IB the story so far ......

[littleheff]

So it all began on March 25th 2021 where IB was appointed head coach and took over an underperforming , faltering team with an insipid negative style of play that had been driven into and forced upon them. He took over a team coated with expectations of mediocrity where the point was to be adored and worshipped like a deity.
several games later IB had sounded out his squad and got a team to play attacking winning football which ultimately took them to the play offs. As we all know fete can be cruel as can be match officials and an unfortunate defeat left us yet again in one of the lower basements of the Football world full of want to to be, never will be and has beens.
The season ends in disappointment and the squad is partially dismantled with some star players leaving the club for more money elsewhere and some players leaving to play football in the football league proper. IB is tasked with rebuilding a team and squad with what most would reasonably and sensibly believe is a reduced budget. A squad is assembled and a team is developed with a football identity that is far more attacking minded than what had gone before under the former incumbent. The season begins in spectacular style with a large convincing away win and steadily progresses with wins and draws with a mixture of good,bad and ugly performances but still leave us unbeaten after 7 games and handily placed in the table. So far so good but then the footballing Gods play a cruel trick upon us and we lose the spine of our team. The goalkeeper, our captain and arguably our most formidable centre back signed to combat those pesky teams that show no desire to play football on the grass but choose to play Hoof Ball and bully defenders in their own box . Possibly an issue in its own right but then to rub salt into the wounds the natural replacement for this conundrum is also injured, limp forward Connell Rawlinson and then also the next natural replacement Alex Lacey also become a victim of the Football Gods and their tricks ! IB still cobbles together a competitive team that although dominating some games for 70 minutes and possibly more go on to lose their unbeaten start and lose 3 games on the bounce and calamity ensues. The final nail in the coffin is a one all home draw in a game we could have won if we had taken our chances.
So where does this leave us ? as far as I'm concerned this season is still a learning curve for IB and I would expect him to get us into a play off spot, where we are again in the hands of fete and match officials and fortune be it good or bad. For me next season is the season of reckoning for IB. He will have had time to develop his squad and improve his desired style of play. My assessment of things is IB and the team are not far of being the finished article and maybe one or two shrewd signings might just complete the team he is trying to create that could be as this season progresses or hopefully next season.

Is it just me or is a certain Mr Dennis the answer where goal scoring is concerned, I know its not the system we use at the moment but his poaching and finishing is just what we need right now, even if just a loan till the end of the season with someone else paying some of the wages!!, personally I think if we had a finisher it would just about complete our team

[PedroTheFisherman66]

Is it just me or is a certain Mr Dennis the answer where goal scoring is concerned, I know its not the system we use at the moment but his poaching and finishing is just what we need right now, even if just a loan till the end of the season with someone else paying some of the wages!!, personally I think if we had a finisher it would just about complete our team

Now Vincent has come to the party and looks the part I also think we are a gnats knacker away from being the team the beat ! I would hope that Mitchell or Knight (or even Roberts down the middle with Woots) might be the cheap solution. Whatever the answer is we are a good team and this is why I think IB should be allowed to finish of the job even if we don't get promotion this season

[Davy500]

Is it just me or is a certain Mr Dennis the answer where goal scoring is concerned, I know its not the system we use at the moment but his poaching and finishing is just what we need right now, even if just a loan till the end of the season with someone else paying some of the wages!!, personally I think if we had a finisher it would just about complete our team

Certainly the missing link, lets be honest Dennis has never been replaced

[DaveSmithRules]

I think some of these "he's worth at least £500k" comments about RR may involve rose tinted glasses and a fundamental misunderstanding of what players at this level are worth. Aside from Jamie Vardy I believe £500k is the non-league transfer record (Jack Taylor from Barnet to Peterborough a couple of years back). Even if we sold RR for £250k he'd be in the top 10 NL transfer fees ever.

...And no, I don't want us to sell him either.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

I think some of these "he's worth at least £500k" comments about RR may involve rose tinted glasses and a fundamental misunderstanding of what players at this level are worth. Aside from Jamie Vardy I believe £500k is the non-league transfer record (Jack Taylor from Barnet to Peterborough a couple of years back). Even if we sold RR for £250k he'd be in the top 10 NL transfer fees ever.

...And no, I don't want us to sell him either.

Because he is not an out and out striker the position that attracts the big money it would depend on how highly they value his contribution. He does score goals , he turns players inside out in midfield to break the lines and create chances for the front men.

His varied abilities include drawing fouls around the 20yard mark from goal.Individual skill in and around the box combined with vision.His passes and touches are sometimes sublime. He has a great shot and is a great taker of free kicks . Basically he is a creative attacking player that can get stuck in that will also chip in with goals ,he is the link from midfield to the frontmen who can play alongside a target man. If you purchase him you get 2 for the price of one if you ask me, You don't get many players with all these attributes wrapped up in one package

[i961pie]

Because he is not an out and out striker the position that attracts the big money it would depend on how highly they value his contribution. He does score goals , he turns players inside out in midfield to break the lines and create chances for the front men.

His varied abilities include drawing fouls around the 20yard mark from goal.Individual skill in and around the box combined with vision.His passes and touches are sometimes sublime. He has a great shot and is a great taker of free kicks . Basically he is a creative attacking player that can get stuck in that will also chip in with goals ,he is the link from midfield to the frontmen who can play alongside a target man. If you purchase him you get 2 for the price of one if you ask me, You don't get many players with all these attributes wrapped up in one package

And he can only play 70 minutes

[Davy500]

So it all began on March 25th 2021 where IB was appointed head coach and took over an underperforming , faltering team with an insipid negative style of play that had been driven into and forced upon them. He took over a team coated with expectations of mediocrity where the point was to be adored and worshipped like a deity.
several games later IB had sounded out his squad and got a team to play attacking winning football which ultimately took them to the play offs. As we all know fete can be cruel as can be match officials and an unfortunate defeat left us yet again in one of the lower basements of the Football world full of want to to be, never will be and has beens.
The season ends in disappointment and the squad is partially dismantled with some star players leaving the club for more money elsewhere and some players leaving to play football in the football league proper. IB is tasked with rebuilding a team and squad with what most would reasonably and sensibly believe is a reduced budget. A squad is assembled and a team is developed with a football identity that is far more attacking minded than what had gone before under the former incumbent. The season begins in spectacular style with a large convincing away win and steadily progresses with wins and draws with a mixture of good,bad and ugly performances but still leave us unbeaten after 7 games and handily placed in the table. So far so good but then the footballing Gods play a cruel trick upon us and we lose the spine of our team. The goalkeeper, our captain and arguably our most formidable centre back signed to combat those pesky teams that show no desire to play football on the grass but choose to play Hoof Ball and bully defenders in their own box . Possibly an issue in its own right but then to rub salt into the wounds the natural replacement for this conundrum is also injured, limp forward Connell Rawlinson and then also the next natural replacement Alex Lacey also become a victim of the Football Gods and their tricks ! IB still cobbles together a competitive team that although dominating some games for 70 minutes and possibly more go on to lose their unbeaten start and lose 3 games on the bounce and calamity ensues. The final nail in the coffin is a one all home draw in a game we could have won if we had taken our chances.
So where does this leave us ? as far as I'm concerned this season is still a learning curve for IB and I would expect him to get us into a play off spot, where we are again in the hands of fete and match officials and fortune be it good or bad. For me next season is the season of reckoning for IB. He will have had time to develop his squad and improve his desired style of play. My assessment of things is IB and the team are not far of being the finished article and maybe one or two shrewd signings might just complete the team he is trying to create that could be as this season progresses or hopefully next season.

Yes the play offs are increasingly decided by poor official decisions, this has hit Notts hard, nothing more so than the Coventry play off farce, that destroyed nolan and hardy, and to a lesser extent more recently against Torquay, when there first goal was offside., meaning we should have gone through

This is why i am a big believer in VAR for play off matches, to much is at stake, and the futures of clubs can be defined by these decisions

[drillerpie]

It'll pay some of the wage bill shortfall etc.

As I understand it (and to be honest I haven't looked into it) the proposal is a straightforward cap on squad wages at 900k, rather than a percentage of earnings like in other leagues.

Notts (along with a few other clubs) should be able to have the maximum allowed budget due to attendances and commercial revenue anyway, so not sure selling RR this year would be of much benefit to us.

I'd like to see us extend Ruben's contract for a year or two.

[Killerkline]

Yes the play offs are increasingly decided by poor official decisions, this has hit Notts hard, nothing more so than the Coventry play off farce, that destroyed nolan and hardy, and to a lesser extent more recently against Torquay, when there first goal was offside., meaning we should have gone through

This is why i am a big believer in VAR for play off matches, to much is at stake, and the futures of clubs can be defined by these decisions

The Coventry games are ones I often look back on. Of course to lose due to horrendous officiating is a bitter pill to swallow. But, another aspect I consider, did the defeat begin the revealing of Nolan and Hardy’s true capabilities?

[Davy500]

The Coventry games are ones I often look back on. Of course to lose due to horrendous officiating is a bitter pill to swallow. But, another aspect I consider, did the defeat begin the revealing of Nolan and Hardy’s true capabilities?

Hardy lost it after this point, started spending big over the summer, sacked Nolan and Kewell and spent even more that he could not afford

All he had to do was stick with Nolan,and be a little more patient, but he was determined after the play off defeat, that notts were going to get promoted, no matter what, threw all his money at players and managers that sadly did not work out, till basically he ran out of cash

Shame Hardy never invested some of that money in the January transfer window, when we were in the top 3, then promotion would have been his, but the loss of yates( Grants goals dried up ) and bennett injured ( later played in the championship) was the real reason notts results tapered off in the second half of the season,