Losing interest

[SwalePie]

The owners appear to be doing fine regarding the thing that matters most of all, which is keeping the club in a financially stable state where we don't have to worry about winding up orders every other week. And by the way, maintaining financial stability has been some achievement in itself, considering we've just gone through a COVID lockdown that even the most foresighted football and business analysts would probably not have seen coming.

The lack of financial crises and off-field controversy means we only have to concern ourselves with what's happening on the pitch, and overall we haven't actually done badly over the past two and a bit seasons. The frustration is that we haven't done quite as well as we would hope and expect to do, in terms of gaining promotion, but no team has a God-given right to go up no matter how big the club is or how much they spend. There are various reasons we have fallen just short, and some criticism probably can be made of the previous manager, maybe the current manager, and some signings that have worked less well than others. However, the most important thing is to keep the foundations of the club stable, and continue plugging away on the playing side until we get it right.

Michael Doyle made a good point the other night at the Fan's Forum, that the first step of getting promoted from this league might well be the most difficult because of the small number of promotion places available. It might take more time to achieve success than we would ideally like or expect, but it's noticeable that most of the clubs who have eventually found the right formula, like Sutton and Harrogate most recently, continue to do well in the higher league. Barrow had a tough first season last year but were good enough to survive, and now seem to be kicking on. Macclesfield are the notable recent exception in terms of a club that got promoted and then came down again, but that appears to be because they weren't being as well-run off the field.

Football fans will always react to short-term results because we're emotional creatures and that's what we do, and I'm certainly no exception. However, I believe the club is in safer hands than it has been for a long time, regardless of whether the current approach to trying to win promotion ends in success, or whether we have to re-think again.

Yes me too, which is why I am so puzzled by the apparent mistrust of our current owners from a few posters which seems to have suddenly sprung from nowhere.

[upthemaggies]

Yes me too, which is why I am so puzzled by the apparent mistrust of our current owners from a few posters which seems to have suddenly sprung from nowhere.

I think it stands to reason that if you're going to try and play your way out of a league with good football, then you've got to be prepared to pay for the quality players able to pull that off..... or have a very special manager who can improve players to the standard required.

Evidently we're currently falling short as we have done for the previous two seasons. Hence a few more are now beginning to question whether or not the owners will turn out to be as hopeless as all of the other disasters we've suffered since Derek Pavis.

Sticking with Ardley for so long, even at all, was a stupid mistake that most could see long before the owners decided to act. Hiring Burchnall was probably the most left field appointment we've ever made other than Fullarton - and ss I've said on another post, it only seemed to go right for him when the players wanted to make a point about Mo Ross. Now that Ross has been largely forgotten, the spotlight falls back on Burchnall to see if he has got anything about him to get the team winning against sides other than those down at the bottom end of the table and whether or not the owners have made another mistake and very possibly wasted yet another season by hiring him.

Maybe their other club will work out better for them.

[ncfcog]

My concern with some of the comments regarding the owners and the coaching set up and style of play is that it is obvious some fans still have no idea what is trying to be achieved by the current regime.

If you don’t like passing possession based football and playing through the lines/phases you’ll soon be fed up with football in general never mind Notts.

The game is evolving, the style of play is necessary because any clubs further up the pyramid will be looking to buy young players with knowledge and experience of playing it.

To be sustainable and have a long term view we have to install this style as a blueprint for the future from the boys/girls teams right up to the senior team. We have to find and recruit players that are undervalued and sell them when their value is inflated. This is the idea with signings such as Rúben, Roberts, Knight and Sam etc. It won’t always work, it took Brentford a good few years before it started to pay dividends but it’s definitely the way forward for clubs like Notts.

I absolutely understand the disappointment surrounding yesterday’s capitulation but I will continue to try and grasp hold of the positives after every game no matter how small. It’s a marathon not a sprint.

[upthemaggies]

it took Brentford a good few years before it started to pay dividends but it’s definitely the way forward for clubs like Notts.
.

At the time the current owner took over at Brentford, they'd spent 50 years in the 3rd and 4th tiers, bar one season in which they got relegated straight back down again.
They were promoted to the Championship in the current owners 2nd season, then finished 5th in his 3rd season. Any Brentford fan who wasn't an OAP was enjoying the best seasons of their lives whilst they prepared to move up to the Premier League. To compare Brentford with Notts - a club at an all time low - makes zero sense.

[Woodypie]

Maybe it's the bad admin that is holding us back, dodgy filing, messy inbox, unread emails, piles of paper, no stapling.
It's soft. We need an admin animal, a beast in that office to start stapling stuff, use highlighters, correction fluid.
Sort it Notts.

Maybe they have a tippy tappy typewriter where the paper goes sideways constantly, not moving on at all!

[SwalePie]

I think it stands to reason that if you're going to try and play your way out of a league with good football, then you've got to be prepared to pay for the quality players able to pull that off..... or have a very special manager who can improve players to the standard required.

Evidently we're currently falling short as we have done for the previous two seasons. Hence a few more are now beginning to question whether or not the owners will turn out to be as hopeless as all of the other disasters we've suffered since Derek Pavis.

Sticking with Ardley for so long, even at all, was a stupid mistake that most could see long before the owners decided to act. Hiring Burchnall was probably the most left field appointment we've ever made other than Fullarton - and ss I've said on another post, it only seemed to go right for him when the players wanted to make a point about Mo Ross. Now that Ross has been largely forgotten, the spotlight falls back on Burchnall to see if he has got anything about him to get the team winning against sides other than those down at the bottom end of the table and whether or not the owners have made another mistake and very possibly wasted yet another season by hiring him.

Maybe their other club will work out better for them.

So you've given up already, after 9 games? This is the bit I don't get. You 'could' be right but you seem to have decided it is somehow a cetainty that IB will fail and that the owners have no money etc. Also, just to play devil's advocate for a moment, as the Reedtz Brothers have invested in a second club, perhaps they have access to more money than you think and simply have the self control not to spunk it all into a Hardyesque 'sh*t-or-bust' adventure.

[SwalePie]

At the time the current owner took over at Brentford, they'd spent 50 years in the 3rd and 4th tiers, bar one season in which they got relegated straight back down again.
They were promoted to the Championship in the current owners 2nd season, then finished 5th in his 3rd season. Any Brentford fan who wasn't an OAP was enjoying the best seasons of their lives whilst they prepared to move up to the Premier League. To compare Brentford with Notts - a club at an all time low - makes zero sense.

I can't remember who made it but the comparison with Brentford was made with reference to strategy, not current or past league position.

[laddo]

Post of the day from ncfcog.

Forget the usual post defeat overreaction, that's been a staple of NCM for as long as I can remember#vivaNCM

But if you can't see the bigger picture, the overall plan by now you are never going to see it. As Richard points out the game has evolved lots recently and continuing to evolve. The difficulty for Notts is the evolution is hard to implement the further down the period you go but it's a long term plan that's clear and obvious.

And in response to UTM the spotlight has been on the new manager since his first game. It didn't start when Ross was sacked. Agree IB was an left field appointment but as we know we've gone down the traditional known safe route with managerial appointments many times before and that hasn't worked. So we are trying something new.

[upthemaggies]

So you've given up already, after 9 games? This is the bit I don't get. You 'could' be right but you seem to have decided it is somehow a cetainty that IB will fail and that the owners have no money etc. Also, just to play devil's advocate for a moment, as the Reedtz Brothers have invested in a second club, perhaps they have access to more money than you think and simply have the self control not to spunk it all into a Hardyesque 'sh*t-or-bust' adventure?

The money they put into Viborg could have been put into Notts. I don't care what's best for them, I'm interested in what's best for Notts County. I'd expect owners to be 100% committed - football wise - to Notts. It's Hardy buying Ilkeston and Trew buying Lincoln Ladies and the Rugby club all over again.

I posted a video a few weeks back from 1957 with Tommy Lawton talking about how the club were planning to be back in the top flight by 1962. Every club has a plan, most of them get torn up once they realise it's not going to work and they have to act before they start losing their support. That's football. Other clubs don't stand around waiting whilst you fanny about trying to get your act together.

I'm sure Pavis had a plan to get out of tier 3 playing good football under Barnwell until he realised it wasn't going to work, changed course and history was made.

[Killerkline]

My concern with some of the comments regarding the owners and the coaching set up and style of play is that it is obvious some fans still have no idea what is trying to be achieved by the current regime.

If you don’t like passing possession based football and playing through the lines/phases you’ll soon be fed up with football in general never mind Notts.

The game is evolving, the style of play is necessary because any clubs further up the pyramid will be looking to buy young players with knowledge and experience of playing it.

To be sustainable and have a long term view we have to install this style as a blueprint for the future from the boys/girls teams right up to the senior team. We have to find and recruit players that are undervalued and sell them when their value is inflated. This is the idea with signings such as Rúben, Roberts, Knight and Sam etc. It won’t always work, it took Brentford a good few years before it started to pay dividends but it’s definitely the way forward for clubs like Notts.

I absolutely understand the disappointment surrounding yesterday’s capitulation but I will continue to try and grasp hold of the positives after every game no matter how small. It’s a marathon not a sprint.

Great post.