wages.

[jackal2]

Nolan "built" the squad that started the season and was the one responsible for their pre-season, any players brought in by managers after him were brought in because the squad he'd left them with was a mile away from being good enough despite him spending 6 figure sums on 3 players and bringing in a past it central midfielder on stupid wages.

Absolutely true. Kewell and Ardley mostly had to wheel and deal to bring players in, supplemented with a small amount of additional money Alan Hardy didn't have.

[pingu_pie]

I agree about the fact that Nolan was not given enough time. Because we had got to the playoffs he deserved until Christmas at least to see what he could do. But once again we had a gung ho chairman who wanted promotion and after five games that was already looking in danger so he pulled the trigger.

I really liked Nolan. I thought it was like having a fan as manager in that he wore his heart on his sleeve, was passionate and had that never say die attitude. This reflected in his teams.

But this doesn’t tell the full story.

Our problems under Nolan started in January 2018. We lost Ryan Yates and were either naive, arrogant or complacent in that January transfer window to adequately bring in a replacement and strengthen in other areas to maintain our promotion place. Both Nolan and Hardy are responsible for that. Hardy then publicly fell out with Forest.

The FA Cup defeat against Swansea destroyed confidence and brought to light all our weaknesses. Everyone in the country saw it and we faded and finished in the playoffs. There is no doubt we were victims of some shocking decisions in those games by the officials.

It all hit Nolan hard and basically in my opinion he lost his spark and went off the rails. Then in the Summer of 2018 we allegedly spent £150,000 each on Hemmings and Dennis. Not forgetting Enzio’s transfer fee and Vaughan’s wages.

Also we are hearing of alleged interference from Hardy. When I look back on some of those signings it does for me give me a sense of “no smoke without fire”. Some smell of “glamour” signings and have that Virtue Thick life long ambition about them. Also winding up Mansfield fans by signing Hemmings.

Nolan in hindsight was probably put in a difficult position as Hardy was the owner but we should have kept Collins and O’Connor and got a replacement for Shola and Stead, and got a Grant type on loan. That’s all it needed instead of an overhaul, and that’s what I believe Nolan would have pushed for.

Then Hardy goes and sacks Nolan, but not only that he pays compensation for Kewell who in hindsight may have stood the best chance of saving us, to then get rid of him because he was straight talking and told it how it was and upset underperforming or not good enough players. Probably he didn’t want to be mates with the chairman either and had an ego like him, so he was booted out. So that was madness to get rid of him. He may not have been liked but who would have cared if he had drained the swamp and kept us up.

In conclusion whilst Nolan is a good character and I really like him, and he gave us our best season since Munto, he cannot he immune from being partly responsible for us going out of the football league and why we are where we are today.

That's a good synopsis, MAD. It would be fascinating to know how much Hardy was involved; Yates going seemed to be the biggest loss we had. I was never sure why the Swansea game should have affected the team so much - who cared? It was just some extra cash in the bank, and I know it's no fun to lose 8-1, but it was against top flight opposition - not like we did that against a team in our own division. At home.

That playoff season, the thing that stuck out to me (when I got to go) was the fitness and the sheer bloody-mindedness. I never thought we were as talented as some of the other teams, Luton, Coventry, etc, but the players never ever stopped running, never gave anyone space, and they were never out of a game. Nolan had them running through walls, and I can't help but feel like that's the secret in the lower leagues - it really does look possible to out-work the other teams and get to the top. Of course teams with great players will come out on top over pure effort - hence Swansea tearing us up - but we got so many points just from refusing to not win the game.

The other thing that will always be a "what if" for me; it really looked like the abject unfairness of the two Coventry games just floored Nolan. I think we could all have taken getting beaten straight up, even though we would all have been annoyed at having thrown away what should have been a promotion, but that was stolen away. The ease with which Coventry beat Exeter means I still believe we would have won at Wembley; Coventry were better than us, but they got a lot of help to actually get past us; I think we were better than Exeter.

The response that was needed was to give a big F you to the rest of the division and the officials and go on a full-on revenge tour fueled with anger at being screwed. I think that might have happened had it been a fair loss, but I don't think Nolan could get over it. I'm not sure I have, considering what happened after.

All this is to say... I don't know what makes a good manager in the end. And I don't think Notts fans en masse do either. All we do is sack people who don't reach the mystical target of the day - Curle because he was missing the playoffs in League 1 again, Moniz because we weren't getting straight back up, and on and on. I'd rather be where we were with them, but we were never happy: Nolan was too direct, Curle wasn't direct enough, Derry didn't have any tactics, Moniz couldn't win away, and woe betide you if you don't give a good radio interview.

Maybe Ardley isn't the guy. Maybe he is. I don't know. I'm going to leave it to the Reedtz brothers. And I hope they don't listen to us.

[SwalePie]

Cracking posts Mad and Pingu! Sum up a lot of how I feel about it all.

[kill_the_drum]

That's a good synopsis, MAD. It would be fascinating to know how much Hardy was involved; Yates going seemed to be the biggest loss we had. I was never sure why the Swansea game should have affected the team so much - who cared? It was just some extra cash in the bank, and I know it's no fun to lose 8-1, but it was against top flight opposition - not like we did that against a team in our own division. At home.

That playoff season, the thing that stuck out to me (when I got to go) was the fitness and the sheer bloody-mindedness. I never thought we were as talented as some of the other teams, Luton, Coventry, etc, but the players never ever stopped running, never gave anyone space, and they were never out of a game. Nolan had them running through walls, and I can't help but feel like that's the secret in the lower leagues - it really does look possible to out-work the other teams and get to the top. Of course teams with great players will come out on top over pure effort - hence Swansea tearing us up - but we got so many points just from refusing to not win the game.

The other thing that will always be a "what if" for me; it really looked like the abject unfairness of the two Coventry games just floored Nolan. I think we could all have taken getting beaten straight up, even though we would all have been annoyed at having thrown away what should have been a promotion, but that was stolen away. The ease with which Coventry beat Exeter means I still believe we would have won at Wembley; Coventry were better than us, but they got a lot of help to actually get past us; I think we were better than Exeter.

The response that was needed was to give a big F you to the rest of the division and the officials and go on a full-on revenge tour fueled with anger at being screwed. I think that might have happened had it been a fair loss, but I don't think Nolan could get over it. I'm not sure I have, considering what happened after.

All this is to say... I don't know what makes a good manager in the end. And I don't think Notts fans en masse do either. All we do is sack people who don't reach the mystical target of the day - Curle because he was missing the playoffs in League 1 again, Moniz because we weren't getting straight back up, and on and on. I'd rather be where we were with them, but we were never happy: Nolan was too direct, Curle wasn't direct enough, Derry didn't have any tactics, Moniz couldn't win away, and woe betide you if you don't give a good radio interview.

Maybe Ardley isn't the guy. Maybe he is. I don't know. I'm going to leave it to the Reedtz brothers. And I hope they don't listen to us.

Spot on Pingu and exactly how I feel.
I’ve seen a lot of posts over the years that are reflecting back on the mistakes of whichever chairman was in situ.
However these mistakes have normally been to the delight of many fans.
All the managers you list above, at the time they were sacked there had always been growing momentum by some of our fans for that to happen.
I’ve no idea if Ardley is the right man, and with every passing game my resolve waivers. But IMO we aren’t in this mess because of bad recruitment, we’re in it because of bad sackings!

[MagpieMike]

I agree about the fact that Nolan was not given enough time. Because we had got to the playoffs he deserved until Christmas at least to see what he could do. But once again we had a gung ho chairman who wanted promotion and after five games that was already looking in danger so he pulled the trigger.

I really liked Nolan. I thought it was like having a fan as manager in that he wore his heart on his sleeve, was passionate and had that never say die attitude. This reflected in his teams.

But this doesn’t tell the full story.

Our problems under Nolan started in January 2018. We lost Ryan Yates and were either naive, arrogant or complacent in that January transfer window to adequately bring in a replacement and strengthen in other areas to maintain our promotion place. Both Nolan and Hardy are responsible for that. Hardy then publicly fell out with Forest.

The FA Cup defeat against Swansea destroyed confidence and brought to light all our weaknesses. Everyone in the country saw it and we faded and finished in the playoffs. There is no doubt we were victims of some shocking decisions in those games by the officials.

It all hit Nolan hard and basically in my opinion he lost his spark and went off the rails. Then in the Summer of 2018 we allegedly spent £150,000 each on Hemmings and Dennis. Not forgetting Enzio’s transfer fee and Vaughan’s wages.

Also we are hearing of alleged interference from Hardy. When I look back on some of those signings it does for me give me a sense of “no smoke without fire”. Some smell of “glamour” signings and have that Virtue Thick life long ambition about them. Also winding up Mansfield fans by signing Hemmings.

Nolan in hindsight was probably put in a difficult position as Hardy was the owner but we should have kept Collins and O’Connor and got a replacement for Shola and Stead, and got a Grant type on loan. That’s all it needed instead of an overhaul, and that’s what I believe Nolan would have pushed for.

Then Hardy goes and sacks Nolan, but not only that he pays compensation for Kewell who in hindsight may have stood the best chance of saving us, to then get rid of him because he was straight talking and told it how it was and upset underperforming or not good enough players. Probably he didn’t want to be mates with the chairman either and had an ego like him, so he was booted out. So that was madness to get rid of him. He may not have been liked but who would have cared if he had drained the swamp and kept us up.

In conclusion whilst Nolan is a good character and I really like him, and he gave us our best season since Munto, he cannot he immune from being partly responsible for us going out of the football league and why we are where we are today.

No mention of a crap 💩 defence. Everyone could see that they had lost it in the second half of the playoff season. So what did we do that summer? Brought in millions of useless midfielders, signed a new forward line, with individual ability but no thought as to how they would function as a unit, and got rid of our first choice goal keeper, with no thought of a replacement. That’s the seeds of relegation right there, and that was Nolan and Hardy.

[Bohinen]

I’ve seen a lot of posts over the years that are reflecting back on the mistakes of whichever chairman was in situ.
However these mistakes have normally been to the delight of many fans.
All the managers you list above, at the time they were sacked there had always been growing momentum by some of our fans for that to happen.

Have you ever written a post that doesn't attack the fans?

No-one called for Kewell's sacking, that was solely down to Hardy.

[upthemaggies]

No mention of a crap 💩 defence. Everyone could see that they had lost it in the second half of the playoff season. So what did we do that summer? Brought in millions of useless midfielders, signed a new forward line, with individual ability but no thought as to how they would function as a unit, and got rid of our first choice goal keeper, with no thought of a replacement. That’s the seeds of relegation right there, and that was Nolan and Hardy.

I think Fletcher was involved as well, probably more so than Hardy. He had "a special remit and responsibility to oversee the football department of the club, complementing the football operations department" and I'm sure it was mentioned that he was helping Nolan with recruitment.

[magpie_mania]

No mention of a crap 💩 defence. Everyone could see that they had lost it in the second half of the playoff season. So what did we do that summer? Brought in millions of useless midfielders, signed a new forward line, with individual ability but no thought as to how they would function as a unit, and got rid of our first choice goal keeper, with no thought of a replacement. That’s the seeds of relegation right there, and that was Nolan and Hardy.

In the second half of the season our defence was Ok, it was goals that dried up.

Keeper was a huge mistake, although Fitz had done ok when he came in until he lost his head and got red-carded.

A big factor last season imo was the loss of Mike Edwards (note how the fitness was lacking), Alan Smith and Shola. With their influence and the squad we had, I reckon we would have been challenging at the top.

[Davy500]

Nolan "built" the squad that started the season and was the one responsible for their pre-season, any players brought in by managers after him were brought in because the squad he'd left them with was a mile away from being good enough despite him spending 6 figure sums on 3 players and bringing in a past it central midfielder on stupid wages.

Nolan built the squad under hardys interference, and most importantly was never given time to sort things out. 5 games really?
So Ardley has no responsibility from november, and the money he was given in January?

Compare to Campbell at macclesfield,who were in a worse starting position, no money, staff not paid. He makes no excuse, but still does better than Ardley
Compare to the manger that replaced Ardley at wimbledon, when he left them points a drift , but kept them up
Compare to Nolan that came in after 10 losses in a row, and achieved play off form

I gave you 3 examplesof managers that came in , when a club was in a total mess, There are many more managers who have came in and kept a club up

Any half decent manager would have kept notts up, from the position they were in when he arrived, but as the stats show he is far below half decent, in fact one of the worst at a ppg of around 0.9

The fact is he is a poor manager, and it was his fault we were relegated