Ardley an improvement

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Originally Posted by matt_magpie

Well it’s not a game is it, he had a substantial amount of games and that ppg would have kept us up. It’s been done to death but it’s no coincidence that the season with hardy at the wheel and a bloated squad was Ardleys worse. 6 years at the dons, kept them in L2 when he joined and they looked in trouble, got them promoted and kept them in L1. First season in NL with us I would class as very good considering the threadbare squad at the first couple of months with a wealth of games, average 2nd season and very good at moors this season.

Kewell has done absolutely nothing since, he was awful at Barnet.

Nolan plummeted after December in the play off season, assembled an awful squad the following season and culminated in him coming on TV from his home the day after his sacking looking like he’d been heavily drinking or mentally was broken which I’ve never seen another manager do. Since then he has either seen the better career path as part of a back room staff or maybe no opportunities as a No1?

Neither of them two convince me based on that they would have done any better, but it’s all opinions we are all entitled to and we will never know.

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Spot on

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Originally Posted by matt_magpie

Well it’s not a game is it, he had a substantial amount of games and that ppg would have kept us up. It’s been done to death but it’s no coincidence that the season with hardy at the wheel and a bloated squad was Ardleys worse. 6 years at the dons, kept them in L2 when he joined and they looked in trouble, got them promoted and kept them in L1. First season in NL with us I would class as very good considering the threadbare squad at the first couple of months with a wealth of games, average 2nd season and very good at moors this season.

Kewell has done absolutely nothing since, he was awful at Barnet.

Nolan plummeted after December in the play off season, assembled an awful squad the following season and culminated in him coming on TV from his home the day after his sacking looking like he’d been heavily drinking or mentally was broken which I’ve never seen another manager do. Since then he has either seen the better career path as part of a back room staff or maybe no opportunities as a No1?

Neither of them two convince me based on that they would have done any better, but it’s all opinions we are all entitled to and we will never know.

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It is very rare this happens on NCM but I think Elite pie just got very much put in his place ( no offence Elite I enjoy your posts). Excellent post.

More quality from matt_magpie.

Excellent post containing his opinion and the truth.

Ardley failed in that season we went down but do I think Hardy and the fractured squad has a massive part in it? Obviously they did and would be a lie to say otherwise. He did however get to bring in some players as well so would hope with those and the ones we had who wanted to play for us we could have cobbled together enough points to stay up. The 4-1 to Newport was a real low point. Still as Matt said, on the whole he's done well as a manager.

As for the Burchnall bandwagon, I'm still on but lately have been looking for the emergency exit ha ha. We'll be ok though we might still sneak 3rd if we win all our remaining games or near enough. I think we're evolving, the team this season isn't the finished article but he never said it was. The trouble is evolving a squad in non league when you don't go up means your best players leave so need to start again, this is his dilemma and one him and the Reedtz need to look at.

"The trouble is evolving a squad in non league when you don't go up means your best players leave so need to start again, this is his dilemma and one him and the Reedtz need to look at."

For me this part is bang on the money. I also view this as an evolving (& improving) squad but have the same fears regarding best players leaving if you aren't going up from this division.

As long as the flow into the club is of continued quality and we realise good fees for the players we are forced to sell I can live with it. But it does feel that you are forced to take a step back every time you don't get promoted especially at this level.

We all want out of this league but we all know it's bloody difficult to do so. IB is still learning as are our owners. It has been said by other fans how impatient we as Notts fans tend to be, but we do tend to ignore the "slowly" bit of "build slowly and steadily". Our NL league position has tracked our relative wealth in the league, in my view.

I was abroad for the Ardley years so only saw the odd televised game and listened to the radio, but I much preferred what IB started to do. (Ironically I think IB has been a bit more conservative recently than Ardley overall, though I'm glad never to hear "respect the point" type discussion again - I'd still rather have P2 W1 L1 than P2 D2).

I don't get why sometimes we mix up our style of play really well and other times we just don't. Are they players just too inconsistent? Is it down to statistical analysis and instructions to the players?

Do we increase our overall team inconsistency by looking for technically gifted players, who if they had that plus consistency wouldn't be in the NL?

(And as I've said before - I think it's important to remember IB is head coach, not manager.)

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Originally Posted by OchPie

We all want out of this league but we all know it's bloody difficult to do so. IB is still learning as are our owners. It has been said by other fans how impatient we as Notts fans tend to be, but we do tend to ignore the "slowly" bit of "build slowly and steadily". Our NL league position has tracked our relative wealth in the league, in my view.

I was abroad for the Ardley years so only saw the odd televised game and listened to the radio, but I much preferred what IB started to do. (Ironically I think IB has been a bit more conservative recently than Ardley overall, though I'm glad never to hear "respect the point" type discussion again - I'd still rather have P2 W1 L1 than P2 D2).

I don't get why sometimes we mix up our style of play really well and other times we just don't. Are they players just too inconsistent? Is it down to statistical analysis and instructions to the players?

Do we increase our overall team inconsistency by looking for technically gifted players, who if they had that plus consistency wouldn't be in the NL?

(And as I've said before - I think it's important to remember IB is head coach, not manager.)

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Totally agree if I was to compare the 2 I would say IBs the better coach but NAs the better manager but that’s on feeling. My biggest concern with IB is possibly players see him as a soft touch. It maybe wide of the mark, as nice a guy NA was I could tell he definitely had that in him that he would give the players a roasting, the game has moved on but there’s still an element where you need that, there has to be consequence to performing bad else some players will take an easier ride.

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Originally Posted by queenslandpie

It is very rare this happens on NCM but I think Elite pie just got very much put in his place.

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Why? I simply said that if matt wants to talk about PPG, Kewell had a better record that season than Ardley. Kewell's record was 1.083PPG, Ardley managed 0.964 PPG. If those records, although both poor were continued over a full 46 game season Kewell would finish on 49.8 points, Ardley would finish on 44.3 points. We undoubtedly had 3 poorly performing managers that season, but Kewell was the best of the three.

Edit: Further to that, Nolan was sacked after 5 games gaining just 1 point. If Kewell and Ardley had reproduced their PPG over the other 41 games, under Kewell we would have finished on 45.4 points (safe), under Ardley we would have finished on 40.5 points (relegated).

True or false matt?

The key bit for me in all that analysis is Nolan recorded 1 point from a possible 15. That is a frankly embarrassing and woeful start to a season having just finished 5th. That firmly set the wheels in motion for the poor PPG records of both Kewell and Ardley. Could it be turned around? Of course? Was it by either of the next two managers? Nope.

Kewell statistically performed the best during his short time in charge but we have no idea whether over the long haul of the rest of the season whether his poor PPG record would have gone up or down as he played more games and the circus behind the scenes cane to light and became more and more a distraction and embarrassment. I'd be guessing to suggest one way or another.

Stats are great#radar but 83% of all statistics on NCM are made up on the spot.

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Originally Posted by laddo

Stats are great#radar but 83% of all statistics on NCM are made up on the spot.

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In which case, the ones I've just posted belong in the 17% correct category.