Quote Originally Posted by Chicken Balti Pie View Post
But it wasn't Notts that was the problem (well it was as we weren't self sufficient) but going up would have seen us in the same financial mess as Paragon went under that was funding Notts.

His ego would still have led to similar if not more expensive signings that led to a wholly unbalanced squad that led to our downfall. I still maintain had we just signed Michael O'Connor, we would have been fine, we only needed a couple more points to have stayed up, with O'Connor, the midfield wouldn't have collapsed that led to the weird stuffing by Yeovil at home even though we should have slaughtered them. His ego wouldn't let him relent and sign up the player we actually needed
For me the crux of the problem was not that Paragon fed Notts, but that Hardy may have been more focused on Notts than Paragon? In my opinion his biggest mistake was to appoint a CEO of Paragon and become the Chairman of Notts. It can only be speculated that there may have been a better outcome if he had continued to build Paragon as he had done and employed someone in the role he undertook at Notts who had more experience. I do think he had good intentions and wanted the best for the club.

I completely agree it was a mistake to let Michael O'Connor go to Lincoln. Also as I've mentioned on here in the past I'd add into that Adam Colin going to Carlisle and Curtis Thompson going to Wycombe. All three were good enough, capable and experienced at that level to stay at the club and help mount another promotion campaign. Although Thompson was not getting much game time under Nolan so maybe that's what's prompted his move?

We should also have pulled out all the stops to replace Shola Ameobi with John Akindi from Barnet who were relegated that season to the National League. He was a perfect replacement for how we played at the time and was proven at that level. Although we did sign Hemmings and Dennis so it could be argued that they were capable.

However the biggest lost for me was not on the field but in the dressing room with Alan Smith, Mike Edwards and Shola Ameobi leaving. They were Nolans support network and eyes and ears and between them had vast amounts of knowledge, experience at the highest level of the game. We were lucky to have that.