Ian 'Charlie' McParland retains the honour of being the last Notts County manager to complete a full season in the hotseat after Keith Curle was sacked following Saturday's 2-1 defeat at bottom club Hartlepool united. It proved the final straw for the Notts top brass, after The Magpies had won just two of their last eleven games, and they were against two teams badly out of sorts in Portsmouth and Oldham Athletic.

To say Keith Curle wasen't wanted by the fans when he was first appointed would be a massive understatment. He was replacing Martin Allen - a man who had galvinised the club at the end of the 2010-11 season and had forged a strong relationship with the fans. Yet Curle's track record was hardly anything to get the blood pumping - sacked by Torquay United, Chester City and Mansfield Town with allegations of bullying.

He was going to have to go some to win the fans over but he quickly set about doing just that. On just his second day at the club Notts welcomed play-off chasing Stevenage to Meadow Lane, and Jeff Hughes' last minute winner gave Notts 3 points and left us 5 points off the top six, but having played at least 1 game more than most sides up there.

But 4 wins and a draw in our next 5 games, culminating in an unbeleavable 4-2 victory away to runaway league leaders Charlton Athletic put Notts right into the mix. But we soon came back down to earth with back to back home defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United, and a goalless draw at Scunthorpe in a game we dominated.

Still, by the time we hosted Bury in the penoltimate home game, we'd overhauled Brentford, Carlisle United and Stevenage to take 6th place. But we crashed 4-2 at home to Bury in an early kick-off, and Stevenage's win over Brentford meant we dropped out of the play-offs.

The final away game of the season at Adams Park proved arguably the most memorable game of Curle's reign. Trailing 3-2 going into injury time, goals from Dela Adebola and a rocket from Alan Judge gave Notts the most dramatic 4-3 victory to lift us briefly back up to sixth. However Stevenage drew 2-2 at Brammal Lane in the evening game which meant we needed them to slip up on the final day to get into the top 6.

And despite a 4-1 win over Colchester on the final day, Notts missed the play-offs on goal difference after Stevenage beat Bury.

Now weather you supported Keith Curle or not, it's hard to argue with what a great job he did in those final few months of last season. He made us the divisions form side and turned what looked like a lost season into a dramatic play-off push that nearly ended happily.

But then you could look at it and say it was our own fault we missed out, with the defeat to Bury and the failiure to convert just one of those chances at Scunthorpe.

Because of the end to last season, expectation was high coming into this season and Curle himself wanted promotion. New players were signed and we started the season in fine form, and at one point we topped the table in September. But since then we've had some rather stuttering form, and just five home wins all season has left many supporters calling for the managers head despite a record breaking unbeaten away run of 22 games which was only ended last weekend at Leyton Orient.

But attendences have fallen drastically, which has meant the club has less money to spend on players. And that was made even worse by an early FA Cup exit in a second round replay at home to league 2 Rotherham. I suppose you could say that was the beggining of the end.

But then, you could look back to the decision to strip Lee Hughes of the number 9 shirt in the summer as the beggining of the end. I must admit, I thought absolutely nothing of it at first, but rumours soon began circulating of Hughsey speaking to fans at pre-season games about Keith trying to force him out, and when a last minute loan move to Port Vale fell through it was clear that Lee wanted out.

He eventually got his move last month, and the failiure to bring in a replacement striker only increased the amount of people wanting Curle out. That's not to say we didnt try and bring players in, but we were simply unable to compete with the wages offered to players by other clubs.

To be fair to Curle, he did try to sort out our striker problem but this leads to what I think has been the main problem. Curle has been very badly let down by players. On paper, I think we have one of the best squads in the divison but for one reason or another certain players have simply not been doing the business.

Francois Zoko was signed in the summer but he's gone missing in too many games, and Yoann Arquin rarely looks interested. They're certainly not the only two players, and Keith also brought in some players that have been outstanding. Bartoz Bialkowski was dismissed as "****" on one youtube clip by most fans when he signed, but he's proved a revelation and his consistant performances have earned him the title "Polands number 1" from the Notts fans at least. Also Gary Liddle has been played out of position for most of the season but has been absolutely outstanding, and Dean Leacock has also been superb. Furthermore, Curle has managed to get the best out of Alan Judge by giving him the chance to pretty much do as he pleases on the pitch, and Andre Boucaud - signed on loan from Luton Town, proved his doubters wrong with some very consistant performances in the middle of the park which lead to him signing on a permanent basis in January.

Sadly the number of players underperforming has outnumbered the players playing well. It does seem strange considering that they were always so quick to jump to Curle and the two coaches defence in the media and on Twitter.

Black 'N White fanzine editor Stuart Brothers said in his blog that the players owe it to Keith to play to their pottential for the rest of the season, and I have to agree.

I really wish we as a club could be more patient with managers. We are now looking for our seventh full time manager in three years, which is just embrassing quite frankly. But the problem is Ray Trew has now got himself a reputation for being very trigger happy, so when another manager comes in and hits a bad run of form, fans will be waiting for Ray to pull the trigger again.

I dont want to sound like a broken record but I really do feel that the fact we're not loaded like we thought we were in the munto days hasn't sunk in among some fans. Too many expect miracles from the club but we're not a club that has money to throw about. I would think there have been enough examples of club's throwing too much money around in recent years for people to be thankful to have a stable club with owners who dont want to waste money, but it appears not to be the case with some people.

It also really dissapoints me when I see fans refusing to go until a manager is gone. I'm sorry, but I lose a bit of respect for those who refuse to go just because of a manager. A football club is for life, you support it through thick and thin no matter who the manager is and however the team is doing. If you can't take the rough with the smooth it really is time to go and do something else.

But maybe that's just me. I grew up knowing Notts to be simply fighting for Football League survival every single season. I got used to seeing us lose at home to the likes of Macclesfield Town, Chester City and Barnet. I also remember us losing 6-1 at Dagenham & Redbridge one awful day. That still goes down as the worst day at the office I can remember, even worse than yesterday's defeat!

It's a very sad day in my opinion. Keith was fighting against the tide from the moment he stepped through the door but he won a lot of people over during his time here - myself included. Sadly those of us supporting the manager were always going to be outnumbered by those wanting him out sooner or later so I suppose this day was inevitable, but that dosen't make it the right decision I don't think.

The questions I've asked for weeks have been if we sack Keith Curle, who could we realistically afford to bring in? Who in their right mind would want the job? If I was a manager out of work I wouldnt touch Notts County with the proverbial barge-pole. You have less job security than a Turkey in November and little hope of ever being able to keep some fans happy.

It's the same every time - we bring in a manager, enjoy the honeymoon period while it lasts, sack them once we hit a bad run of form, bring someone else in and start the cycle again.

We need stability, and we won't get anywhere anytime soon if we keep going through managers at our current rate. Stability is key, and a manager needs time to build his own squad.

We'll have to wait and see if we bring anybody in on a permanent basis this season, but Ray Trew made it clear on Notts Mad that his next appointment would be another gamble, so expect another little-known name or someone without a proven track record.

In the meantime, development team manager Chris Kiwomya has taken the job as caretaker and will be in charge for Tuesday night's game at Stevenage,

Chris is a very brave man choosing to take the job on after suffering such a recent personal tradegy.

I for one am fully behind the guy, and I'd also like to wish Keith Curle and the two Colins the very best of luck wherever they go next.

Curle is a very good young manager, and given time and patience I truly believe he would have gone on to achieve success with us. But sadly we live in an "I want success now and can't wait" society.

Another manager has gone but our season is far from over. Tuesday night's game is certainly winnable for us with Stevenage suffering from poor home form this season, much like ourselves. A win could take us to within 2 points of the play-offs.

Last season, Martin Allen was sacked after defeat at Hartlepool; Keith curle came in and won his first game in charge against Stevenage.

Almost a year on, Keith Curle has been sacked after defeat at Hartlepool, and Chris Kiwomya has came in for the Stevenage game. Let's hope Chris can have a similar start to his tenure and get the win.

Who knows, maybe this will trigger another fantastic run of form into the end of the season like last season.

One thing is for certain, it's never dull at Meadow Lane!

COME ON YOU PIES