A hopeful, positive perspective on the current situation.

[jackal2]

I think my biggest concern with our situation going forward regardless of who is manager is the recruitment side, there is nothing to say that will change, until that situation is addressed I have no confidence in the seasons ahead. Apart from a handful, the rest have been 'lucky dips' Jatta being the latest.

The standard of recruitment while we were in the National League was very good, self-evidently otherwise we wouldn't have been promoted with more than 100 points. The squad as a whole last season did a great job for that level, as did the Head Coach.

I think it's fair to say the recruitment this season has been much patchier, but Christ, compared with the shocking recruitment record of previous regimes there have still been some pretty good picks - e.g. Crowley, Robertson, Macari, Didzy - as well as some who look poor - particularly the goalkeepers - and some who just never seem to have got started fitness-wise.

I think the club have acknowledged indirectly if not directly that they are themselves still learning about this level, and sometimes you have to make bad mistakes to do that. I'll be surprised if they don't now recognise that they put too much faith in retaining some of the defensive unit, perhaps swayed by loyalty to the players that got us up, the desire for continuity, and the decision to invest in attacking players like Crowley and Didzy while they were on the market.

Whatever the reasons, the big 'need' in the summer is some really good quality, dominant additions to the defensive line and defensive midfield, because the current side lacks height, defensive experience and steel. We're a soft touch at the back basically. It's true that we can't afford to make many/any mistakes in that defensive recruitment, otherwise we'll go into next season seriously undercooked, but the recruitment under the current regime - though clearly not infallible - has been considerably better than several regimes previously.

[Togtastic]

The standard of recruitment while we were in the National League was very good, self-evidently otherwise we wouldn't have been promoted with more than 100 points. The squad as a whole last season did a great job for that level, as did the Head Coach.

I think it's fair to say the recruitment this season has been much patchier, but Christ, compared with the shocking recruitment record of previous regimes there have still been some pretty good picks - e.g. Crowley, Robertson, Macari, Didzy - as well as some who look poor - particularly the goalkeepers - and some who just never seem to have got started fitness-wise.

I think the club have acknowledged indirectly if not directly that they are themselves still learning about this level, and sometimes you have to make bad mistakes to do that. I'll be surprised if they don't now recognise that they put too much faith in retaining some of the defensive unit, perhaps swayed by loyalty to the players that got us up, the desire for continuity, and the decision to invest in attacking players like Crowley and Didzy while they were on the market.

Whatever the reasons, the big 'need' in the summer is some really good quality, dominant additions to the defensive line and defensive midfield, because the current side lacks height, defensive experience and steel. We're a soft touch at the back basically. It's true that we can't afford to make many/any mistakes in that defensive recruitment, otherwise we'll go into next season seriously undercooked, but the recruitment under the current regime - though clearly not infallible - has been considerably better than several regimes previously.

Whilst some might accept 'the club' is still learning about life in L2, it was painfully evident well before the January window that we needed proper defenders. It was obvious to everyone it appears, except the recruitment team.
(Most of us thought that before a ball was kicked and waited all pre-season for a decent defensive signing)
With no appropriate activity in January one of two things were likely to happen without recruiting real defenders, with or without LW at the helm. Either we would stop conceding silly goals and win games at a canter, or we would stop scoring and lose games with ease.
It's not rocket science
We gambled on red when we should have bet on Black.
The GK situation is catastrophic, Stone is NL at best, I would love to see the recruitment file which justifed his purchase, LAH is no better and as pleasing as it was to see Slocombe perform so heroically on Tuesday he is not the future of the club.
Given the evidence I have no faith whatsoever in the recruitment team for anything other than 'very nice' tidy footballers who are superb unless the big boys come out to play.

[slack_pie]

It beggars belief that the discussion is about relegation, but then again we are talking about NCFC. The good times sure evaporated in a hurry, and we’re back to the usual shambles.

We simply don't do boring midtable seasons. Once it was clear promotion wasn't going to happen, the only possible outcome was a last-day relegation decider. It's the Notts way!

[ForeignLegion]

We simply don't do boring midtable seasons. Once it was clear promotion wasn't going to happen, the only possible outcome was a last-day relegation decider. It's the Notts way!

I know, I've been following this lot since the opening words in the Bible were, Brown, Brindley, Worthington.

[Smigpie]

Am I missing something here or have we never played league football before this season. If we as a professional football team don’t know what’s needed at this level by now we are doomed.

[SmiffyPie]

Whilst some might accept 'the club' is still learning about life in L2, it was painfully evident well before the January window that we needed proper defenders. It was obvious to everyone it appears, except the recruitment team.
(Most of us thought that before a ball was kicked and waited all pre-season for a decent defensive signing)
With no appropriate activity in January one of two things were likely to happen without recruiting real defenders, with or without LW at the helm. Either we would stop conceding silly goals and win games at a canter, or we would stop scoring and lose games with ease.
It's not rocket science
We gambled on red when we should have bet on Black.
The GK situation is catastrophic, Stone is NL at best, I would love to see the recruitment file which justifed his purchase, LAH is no better and as pleasing as it was to see Slocombe perform so heroically on Tuesday he is not the future of the club.
Given the evidence I have no faith whatsoever in the recruitment team for anything other than 'very nice' tidy footballers who are superb unless the big boys come out to play.

It could be seen last season that the defence would struggle against fitter, hungrier, streetwise players in L2 and I really would like to have a peep at the books and see who stopped any defensive recruitment in the close season. Did LW assure the Bros that the attacking +'s would outweigh the defensive -'s or did the Bros stop any business? The club was very naive (be it LW or the Bros) thinking we could take what we had into L2 when there were several warning signs when the better NL teams exploited our defensive frailties. Yes we had a good start in L2 (apart from Sutton) but we played some teams that were poor and if I remember correctly we had some very favourable results from other teams that kept us in the PO's longer than we expected. In hindsight the judgement of the owners to appointment SM is a little worrying but it's their first EFL season as well so benefit of the doubt on that one (as opposed to jumping to the conclusion they went cheap). We need to resolve whatever is going on behind closed doors with the coaching staff, stop this worrying slide and get to the end of the season as soon as bloody possible! It would be good if we could keep the nucleus of this squad and resolve the defensive recruiting issues over the close season or we will obviously struggle again. It's going to be a time for the Bros to put down a marker as to how they see our immediate future.

[SmiffyPie]

Am I missing something here or have we never played league football before this season. If we as a professional football team don’t know what’s needed at this level by now we are doomed.

Scratched my head a few times thinking about that. Professional footballers and 6 days a week and cannot resolve simple playing issues?

[slack_pie]

Am I missing something here or have we never played league football before this season. If we as a professional football team don’t know what’s needed at this level by now we are doomed.

Our current owners have never run a L2 club before this season. Our current coaching team has never coached a L2 team before this season. But yeah, it should be pretty clear what's needed to be successful at this level anyway, as well as what we're missing.

[meoldlaner]

I know, I've been following this lot since the opening words in the Bible were, Brown, Brindley, Worthington.

Love this reply.
Oh for those days when we had a team who's names rolled off the tongue.
It was like the lyrics to your favourite song.

[matt_magpie]

Ironically I originally thought it was probably best we didn't go up as we haven't the squad for it but now I'm thinking its worse if we don't.
If we went up I'm pretty sure we could keep Lanstaff, Jones, Crowley and personally I would want Baldwin in the side. If we stay in L2 their probably going to leave and leave us with quite a lot players certainly not good enough for the top half of L2 at best.