League Two Notts memories 2004-2009

[slack_pie]

When I saw the title there was some dread clicking on it but instead it just warms the heart of where we are now as a club by comparison. Love hearing the memories including the bad one. I remember a lot of the games mentioned and never thought Jon Parkin was anything like a donkey as a player. Will never forget Tony Scullys goal. To be rubbish with Stall, Heffernan and Allsopp to choose from up front is comically bad and yes I was there for Matt Gill's appropriate salute at Rushden.

2004-2009 was very much a period of misery especially under Charlie and Coco, with intermittent dark comedy thrown in.

It was dark during the Trust days un Charlie McP, but I think Thommo gets a raw deal from the fans. He got us to a respectable mid-table finish (13th, if I remember correctly) and a decent cup run with a bang-average side. Plus he was hilarious.

For me, the most depressing manager was Gudjon. Bloody awful.

[freemuzzy]

For me, the most depressing manager was Gudjon. Bloody awful.

Totally agree, think he used to play a kind of 5-3-2 system but with a solid back five and the three midfielders (the most advanced of whom was generally Mike Edwards) tightly in-front of them.

It shows how bad the standard used to be in League Two that we somehow survived in that five year period; the teams we used to have were far, far worse than the one we eventually went down with over 10 years later. Almost all of the players who’d leave us back then would filter into semi-pro football, we were the definition of ‘last pay day’.

Great thread. Shows how far we’ve come since. Was a bit surreal being at the game on Saturday thinking that this was the sort of crowd and atmosphere there used to be for every league game.

[marky]

2004 - We finally came out of administration then told Billy Dearden he couldn't bring in any players after he had stuck by us for so long waiting for us to get out of administration so he could bring some players in, however we appointed Gary Mills and allowed him to bring in an entire new team (he was an English version of Moniz) but a horrible man and we got relegated.
2004-2005 Notts were favourites for promotion back to League One, Mills bought in another new team, some got injured straight away, the rest with the odd exception were crap, we struggled in League 2 and Mills was gone by November although at first we couldn't afford to sack him so offered him a youth role instead, also we couldn't afford a replacement manager so Ian Richardson took over for the rest of the season but it wasn't very good.
2005-2006 Gudjon Thordarsson was the new manager as an experienced manager who had won promotion previously was needed, he made Notts fitter than every other team and Notts started well but it wasn't sustainable and we couldn't bring in fresh players as Mills had wasted the budget the previous year handing out 2 year contracts. Thankfully despite a horrible slide down the table, we didn't get relegated but then scrapped our entire youth set up and Thordarsson left soon after the end of the season.
2006-2007 Steve Thompson was the new manager and it wasn't very popular as he had been here preiously with Colin Murphy. To be fair to him with a small budget he did ok to finish 13th and we did fairly well in the League Cup but by now fans were out of patience we had been in League 2 for too long and attendances were shocking.
2007-2008 Steve Thompson was sacked after about 12 games and the Trust owned the club outright but had no money and simply didn't have a clue how to run a professional football club. Ian Macparland took over as manager and as he had played for the club previously it was a fairly popular appointment, he kept Notts up but the football was awful and to be honest there hadn't really been any improvement.
2008-2009 Macparland managed for the whole season as 3 teams received heavy points deductions meaning relegation was virtually impossible, attendances were shocking as the season ended on December 10th when Notts went out of the FA Cup to Kettering. Behind the scenes various people were resigning from the Supporters Trust and it effectively became fan v fan. I was also made very unwelcome during this particular season by some of the stewards who basically wanted virtually no one in the ground.
To sum it all up, it was absolute crap and I dread to think how much money I wasted watching Notts during this time.

[upthemaggies]

We averaged 0.80 goals per game in 2007/08, the third worst figure of all time and less than the season we went down to tier 5.
We actually went 22 league games in a row that season not scoring more than 1 goal, which is an incredible stat and a club record.

The league goal scorers 2007/08...
Butcher 12, MacKenzie 6, Weir-Daley 3, Hunt 2, Silk 2, Crow 2, Jarvis 2, Dudfield 1, Pearce 1, Tann 1, Edwards 1, Sam 1, Lindfield 1, Johnson 1, Lee 1

We also managed 3 blanks in the 4 cup games, Histon being the only side we managed to score against. The FL Trophy tie v Orient was watched by 900, which remains the lowest ever at Meadow Lane for a competitive game.

[slack_pie]

2004 - We finally came out of administration then told Billy Dearden he couldn't bring in any players after he had stuck by us for so long waiting for us to get out of administration so he could bring some players in, however we appointed Gary Mills and allowed him to bring in an entire new team (he was an English version of Moniz) but a horrible man and we got relegated.
2004-2005 Notts were favourites for promotion back to League One, Mills bought in another new team, some got injured straight away, the rest with the odd exception were crap, we struggled in League 2 and Mills was gone by November although at first we couldn't afford to sack him so offered him a youth role instead, also we couldn't afford a replacement manager so Ian Richardson took over for the rest of the season but it wasn't very good.
2005-2006 Gudjon Thordarsson was the new manager as an experienced manager who had won promotion previously was needed, he made Notts fitter than every other team and Notts started well but it wasn't sustainable and we couldn't bring in fresh players as Mills had wasted the budget the previous year handing out 2 year contracts. Thankfully despite a horrible slide down the table, we didn't get relegated but then scrapped our entire youth set up and Thordarsson left soon after the end of the season.
2006-2007 Steve Thompson was the new manager and it wasn't very popular as he had been here preiously with Colin Murphy. To be fair to him with a small budget he did ok to finish 13th and we did fairly well in the League Cup but by now fans were out of patience we had been in League 2 for too long and attendances were shocking.
2007-2008 Steve Thompson was sacked after about 12 games and the Trust owned the club outright but had no money and simply didn't have a clue how to run a professional football club. Ian Macparland took over as manager and as he had played for the club previously it was a fairly popular appointment, he kept Notts up but the football was awful and to be honest there hadn't really been any improvement.
2008-2009 Macparland managed for the whole season as 3 teams received heavy points deductions meaning relegation was virtually impossible, attendances were shocking as the season ended on December 10th when Notts went out of the FA Cup to Kettering. Behind the scenes various people were resigning from the Supporters Trust and it effectively became fan v fan. I was also made very unwelcome during this particular season by some of the stewards who basically wanted virtually no one in the ground.
To sum it all up, it was absolute crap and I dread to think how much money I wasted watching Notts during this time.

Reading that made me shudder. But if we hadn't gone through all that crap (and all the crap that happened after that), we wouldn't appreciate the good time as much. We're so lucky to have great owners, a great head coach, and some great players at the club now.

[thefulltenyards]

I was there for all that depressing period, season ticket in hand at the depressingly quiet turnstiles on Iremonger Road. My away day trips following Notts sharply declined from 2005 to 2009 and with Thordarsson, Thompson and McParland at the wheel you can't blame me. Dire, crap and dull as dishwater in that order.

[hissingdwarf]

Horrible period for us. Every match felt like a wet, dark and windy Tuesday nighter.
Gary Mills ffs...
Then we decided to go back to CoCo the clown Thompson who thought he was a comedian after every match with his usual "Don't call me Shirley" sentence to Uncle Col.
The whole admin period seemed to drag on and even afterwards, the dark clouds wouldn't move.
McParland as a fan favourite player who produced some of the most mind numbing football for a long time at the lane.

As mentioned before, Tony Scully's goal sticks out for me.

Apart from that...a period I'd rather forget. And before anyone says surely there was a few highlights...the answer is...don't call me Shirley!

[slack_pie]

The period before Hardy took over was also pretty dire. The animosity between the Trews and the fans, and endless managerial merry-go-round.

I remember going to game when Mark Cooper was in charge and sitting in the busiest block in the Pavis (half way towards the Kop) and having empty seats all around me. No atmosphere whatsoever. We lost 0-1 to some **** side due to a goalkeeping error. Cooper kept turning around to the fans and making gestures as if to say "this lot are ****ing useless". Steve Cherry was sitting a couple of rows in front of me and was visibility livid at the performance. Just a horrible feeling about the place.

Yet somehow still not as bad as the pre-Munto years.

[queenslandpie]

Peigi Apaxhead in goal or however you spell his name. The stuff of nightmares. I was also at that Rushden game. I had pretty much rubbed it out of my memory and now its front of mind. Thanks for that!

[marky]

The period before Hardy took over was also pretty dire. The animosity between the Trews and the fans, and endless managerial merry-go-round.

I remember going to game when Mark Cooper was in charge and sitting in the busiest block in the Pavis (half way towards the Kop) and having empty seats all around me. No atmosphere whatsoever. We lost 0-1 to some **** side due to a goalkeeping error. Cooper kept turning around to the fans and making gestures as if to say "this lot are ****ing useless". Steve Cherry was sitting a couple of rows in front of me and was visibility livid at the performance. Just a horrible feeling about the place.

Yet somehow still not as bad as the pre-Munto years.

We didn't lose 1-0 to anyone under that prat Cooper, I guess you may mean a match against Cambridge when Notts lost 2-1 and Scott Loach just kicked the ball against someone and it went in. Cooper was proper over rated as a manager as well, especially on here just because his name wasn't Jamie Fullarton. Seriously 2004-2009 was horrible and 2015-2022 until Luke Williams arrived was nearly as bad.