10 best Notts County Managers

[Fan of Big Tone 𝕏 @mainstandpie]

By order of win ratios. I’m not sure it’s entirely fair to compare managers who have led Notts in the top flight to those who’ve managed in the 5th tier, however it makes interesting reading.

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/notts-countys-top-10-best-ever-managers-in-order-of-win-percentage-ranked/#neil-warnock-43-9

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

Perhaps there should be some correcting algorithm which compares playing budgets given v win success & also as @Fan of Big Tonementioned, allowance to the tier you are playing in

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

@Piethagoram I might have a look at managers who have been at the club for two or more years, reflecting on the budget. Naturally, if I did, I would give credit to the FLW for the idea (plus yourself).

It's a very in depth and interesting article.

Personally, I wished Kevin Nolan and Ian Burchnall weren't in there but considering they both had a decent season each it does make sense. 

The awful distortion and excessive stretching of certain images are a bugbear of mine. However, the subpar treatment of Jimmy Sirrel is nothing short of sacrilegious to me. Something so simple, is very annoying to see. Before, anyone thinks I am being fussy. Many places do this, including NEP and many newspapers. I believe they are worse, since they are supposed professionals, but it does annoy me when they can't leave the image size - yet choose to stretch and alter the ratio in such an ugly way.

[Blake]

Am I being blind? Where is Big Sam or Howard Wilkinson? Surely they had decent win ratios.

[liampie]

its a interesting read, i did not think so many of the last 20 years or so would feature the most in a list like this.

[DangerousSausage]

It's just a clickbait article really. They do make it clear that it's based on win percentage, but it's still very jarring to see a joker like Jocky Scott on a list of "10 best ever managers". It just goes to show that win percentages aren't everything.

On 19/09/2023 at 23:50, Blake said:

Am I being blind? Where is Big Sam or Howard Wilkinson? Surely they had decent win ratios.

Both had win ratios of 38.6% and just missed out. Howard Wilkinson managed us while we were fighting against relegation from the top flight. Allardyce joined us halfway through a relegation season and took about 12 games to record his first win, and we didn't pull up any trees in our first season back in L1 either. All the same, the achievements of both are head and shoulders above most of the names on this list, stats notwithstanding.

Another example is Luke Williams. When we appointed him, his only experience as a manager was at Swindon, where he had won 26.7% of his games. Does that make him a bad manager?

[liampie]

25 minutes ago, DangerousSausage said:

It's just a clickbait article really. They do make it clear that it's based on win percentage, but it's still very jarring to see a joker like Jocky Scott on a list of "10 best ever managers". It just goes to show that win percentages aren't everything.

Both had win ratios of 38.6% and just missed out. Howard Wilkinson managed us while we were fighting against relegation from the top flight. Allardyce joined us halfway through a relegation season and took about 12 games to record his first win, and we didn't pull up any trees in our first season back in L1 either. All the same, the achievements of both are head and shoulders above most of the names on this list, stats notwithstanding.

Another example is Luke Williams. When we appointed him, his only experience as a manager was at Swindon, where he had won 26.7% of his games. Does that make him a bad manager?

that is the flw and that other similar in a nutshell.

they dont know our club well enough to maintain a flow of good content, so they pipe out things like this. i lost interest in them seasons ago, due to all the clickbait and articles spreading false rumours. false stories at times too, but they get fans support for no effort at all.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

For me it shouldn't be on win percentage, I believe it should be judged by your success by getting promoted & winning Cups.

If it were judged purely on that my choice would be.

1 Jimmy Sirrel.

2 Neil Warnock .

3 Tom Harris. FA Cup Winner.

4 Albert Fisher.

5 Eric Houghton.

6 Horace Henshall.

7 Sam Allardyce.

8 Frank Hill.

9 Steve Cotterill.

10 Howard Kendall.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

On 02/02/2024 at 00:25, Robbie said:

For me it shouldn't be on win percentage, I believe it should be judged by your success by getting promoted & winning Cups.

If it were judged purely on that my choice would be.

1 Jimmy Sirrel.

2 Neil Warnock .

3 Tom Harris. FA Cup Winner.

4 Albert Fisher.

5 Eric Houghton.

6 Horace Henshall.

7 Sam Allardyce.

8 Frank Hill.

9 Steve Cotterill.

10 Howard Kendall.

A Manager/Head Coach should be judged by the silverware they collect for a club. Not the win percentage.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

Sorry @Robbie I really object to Howard Kendall to being on the list. A massive blunder of an appointment by Pavis. At least Howard had the decency to let Russell Slade lead the team out at Wembley, acknowledging it was all Russell's work. 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Kendall remains the last English manager to win a European competition with an English club. Kendall was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of his contribution as a manager to the English game.

Kendall is generally regarded as one of the best English managers ever.

[Fan of Big Tone 𝕏 @mainstandpie]

I remember being really excited when Kendall was appointed manager but it all ended in disappointment as usually happens with Notts.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

I have heard stories ( from reputable sources) about his time here at Notts. No way should he be considered

On 14/12/2024 at 07:38, Robbie said:

Kendall is generally regarded as one of the best English managers ever.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

@Piethagoram

Kendall was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of his contribution as a manager to the English game.

(Source Google)

Let's see your list of Notts County greatest managers then if you can think of one. 

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

In my lifetime, Sirrel, Wilkinson, ( somewhat surprisingly missing from your 10 @Robbie) , Warnock and Allardyce are the stand outs

Kendall bringing Steve Nicol looked good on paper but Pavis did I believe regret the financial demands on the club following that.

Before my lifetime, historic managers are harder to judge.. save for FA Cup winning manager

Dearden did a good job in difficult circumstances. 

I would give a special mention to the coach Dick Bate, who did an exceptional job with limited resources

Mick Walker as coach and manager played some good football too

 

 

 

 

 

[menzinho]

Bit harder for the younger fans to compile a list of their greatest Notts managers...  

Ian Burchnall and Keith Curle get into my top 5 by default!

[DangerousSausage]

On 02/02/2024 at 01:25, Robbie said:

For me it shouldn't be on win percentage, I believe it should be judged by your success by getting promoted & winning Cups.

If it were judged purely on that my choice would be.

1 Jimmy Sirrel.

2 Neil Warnock .

3 Tom Harris. FA Cup Winner.

4 Albert Fisher.

5 Eric Houghton.

6 Horace Henshall.

7 Sam Allardyce.

8 Frank Hill.

9 Steve Cotterill.

10 Howard Kendall.

This is interesting. If we're judging on the basis of honours, number one would have to be the manager who led us to FA Cup victory, the first time a second division club had ever won it. Obviously none of us were there to see it, but it's our club's only major honour and our greatest achievement. Nothing else comes close. But as @menzinho says, anyone under 40 doesn't have a lot to choose between as we've managed nothing more than two fourth division titles since 1990. If we ever manage to do a Bournemouth, maybe this list will feel a bit less historical.

As for Howard Kendall - if the question is "best Notts County managers", nope! He was a big-name appointment who just ended up speeding up our tailspin towards the lower division and didn't even last the season.

But if the topic was "best managers ever to have managed Notts County", you'd probably have to include him because of his achievements before he came to us. But then you'd also have to include Hans Backe and Howard Wilkinson for their title-winning exploits too.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

I think winning the FA Cup was a great achievement @DangerousSausage, however taking a club from the fourth to the first tier like Jimmy did has to make him the number one.

Neil Warnock got Notts from the third tier to the first so he has to come second with FA Cup winner, Tom Harris third.

But that's just my opinion. Others may disagree with the rest of my list, & any of those managers could have been in different places on that list.