Crucial point...Originally Posted by jackal2
Although I wish fans realised that this usually comes with more goals conceded. Fine for me, but some seem genuinely traumatised with each goal against.
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Crucial point...
Although I wish fans realised that this usually comes with more goals conceded. Fine for me, but some seem genuinely traumatised with each goal against.
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False dilemma.
Obviously an important part of football is keeping the ball out of your net, but I think it's possible to have entertaining football without being completely wide open. As I've said above, the biggest problem facing Williams when we stepped up a level was that our defence wasn't sufficiently upgraded. The recruitment team did make a mistake on that one, probably out of loyalty. I doubt that if Williams or Maynard had Platt and Bedeau at their disposal last season we would have shipped the number of goals we did with the likes of Cameron and Rawlinson, who evidently weren't quite up to the higher standard.
Last edited by jackal2; 09-03-2025 at 06:46 PM.
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Question is for me if you let him go now who do you get? Do you roll the dice on Williams or Lindsay or is there someone else, there?s no one jumping out at me in L2, not sure about the NL?
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Frankly, who cares if Maynard has been *unlucky*? That is life - I doubt anyone on this message board has not been through difficulties at work, some of which are down to the individual, some not.
It is the job of a manager to work through the problems they are faced with - and unfortunately, SM has failed.
As for replacements, I could not possibly comment as my knowledge of lower league managers is not strong enough - but I refuse to believe there are not managers out there within our budget who could do better.
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Surely we can't know whether he's failed until promotion is no longer possible? I'm not saying we'll make it but it is definitely still possible. If he were to get us promoted, he'd clearly have worked his way through the problems as you put it. Most of the bookies still think it more likely than not...even after Saturday's result.
Last edited by SwalePie; 09-03-2025 at 07:36 PM.
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SwalePie - come on. I know you are generally far more positive than most posters on here and actively enjoy playing devils advocate, but a dose of reality is required.
We are 23rd in the form table at a crucial time of the season, our performances are deteriorating fast, the majority of the players look entirely disinterested, we are beset by injuries and our manager is floundering. The bookies are hedging their bets based on our league position throughout the year - but they are not watching the listless performances week after week like we are.
The way we are playing, there is zero chance of promotion. You cannot seriously believe we would beat the likes of Bradford, Walsall, Wimbledon et al in the playoffs.
At the moment, we would struggle to beat an egg.
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Was promotion what the owners promised this season (that's not a rhetorical question, I genuinely don't know)? I thought it was more controlled growth that the Brothers were after.
Therefore if promotion wasn't expected from the owners and the club finish in a stronger position financially and higher up the table than last season, then Maynard has been a resounding success.
Many calling for his head are missing the point. They need to look at the fact that he is only the 'Head Coach'. He can't bring in the players he wants, he just has to work with what he's been dealt with.
The beauty of this structure is that if a manager leaves or is sacked, the plan can carry on without a big 'sale' of all of the players he brought in and a new load of players replacing them. That is the heartbreaking situation Notts (and many other clubs) were in for years. I'd say boom and bust, but we didn't get a lot of the 'boom'.
The downside is that if the club goes through a bad patch of results, then the drama queens call for the coach to be sacked whereas realistically there isn't much the Head Coach can do about it.
Last edited by Lullapie; 10-03-2025 at 01:25 AM.
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I agree with all of this really.
Re: your first line, the owners have never promised promotion in any particular season, and in their first interview clearly stated that you can never guarantee it so they would never set it as an expectation.
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At the last fans forum, the owners and Montague did talk about gaining promotion this season (maybe it was my imagination, but SM seemed to shift uncomfortably whenever this was stated as a target). However, given that the January transfer window left us weaker without a ready-made replacement for Dan Crowley, it’s also hard to argue that the owners were that serious about promotion.
Arguably the most important thing we need to assess at the end of this season is why we’ve been blighted by so many long-term injuries. Is it impact injuries? Or something more preventable due to conditioning? When we look at our list of injuries where players have been out for at least a month - Didzy, Robertson, Austin, Jones, Ness, Macdonald, Grant, Edwards, Gordon, Macari - you do have to cut the head coach a bit of slack.
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Do you really believe that if the club goes through a bad patch of results, realistically there isn't much the Head Coach can do about it?
I'd say he's the person you expect to sort it.
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