Quote Originally Posted by Robertomac View Post
I regularly see one of the players from that time (who was released during the summer after the play-off defeat against Coventry) who says the signings we made were all Hardy's choice rather than Nolan's, which pretty much confirms your view. Hardy signed them and Nolan had to try and fit them into a team.
AH said as much after the Jan transfer window "I promised a stronger squad and I have delivered" including after crying on signing a "box to box" Liverpool player. He then admitted (unusually) sometime later that he'd got it wrong.

On the subject of Nolan - in my view he was lost without the influence of his mates, Alan Smith and Ameobi and Hardy had this vision about building around youth. There was no-one to lift Nolan out of the play-off gloom and we wouldn't have needed to be in the play-offs if the mid-season recruitment had been a better fit rather than upending the whole structure.