It's down to perspective. If somebody would have offered me a half decent season in the Vanarama and a cup final before we knew we still had a club, I would have snapped their hand off. Slow progress, but Ardley still ok for me.
I think most of us agree that if Ardley does not get us to the playoffs he should be sacked.
But what if he fails in the league, but we win the FA Trophy? Would this change your mind?
For me, I'd be more sympathetic, but NA should still be shown the door.
It's down to perspective. If somebody would have offered me a half decent season in the Vanarama and a cup final before we knew we still had a club, I would have snapped their hand off. Slow progress, but Ardley still ok for me.
Last edited by MancMagpie; 02-03-2020 at 11:14 PM.
Agree with MancMagpie will be disappointed if we don't reach play offs but next season is the time for me to judge Ardley with a pre season and time to improve the squad further, he's done ok for me this season and I would have taken a mid table finish at the start of the season.
Last edited by jurgenpie; 03-03-2020 at 06:40 AM.
Yep I would be disappointed, but considering where we were at the end of July and how Ardley has done so far he has to be given next season too. Even if we miss out on the play offs. I like many said at start of the season “mid table will do”
Even if it may end up being detrimental in the short term with Ardley, in the long run I believe we need to give him a full pre season. We are Notts County, we have no divine right to be in the football league. We are where we are after years of sackings and poor decisions made off the field.
Love the sentiments but keeping someone in charge for the sake of keeping some one in charge is suicidal...
Would your theory still prevail if we lose 6 league games between now and the end of season..?
He did have a pre season you know and with quite a large number of the squad playing in them...
At the start of the season I was fully expecting automatic promotion, with or without the pre-season shambles, many weren't. You could blame Ardley for the lack of inertia in the following games, I would. Since then fans' expectations have raised from hoping to avoid relegation to being content with a mid-table finish.
Ardley has had a free rein, within reason and with conferring with the Reedtz, to sign who he likes but the signings for the most part have not injected the much needed impetus to raise us from also-rans into front runners. I cannot see how Ardley can give such uninspiring pre and post match interviews unless he knows that he, himself, is not up to the job of maintaining a constant push for, and achieving, promotion.
A lack of seeing how a game is evolving and correcting it in our favour seems to be only one of his failures, another is selecting a team to combat the opposition's known strengths beforehand.
We cannot expect to win every game but we can expect to compete in every game.
Love the sentiments but keeping someone in charge for the sake of keeping some one in charge is suicidal...
Would your theory still prevail if we lose 6 league games between now and the end of season..?
He did have a pre season you know and with quite a large number of the squad playing in them...
For me, Ardley will always be the bloke who was in charge for most of the season when we were relegated from the FL. Whatever we do in the trophy, I would send him on his way if we don’t get promoted. I don’t think he’d get us promoted next season either. If he has a style of football it’s rubbish, and he has too many favourites who are played however they perform.
This club has a poor record in seasons following failed playoff campaigns, and a change of gaffer might help us recover.
I think he knows he's playing for his future now and yes it would be deeply disappointing if we don't make the playoffs. That said, I think we will get there.
However, we would then have four? tough games to win and it looks like the end of season could be very crowded.
Did Ardley get a decent pre-season. I was at the York friendly when he was interviewed off camera after the game. His frustration at not knowing what the fluck was going on at the club was apparent. Proper planning before the Reedtz bros arrived was impossible. Hardy was to blame for that.
The players seem to have confidence in him and it would be very disappointing if we could not maintain such a decent human being as the manager of our shell-shocked club.