Quote Originally Posted by matt_magpie View Post
The worse thing was probably Hardy taking us over, did he save us from liquidation, not sure. It was a vanity project for him, he was deeply out his depth, so was Nolan as a manager, but this happens everywhere in football.
After 39 league & play off games, the amount Burchnall has now had in charge, Nolan's PPG was 1.82. He left with 1.53, still one of the highest we've had at that level, so I don't think it would be fair to say he was out his depth. Yes it ended badly, but that's true for almost all managers unless they are poached. To finish 16th after looking dead certs for the drop and then go on to finish 5th the following season was pretty good going. If he'd left for another club before the start of the 2018/19 season and not overseen the next 5 games then he'd almost certainly be considered one of our better managers.

We shouldn't be leaving Darren Fletcher out of the equation either, who was overseeing recruitment that summer.