THE Ardley In/Out Thread [Multiple threads merged]

[i961pie]

I'm sadly with you. Ardley turned us round last year from a dreadful place, signed Wootton, Thomas and Roberts and had us playing well when the season got cancelled.
Unfortunately he lost Roberts ,Thomas and Dennis for different reasons and hasn't adequately replaced them. We've not played consistently well all season and are going backwards.
Tonight's post match interview sounded like the end of the line, his confidence has gone and I'm finding it very hard to believe he'll turn this around. With half a season to go I think there's time to make a positive change and although we may not make top spot we should probably make the playoffs in a more positive state.
Of our squad only DKE, Rawlinson, Lacey, Brindley and Wootton have consistently played at the required level. That's just not enough to launch a promotion bid with. Mad as it sounds I'd take a midfield of Booty, Rose and Crawford over any of our current combinations.

This, except Rose.

[LaxtonLad]

It's called "cognitive dissonance". A withdrawal from reality.

"Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief."
RationalWiki

In the case of Ardley he cannot see that his players now lack confidence, cohesion and comprehension and his plans don't, cannot, work. It's a mental thing, the next stage, unless he resigns or is sacked, is isolation.

[jonnyt1]

Come on Neal, time to do a Piers and admit you position is now untenable.

[Borg elite]

My original post is still relevant, he's no different from the vast majority we've had, sadly I think his times up though.

[laddo]

Not got an opinion then laddo - love to hear it

Of course I have.

Up to last night the performances have been disappointing. Last night it turned it truly worrying.

We've had good and bad all season,and the bad the issues have remained pretty much throughout but I've not felt the manager had lost the dressing room.

However I've seen it before with managers where they have and they serve up performances and games like that.

It was always on a knife edge when we were winning tight games by scoring few and conceding less. Which was going to change sadly it has been the latter.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

In from me, for now.

Before we seriously consider replacing him, I'd want:

1. To have a decent comparison done between him and his competition. As in, hard numbers, not internet forum guys' opinions. People throw things around like the budget and players he's got, but what are the actual numbers? If he really is better funded than the 2-3 teams outperforming us in this league, then that's a big deal. If he's not, then changing the manager might have no benefit and might even hurt.
2. To have it decided who his replacement is, and be quite sure that replacement would do a better job. Otherwise in all seriousness what's the point in changing managers? We made the mistake twice in our relegation season where we fired the manager with NO replacement lined up. That's kind of crazy, and I can't see the new owners behaving like that at all. So far all of their decisions seem to have been careful, sensible, and measured.
3. A plan to deal with the transition. Notts have suffered from bad manager transitions quite a lot over the last decade.

If he gets us promoted this year I would absolutely sign a one year contract with him to consolidate in L2. If he doesn't, as I said a few months ago, I'd want to understand why not. If he was out-managed then that's an issue. If the teams that beat us were just better teams, then replacing him makes no sense.

We're not doing quite as well as I thought we would be by this stage of the season season. We're a few wins off the pace and that's a little disappointing.

However, I think given the squad depth we've got and the clear strategy from pre-season onward of having at least two complete teams to field... combined with the number of new signings, I expect our second half of the season to be a better overall performance than what we've seen so far.

Meanwhile, other teams might cop a bunch of injuries and choke from the relentless workload. That said, we're the ones with the higher workload for the foreseeable, not to mention the injury problems.

For the record today I'm posting as Thomas the Tank Engine.

This is a very good post. For me having slept on what happened in the game last night the one thing that this club has been guilty of in the past in my view is sacking managers on a whim with no idea as to who the replacement is going to be or what style of football they want from the new manager. So they end up building a new squad. This cannot be the approach.

I have no issues with the style of football and philosophy of playing the ball on the ground and passing it. I do not think we need to throw this principle out of the window. Likewise we have the personnel to be able to play the ball on the ground and they suddenly have not gone from being good players to bad. We also have the best defence in the league. To go from one of the best performances in years against Dagenham to one of the worst a month later against Halifax coupled with a very good winning streak to crash like we have done in recent weeks demonstrates something is wrong.

We need to try and turn this around because the games are coming thick and fast and instead of one game a week it's two so there is no breathing space. Right now we look miles away from being title contenders so to create some space it may have to be a complete simmering of expectations to try and just scrape a playoff spot.

For me if the manager was to be released of his duties I would not want to see a caretaker manager, a rookie or an existing duo of players or someone at the club take charge for the remainder of the season. I just think we would end up carrying on as we were. Likewise with a rookie with no experience it's not that kind of job. You are coming to the biggest club in non-league and there is an expectation here that we should be challenging at the top.

For me it would need to be someone who could come in for two seasons with the mission to progress the club on and off the field and who fits into the club, not the club fit to them which has been the case in the past and part of our problem why we regressed from League One downwards.

On a human level the manager is a good decent man and it would not fill me with any happiness at all to see him lose his job in the current climate and as such only, and only if someone better was available who could take the club forward. That is why for me if he was released of his duties it would need to be the right replacement which for me means it would need to be a Steve Cotteril type someone with experienced and a winner who can come in and galvanise the club and conduct minor surgery and not carry out a complete autopsy because I don't think it needs that.

[Killerkline]

I think pretty much everyone is in agreement that last night tipped the scales for them, if they weren’t already there, to the Ardley out camp.

Apart from the abysmal performance, the after match NA interview was equally, if not more, worrying.

Based on, not just last nights package. Although, this was the cherry on the icing. I think we’ll struggle to make the play offs. Even if we did scrape in, it would likely be in one of the lower spots which would mean the additional game. I just can’t see us putting in one decent performance, never mind three.

It will be very interesting to see how our owners proceed.

Final thought. Probably like majority of Notts supporters, I’m very sad this morning. There is an element of posters on here that seem to rejoice in the downfall of NA. I also find this very sad.

[laddo]

I know this will be seen by some as stoking the fire, but laddo definitely tends to go into hiding when we lose. We all know he would be reveling in the glory if we had battered Halifax, but we didn't so he's gone missing. There is nothing wrong with that because the reverse happens when we win, and some of the Ardley detractors go very quiet. I don't have a problem with that because I'm fully aware that's the way football messageboards work. The problem arises when you put yourself forward as the saviour of the board, and then do exactly the same as the ones you criticise when the boot is on the other foot!

I know some see it as tedious, but as long as his fake mission to improve the board continues, so will my mission to expose him.

Again this is more Non-Notts related posts from Elite, and shock horror they are aimed at just one person. Of course when my username is mentioned it's from you or Pedro, same as during the King's Lynn game.

At least you aren't even trying to hide the obsession in any way shape or form.

So back to making things up. Find me one example of where I have gone AWOL for days after a Notts defeat, the same way as the likes of KCNotts and Durhampie have done on many occasion?

I'm sure you will agree it's far more common to feel disappointed and less inclined to post when Notts lose rather than when we win? Always found that strange but each to their own I guess.

Please by all means use the advanced features on the search engine and good luck.

I have no idea why you are so opposed to NCM getting better, more enjoyable for it's users? Makes no sense to me at all.

Truly awful perfomance, bad result and although I've not viewed every post I haven't seen any of the offensive insults, personal abuse or even the use of nicknames. Nobody calling anyone thicko or a drunk, nobody needlessly calling people an @rsehole of w@nker etc, which we've seen the past 4/5 days.

As far as I can see everything bar just a couple of posts has been about Notts. That's what NCM used to be about, you know Notts. Anything off topic was labelled O/T

That's a clear improvement, a big improvement which I'm delighted to see

Is it because a certain poster has been mysteriously and surprisingly quiet these last couple of days? Probably but best not to speculate I'm just going to enjoy the silence.

Your mission appears to be to stop the board being less abusive and personal. You want no change because it is what it is, and compete freedom of speech including swear words and personal abuse except acroymns, hashtags or nicknames. I smile just typing that, the hypocrisy, double standards and inconsistencies are off the charts.

It would be great if your personal mission was instead to try and concentrate on Notts topics, not become completely obsessed with just one person you don't know off the internet.

Maybe something to think about. Most people on NCM want to talk about Notts, I'm sure that statement doesn't surprise and you would agree with. Together , just us 2, we could go a huge way to making that happen.

Right hopefully it's back to Ardley In/Out debate which has no doubt shifted a lot after last night.

[BigFatPie]

Final thought. Probably like majority of Notts supporters, I’m very sad this morning. There is an element of posters on here that seem to rejoice in the downfall of NA. I also find this very sad.

No rejoicing from me, though I’d be happy to see him go. There’s no doubt that he’s a nice fella.

Unfortunately, I also think he’s a poor manager who’s teams have underperformed, especially this season. He seems unduly influenced by the more senior professionals. He should have gone after that playoff letdown. This season is still more than salvageable.

[maddogslater]

Can elite and laddo get it through their heads, nobody is interested in your immature posturing, take it elsewhere.