Magpie Circle Altrincham Preview

[countygump]

It's without doubt embarrassing, but sadly expected.

The Facebook group in particular is full of plenty of clowns, far too many so impossible to tidy that group up or educate so I don't comment just read and shake my head. It makes NCM the choice for the sensible and rationale

A new Mission?

I can see it now, Laddo's Mission 2, the sequel. 'The Adjudicator Returns'.

Starring Bruce Willis as Laddo.

Also starring Navy as Captain 'Curses Profanity', the rival boss of the Seaman's Mission.

It'll be a blockbuster I tells ya...................

[the_anticlough]

I took posters' tip and watched the first 16mins (I've only seen bits and pieces before, mainly due to my Leigh Curtis aversion but even he's grown on me for his rapt attention to Mace and bonkers hair)

Yeah its oh so slow - but Mace is a far better communicator than Burchnall and I totally agree with the main thrust of his argument - that basically we've landed ourselves with a real dud, a real pair of duds actually, that we're in trouble and it's only going to get worse.

I'm already at the stage where I cannot and will not click on a single clip to listen to Burchnall. I think at least half of NCM are in deep denial about the wreckage IB has wrought, turning a strong play-off position into dust. There's an imaginary idea about who and what he is, that Mace skewered pretty convincingly when going through his record.

In my book, you don't deserve to oversee a long-term project when you've made such a unholy mess of a straightforward short-term project, seal a play-off berth to give us a lottery ticket at least for getting out of non-league after what is already feeling two LONG years. That meant studying the film of our entire season with particular focus on those rare moments when we did look like a side capable of running through the league. Who was making it happen then? How can we replicate that form/structure/balance for the rest of the season. Instead we got 'clean slate', who do we like, who do we need to pick to win over the 'senior pros' (which is likely to include the 'senior pros') and 5-3-2, O'Brien, Doyle straight back, Turner, Miller, Griffiths and the players who held the key being dropped completely.

Mace is right, if he fails in this short-term project to seal a play-off place, you can add it to his failure at Viking and Ostersunds and any talk of being allowed to 'build his own team' sounds pretty daft to me.

[KCNotts]

Well if that's a good watch, I think I will give it a miss in future.

I was in the 'Give Ardley the season but it's promotion or the door' and I am really disappointed at the start we have made under IB. I don't think it warrants this kind of criticism though.

Good post UTM but might it just have been an open and shut case of under-performing manager gets sacked?

Ardley said repeatedly that the owners were more interested in the fair score rather than the actual score as a way of judging a manager's performance.

The fair scores in the last few months of Ardley's spell as manager, if I'm understanding things correctly, showed that we were creating very little and conceding lots of chances. We obtained some decent results, but they were thanks to poor finishing by our opponents and goals out of nothing for us.

Could it be that simple?

I don't know who Paul Mace is or why we are supposed to care what he thinks, but that podcast was a joke.

I got a real flavour for the man when he jumped on Curtis when he mispronounced a word and made him look silly. That was a d*ck move. I thought he came across as arrogant with a bizarre delusion of grandeur. Not surprised he got on with Hardy. In reality, he knows f-all.

I hope IB and the owners go nowhere near him or his podcast.

[HAPPYMAGPIEHAPPY]

Not surprised he got on with Hardy. In reality, he knows f-all.

I hope IB and the owners go nowhere near him or his podcast.

There’s absolutely nothing to be gained with IB/owners/current players going onto the podcast, the media lads at Notts supply a good amount of interesting Q & A sessions & interviews etc which answers many supporters questions although some questions might be selected it’s still worthy content for the fans.

[jacobncfc]

That meant studying the film of our entire season with particular focus on those rare moments when we did look like a side capable of running through the league. Who was making it happen then? How can we replicate that form/structure/balance for the rest of the season.

Without wanting to piss on your chips too much...

The answers to those two questions clearly are:

1) Callum Roberts
2) We can’t, because he’s injured

[the_anticlough]

Without wanting to piss on your chips too much...

The answers to those two questions clearly are:

1) Callum Roberts
2) We can’t, because he’s injured

Urine blown well wide of chip paper...
Hasn't Roberts been out all season basically? We got to 4th without him

[upthemaggies]

Good post UTM but might it just have been an open and shut case of under-performing manager gets sacked?

Ardley said repeatedly that the owners were more interested in the fair score rather than the actual score as a way of judging a manager's performance.

The fair scores in the last few months of Ardley's spell as manager, if I'm understanding things correctly, showed that we were creating very little and conceding lots of chances. We obtained some decent results, but they were thanks to poor finishing by our opponents and goals out of nothing for us.

Could it be that simple?

Could be, but the owners have said otherwise, so we've now got an atmosphere of distrust, confusion and guesswork.

They may have been trying to be kind to Ardley and not dampen his chances of landing another job, but it's clearly left a lot of people still believing that he was hard done to and that he is the victim in all of this. If the owners had come out and said, "performances have not been acceptable and we felt it was the right time to make the change", some fans may not have liked it but everyone would have understood where they were coming from and what the expectations would be going forward.

We're eight games on now and we're all still trying to work out why the owners made the decision when they did, whether or not they've written off promotion and what basis there is for believing we'll have a better chance of going up next season than this.

[jacobncfc]

Urine blown well wide of chip paper...
Hasn't Roberts been out all season basically? We got to 4th without him

Played seven of the first eight league games. If there has been a time this season when we have looked like a team capable of ‘running through this league’ it was then (Altrincham and Barnet games, winning at Sutton), although we still had some pretty clear frailties IMO. To be honest I think since we got relegated we’ve looked like a slightly above average National League team, apart from when Roberts has been playing. He’s good enough to have that kind of effect on a team at this level.

Otherwise, I dunno what performances you’re looking to replicate? Our three best since Roberts got injured have, IMO, been Dagenham at home which is impossible to try and recreate for obvious reasons and the last two games.

[laddo]

"Otherwise, I dunno what performances you’re looking to replicate?"

It's a great question.

[Elite_Pie]

I took posters' tip and watched the first 16mins (I've only seen bits and pieces before, mainly due to my Leigh Curtis aversion but even he's grown on me for his rapt attention to Mace and bonkers hair)

Yeah its oh so slow - but Mace is a far better communicator than Burchnall and I totally agree with the main thrust of his argument - that basically we've landed ourselves with a real dud, a real pair of duds actually, that we're in trouble and it's only going to get worse.

I'm already at the stage where I cannot and will not click on a single clip to listen to Burchnall. I think at least half of NCM are in deep denial about the wreckage IB has wrought, turning a strong play-off position into dust. There's an imaginary idea about who and what he is, that Mace skewered pretty convincingly when going through his record.

In my book, you don't deserve to oversee a long-term project when you've made such a unholy mess of a straightforward short-term project, seal a play-off berth to give us a lottery ticket at least for getting out of non-league after what is already feeling two LONG years. That meant studying the film of our entire season with particular focus on those rare moments when we did look like a side capable of running through the league. Who was making it happen then? How can we replicate that form/structure/balance for the rest of the season. Instead we got 'clean slate', who do we like, who do we need to pick to win over the 'senior pros' (which is likely to include the 'senior pros') and 5-3-2, O'Brien, Doyle straight back, Turner, Miller, Griffiths and the players who held the key being dropped completely.

Mace is right, if he fails in this short-term project to seal a play-off place, you can add it to his failure at Viking and Ostersunds and any talk of being allowed to 'build his own team' sounds pretty daft to me.

I really hope you are wrong, but I'm not sure that you will be. I have been seriously underwhelmed by what Burchnall has shown us so far, but it will take a fair bit longer for me to call for his sacking whatever happens this season. It's obviously a long term plan from the owners, but the short term was bloody important as well given the position he inherited. My only hope for the next month is that we are one of those teams who are distinctly average for much of the season, but then hit a rich vein of form and sneak into the playoffs, and then use it to beat teams who have been better than us over the whole season. The games are starting to run out, but there are still enough left. I say that more in hope than expectation.