📝 New Manager [Luke Williams Appointed]

[ReadWarbler]

Whatever happened to Dave Kevan ?

[SwalePie]

Whatever happened to Dave Kevan ?

Assistant Manager at Hanley Town of all places

[Davy500]

Now how could something that was going so well for half a season, go so badly badly wrong for the next half?

Top of the table high flyers, to stumbling into playoffs and 1 point from 15 start the next season? Hmmmmm

Try getting ya noggin round that?

Very simple laddo , not strengthening in the january transfer window, loss of yates, and injury to bennett
in the play offs, the officails decisions in those matches, were some of the worst i have ever seen, think it was here Hardy lost the plot

As for 1 point in first 15 , not conclusive, as i said before, did,nt clough lose 8 games on the bounce earlier this season for stags and they were in the bottom 2, but still got to play off final

Huge mistake when Nolan was sacked , in this case that was completely on the previus chairman Alan Hardy, who lost his mind at that point , beforeyou say anything that does not excuse the following managers from doing their jobs

No way Nolan would return in any case, i bet he is on good money as head coach at west Ham who are doing well - probably he is getting more there than managing a lower level league club, with far less hassle

[TSANHO]

Yebbut we won more matches than we lost and would his style be more suited to this League than 2U-2Me Tippy-Tappy, going nowhere, football? Think on that young man...........

To be fair when he joined us he did steer us clear of a really perilous situation…fair play in that regard. There was more of a feel good factor for sure, but that was when slap head first took us over and riding a crest of a wave (so to speak).

It took what, 6-9 months, for the trough to appear? His early season form and tactical nous was pretty quickly and efficiently sussed out by the opposition and then the downward spiral began. I mean, what is difficult to suss out about giving the ball to a defender who then launches it as far down field as possible (missing out one of the best passing midfielders in the division in the process) hoping that one of our big lump forwards would bang a head on it. The only team worse to watch than that Notts team were Solihull when Tim Flowers was in charge.

Had he stayed much longer his win to loss ratio would tell a whole different story. I dont think his style of football is suited to any division this side of the 1970’s never mind to IB’s style in this century 😂

[laddo]

Very simple laddo , not strengthening in the january transfer window, loss of yates, and injury to bennett
in the play offs, the officails decisions in those matches, were some of the worst i have ever seen, think it was here Hardy lost the plot

As for 1 point in first 15 , not conclusive, as i said before, did,nt clough lose 8 games on the bounce earlier this season for stags and they were in the bottom 2, but still got to play off final

Huge mistake when Nolan was sacked , in this case that was completely on the previus chairman Alan Hardy, who lost his mind at that point , beforeyou say anything that does not excuse the following managers from doing their jobs

No way Nolan would return in any case, i bet he is on good money as head coach at west Ham who are doing well - probably he is getting more there than managing a lower level league club, with far less hassle

Don't you be coming at me now with 'Hardy lost his mind' I was telling you that and who was primarily to blame for ages but your mind was "clouded" and you just wouldn't listen.

You are right he wouldn't come back, and I wouldn't want him back. The 1 point from 15 was inexcusable after the precious campaign but as others have pointed out our performances prior to those unfortunate playoffs were sketchy at best. It had started to unravel a while back then we had a shocking preseason and horrendous start.

[cher1]

Look at photos of Nolan when he joined us and then compare with when things fell apart. It's pretty clear to see why things were going wrong. It's always better if a manager is ... shall we say 'clear headed'.

[kill_the_drum]

From what I was told about Nolan, he should be bottom of a long list of managers never to return. The disastrous season following the play off loss was the summer where we had no rain for months. He would constantly call off training due to heat or the pitch was too hard.
We were battered at the start of that season as we had the fitness levels of a pub team.
I wasn’t against Nolan at the time but his football was dire, absolutely dire.

[slack_pie]

To be fair when he joined us he did steer us clear of a really perilous situation…fair play in that regard. There was more of a feel good factor for sure, but that was when slap head first took us over and riding a crest of a wave (so to speak).

It took what, 6-9 months, for the trough to appear? His early season form and tactical nous was pretty quickly and efficiently sussed out by the opposition and then the downward spiral began. I mean, what is difficult to suss out about giving the ball to a defender who then launches it as far down field as possible (missing out one of the best passing midfielders in the division in the process) hoping that one of our big lump forwards would bang a head on it. The only team worse to watch than that Notts team were Solihull when Tim Flowers was in charge.

Had he stayed much longer his win to loss ratio would tell a whole different story. I dont think his style of football is suited to any division this side of the 1970’s never mind to IB’s style in this century ��

The football was pretty bad sometimes, but it wasn't always aimless hoof ball. I seem to remember the first half of homes games would be pretty dire, then in the second half we'd come to life when attacking the Kop. Lots of early balls out to Grant on the left wing, with Dan Jones overlapping. Or Grant cutting inside and playing one-twos with Shola. Yates and Hewitt winning scrappy battles in the center of the park.

I quite like that direct-yet-incisive football myself. I actually prefer it to the patient, tippy-tappy stuff we play now. But then I'm the sort of person who applauds a crunching tackle more than a great through ball.

There were a number of reasons why it went wrong: the post-play-off hangover, the actual hangovers, Hardy getting desperate and splashing cash on stupid signings, and a bit of bad luck in the first few games. It could have been so different.

[matt_magpie]

Kevin Nolan produced some of, if not the most, turgid, infuriating and unimaginative football I’ve ever seen. Anywhere.

Fortunate with our loan signings the season we made the playoffs but never forget how woeful we were in the run in….and that was just a preview of what the start of the following season was going to bring.

Literally pissed up any chances of starting well up the wall and should take just as much blame as Ardley (with peanut head taking the top honours) for our relegation. It was a disgrace the shape and discipline our players came back from pre-season in.

I hope (with some optimism) that he’ll never darken our doors again.

100% agree, it’s the worst I’ve ever seen at meadow lane, rode our luck the first half of the season and then fell apart. Fair play to people if they enjoyed it but I certainly didn’t.

[Elite_Pie]

I quite like that direct-yet-incisive football myself. I actually prefer it to the patient, tippy-tappy stuff we play now.

Sums up my thoughts exactly. Unfortunately on here if you don't worship the 'modern' tippy-tappy style, you are classed as an old dinosaur who wants to watch hoofball by some. There is a middle ground, and if we don't find it I think we will be stuck down here for a very long time.