Ardley To Barrow

[ForeignLegion]

Fk me, is this still going?

[The_Pie_Man]

Blimey, let it go!

Ardley is long gone - nice chap but got us relegated and failed to get us promoted, therefore in my eyes he's a failure and we're well rid of him.

End of story.

[LaxtonLad]

That said, IB is now on track to end the season in a position that Ardley was cruising into...

He looked very much like getting notts into the NL playoffs for the second season on the trot...

IMO Ardley did an excellent job of holding the team together and rebuilding for last season, and could well have gone straight back up with a bit of luck. He was doing roughly as well this season but having had more time to prepare, which reflects poorly on him I guess, but it's clear the team the club built for him this season is a much better fit for an attacking mentality than Ardley's quite defensive tactics.

Point 1. Ardley was in no way cruising anywhere but mid-table.

Point 2. Notts were not improving, we were getting beaten by cannon fodder, we were treading water, hoping teams above us would slip up.

What let Ardley down was trying to hold on to single points from draws in the three, four, or five games we had in hand. If we had kept that up we would have had no chance of promotion. For the three points gained from a win we had to draw three, if you are the league leaders you could perhaps free-wheel for a bit but not if you're playing catch up.

[Carlton_Pie]

Point 1. Ardley was in no way cruising anywhere but mid-table.

Point 2. Notts were not improving, we were getting beaten by cannon fodder, we were treading water, hoping teams above us would slip up.

What let Ardley down was trying to hold on to single points from draws in the three, four, or five games we had in hand. If we had kept that up we would have had no chance of promotion. For the three points gained from a win we had to draw three, if you are the league leaders you could perhaps free-wheel for a bit but not if you're playing catch up.

It wasn't the results that were a problem imo. The performances and football on offer were dreadful and quite frankly a turn off. Since he's gone, I've purchased every stream and only felt short changed by the Altrincham performance but the rest of the games have certainly made up for it.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

Maybe Ardley's preferred (and ingrained, hidebound perhaps) playstyle was a poor fit for the team the Reedtz brothers actually built for him.

The team seem well suited to IB's far more aggressive style.

That said, IB is now on track to end the season in a position that Ardley was cruising into, and judging a manager based on a single schtonking great run of form spanning a couple of games is pretty short sighted. To my eyes the playoffs never seemed in doubt this season until IB's first few chaotic games. I've got no clear opinion on IB yet and wont until a fair way into next season. He could well be the messiah, or a very naughty boy.

Ardley I was more sure of. Seemed a pretty average, maybe above average, League 2 / League 1 manager who had, at his last club, learned to get a relatively poor team to play defensively and win enough victories to get into the playoffs... and ultimately promoted.

He looked very much like getting notts into the NL playoffs for a second season on the trot, which I'll repeat: In any other league that would be solid, more than acceptable performance. If you get into the playoffs enough times, sooner or later you'll go up.

You cannot guarantee promotion in any given year, no matter how great a manager you are. There's always dice to be rolled, unfortunately.

On top of that, people repeatedly yack on about how he had a huge budget or whatever but never cite any source. Purely estimating, I'd guess we're in the top couple of teams for budget in this league, but who actually knows?

Lastly, on the subject of sacking managers, I'm against doing it unless you've got what you think is a better one lined up already. That means I was against the Nolan and Kewell sackings (Hardy had NO REPLACEMENTS lined up for either, which is IMO completely nuts), but that I begrudgingly supported the Reedtz brothers decision to dump Ardley on the grounds that they had a replacement lined up that they honestly thought would do better.

And early indications seemed to suggest they were wrong, and then maybe right. Time will tell. I suspect they were right. They usually are.

On the relegation season... I suspect if any of the following conditions were met, we'd have stayed up:

1. Nolan had not been sacked
2. Kewell had not been sacked
3. Ardley had had even a few more games worth of time to sort things out
4. Whatever weird cultural problems were going down at the club had abated even slightly

Sacking not one but two managers with no replacement lined up was an inexcusable strategic error by Hardy. Given that, repeatedly saying "Ardley got us relegated" is absurdly reductive.

There was without any shadow of doubt a severe cultural problem at the club. I can't be 100% sure about its origin or nature, but the team were playing considerably below their capability for most of that season.

IMO Ardley did an excellent job of holding the team together and rebuilding for last season, and could well have gone straight back up with a bit of luck. He was doing roughly as well this season but having had more time to prepare, which reflects poorly on him I guess, but it's clear the team the club built for him this season is a much better fit for an attacking mentality than Ardley's quite defensive tactics.

The level of hate he seems to get is not borne out by any statistical analysis of his actual games managed and isn't really appropriate IMO, just as the torrent of invective IB was copping just a few games ago wasn't appropriate.

But whatever. People are entitled to their opinions.

Whens the 2nd novel coming out.? Xx

[PedroTheFisherman66]

Blimey, let it go!

Ardley is long gone - nice chap but got us relegated and failed to get us promoted, therefore in my eyes he's a failure and we're well rid of him.

End of story.

This.!
Nothing else matters.....

[crazyfists]

Amen brother, some liked him, some didn't. Agree to disagree.

[the_anticlough]

Fk me, is this still going?

Seems a lot of people like a spot of

Ardley agro, Ardley agro
Wo-oh, Wo-oh

[laddo]

" Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' "

Have Barrow appointed anyone yet?

[countygump]

" Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' "

Have Barrow appointed anyone yet?

No, but wheel know soon enough.