Magpie Circle Altrincham Preview

[SwalePie]

He was trying to imply a lack of intensity from IB's voice in post-match interviews (by the way I find IB's interviews perfectly fine, he seems to me to be calm and considered with a bit of an edge to him, which I think is great) so I don't know if that makes him fair game or not.

You are very kind though, and put up with a lot of **** on here, so have an imaginary season ticket on me!

Cheers, I hope you can enjoy that imaginary County Cola

[Bushwacka]

I've enjoyed Magpie Circle for a while but this week's seemed to be an all out attack on the club's hierarchy (both board and coaching level) from Paul, rather than his usual format.

I can understand that:
a- He's very frustrated, as are most fans
b- He has a lot of experience in football
c- I don't doubt he still has connections within the club

But he has already admitted himself that neither he, nor anyone else outside of the club, has any true idea of what the owners' actual strategy is. Yet he still attacked the 'strategy' again and again. It seemed like him and Curtis could possibly have a thinly veiled agenda.

For what it's worth, while i think it's a massive gamble what the owners are doing, I doubt very much whether they will risk all of their own money on something as simple as 'spreadsheet signings' as some have suggested. I have an inkling that we have not seen the true extent of their signings as they didn't trust Ardley to bring a full new squad in on big contracts, hence all the loans.

[countygump]

I have an inkling that we have not seen the true extent of their signings as they didn't trust Ardley to bring a full new squad in on big contracts, hence all the loans.

Hope so, Bushy.

But if that's true, once Burch was in place, why didn't they go put and get us a couple of players that would help with the 'final push'?

[Bushwacka]

Hope so, Bushy.

But if that's true, once Burch was in place, why didn't they go put and get us a couple of players that would help with the 'final push'?

Because they'd be paying double (or more) the market rate at this time of year, rather than when many players' contracts expire in the summer.

I think what's annoyed Mace the most is that it seems obvious that the owners really don't see promotion this season as the be-all and end-all. If they did, they would have stuck with Ardley or brought in someone with a lot more experience.

I agree with Mace that this is a very risky strategy, but there is a lot that we don't know about their overall plan, so I don't buy into the 'we're doomed' outlook.

[jacobncfc]

Hope so, Bushy.

But if that's true, once Burch was in place, why didn't they go put and get us a couple of players that would help with the 'final push'?

Where from, I guess. EFL clubs are way further on in their season and the window for them was closed, so they wouldn’t have been interested really in loaning out anyone who was anywhere near their team.

Those who did strengthen (Stockport and Chesterfield the obvious ones) did so because they were willing to pay fees and sign players on long term contracts, but doing that at this point in the season generally means you’re getting terrible value.

Madden is always mentioned loads, but he’s a year younger than Ben Turner and we saw how his legs went from ‘a great League Two defender Mansfield were gutted to lose’ to ‘basically can’t move any more’ in the space of a few months.

[Stan Marshall]

Same as other previous posters, I do find Paul Mace’s podcasts with ex-players very enjoyable, but this particular edition was downright depressing. I do actually agree with his concerns about a toxic atmosphere developing but I fear all he is actually doing is stirring the fans up unnecessarily.
Paul is obviously a dedicated Notts fan and, while his comments may be well intended, I think they’re misguided.
I’ve said before that, whilst Fullerton should never have been appointed, the treatment he received from the fans was disgraceful and we’re starting to see this on social media already towards IB. Let’s at least give the man a chance.

[jacobncfc]

I’ve said before that, whilst Fullerton should never have been appointed, the treatment he received from the fans was disgraceful and we’re starting to see this on social media already towards IB. Let’s at least give the man a chance.

100%, it was embarrassing.

I’d probably be in the pro-Burchnall camp (by which I mean it’s way too early to form a proper opinion, but some of the stuff I’ve seen has been absurd. Disagree with team selections and tactics or criticise performances, by all means, but some of the stuff about not wearing a branded jacket or looking shifty in interviews is ridiculous.

[laddo]

It's without doubt embarrassing, but sadly expected.

The Facebook group in particular is full of plenty of clowns, far too many so impossible to tidy that group up or educate so I don't comment just read and shake my head. It makes NCM the choice for the sensible and rationale

[upthemaggies]

I fear Ardley is being turned into a Stanley Aborah type of trojan horse.

The thing is, if Ardley couldn't help himself to have been that honest on the radio about his players and his own shortcomings as a manager, what has he been saying in private to the owners? What would he have said in private to people like Curtis and Slater? (who he was quite close to).

These media guys know more than we do, Mace included, so something is definitely not right, but I really don't think the owners had any choice but to sack Ardley when they did. He was clearly buckling under the pressure, partly the pressure he was putting himself under - it obviously got to him that he was the man who took Notts down and he needed to right that wrong.

The owners would have preferred to wait but their hand was forced. Often, in this situation, a chairman will install the no.2 as caretaker until the end of the season, but there's no way the fans would have accepted Greg Abbott, so they've had to install their own man early.

Problem now is, Burchnall could end up being shackled to the fact that he was the man who dropped us out of the play off zone - in the same way Ardley was shackled with being the man who took Notts down. Every time we have a dip in form, the doubts among fans will re-surface based on this failure.

[drillerpie]

I fear Ardley is being turned into a Stanley Aborah type of trojan horse.

The thing is, if Ardley couldn't help himself to have been that honest on the radio about his players and his own shortcomings as a manager, what has he been saying in private to the owners? What would he have said in private to people like Curtis and Slater? (who he was quite close to).

These media guys know more than we do, Mace included, so something is definitely not right, but I really don't think the owners had any choice but to sack Ardley when they did. He was clearly buckling under the pressure, partly the pressure he was putting himself under - it obviously got to him that he was the man who took Notts down and he needed to right that wrong.

The owners would have preferred to wait but their hand was forced. Often, in this situation, a chairman will install the no.2 as caretaker until the end of the season, but there's no way the fans would have accepted Greg Abbott, so they've had to install their own man early.

Problem now is, Burchnall could end up being shackled to the fact that he was the man who dropped us out of the play off zone - in the same way Ardley was shackled with being the man who took Notts down. Every time we have a dip in form, the doubts among fans will re-surface based on this failure.

Good post UTM but might it just have been an open and shut case of under-performing manager gets sacked?

Ardley said repeatedly that the owners were more interested in the fair score rather than the actual score as a way of judging a manager's performance.

The fair scores in the last few months of Ardley's spell as manager, if I'm understanding things correctly, showed that we were creating very little and conceding lots of chances. We obtained some decent results, but they were thanks to poor finishing by our opponents and goals out of nothing for us.

Could it be that simple?