Joe Jones: 'Dropping Stanley Aborah was PR suicide for Jamie Fullarton'

When Jamie Fullarton was relieved of his duties, the vast, vast majority of Notts County fans breathed a huge sigh of relief.

It wasn’t just the fact he was not deemed adequate for the job by probably 99% of supporters (no experience, no prior connection to the club like Shaun Derry or Chris Kiwomya, former Nottingham Forest man), or that he presided over a run of games that saw Notts drop from potential playoff long-shots to possible relegation candidates.

It was also how Stanley Aborah, arguably our finest player this season, was frozen out of the squad and put through a humiliating gauntlet by the thankfully-now-ex-manager and the club.

Football fans over the age of 25 may remember a similar spat at Newcastle United in the late 1990s between Ruud Gullit and Alan Shearer. Let’s just say the manager came off second best. Alienating your best player is a PR disaster in front of your fans, and if you’re not getting the results without that player, then you’re pretty much doomed. Fullarton even had a third strike to his name – the fact virtually nobody wanted him at Meadow Lane in the first place.

Aborah was not only schooled at the prestigious Ajax academy, but was the youth team’s captain. He’s clearly a talented, hardworking player and is just the midfield engine Notts needs to compete in the league and get results.

His career has been stop-start throughout because of injuries and other things outside his control – he played for a season in Kuwait after leaving Ferencvaros but had a dispute with the club and then couldn't play for a year before joining Notts – so you cannot blame him for being overly cautious about the situation at whatever club he plays for.

If he said he wanted to leave the club after Moniz’s sacking, it would have been the “red alert” going off in his head. Rather than being reassured about his future at the club, however, he was hung out to dry.

Notts seemed to cope well enough following Aborah’s last game, against Oxford at the start of 2016, beating Crawley, Luton and Hartlepool, but then things tailed off considerably. Fullarton should have swallowed his pride and brought him back into contention, but instead he stuck to his guns – and now he’s out of a job.

Mark Cooper’s appointment has reassured fans not only because he’s a tried and tested manager with success in the lower leagues, but because he’s pledged to bring Aborah back into contention.

Already he has won brownie points with the long-suffering Notts faithful, and if the club manages to pick up a decent haul of points in the next few games with Aborah running the midfield, then it will be testament to his indispensability to the cause.

Do you agree with JJ? Let Pride of Nottingham know by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining the conversation.