Burchnall

[Woodypie]

LW has made a huge difference, clearly.

However to call the previous two head coaches/managers "clowns" is just plain wrong and disrespectful. Unless of course you started supporting Notts in 2019 or your memory is so bad you can't remember some of the men in charge prior to that pair. In that case fair enough, carry on.

No, CanArdley and Burch were poor. Previous managers were worse but good grief, is that a fitting way to judge them? If we go back a hundred years I'm sure other managers have been worse. Others in my supporting time have been better. Happy New Year, onwards and upwards.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I think the answer is it’s way too early to tell.
What I do think is staring us in the face is we have incredible owners.
They have dismantled everything that was wrong at Notts and rebuilt from the foundations. Nothing is reactionary, nothing is knee jerk. Everything seems considered and measured.
They have a blueprint on the style of football and the type of personnel they want, so we now have a club/business that is in an environment of stability and consistency. If someone leaves, we replace them with someone who slots in, without having to disrupt too much.
It’s pretty incredible that we had a player as good as Cal Roberts leave us and we haven’t missed him one bit. Ardley and IB aren’t remembered favourably by many but I think they’ve played their part in rebuilding our foundation. IB came into a club that was in a better place than when Ardley came in and likewise for LW.
My gut feeling is we’d still be in this league if LW had got the job at the time NA or IB got it.

I agree with this. From when the new owners brought the club it’s been a gradual slow burner over the past 3 1/2 years. Never before has the analogy “under the radar” been so apt and fitting.

We do have to look at clubs like S****horpe, and Oldham along with Southend who have fallen from League One and failed to stop the rot and slide. We must always remember and never forget it could have got worse. Stockport and Torquay dropped to NLN and NLS.

Our owners along with Neal Ardley immediately halted our slide and provided short term stability. The club was in a better state on and off the field than when Neal Ardley arrived. Burchnall came in and altered our style of football and made us more attack minded but played a patient possession based game which is where fans are divided. Luke Williams has picked this up and taken it onto the next level still playing a patience possession based game but adding that intensity, aggressive pressing and the ability to go long and mix it up when required.

I’ve summarised each season at this level below and like Luton and others it’s easy to see why it takes some clubs 4 or 5 years to recover, rebuild. One thing is for sure when this club gets back to the EFL it will be a far better and stronger club than the one that whimpered out the EFL in May 2019.

Season 1 - Immediate Stability, stop the rot and slide. Covid Pandemic Hit. Playoff final defeat at Wembley.

Season 2 - Building on the foundations and pushing on but were not convincing. Performances away from home dipped and struggled against lesser sides away. Managerial change. Playoff semi-final defeat away to Torquay.

Season 3 - Style of football became a passing possession based game playing out from the back. Nicknamed by some fans (to me to you) Home record was promotion form like previously but still struggled away from home to lesser sides and teams that pressed by having a soft underbelly. Lacked intensity. Playoff semi final defeat to Grimsby.

Season 4 - Addressed shortfalls, recruited accordingly, appointed suitable manager. Look like a title winning side. Top of the league going into 2023. Wrexham thorn in the side and we are to them but both providing motivation to each other to fight to be the best at this level. Both currently deserve to get promoted and are EFL ready.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

FGR are being linked with all manner of transfers in January so it looks like Vince is backing him.

FGR in league one are a bit like the other team not far from Meadow lane with a similar name to FGR in terms of it being their first season in a higher league where they are expected and are currently fighting for survival.

So it maybe about looking beyond the short term of this season and backing the manager. FGR strike me as the kind of club that is not one to hire and fire at will. They must have known and been expecting what was to come which is struggle. Likewise so would IB when he took the job.

We know only too well that having two or three managers in a struggling season made no difference to our survival. Derry, Hart (Caretaker) and Moniz we went down. Nolan, Kewell and Ardley we went down.

[Davy500]

For me IB put the foundations in place and LWs took it to another level so I can only see his appointment as positive. I personally believe he doesn’t have the personality to get players to get in teams faces and probably more surprising Doyle doesn’t seem to either. We don’t know the ins and outs of his departure. I doubt the ownership were patting him on his back for the season. My gut says he probably thought he couldn’t get us out and took an easy option to progress and probably thought it would be easy to build on Rob Edwards work, but footballs not that easy. I think they’ll stick with him, Dale Vince is a strange character and I imagine quite stubborn/defensive over his decisions.

Well Dale has the money to allow him to be stubborn , defensive, or what ever else he wants to do

[Davy500]

FGR in league one are a bit like the other team not far from Meadow lane with a similar name to FGR in terms of it being their first season in a higher league where they are expected and are currently fighting for survival.

So it maybe about looking beyond the short term of this season and backing the manager. FGR strike me as the kind of club that is not one to hire and fire at will. They must have known and been expecting what was to come which is struggle. Likewise so would IB when he took the job.

We know only too well that having two or three managers in a struggling season made no difference to our survival. Derry, Hart (Caretaker) and Moniz we went down. Nolan, Kewell and Ardley we went down.

Similar , but FGR are much more able to compete on finances in L1. Forest owners apart from Brentford are only worth 630 million, whilst the others in the premier are worth billions

[laddo]

No, CanArdley and Burch were poor. Previous managers were worse but good grief, is that a fitting way to judge them? If we go back a hundred years I'm sure other managers have been worse. Others in my supporting time have been better. Happy New Year, onwards and upwards.

Well yes, other Notts managers is surely the best guide to judging their time at Notts. It's certainly a far better barometer than selecting a single game, especially if it's a playoff final. Clueless but finished 3rd and reached a playoff final??? I would suggest that's somewhat contradictory

No need to go back a hundred years , we are Notts County we've had shed loads in the last 20 to choose from to compare. Take ya pick

[Chicken Balti Pie]

Well yes, other Notts managers is surely the best guide to judging their time at Notts. It's certainly a far better barometer than selecting a single game, especially if it's a playoff final. Clueless but finished 3rd and reached a playoff final??? I would suggest that's somewhat contradictory

No need to go back a hundred years , we are Notts County we've had shed loads in the last 20 to choose from to compare. Take ya pick

Yeah, I thought it was a little strange. Forgets that against Grimsby we were 10 seconds away from playing Wrexham until a silly foul, hardly Burchnall's fault. Harrogate for Ardley was difficult as well, all momentum had gone with COVID with a fairly aging squad takes time to get into it again. Only "mistake" was perhaps thinking Turner could play two games in succession and leaving out Rawlinson

[upthemaggies]

Until LW took a grip of the situation, we had no other 5th tier managers to compare NA and IB with, so we just had to suck it up.

Now, we can see just how utterly inept and clueless they were.

Last season, some on here were very fond of reminding us how MASSIVE Solihull were with their billy big time budget compared to little old Notts... Well, NA ain't now doing any better down there than he did whilst he was here.

The pair of them can be tossed into the dustbin of history marked "losers" with the lid on and a pile of bricks on top to make sure they don't climb back out for a 2nd stint.

[magpie_mania]

Yeah, I thought it was a little strange. Forgets that against Grimsby we were 10 seconds away from playing Wrexham until a silly foul, hardly Burchnall's fault. Harrogate for Ardley was difficult as well, all momentum had gone with COVID with a fairly aging squad takes time to get into it again. Only "mistake" was perhaps thinking Turner could play two games in succession and leaving out Rawlinson

I don't think you are allowed to mention how the Grimsby game was lost.

[magpie_mania]

Until LW took a grip of the situation, we had no other 5th tier managers to compare NA and IB with, so we just had to suck it up.

Now, we can see just how utterly inept and clueless they were.

Last season, some on here were very fond of reminding us how MASSIVE Solihull were with their billy big time budget compared to little old Notts... Well, NA ain't now doing any better down there than he did whilst he was here.

The pair of them can be tossed into the dustbin of history marked "losers" with the lid on and a pile of bricks on top to make sure they don't climb back out for a 2nd stint.

If Notts don't go up this season - how will LW be classed?