Is this obsession with Ardley (and you can't call it anything else since he gets brought up in Every. Single. Thread.) all about having someone you can blame on the relegation? One name to pin it all on?

We got relegated because we sucked. Notts County were relegated because we played bad football. All three managers and every player we had on the team that season produced poor results. Hardy's softy was a better performer.

Nolan, who I thought was a very promising manager produced poor results.

Kewell, who I think is a very promising manager produced poor results.

Ardley who at the time was a very experienced manager who routinely got better results out of what were supposed to be worse teams... produced poor results.

There was a lot wrong at the club. There's a lot more to it than ITS ALL ARDLEYS FAULT WAAAAHHHH!!!!!11

Letting that season cloud your judgement about the two seasons since is illogical. Understandable perhaps, but it has no basis in logic, no stats to back it up. We were solidly in the playoff spots for the second year running when he was sacked. I'm delighted IB's got the team on a run of good form, and sincerely hope he is a much better manager than Ardley.

But calling Ardley a bad manager... the statistics just don't back it up. You don't like him? I heard you the five-thousandth time. You don't like his tactics? I've heard that too. A lot. He's gone. Feel free to stop bringing him up any time now...