Comparing Mick Walker and Ian Burchnall's results

[nw6pie]

Anyone else experiencing deja vu between IB and Mick Walker's reigns right now?

Both produced some of the best football seen at Meadow Lane in many years, but struggled to match that away from home.

Here are their respective league records:

Mick Walker
OVERALL: P75, W29, D18, L28

HOME: P37, W24, D6, L7
Win rate: 64.8%

AWAY: P38, W5, D12, L21
Win rate: 13.1%

Ian Burchnall
OVERALL: P39, W19, D9, L11

HOME: P17, W11, D3, L3
Win rate: 64.7%

AWAY: P22, W8, D6, L8
Win rate: 36.3%

Obviously, IB's win rate away from home isn't as disastrous as MW's was, but the difference is that Walker was competing in the Championship - playing the likes of Wolves, Crystal Palace, Derby, etc,, and IB is competing against the likes of Altrincham, Bromley and Eastleigh.

[magpie_mania]

Anyone else experiencing deja vu between IB and Mick Walker's reigns right now?

Both produced some of the best football seen at Meadow Lane in many years, but struggled to match that away from home.

Here are their respective league records:

Mick Walker
OVERALL: P75, W29, D18, L28

HOME: P37, W24, D6, L7
Win rate: 64.8%

AWAY: P38, W5, D12, L21
Win rate: 13.1%

Ian Burchnall
OVERALL: P39, W19, D9, L11

HOME: P17, W11, D3, L3
Win rate: 64.7%

AWAY: P22, W8, D6, L8
Win rate: 36.3%

Obviously, IB's win rate away from home isn't as disastrous as MW's was, but the difference is that Walker was competing in the Championship - playing the likes of Wolves, Crystal Palace, Derby, etc,, and IB is competing against the likes of Altrincham, Bromley and Eastleigh.

Interesting comparison. A couple of things should be pointed out:

When Mick Walker was manager, yes he was in a higher league but presumably had better players available.

The away stats 13.1% win rate v 36.3% aren't comparable. I would guess that a lot of managers will have had a whole career with an overall win rate of 36%.

The overall win rate is Walker 38.6%, Burchnall 48.7%

[Carlton_Pie]

Interesting comparison. A couple of things should be pointed out:

When Mick Walker was manager, yes he was in a higher league but presumably had better players available.

The away stats 13.1% win rate v 36.3% aren't comparable. I would guess that a lot of managers will have had a whole career with an overall win rate of 36%.

The overall win rate is Walker 38.6%, Burchnall 48.7%

38.6% away win rate isn't a disaster, the problem is it isn't enough to get automatic promotion when only 1 team goes up and 1 through the play offs.

[Nigel_M]

Walker took over a team deep in relegation mire, kept them up and the next season very nearly reached the play offs. IB took over a team comfortably in the play offs and the next season has us well just about in the play offs.

To be fair MW then went mad, started playing a back 5 with a left winger in midfield (Legg), got sacked and never got another management job. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself!

[laddo]

I suspect if you were a diehard who went home and away under MW then you will rightly have a very different view compared to the average season ticket holder who only went to a handful of away games during that time.

I only went to a handful of away games under MW and it wasn't pretty what I saw. Unrecognisable to the players perfomances at home. Same for IB but not to the same extent perhaps?

[nw6pie]

38.6% away win rate isn't a disaster, the problem is it isn't enough to get automatic promotion when only 1 team goes up and 1 through the play offs.

Some of the teams we're losing to are pretty disastrous, though, and are a continuation from the previous two seasons where we have lost to teams we should be looking to dispatch relatively comfortably (Aldershot spring to mind).

The point to me here is that what works at home doesn't automatically translate to away games. For starters, we've got a great pitch at Meadow Lane that the players can trust. The same may not be the same at other nonleague grounds. That suggests a need for horses for courses.

I also don't think it's a coincidence that we've lost six games in a row away at Eastleigh and Bromley, even with two different managers. The style of player we and they both have hasn't really changed, and that suggests an underlying issue against big, physical sides. I think the only way you counteract that is with either greater intensity - like Man. City - or more physicality yourselves.

[laddo]

Some of the teams we're losing to are pretty disastrous, though, and are a continuation from the previous two seasons where we have lost to teams we should be looking to dispatch relatively comfortably (Aldershot spring to mind).

The point to me here is that what works at home doesn't automatically translate to away games. For starters, we've got a great pitch at Meadow Lane that the players can trust. The same may not be the same at other nonleague grounds. That suggests a need for horses for courses.

I also don't think it's a coincidence that we've lost six games in a row away at Eastleigh and Bromley, even with two different managers. The style of player we and they both have hasn't really changed, and that suggests an underlying issue against big, physical sides. I think the only way you counteract that is with either greater intensity - like Man. City - or more physicality yourselves.

Good post. The last bit is of real interest in terms of possible solutions.

I've been to both games at Bromley (didn't watch the stream from the last game of last season) and we've lost both times by the odd goal against a well organised big physical size with obviously a good level of ability at this level. Sounds like this is common for Notts.

Yes it was windy on Saturday which doesn't make it easy for either side, no doubt their 4G pitch gives them an obvious advantage of familiarity of that surface but the biggest take away from both games was the physical superiority. We were loose in possession at times but more obvious was how many one on one physical battles we lost around the pitch.

I like the suggestion earlier of a more defensive lineup against good big sides away from home , with Francis coming in for a more attacking player. Hopefully that would give us more control of the middle of the park, more possession and higher up the pitch.

[jackal2]

I suspect if you were a diehard who went home and away under MW then you will rightly have a very different view compared to the average season ticket holder who only went to a handful of away games during that time.

I only went to a handful of away games under MW and it wasn't pretty what I saw. Unrecognisable to the players perfomances at home. Same for IB but not to the same extent perhaps?

Fair comment. I think Mick Walker gets the benefit of the rose-tinted hindsight spectacles treatment sometimes. He was a top notch youth coach and he was able to transfer his success to the first team for a while, but as time went on he lost the plot and the team lost discipline. I don't think you can overlook his culpability for the pre-season and early games of the season we got relegated in abject fashion. The likes of Russell Slade and Howard Kendall arrived later and that year sort of gets associated with them, but Walker laid the poor foundations.

[nw6pie]

Fair comment. I think Mick Walker gets the benefit of the rose-tinted hindsight spectacles treatment sometimes. He was a top notch youth coach and he was able to transfer his success to the first team for a while, but as time went on he lost the plot and the team lost discipline. I don't think you can overlook his culpability for the pre-season and early games of the season we got relegated in abject fashion. The likes of Russell Slade and Howard Kendall arrived later and that year sort of gets associated with them, but Walker laid the poor foundations.

I take your point about the rose-tinted specs, but when we were good under Mick Walker, we were amazing. To trounce Derby and Leicester 4-1, and deservedly beat the likes of Forest, West Ham, Sunderland and Crystal Palace was quite the achievement. But then there were the dismal showings at the likes of Cambridge, Southend and Oxford. I prefer to remember the highs, especially with Sir Charlie Palmer Day on the horizon.

[queenslandpie]

I think comparing Kevin Nolan to Mick Walker is more apt. One good season then it all went horribly wrong.....