Quote Originally Posted by TSANHO View Post
To be fair when he joined us he did steer us clear of a really perilous situation…fair play in that regard. There was more of a feel good factor for sure, but that was when slap head first took us over and riding a crest of a wave (so to speak).

It took what, 6-9 months, for the trough to appear? His early season form and tactical nous was pretty quickly and efficiently sussed out by the opposition and then the downward spiral began. I mean, what is difficult to suss out about giving the ball to a defender who then launches it as far down field as possible (missing out one of the best passing midfielders in the division in the process) hoping that one of our big lump forwards would bang a head on it. The only team worse to watch than that Notts team were Solihull when Tim Flowers was in charge.

Had he stayed much longer his win to loss ratio would tell a whole different story. I dont think his style of football is suited to any division this side of the 1970’s never mind to IB’s style in this century ��
The football was pretty bad sometimes, but it wasn't always aimless hoof ball. I seem to remember the first half of homes games would be pretty dire, then in the second half we'd come to life when attacking the Kop. Lots of early balls out to Grant on the left wing, with Dan Jones overlapping. Or Grant cutting inside and playing one-twos with Shola. Yates and Hewitt winning scrappy battles in the center of the park.

I quite like that direct-yet-incisive football myself. I actually prefer it to the patient, tippy-tappy stuff we play now. But then I'm the sort of person who applauds a crunching tackle more than a great through ball.

There were a number of reasons why it went wrong: the post-play-off hangover, the actual hangovers, Hardy getting desperate and splashing cash on stupid signings, and a bit of bad luck in the first few games. It could have been so different.