Statement from Board

[matt_magpie]

Whilst I agree with some of the sentiment, it needed to be written a lot better and I don’t think the timing was fantastic.

[BanjoPie]

Sounds ok to me - sensible comments that unfortunately won’t satisfy everyone.

[Mud Pie]

Don’t confuse calmness and patience with a lack of ambition.

agree.

Think the message is a bit tone deaf rather than arrogant. They speak in data-metrics whereas most fans speak in passionate abandon, but what we're saying is similar.

I wouldn't be critical of their decision to give SM a proper chance.... yet! I do think their recruitment performance metrics are poor and they ignore that in the presser. Support SM if that's what the stats suggest, but also acknowledge/explain their own failure to improve our defensive capacity in a timely fashion.

[BigFatPie]

People have described the statement as arrogant, I’d go for complacent. If they really think we’re down in 16th because we’ve been unlucky to be on the wrong side of fine margins then I would also add deluded.

All a disappointing to be fair, I’m not expecting big promises about next season, but under the current ownership club messaging has generally been very good and the content of this and the timing seems a bit misguided.

Also, and as many opposition fans have pointed out, the only stat that matters is the league table after 46 games.

[irish_pie]

"Clearly, our weakness this season has been the high number of goals we’ve conceded – but it would be unfair to blame this only on our defensive players"
I'm sorry but that statement right there astounds me... the amount of half hearted tackles and completely unforced errors has been shocking 😑 of course the midfield have to chip in defensively but they can do nothing when our defense simply hand teams goals on a regular basis

[matt_magpie]

It was far too much, basically should have said they feel performances warranted better results and seeing first hand Stuarts passion for the club, hard work and relationship with players through this transitional period they are very optimistic for next season.

[ArabianNotts]

After 10 years of permanent panic and the revolving managerial door of the previous 2 owners, which brought us incrementally downward from L1 through the trapdoor into non league and a hair’s breath from bankruptcy, I’m happy to go with cool heads and metrics.

[tommopie8]

Well least we know where we stand and Maynard is staying for the foreseeable.

Just like to point out though that our xG across the season is exactly the same as our opponents xG against us at 1.43 expected goals per game - so when they say it deserves a higher place that's probably around mid-table.

I'd probably refer to luck as small margins - one can be influenced the other cannot.

[jackal2]

After 10 years of permanent panic and the revolving managerial door of the previous 2 owners, which brought us incrementally downward from L1 through the trapdoor into non league and a hair’s breath from bankruptcy, I’m happy to go with cool heads and metrics.

Yeah. Taken on the whole it's certainly worked better so far than the approach of several previous owners/boards!

I think in terms of choice of words the board have made better statements in the past - I'm not sure 'metrics' is going to connect with the average fan in the pub - but on the flip side you could say they're not being condescending by dumbing down the message - it assumes a decent level of intelligence in the reader (wisely or not!).

The underlying message for me is unchanged from the club's basic position for the past three years. There are no silly five year plans, there is no panic in the pursuit of success, we won't be breaking the bank or making any knee-jerk decisions (on Head Coaches or anything else) just because we have a bad or indeed a good run of results. The aim is basically very steady, calm, incremental improvement, whilst acknowledging that there are ups and downs and variables in football that you can never completely control (which is why five year plans were always nonsense).

The first aim this season was always to consolidate and we've achieved that. They acknowledge it would have been nice to achieve more, like reaching the play-offs again, and they're disappointed it isn't to be, but there's no panic because we haven't. We simply take what we can out of this season and try to learn from and build upon it.

The football fan mentality isn't necessarily interested in 'sustainability' (until a club spends itself to the brink of bankruptcy and then fans cry on the pitch and blame the chairman for the financial mess!) but that's precisely why football club owners shouldn't think like fans or become too obsessed with being liked by fans all the time - that's where Trew and Hardy's egos overtook them and led to bad decisions. Sometimes you have to accept that fans won't always be happy with the short-term situation, but that doesn't mean its right to abandon an overall strategy.

If I have a disagreement with an aspect of the statement it's regarding the defending. I actually think the number of goals we've conceded is mainly down to the lack of natural and good quality defensive players, both in defence itself and in midfield, and if that isn't the focus of our major upgrade work in the summer then we could have problems. We're a soft touch when we're not in possession - far too 'nice' to play against. Currently we have an imbalance: too many creators and not enough destroyers, so I'll be interested to see who we bring in during the summer. I want to see a lot more bite and snarl in the team next season, and some more players who are proper defenders. If we don't conceded as many goals next season, we'll definitely be on an upward trajectory, because we've certainly got attacking talent.

[BJPIE]

I'm a little surprised st the timing of the statement which really just tells us Maynard is going to be here next season. Will that really be the case if we were to lose the next 5 games??????
I do think the statement has been released in response to fan discontent and is clearly trying to calm the waters and minimise any loss of ST sales
However I dont think the content will resonate with many fans. It is written dispassionately as we have come to expect and talks about metrics and luck not being with us.
I can accept some of that, but what Im really hoping is that reading between the lines the Bros are saying, we've been **** at the back and we'll address it.
Radar needs to add a few extra metrics into its defensive analysis as they appear to have been missing last summer and again in the January window

Heart
Awareness
Emotional maturity
Physicality
Desire

Required:
One proper shot stopping, box commanding, communicative goalkeeper.
Two strong determined physical centre halves, (one who can lead a team)

Then I dont think luck would come into it. We would win more than we lose.

Having seen many crisis through 55 years of watching Notts, I greatly appreciate the stability The Bros have brought to the club but I'd really like to see some evidence in the summer window that they know whats missing and address it.