THE Ardley In/Out Thread [Multiple threads merged]

[Elite_Pie]

Deaden did an incredible job. Finnity was causing havoc behind the scenes and making life very difficult for him. I think the reason some fans don’t have such good memories of him is that he had a very poor finish to his time here. Mostly because even though things financially were back on track he was just worn down by it all and I think to be honest, just needed a break from it all.

Agree with that in the main, for most of his time with us Dearden did a very good job in difficult circumstances. When he resigned it was a good decision however, because I think he was a broken man at the end. The turning point for me was when Darren Caskey came back from pre-season looking like a beached whale, but Dearden still selected him. He should have made him train with the youth team until he regained some sort of fitness, but in my opinion he allowed Caskey to stick two fingers up at the club.

[maddogslater]

Yes it was a cracking night, anyone remember the poster on here who used to call him Billy Dreadful ?

[Elite_Pie]

Yes it was a cracking night, anyone remember the poster on here who used to call him Billy Dreadful ?

That was pissedoffmagpie, usually referred to as POM.

[countygump]

That was pissedoffmagpie, usually referred to as POM.

Not seen POM for years. Praps he moved away? Used to see him on a regular basis at matches as he always sat in the lower Kop.

[i961pie]

Not seen POM for years. Praps he moved away? Used to see him on a regular basis at matches as he always sat in the lower Kop.

Speaking of not seeing Pom anyone know what's happened to Joe/Soccerman?

[jackal2]

Nice to see Billy Dearden getting some credit because that wasn't always the case on here in the past. I thought he did a very professional job in extremely difficult circumstances, bearing in mind when he left Mansfield to come here, he thought he was joining a club with money to spend and big ambitions. It all went pear-shaped very quickly but he battled on despite administration going on forever and the squad getting smaller and smaller. I think it's true that by the time Haydn Green saved the club and the Trust took over, he just wanted to retire, but I suspect he would have made far better use of the playing budget the following season than Gary Mills did.

[nw6pie]

Absolutely loved it.

Got an early train down to properly prepare for the game in the fine public houses of Old London town whilst the players trained in a local park.

Great scenes for that goal. I remember legging it down the steps to celebrate and then looking up at the tiers of Chelski fans above. There faces were a mixture of amusement and bemusement. Good crowd in that night with sensible / cheap ticket prices.

We were voted best away fans at Stamford Bridge that season on a Chelsea website as we were very vocal as you would hope. And if I remember right the hosts kindly donated their share of the gate receipts to us to help us out.

We booked a national express journey back which was a mistake but also put money on Chelsea 4 v 2 Notts in a bookies just before kickoff trying to get the best odds going. Sadly all I had on me after a day in London pubs with mates was £2.53. Still at big odds it paid for the day out with a little spare.

It was a great night. A local game for me at the time, always nice to go to a game by Tube (especially Wembley). Were there over 40,000 there that night because of decently priced seats? Definitely the most enjoyable defeat I can remember.

Don’t think Chelsea gave us their share of the gate receipts, though - something about not wanting to set a precedent. I do think the Chelsea players donated their shirts for Notts to auction off, but allegedly Caskey refused to hand over the one he’d been given.

And yes, Billy Dearden did a brilliant job in the circumstances.

[upthemaggies]

Not seen POM for years. Praps he moved away? Used to see him on a regular basis at matches as he always sat in the lower Kop.

I miss Bohinen's direct no-nonsense posts. Went in two footed at times but his take downs of a certain ex-director on here in direct exchanges were devastatingly brilliant. I find myself trying to make up for the loss of our midfield general of harsh truths at times but always fall woefully short. Hope it's just a case of him having had his fill of Notts being so utterly hopeless rather than anything more serious.

[kill_the_drum]

I'm saying he got us relegated and he lost us a paly of final and a semi final.
He's the manager, he manages the players, if they are having a bad game he pulls them off and changes the team and tactics accordingly.
we shouldn't have an off day, especially to a team like Harrogate.
Ps the signing of Roberts probably stopped us finishing in mid table mediocrity as it added an attacking dimension to our play that Ardley seemed unable to provide without him, although there was enough already in the squad available to him such as
Enzio and Osbourne , if used correctly.
which bad game are you on about ?
the play off final or the semi final , That's two bad games if you mean both ? xxx

And that right there is the mixture of unrealistic expectation and arrogance that too many of our fans suffer from.
Every human being in every walk of life will have an off day. And collectively in that play off final, it was ours. I saw nothing in that game that suggested the tactics were wrong. We lost because of individual errors and players not at there best. It was in stark contrast to just a week before where we cruised past Barnet with exactly the same players.
And why shouldn’t we lose to a team like Harrogate? Because we have a 20k stadium? Because we won the FA. Cup 300 years ago? Harrogate have a good team. They deservedly went up and hammered Tranmere 4-0 in there first game.
And if it’s purely down to Roberts why we finished third rather than bottom half as you predicted, then well done to Ardley for signing him and making him have such an unbelievable impact. Xxx

[magicianpie]

And that right there is the mixture of unrealistic expectation and arrogance that too many of our fans suffer from.
Every human being in every walk of life will have an off day. And collectively in that play off final, it was ours. I saw nothing in that game that suggested the tactics were wrong. We lost because of individual errors and players not at there best. It was in stark contrast to just a week before where we cruised past Barnet with exactly the same players.
And why shouldn’t we lose to a team like Harrogate? Because we have a 20k stadium? Because we won the FA. Cup 300 years ago? Harrogate have a good team. They deservedly went up and hammered Tranmere 4-0 in there first game.
And if it’s purely down to Roberts why we finished third rather than bottom half as you predicted, then well done to Ardley for signing him and making him have such an unbelievable impact. Xxx

That game the other night was a bonus pre season friendly in my eyes against a match ready side who are a few games in to a competitive season.

We’ve had many pre seasons where we have been great and then crap in the actual season.

Let’s get 5-10 games in before knee jerk reactions.

As long as we don’t lose the first four games without scoring a goal