Ardley an improvement

[countygump]

The thing that stands out from that table is that Sol Campbell, who was appointed four days after Ardley at a club in even more turmoil than us, managed to gain 10 points more than Ardley.

The thing that also stands out for me is that Campbell was a totally rookie, who has only since had an 8 month-ish stint at Southend, before completely disappearing off the radar. Ardley was supposedly, an experienced EFL manager. Just shows how poor Ardley was for us.

[Chicken Balti Pie]

The thing that also stands out for me is that Campbell was a totally rookie, who has only since had an 8 month-ish stint at Southend, before completely disappearing off the radar. Ardley was supposedly, an experienced EFL manager. Just shows how poor Ardley was for us.

Macclesfield didn't have a wholly unbalanced squad with a goalkeeper that was national league north standard though, they just needed a boot. Our form after the transfer window was mid table, not horrific when a lot of players turned us down because of Hardy and our position and we were stacked with championship academy players

[upthemaggies]

15 unbeaten in the league with Solihull. The best unbeaten league run he managed with Notts was 8.


Next two games away to Wrexham and then away to Stockport. That's some Easter weekend for them.

[laddo]

What really stands out for me from that table is the 39 goals conceded in just 18 games!

That's more than the side who had won only once all season at that point. This all from a club who finished 5th and reached the playoffs the season before, conceding only 48 goals in 46 games.

You suggest reading that at least twice to let it sink in. Astounding!

[countygump]

15 unbeaten in the league with Solihull. The best unbeaten league run he managed with Notts was 8.


Next two games away to Wrexham and then away to Stockport. That's some Easter weekend for them.

If Moors lose those 2 and we win our next 2, hmmmmm...................

[The_Don_ORiordan]

Macclesfield didn't have a wholly unbalanced squad with a goalkeeper that was national league north standard though, they just needed a boot. Our form after the transfer window was mid table, not horrific when a lot of players turned us down because of Hardy and our position and we were stacked with championship academy players

Rubbish. NA had over 30 players to pick from including a whole outfield team with hundreds of FL games of experience. And an England U20 goalkeeper.

His record even after the transfer window would have had us finish 18th that season. Sol’s record was mid table. He had a much smaller squad, and players that weren’t getting paid.

We really need to not keep re-writing history.

NA like all other managers that season underperformed with the squad and resources they had.

That squad should not have finished 18th let alone been relegated.

[laddo]

Rubbish. NA had over 30 players to pick from including a whole outfield team with hundreds of FL games of experience. And an England U20 goalkeeper.

His record even after the transfer window would have had us finish 18th that season. Sol’s record was mid table. He had a much smaller squad, and players that weren’t getting paid.

We really need to not keep re-writing history.

NA like all other managers that season underperformed with the squad and resources they had.

That squad should not have finished 18th let alone been relegated.

This^^^^^^ all underperformed to varying degrees.

Sol's record comfortably outperformed not just NA but also HK and KN that season. The latter two had clearly far better starting positions than NA espcially KN, whereas NA had a lot more time to turn things around and he simply couldn't.

I actually like Sidders question looking forward but surely we don't need to re-examine that complete sh!tshow of a season where basically everyone failed at the club (bar the supporters who were superb), again! NCMs Groundhog day

[OchPie]

I think Ardley is a much better manager than he is head coach. I suspect IB might be the opposite - I think he's only actually had one manager job? The others all being either assistant manager or head coach. I think he's pretty good at it overall, though even then on game days I wonder how much say he ends up having.

The key for me - whether we go up or not (and I don't think we will) - is how we manage recruitment over the summer, with the inevitable moves out. That's not so much up to IB.

I do wonder who IB would try to buy if he had a free hand.

[Chicken Balti Pie]

Rubbish. NA had over 30 players to pick from including a whole outfield team with hundreds of FL games of experience. And an England U20 goalkeeper.

His record even after the transfer window would have had us finish 18th that season. Sol’s record was mid table. He had a much smaller squad, and players that weren’t getting paid.

We really need to not keep re-writing history.

NA like all other managers that season underperformed with the squad and resources they had.

That squad should not have finished 18th let alone been relegated.

After the transfer window where we had mid table form, i.e. had we had that all season, we'd be mid table.

The damage had already been done by then, losing 4-0 at home to Yeovil, drawing Colchester 0-0 first game of the season, last minute goals that lead to losing Cambridge and Newport. Had the strikers put away the chances we created, had we had a decent goalkeeper and a midfield that could battle, we would potentially have ended the first 6 games with at least 5 points (maybe 6-8 had that made up for the trouncing from Yeovil at home!) Instead we had 1 point. Tell me, who's fault was only having 4 friendlies, 2 of which were two fingers up at those over the river? Not Ardley who was at AFC Wimbledon at that point!

After the Lincoln game, Nolan was sacked, Kewell was bought in and the offer to sign Karl Henry rescinded (he was due to sign until Kewell said he wanted to sign Jos Labadie who was under contract and we were out of the transfer window!) Henry have gone some way to providing some steel in the midfield that we all said at the time was lacking, also add some height! All of these decisions would have gone a long way to saving us, remember, we missed out on safety by 3 points, I've just identified at least an additional 4 in the first 6 games.

The squad was toxic, Kewell was pretty much sacked for not playing Stead who, lets face it, wasn't doing much. Ardley should never have taken on the challenge with that squad and owner, he was never going to win

Also an Under 20s England goalkeeper is not ideal when battling relegation, the season before Munto, where we scrapped through again, we signed Russell Hoult!

[Stan Marshall]

People forget that Ardley had totally run out of ideas at the end of his tenure with Notts. Results were getting worse and wasn’t there a players meeting which resulted in the change to 5 at the back? Enzio became a right wing back and Ruben wasn’t even in the team.
Ardley is a likeable chap, and I was desperate for him to succeed at Notts, but sadly he wasn’t good enough. He’s had a decent budget this season, which enabled him to sign some decent players, including Dallas, despite, I believe, interest from Notts.
Like other posters, I’m puzzled as to why he was so negative at Notts when he is now putting out a side playing attractive football and scoring plenty of goals.
I do believe he was given sufficient time to succeed at Meadow Lane though.