Ian McParland had been manager for twice as many games as Neal Ardley, but when you look back, most of his time as manager was under the Supporters' Trust when we were completely brassic, so you could argue he did a reasonable job keeping us in the league in those circumstances, even though it was not appreciated.
The Munto circus then took over, and at the time McParland was fired everybody was led to believe that we were minted, so the normal expectation levels of a League Two club went out of the window. We were in the play-off region at the time and had lost only one of the previous seven games, so under normal circumstances McParland's sacking might well have been considered too hasty, but the Munto era obviously does not qualify as 'normal circumstances'. Therefore this is not the best example you could have chosen to make a point.
Hans Backe came and went fairly quickly and nobody could dispute that Steve Cotterill had an instant impact from the turn of the year, but we can only speculate about what McParland could have achieved if he had continued. As I understand it, McParland was actually the one who identified Neal Bishop, Graeme Lee, Ricky Ravenhill and Lee Hughes as targets even before Munto arrived, so there's a fair argument to say he knew a player when he saw one and that the team would have improved to a certain degree in 2009-10 even if Munto had never happened. The problem was that McParland wouldn't have been able to get all of those players through the door on the Trust budget. I recall that Lee Hughes had originally rejected our contract offer, but our financial situation (appeared to) improve significantly and he changed his mind.
McParland was sacked basically because supporter expectations had gone from sackcloth and ashes to gold-plated overnight. Ardley also inherited a financial meltdown and has seen new owners take over, but the Reedtz brothers have a far more realistic financial plan and are aware of the problems their manager has had to contend with until recently, so I would imagine they will continue to watch and wait to see how things pan out.
Last edited by jackal2; 17-11-2019 at 01:24 PM.
With Ardley you're always going to get some saying he's done really well considering and some that say he should be doing better. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in-between. I wouldn't change manager for the main reason of the players seem to like him and team spirit is good, if we change then that could plummet along with our league position. Others have said that we should be happy with a season of consolidation, I'm sorry but that's nonsense, we have a good team for this level with a supposed league class manager and should finish in the playoffs at least. Anything less then it's been a failure and Ardley needs to go.
There’s a type of Notts fan, especially online, who takes the view that not only would it be unwise to sack Ardley, but those who think otherwise are typical, emotional, illogical, possibly even stupid football fans who should keep their traps shut. They also seem to think we’ve sacked loads of managers too early, rather than we’ve appointed too many crap managers in the first place.
Complete nonsense imo, Ardley’s the first manager in our 157 year history to take us out of league football. Couple that with some of the rubbish we’ve seen this season,(with one of the biggest budgets in the league) and to me it’s ‘illogical’ to want to hold on to him.
It was a perfect example because the point I'm making is that there is no point sticking with a manager just for the sake of it if they're not very good. You could have given McParland 5 years but he wouldn't magically have turned into a good manager just because you stuck with him. It's worth noting that he hasn't managed another club since, so draw your own conclusions on that one. I happen to think that Ardley (although better than McParland) has too many limitations to become a successful manager.
You're perfectly entitled to that opinion. I would point out that Ardley has already been successful in getting AFC Wimbledon promoted to League One on a shoestring budget, which is a significant achievement. You can make arguments for and against him depending on how much or little weight you give to different evidence from his career, as you can with most managers.
Contrary to what you may believe, I am not arguing that Ardley should be immune from criticism or that he is guaranteed to be successful. I've criticised some of his decisions myself and I complained only two weeks ago against Chesterfield that we were playing too much tippy-tappy sideways football.
I'm simply saying there is no reason at present to panic and make a dramatic decision to sack him. We had a difficult start to the season which was attributable to the circumstances of the past summer, but the team has improved in terms of results and performances over the past couple of months. Yesterday was a setback and showed us we still have a way to go, but the previous two games at Woking and Ebbsfleet showed that we are capable of good results under this manager.
Time and results will ultimately tell if Ardley is going to be the man to return us to the league, but there's no need for knee-jerk decisions right now. I'm giving him qualified support.
Last edited by jackal2; 17-11-2019 at 01:57 PM.
The defeat yesterday and subsequent reaction towards the manager reminds me of August when we had an indifferent start. Back then I said this season would likely be a slow burner due to the circumstances of the summer. I also said that with the noises coming from interviews such as the squad was complete and Neil Ardley saying judge me over 46 games was basically telling fans that apart from a major drop in form he would be the manager for the entire season. I still believe this to be the case.
Let’s be clear I was not happy at all with the performance yesterday and criticism and calls for better is the right of the paying customers and loyal and dedicated fans.
The game yesterday was the first time this season we have been outclassed in any game this season. It was typical of Notts that we would be at our worst against a side full of confidence and flying with 9 wins from 10.
What we learned yesterday in the 3-0 defeat our biggest of the season was a lot. It’s now about how we put this right and learn from this and what reaction we get at Aldershot
I agree with those fans who say it was a marker like Newport that showed for me we are some way off being promotion contenders and the best team in the league. A playoff spot at best is probably all we can hope for this season. The only way this will change is if we go on a winning run like Barrow, Torquay, Yeovil, Woking etc.. have done this season.
When did we all of a sudden strongly believe this season was going to a promotion seasom let alone an automatic promotion. Hope yes but seeing as we had next to no pre season and were weeks behind all the other sides in the league plus the history books don't really support an immediate return I have no idea where this has come from???!!!! Anyone know? The biggest budget is my only guess.
Amazes me why football fans in Lower league and Non League wonder why so many crap managers are appointed. There's a big clue right there got ya.