Interview with Ardley

[ancientpie]

Answers as follows:

1. Doesn't it go without saying?
2. Because he's not a motivational person.

Whether he is a motivational person or not we cannot know without speaking to the players but I very much doubt if any extra motivation would be needed to play for promotion via the Play Offs. COYP

[optipez]

I do appreciate that football doesn't offer managers much time to get their feet under the table but when you start a new job it can take time to get results. However it can also mean that the results stop after a time as well. I was pro Ardley for some time then pretty much gave up on him and he started getting results, however he does have an embarrassment of riches for this level in the squad. If the play offs happen I fear for us as the team will in my opinion need a high level of motivation to get over the line. He is not the man to deliver that.

I think you confuse doing an 'up' interview with being motivational.
He's taken a husk of a club in the summer, signed a whole squad that is entirely better than the squad he inherited, organised and motivated them to within a whisker of promotion and a cup final .
He along with Jason Turner held the club together over the summer. Everyone should look at the team sheet for our first friendly against Nuneaton , that was the entire squad on the ptch. Bird was the only centre back at the club, no-one was getting paid and we couldn't even muster a bus for the team to travel on.
He was at the helm when we went down but he had a work to rule back four of Tootle, Duffy, Brisley, Jones who collectively didn't give a flying f@@k with Vaughan dragging his pension and no target man for Dennis and Hemmings to play off. Last year's team were a disgrace and they saw off Nolan, Kewell and some decent coaches.
Ardley has turned us right around, got us playing decent football and managed to evolve the squad during the season rather than having his ducks lined up pre season as most clubs do.
His biggest problem is he's unlucky. He copped for Alan Hardy when the cash ran out and he decided to flop his knob out completely ending any sense of professionalism from the top, copped for the most unbalanced squad I've ever seen and now Covid has robbed him of the chance of some personal success after working like a dog for twelve months.
For me he's the most organised, methodical builder of a club we've had since Howard Wilkinson and if the Reedtz brothers stick with him I think he could get us to Div 1 over time.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

Over the last 9 months I'd agree with you. In that time there is no doubt that Ardley has the respect of the players and that they are trying to play to his instructions. I don't want to add to my reputation as being 'anti-Ardley', but to add a sense of balance it just wasn't like that last season.
In many of his post-match interviews he would say something along the lines of "we've worked really hard on marking at set pieces all week, but the players didn't take it on board today". Maybe that was the reason, that the players didn't listen but now he's replaced them with a squad that does. If that's the case, the future is looking good.

I think your comments about last season are a valid point and I'm not saying Neal Ardley is beyond criticism. He had a chance to bring in players to keep us up and the time. I know he will always be tarnished by some supporters for presiding over our relegation out of the football league for the first time in our history and that will stick no matter what he does.

Let's face it last seasons squad clearly had players in it with the wrong attitude and mentality who did not a care a jolt whether we stayed up or went down or were just interested in picking up their wages. My own opinion is that our former chairman after the playoff season lost any respect in the football world and some of the players therefore had no respect for the club.

Something toxic spread throughout that squad once the likes of Ameobi, Smith and Edwards left the club. They were Nolans generals in the dressing room and I believe that they were a major part of the jigsaw that built that promotion/playoff challenging team the season before.

However almost a year since the previous chairman left, we have refreshing new owners who seem balanced and like all good referees and football club chairman should be not seen and not heard -for the majority of the time. Neal Ardley has been able to bring in the right kind of players he want's and things had all fallen into place on the field and we were looking very strong before this pandemic. The club seems to have got it's respectability back and that can only bode well going forward.

[sidders]

I think you confuse doing an 'up' interview with being motivational.
He's taken a husk of a club in the summer, signed a whole squad that is entirely better than the squad he inherited, organised and motivated them to within a whisker of promotion and a cup final .
He along with Jason Turner held the club together over the summer. Everyone should look at the team sheet for our first friendly against Nuneaton , that was the entire squad on the ptch. Bird was the only centre back at the club, no-one was getting paid and we couldn't even muster a bus for the team to travel on.
He was at the helm when we went down but he had a work to rule back four of Tootle, Duffy, Brisley, Jones who collectively didn't give a flying f@@k with Vaughan dragging his pension and no target man for Dennis and Hemmings to play off. Last year's team were a disgrace and they saw off Nolan, Kewell and some decent coaches.
Ardley has turned us right around, got us playing decent football and managed to evolve the squad during the season rather than having his ducks lined up pre season as most clubs do.
His biggest problem is he's unlucky. He copped for Alan Hardy when the cash ran out and he decided to flop his knob out completely ending any sense of professionalism from the top, copped for the most unbalanced squad I've ever seen and now Covid has robbed him of the chance of some personal success after working like a dog for twelve months.
For me he's the most organised, methodical builder of a club we've had since Howard Wilkinson and if the Reedtz brothers stick with him I think he could get us to Div 1 over time.

Well done, Optipez. You have written a post with which I heartily agree. An absolute first.

[upthemaggies]

Assuming a play off final would be at a neutral venue, I reckon the semi-final will the be the trickier hurdle. Harrogate have the best home record in the division but you'd imagine their plastic pitch has played a large part in that record. Away from home they are 7th.
Meeting Harrogate on grass would favour us, surely.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I think he's aware that he's not the kind of manager to inspire players by ranting and raving which is why he places a lot of emphasis on the kind of characters in the dressing room (Doyle and JoB spring to mind) who either won't need any geeing up or will do the geeing up for him.

Which is fair enough.

That's the thing he has his generals such as Doyle, O'Brien and Slocombe for example and others in key positions who are the on-field generals, leaders and have been or will be successful in the game who will be the motivating factor on the pitch.

That was the key problem last season in my opinion we did not have any strong leaders or characters on the pitch and it cost Nolan his job. I think Kewell could see that because he came in and probably spoke his mind and told it how it was which some of those players would not have liked. I will stand corrected but I'm sure I remember he had told certain players they would never play for the club while he was there?

I remember that Lincoln game away in August at the start of the season and we were just flat and like a lame duck and rolled over without any fight, hunger or desire. So many games were like it.

Neal Ardley must have seen it and that's why the likes of Doyle and O'Brien were brought in straight away in January to drive the team from midfield. Although it turned out that the rot was too deep routed.

Thankfully we now have a squad that seem to have the right qualities and quality as well.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I think you confuse doing an 'up' interview with being motivational.
He's taken a husk of a club in the summer, signed a whole squad that is entirely better than the squad he inherited, organised and motivated them to within a whisker of promotion and a cup final .
He along with Jason Turner held the club together over the summer. Everyone should look at the team sheet for our first friendly against Nuneaton , that was the entire squad on the ptch. Bird was the only centre back at the club, no-one was getting paid and we couldn't even muster a bus for the team to travel on.
He was at the helm when we went down but he had a work to rule back four of Tootle, Duffy, Brisley, Jones who collectively didn't give a flying f@@k with Vaughan dragging his pension and no target man for Dennis and Hemmings to play off. Last year's team were a disgrace and they saw off Nolan, Kewell and some decent coaches.
Ardley has turned us right around, got us playing decent football and managed to evolve the squad during the season rather than having his ducks lined up pre season as most clubs do.
His biggest problem is he's unlucky. He copped for Alan Hardy when the cash ran out and he decided to flop his knob out completely ending any sense of professionalism from the top, copped for the most unbalanced squad I've ever seen and now Covid has robbed him of the chance of some personal success after working like a dog for twelve months.
For me he's the most organised, methodical builder of a club we've had since Howard Wilkinson and if the Reedtz brothers stick with him I think he could get us to Div 1 over time.

An excellent post. Sums it up for me.

[Killerkline]

Answers as follows:

1. Doesn't it go without saying?
2. Because he's not a motivational person.

Reply to your reply.

1. No. As a poster later made the point, the motivation is promotion and a positive place in our club’s history
2. You don’t know that, you presume.

[Killerkline]

I think you confuse doing an 'up' interview with being motivational.
He's taken a husk of a club in the summer, signed a whole squad that is entirely better than the squad he inherited, organised and motivated them to within a whisker of promotion and a cup final .
He along with Jason Turner held the club together over the summer. Everyone should look at the team sheet for our first friendly against Nuneaton , that was the entire squad on the ptch. Bird was the only centre back at the club, no-one was getting paid and we couldn't even muster a bus for the team to travel on.
He was at the helm when we went down but he had a work to rule back four of Tootle, Duffy, Brisley, Jones who collectively didn't give a flying f@@k with Vaughan dragging his pension and no target man for Dennis and Hemmings to play off. Last year's team were a disgrace and they saw off Nolan, Kewell and some decent coaches.
Ardley has turned us right around, got us playing decent football and managed to evolve the squad during the season rather than having his ducks lined up pre season as most clubs do.
His biggest problem is he's unlucky. He copped for Alan Hardy when the cash ran out and he decided to flop his knob out completely ending any sense of professionalism from the top, copped for the most unbalanced squad I've ever seen and now Covid has robbed him of the chance of some personal success after working like a dog for twelve months.
For me he's the most organised, methodical builder of a club we've had since Howard Wilkinson and if the Reedtz brothers stick with him I think he could get us to Div 1 over time.

Absolutely spot on

[ncfcog]

I think you confuse doing an 'up' interview with being motivational.
He's taken a husk of a club in the summer, signed a whole squad that is entirely better than the squad he inherited, organised and motivated them to within a whisker of promotion and a cup final .
He along with Jason Turner held the club together over the summer. Everyone should look at the team sheet for our first friendly against Nuneaton , that was the entire squad on the ptch. Bird was the only centre back at the club, no-one was getting paid and we couldn't even muster a bus for the team to travel on.
He was at the helm when we went down but he had a work to rule back four of Tootle, Duffy, Brisley, Jones who collectively didn't give a flying f@@k with Vaughan dragging his pension and no target man for Dennis and Hemmings to play off. Last year's team were a disgrace and they saw off Nolan, Kewell and some decent coaches.
Ardley has turned us right around, got us playing decent football and managed to evolve the squad during the season rather than having his ducks lined up pre season as most clubs do.
His biggest problem is he's unlucky. He copped for Alan Hardy when the cash ran out and he decided to flop his knob out completely ending any sense of professionalism from the top, copped for the most unbalanced squad I've ever seen and now Covid has robbed him of the chance of some personal success after working like a dog for twelve months.
For me he's the most organised, methodical builder of a club we've had since Howard Wilkinson and if the Reedtz brothers stick with him I think he could get us to Div 1 over time.

Great post Optipez. Ive spoken out against Ardley in the past but over the second half of this season he has won me over but I do think the (new) owners deserve a lot of credit in the clubs current upturn as well.