Stuart Interview

[BigFatPie]

Mmm not sure…I think if I read his comments instead of listening to them I’m less biased towards not liking him, because what he says is reasonable and makes sense!

I think he has a tough job on his hands to be honest. He came in at a difficult time with the team on the back of a difficult run of games with more tough games to come. Best player out injured and a bit of a defensive crisis. The players and fans all loved the previous manager who got us promoted and had us in the playoff places…..which Maynard is kind of expected to keep up. He’s never worked full time in football, never mind the EFL, and it will be all too easy for fans to find fault when, if, things start to go south.

Even silly things like ‘respecting the point’ will become a club with which to beat him over the head with….look at my own comments. If he can finish top half this season, whilst keeping the fans onside, and rebuild next year with his own stamp on things he will have done well.

You’re right though, I wasn’t keen on this appointment, especially at this time, but I’ll try to be fair in my assessments of him from now on. But look, I won’t be listening to his interviews!

Agree with all that. It takes time to get to know and hopefully like a new gaffer, certainly did with Williams. Platitudes like ‘respecting the point’ don’t exactly help though.

[Pietastic]

I liked that he was coherent and not too emotional about the murder attempt on Jodi - and if he wants to respect the point at this stage, that is fine with me. As someone on this thread wisely pointed out Wheelbarrow are no mugs and the performance overall was better than some of the Luke William's ones (thinks of the Mansfield games and seriously shudders). I liked that we only looked suicidal in defence for about ten minutes worth of the game rather than throughout it all. Watching how Stuart interacts with people, his philosophy and his achievements so far I think he could be a great man for the club. Mostly speculation at this stage of course but I'm optimistic.

[durhampie]

Agree with all that. It takes time to get to know and hopefully like a new gaffer, certainly did with Williams. Platitudes like ‘respecting the point’ don’t exactly help though.

Its one more point to safety....

[Woodypie]

I wasn't going to say anything but seeing that the subject has been brought up and based on that post match interview alone, my first impressions are that he's very much more in the Ardley-Burch mould than LW and feels like a step backwards. Not to the point where I think he'll be a disaster, but lower end or just outside the play offs for the next 18 months with fans becoming increasingly frustrated (Some were already losing patience with LW for beginning to lose touch with the top 3).
Size of the gates trumps the notion that we're overachieving after being out of tier 4 for so long. Wrexham are powering ahead whereas we're now falling away.

I think this right. Luke talked a good talk, I think Maynard sounds like CanArdley but hopefully has more success. It is of course too early to judge him but for me, a team chasing promotion doesn't celebrate dropping two points at home to one of our main rivals.

[Davy500]

I wasn't going to say anything but seeing that the subject has been brought up and based on that post match interview alone, my first impressions are that he's very much more in the Ardley-Burch mould than LW and feels like a step backwards. Not to the point where I think he'll be a disaster, but lower end or just outside the play offs for the next 18 months with fans becoming increasingly frustrated (Some were already losing patience with LW for beginning to lose touch with the top 3).
Size of the gates trumps the notion that we're overachieving after being out of tier 4 for so long. Wrexham are powering ahead whereas we're now falling away.

I appreciate that LW was popular largely due to promotion from the NL
But apart from starting well LW was on a poor run, and Notts were steadily dropping lower. We never know if LW would have turned it around, but even with LW we were not guaranteed playoffs, personally i think we would have finished around 10th

As far as SM is concerned if he can get us a top half finish that will be good, , obviously if he does well and we get a play off place so be it
For me and probably other supporters we need better players esp in defense, even if we did get to L1 through play offs, we would be torn apart in L1, as we are letting 2 a game in at this level
Stabalise this season, then next year, or if necessary the year aftergo for a more series challenge on L1 . Remember it took us 3 seasons to escape the NL, i see a similar timetable for us to get to L1

[magpie_mania]

I appreciate that LW was popular largely due to promotion from the NL
But apart from starting well LW was on a poor run, and Notts were steadily dropping lower. We never know if LW would have turned it around, but even with LW we were not guaranteed playoffs, personally i think we would have finished around 10th

As far as SM is concerned if he can get us a top half finish that will be good, , obviously if he does well and we get a play off place so be it
For me and probably other supporters we need better players esp in defense, even if we did get to L1 through play offs, we would be torn apart in L1, as we are letting 2 a game in at this level
Stabalise this season, then next year, or if necessary the year aftergo for a more series challenge on L1 . Remember it took us 3 seasons to escape the NL, i see a similar timetable for us to get to L1

3 seasons? Wasn't it 4?

[Pietastic]

I think this right. Luke talked a good talk, I think Maynard sounds like CanArdley but hopefully has more success. It is of course too early to judge him but for me, a team chasing promotion doesn't celebrate dropping two points at home to one of our main rivals.

Celebrate?

[slack_pie]

I wasn't going to say anything but seeing that the subject has been brought up and based on that post match interview alone, my first impressions are that he's very much more in the Ardley-Burch mould than LW and feels like a step backwards. Not to the point where I think he'll be a disaster, but lower end or just outside the play offs for the next 18 months with fans becoming increasingly frustrated (Some were already losing patience with LW for beginning to lose touch with the top 3).
Size of the gates trumps the notion that we're overachieving after being out of tier 4 for so long. Wrexham are powering ahead whereas we're now falling away.

It was never going to be easy to get an upgrade on LW. Despite the short memories of some fans, he was the best manager we've had in a generation. Not only was he a great coach, but he was a truly inspirational person that fans and players loved. Virtually every manager we've had in the 35 years I've supported Notts was less interesting to listen to than LW.

SM is in a tricky position following someone like Luke. To a certain degree, he needs to play it safe in front of the cameras and be as uncontroversial as possible until he's got his feet under the table. He doesn't know the context around the 'respect the point' comment and why us Notts fans have an allergic reaction to it. If he came out and said, 'we're Notts County, we should be beating teams like Barrow', he'd upset the players and come across as a cocky upstart.

How about we judge him on team performances and results over time, not what happens against Mansfield (we'd lose that game under LW anyway) or what he says in interviews.

[SmiffyPie]

I've dropped him an email warning him that the innocent use of the phrase "Respect the point" triggers an hysterically emotional response from some supporters (I also asked if he was taking the p... because he must have been warned about RtP on interview?). I advised him that although it was obvious that he meant "We have to accept a good point after conceding a soft goal against a good team that kicked us of the park and had a ten man defence" then that's what he should say in future to avoid widespread catatonia.

[upthemaggies]

How about we judge him on team performances and results over time, not what happens against Mansfield (we'd lose that game under LW anyway) or what he says in interviews.

Mansfield are 17th in the current form table, 5 places below us. They are beatable at the moment and that would be a huge feather in SM's cap. A perfect opportunity to get all fans onside. I think we'll get a draw, which wouldn't be bad.

H2H we're now both on 15 league wins each, so we cannot lose this. Them having a better record against us after the heights we've scaled compared to them would be embarrassing.