Jimmy Knowles retained by Stags.

[durhampie]

He's alright. Needs to beef up a bit though. Wouldn't be disappointed if we never saw him again

We were not saying that when he scored his hat trick and other goals this season..

[laddo]

Hat tricks tend to deflect most forms of criticism. Performed better than I thought he would when signed so a good loan signing overall and certainly has an eye for goal. However there is no doubt he needs to be a lot more physical and work on protecting the ball when in possession. As expected of a ****ager he was very hot and cold from one game to the next, match winner to missing in action.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

Agree once again with Jacob. The fact he wasn't played enough is far more of a crime than letting him go. Overall he was wasted at Notts by Ardley that's not to say some of the blame didn't land at the players feet as well as the managers. He never did enough to justify his transfer fee and hefty wage, not that it's the players fault he was so handsomely paid.

And the main reason why we couldn't we shift him the summer is surely down to his wages. Looks like nobody was keen to take him on at L2 level for the same or similar weekly wage. Mr Hardy paid him too well.

Nobody could expect the loss of Thomas AND Roberts so that obviously added to the loss of Dennis. If you take the finances out of the equation he was never replaced and mistake to let guaranteed goals leave. However at NL level can you afford to be paying both him and Enzio such sizeable salaries? One yes, two ? Doesn't look like it.

Knowles wage as a comparison I imagine was a fraction, he was never the replacement as suggested.

For me this is further vindication of what a poor manager Ardley was. He shipped out the clubs potentially best scorer and shipped in loads of poor low quality loan players in a relegation battle. He then did the same again by leaving his potentially best goal scorer at the club on the bench and flooding the squad with arguably poor defensive loan players. Then he gets rid of him and again overloads the squad with a host or poor defensive loan players. The forward he brings in is totally unsuited to the style we played and was never altered to suit him turning the exercise into a complete waste of money and time.
whilst in the process ridding the squad of a decent promising centre back and attacking player both that would have been more than adequate squad players to be developed. Poor use of his resources spun king money up the wall
Fast forward to now and the coach in charge seems to be getting more out of this squad by using the correct players for the correct systems whilst emphasising attacking football as opposed to the negativity he had spread within the club.
That's the beauty of history we can now compare his wicked ways with what's happening now, and now seems so much rosier than it ever was with Ardley, certainly in my eyes but I am admittedly anti Ardley
Still early days and work in progress but the squad he has inherited is playing much better football than before. Refreshingly so far I'm sure I've not heard IB says this is a tough game they are a great team they are difficult to beat , about a mid to bottom placed team who are there for the taking.

[jacobncfc]

Hat tricks tend to deflect most forms of criticism. Performed better than I thought he would when signed so a good loan signing overall and certainly has an eye for goal. However there is no doubt he needs to be a lot more physical and work on protecting the ball when in possession. As expected of a ****ager he was very hot and cold from one game to the next, match winner to missing in action.

Knowles is a promising young player, think he’s got enough about him to have a decent career in the lower leagues. Wouldn’t have been against us having a dabble if Stags had released him, but we’ve already got one young striker as a bit of a project in Lewis Knight, which is probably enough.

[magpie_mania]

Knowles is a promising young player, think he’s got enough about him to have a decent career in the lower leagues. Wouldn’t have been against us having a dabble if Stags had released him, but we’ve already got one young striker as a bit of a project in Lewis Knight, which is probably enough.

Agreed. He is far from the finished project, but not surprising given his age. Always enthusiastic but not ready yet imo for the physical side of the game.

If Mansfield don't loan him out again to someone else, a season under Clough will be really good for him. I don't expect us to try to keep him.

[laddo]

For me this is further vindication of what a poor manager Ardley was. He shipped out the clubs potentially best scorer and shipped in loads of poor low quality loan players in a relegation battle. He then did the same again by leaving his potentially best goal scorer at the club on the bench and flooding the squad with arguably poor defensive loan players. Then he gets rid of him and again overloads the squad with a host or poor defensive loan players. The forward he brings in is totally unsuited to the style we played and was never altered to suit him turning the exercise into a complete waste of money and time.
whilst in the process ridding the squad of a decent promising centre back and attacking player both that would have been more than adequate squad players to be developed. Poor use of his resources spun king money up the wall
Fast forward to now and the coach in charge seems to be getting more out of this squad by using the correct players for the correct systems whilst emphasising attacking football as opposed to the negativity he had spread within the club.
That's the beauty of history we can now compare his wicked ways with what's happening now, and now seems so much rosier than it ever was with Ardley, certainly in my eyes but I am admittedly anti Ardley
Still early days and work in progress but the squad he has inherited is playing much better football than before. Refreshingly so far I'm sure I've not heard IB says this is a tough game they are a great team they are difficult to beat , about a mid to bottom placed team who are there for the taking.

Can agree with a lot of that he was wasted at Notts and his replacement was too , unsuited to the style as you say.

However it would be entirely wrong to put all the blame on the manager you have to put some blame at the player's feet also. He was overall inconsistent, a very good eye for goal but went missing in the away games I saw where he didn't offer enough to the whole team although that partly was due to the defensive tactics adopted by the manager.

With his ability and impressive past scoring record he should have been the clear choice ahead of Thomas but he wasn't and rightly so and that says it all. As his record shows at Grimsby and St Mirren 4 goals in 28 appearances doesn't have me crying into my coffee about his departure just disappointing that Ardley wasted him and he didn't perform great for Notts.

[LaxtonLad]

Ardley expected Dennis to chip in and help out in defence when needed but that isn't Dennis's game, nor is it Knowles', but if you can't help out the defensive shambles created by "Respect the point" Ardley then you're dropped till you learn to defend the point.

[laddo]

Pep dropped the PL and Man City Legend Sergio Aguero for a while as he wasn't working hard enough off the ball defensively, closing down, tracking back. He wanted every player even world superstar strikers to put in a shift both with and without the ball. Defending from the front.

If they didn't they sat on the bench as Sergio did. He soon changed his game so he started games.

Not that Pep ever respects the point

[Stagnificent]

From a Stags perspective I'm really pleased Jimmy has had some game time and scored a few goals. We saw flashes of his ability in the few games he featured in for us, but he needed to go out on loan and be sure of a playing time.

I think Clough will take a look at him in pre-season and decide whether he needs another non-league loan. I suspect he's not quite ready for League 2 yet. Scoring a hat-trick against Woking is one thing, but there are some big, strong defenders in the division above.

It's great that this has happened though - I can't recall another loan between the two clubs. Hopefully it's the start of a relationship and we can help you out again, while giving more of our youngsters some valuable game time, which they wouldn't get with us.

[Woodypie]

He spent far too much time on the bench to judge his potential. Clearly he has some ability. I wonder how much game time he will get in Mansfield. He isn't League ready. He was probably a wrong fit for us, we needed a proven goal scorer, not another development project. One thing for sure, given how little game time he got here, he wouldn't be offered back to us on loan.