Pretty sure Chesterfield will squeeze in with Morecambe home and accie away its highly possible.
Could history repeat itself.
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Pretty sure Chesterfield will squeeze in with Morecambe home and accie away its highly possible.
Could history repeat itself.
I do think the replacing (or indeed non replacing) of both DC and the Saunders? are key moments in the season.
Alves was promoted, fair enough, but it would be interesting to know who drove the seeming lack of obvious replacement for them.
I still stand firm in the opinion that Notts are not that far off being what we want them to be. It feels as though Maynard could do with another brain to consult. Someone who might think a bit differently and give him food for thought.
Should have asked Jimbo to assist in training and the Dressing room when the brothers went. Still think he could benefit the team even at this late stage of the season
Having read through this post just a few points.
1. We do not have a strong squad.
2. We have been ravaged by injuries to key players, crucially, midfield and right side defensive players.
3. Apart from Abbott the midfield has been weak all season.
4. LW was on a poor run when he left. Had he stayed he would undoubtably have got more out of the squad.
5. It is ridiculous to refer to the NL promotion season and compare it to where we are now.
6. SM can only work with what he has been given and has available (but see #4).
7. SM seems to be carrying all the blame when the blame (if that is the right word at this point in time) should be shared equally across the board. (see #6). January window last season and again this season saw us in a strong (ish) league position but obviously about to falter because of inadequacies in specific areas of the pitch. Both occasions nothing immediately effective was done (defence last season, midfield this year (attacking and holding)).
8. The Bros took the gamble with SM and it's not working out. There is a good manager in there but it is a couple of seasons (and more experience) away. He should not have been allowed to throw himself under the NCFC Supporters bus.
9. Recruitment this season has not addressed our short-term needs and I am yet to be convinced of the long-term benefits of any that have come in.
10. This league has been there for the taking and we have failed to take if for the sake of two strong players in the middle and one player able to adequately cover for AJ and DM.
11. DM, AJ, Platt, Bedeau, Abbott, MP (just) and Bass have been the bedrock of this season. The other positions have injured players and players not up to it. To have been where we have been is a credit to that bedrock.
I have given SM the benefit of the doubt and hopefully tempered any criticism I may have had by a few of the points above but he can't take us where we want to got as it stands.
The question underlying everything though is where do the Bros want us to go?
Edit:
I do get the sustainability/finance thing and congratulate the Bros. But if we are to accept those constraints then why are we bitching about this season? Everything eventually is down to affordability?
The question being, can the club maintain 10k attendances in this division for too many seasons.???
Agree completely. Boring football coupled with losses and getting nowhere will help a fair few floating supporters think twice about attending.
I do wonder how the younger (under 17s) fans are coping seeing classmates who previously claimed to support Liverpool/Man City suddenly taking an interest in Fword or - if they have classmates who are long term Fworders - seeing them now giving it large.
Them being successful is a test of loyalty that previous generations of Notts fans have mostly failed. They haven't won anything yet, so maybe it's not THAT bad at the moment, but if history repeats itself and they have a sustained period of doing well whilst we tread water, then we've probably got roughly 2/3 seasons of those who came on board over Wrexham and Wembley starting to drift away followed by a collapse the moment we have a bad season.
I expect some younger siblings will now opt to support Fword rather than Notts whilst their older Notts supporting brothers and sisters will start to realise it's just going to be pain for the most part and potentially give up.
I keep saying it, but if you take this level of support we've got now for granted, you risk losing it and then never getting it back. Especially when factoring in what's happening over the river.
You have put a lot of thought into this post Smiffy.
Points 8 & 9 ought to have in there something about the 2 coaches not being adequately replaced.
It is nice that you are trying to get some balance to the discussion.
As for affordability, is it affordable not to go up? Yes, a replacement for Crowley in January would have cost more than his replacement in the summer. But that saving has probably (but hopefully not) cost us promotion. What would that have been worth?
I would say definitely no, but what a problem or concern to have. How many other clubs would love to have worry or be asked that question?
Who honestly thought we would be worried that Notts County FC attendances, whilst in the fourth tier, might or likely to drop below 10k?
If they drop to 5-6k then we are back where we started, where we are used to. I can?t see it happening any time soon.
We should have no right to be getting these fantastic attendances all things considered but I know the reasons why we are