Alex West column: Just what is Notts County's agenda?

So, what can be said about the once voted 'most stressful club' some years ago? Well, the last few years have brought us relegation battles, false promises from rich owners, and more managers than Betty has made hot pots.
 
It's been a season so far of ifs and buts, hasn't it? It certainly has for me. What if Ricardo Moniz was given sole responsibility for player recruitment? What if he was allowed to choose his own backroom team? What if Izale McLeod was given a strike partner instead of putting his perfect match on the left wing? 

Maybe things would be better - maybe they would be worse? Who knows? The most alarming and most frustrating element of the season is: what is our agenda? What direction and philosophy is the club trying to follow? We were promised a quality core of players surrounded by up and coming talent – yet the opposite has happened.

These questions haven’t been answered - which is probably the most frustrating thing for every Notts fan that 'packs' out Meadow Lane every other Saturday afternoon.

There has been an evident divide among Notts fans regarding the chairman, Ray Trew. It’s hugely apparent that he does have the ambition to take this club forward, by substantially backing Moniz in the summer with quality acquisitions in McLeod, Jon Stead, Scott Loach and of course, the foreign contingent which everybody was so excited about. 

However, it’s fair to say that performances have been inconsistent at best. We've had truly awful performances against teams we should be competing with on all levels - Carlisle, Wimbledon, Cambridge, Mansfield and of course the horror show at Salford. But on the flip side, we have seen the best attacking football seen for years against Barnet, Huddersfield, Crawley, Luton and Premiership side Aston Villa.
 
So what have we learnt from the squad we have? How can we describe the quality of players we possess? Personally, we potentially have one of the best XI in the division with one of the division’s most lethal finisher, arguably the best goalkeeping duo and quality across the middle in the shapes of Stanley Aborah, Liam Noble, Robert Milsom and Curtis Thompson.
 
We have good quality in both youth and depth that very rarely challenge the starting XI with Genaro Snijders, Wes Atkinson, Rhys Sharpe, Lartey Sarpong, Scott Loach, Jimmy Spencer, Ronan Murray, Graham Burke, Gill Swerts, Kyle de Silva and Filip Valencic all warming their cobbles on the bench with a hot cup of the Kop’s famous Bovril.
 
So why the poor league position? Why another manager that couldn't last a season? Does it come from above? Are Trew and Winter getting involved into footballing affairs instead of letting the manager do his job? And on that note we welcome Jamie Fullarton - is he the 'Yes Man' that RT has been after? Maybe. Or maybe, RT has seen something in Fullarton that no one else has. 

Sacked from Bolton for 'mismanagement' of the youth team and known for his aggressive and disciplinarian management style. Not the appointment Notts fans were shouting about when the shortlist consisted of proven high quality managers with names of John Sheridan, Mark Cooper and Lee Clarke who have all been successful at this level. To say Jamie needs to win over the fans quick is the understatement of the season.
 
Fullarton is up against it already with his bizarre team selection and awful defensive tactics on Saturday accompanied by the worst performance of the entire season. Now we go to Luton, another team in this division that should be challenging the top 6. 

Myself, and 8 others, will be checking into the Comfort Hotel and no doubt come 3:45pm, be moaning and groaning at another bemusing team selection and awful first half of football. Or knowing Notts, be 3-0 up with the best attacking and fluid football we have seen for years. Who knows! It is Notts after all…
 
See you all Saturday.

COYP

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