📝 Tobi Adebayo-Rowling Signs

[upthemaggies]

Marginally, but not by a distance that has any great meaning. Such small differences in points and position can come down to the randomness of football and variables like an injury here or there and whether a couple of shots hit the bar or the post or go in the net, plus the form of the team you happen to get in the play-offs. If we'd finished, say, 3rd, 8th and then 12th in the last three seasons then it probably would be fair to say we're getting significantly worse, but 3rd, 5th and 5th are basically play-off finishes. If we're splitting hairs to such a degree then, as others have pointed out, we actually scored more points in a stronger league this season than last. Essentially, we've been pretty much stable on and off the park for the past three years, which doesn't require panic from anyone. It just means we need to tweak things a bit this summer, hopefully with some good value rather than big money signings, to see if we can push on.

If the goal is top spot we've finished.....

2019/20 - 7 pts adrift
2020/21 - 14 pts adrift
2021/22 - 12 pts adrift

We're miles off.

I feel a bit sorry for Tobi Rowling if he discovers this site tonight/tomorrow and sees 11 pages devoted to him, thinking his joining the club has sent us into a frenzy of excitement, only to click on it and find a bunch of old gits chewing over what's gone wrong with Notts over the past 30 years.

[uysapie]

If the goal is top spot we've finished.....

2019/20 - 7 pts adrift
2020/21 - 14 pts adrift
2021/22 - 12 pts adrift

We're miles off.

I feel a bit sorry for Tobi Rowling if he discovers this site tonight/tomorrow and sees 11 pages devoted to him, thinking his joining the club has sent us into a frenzy of excitement, only to click on it and find a bunch of old gits chewing over what's gone wrong with Notts over the past 30 years.

More than 30 years makes you half empty glass type, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best every season. Doesn't stop me getting ready to pay for a hospitality season ticket though.

[jackal2]

The context that's forgotten now is that it was pretty much the last roll of the dice to attract decent support for the level we'd climbed up to. Promotions and Wembley finals hadn't brought the crowds in and I think it was widely thought at the time (certainly by Pavis) that the embarrassing state of the ground by then was putting people off and if Notts offered better facilities and the impression of being a more modern club, people would turn up.
Sadly they didn't. It was an awful sight looking across from County Road at a mostly empty Pavis stand on the day it first opened v Wolves.

Like Swale I'm beginning to struggle to see the point you're ultimately trying to make and what you want to happen from an ownership viewpoint.

You almost seem to be making the case that the club is doomed to be insolvent and to gradually decline no matter what it does, and to be honest, a number of business people from outside the football sector would probably look at Notts County FC dispassionately and agree!

The Reedtz brothers can't afford to think like that though, and I don't think they do. Their business model seems to be to invest a significant amount of money to cover our losses and to fund a competitive - but not excessive - playing budget so those losses don't get beyond their control, whilst aiming to recruit young talent (players and managers) who can grow with us and in some cases attract a fee. They're seeking to control the costs of running the club but still working to give us a chance of success. To me, this seems to be the only realistic way to square a very difficult financial circle that has severely challenged Notts County owners pretty much since WW2. Virtually all of our owners in the modern era have bemoaned attendances at some point, and we've been in and out of financial trouble more times than a lifelong gambling addict.

The only real alternative to the Reedtz approach (other than the already failed Hardy and Trew approaches) is that some big, moneybags owner comes out of nowhere and is genuine, rather than a fraud like Munto. It's not impossible this could happen (as shown by Wrexham's experience) but it's improbable, and moreover, continuing/future changes to financial fair play rules in the National league and the higher leagues are making it progressively more difficult for such sugar daddies to spend outlandishly anyway.

If such a wealthy owner does want to take over Notts County then they would obviously have no problem making the Reedtz brothers an offer they couldn't refuse, and the brothers would probably accept it in their own interests and that of the club. However, until something like that materialises, I'll stick with the current ownership thanks, because they seem to be the most-level headed stewards of the club we've seen in a long time. That doesn't mean they can guarantee success though. No-one can.

[jacobncfc]

You can't re-build continually employing bang average managers who leave you where they found you or worse.

As discussed on MC, it's all about finding the right manager, we see it time and time again, managers come in and transform clubs - literally overnight in some cases with no pre-season, no 4 year plan, no clear out, they come in and take the club by the scruff of the neck. That's what we need at Notts but we almost certainly are not going to see it under these owners any time soon.

But then they leave and you’re back at square one.

[Elite_Pie]

But then they leave and you’re back at square one.

Not really, because they should have moved us to square two.

[upthemaggies]

Not really, because they should have moved us to square two.

Yes, what's the alternative, bring in managers nobody else is going to want for the sake of stability?

[SwalePie]

Yes, what's the alternative, bring in managers nobody else is going to want for the sake of stability?

That, or we could bring in head coaches other teams would be prepared to pay us compensation for? Just a thought.

[upthemaggies]

That, or we could bring in head coaches other teams would be prepared to pay us compensation for? Just a thought.

Which has just left us back at square one.

[countygump]

Not really, because they should have moved us to square two.

Orrr, you employ a decent manager/coach and he's poached by a bigger boy after a season or so and you're back to square 1, or 2. But at least you get some money in the tin.

[SaltySeaDog]

Orrr, you employ a decent manager/coach and he's poached by a bigger boy after a season or so and you're back to square 1, or 2. But at least you get some money in the tin.

This.

Not much we can do if players/managers want to move on. But if the boat isn't rocked too much, and we get some moolah to support the club further, sounds alright to me.