Should I be pleased. Well no, thought Greg as coach was responsible for Derry losing his job. I hope I am wrong, but don't want a return to long ball

I feel this could really be a bad move. Very likable guy and already cracking the jokes on his first interview, but as a coach? The general feeling for most fans was that he was the issue in the Derry/Abbot pair last time.

Hope I'm wrong.

 

I’m going to have to agree I don’t quite get this one, sure he and Derry did a great job in keeping us up but the season after was a disaster, having assembled a poor squad we quickly slid down the league. Under him and Derry we also played a defensive and direct style, completely the opposite to what Ardley and the new owners are going for, especially now when it looks like we want to go one step further and play with even more of a press and energy – I could be completely wrong here but that’s the impression I get. With that in mind, I just don’t see how he fits in...

@menzinho????????????with that analysis

Shaun Derry was the one who insisted that you couldn't play pretty football in League One.

I don't know about Greg Abbott being responsible for Derry demise,  personally, I feel it's a good appointment. Having Abbott around a promotion chasing squad, with all his light hearted humour will do wonders for the squad morale. Really, Derry was very inexperienced, and I would imagine that Neal Ardley would use his own experience to listen to whatever good advice he deems Abbott to suggest.

That said, Cox seemed more hands on during match days and yelling out instructions from Ardley - whilst he remained focused on what needed doing.

Hopefully, Abbott will just be someone to lend support.

I can't see him having much say on what style of play Notts uses, nor who starts.

My issue with this is, everything our Danish owners have done, has been to set out a specific policy on player recruitment.

So, that policy should have been applied to assistant manager / coach

We needed someone technical, deep thinking on corner and free kick routines ( Charlie was good at this). I disagree with Chris on Derry, Abbott played long ball at Carlisle too. Only a look at twitter, comments from Carlisle and Bradford fans are laughing at us. Says all you need to know

In the wealth of coaches not attached, was this the choice Ardley needed to make?

 

1 hour ago, Piethagoram said:

In the wealth of coaches not attached, was this the choice Ardley needed to make?

I would have thought Ardley would want to name his own assistant, if wants to work with Abbott give him chance.

I'm aware that Greg Abbott liked to have his sides playing hoofball, and @Piethagoram might know something more than I do but I did get the chance to speak with both Shaun Derry and Greg Abbott awhile ago and it was SD who insisted that you couldn't play pretty football in League One.

GA could have influenced Derry, but the blame still falls onto both of their shoulders.

I'd like to think the quality of the players is above just hoofing it, yet perhaps Neal Ardley sees that we struggle to defend games when it gets dirty/edgy - when sides have hoofed it against us, they tend to do better. 

i am prepared to give him a chance without scrutinising him, people learn and everyone deserves support once they come back to a club. i hope he helps strengthen the coaching team.

@liampie: I think so too, it's easy enough to forget about the good work that some people do after a disappointing season.

I'm not against Greg Abbott's return at all, if he can help and lift morale I do think it would be a good thing.

Tactically, he needs to leave to Neal Ardley.

This has come a bit from leftfield. Obviously I hope he's successful and that he and NA work well together.

As for style of play, NA likes his attractive football now but he was partial to a bit of hoofball at Wimbledon in League One. He's a pragmatist, and maybe the same is true for Greg Abbott.

I can't say his previous record at Notts gives me a good feeling. In their first season, he and Shaun Derry saved us when relegation looked certain. In the next, we were let down by poor recruitment that left us with an ageing and pedestrian squad. I'm not sure how much of that can be placed at Abbott's door.

I had a feeling back in August that this would not end well....

13 hours ago, Piethagoram said:

I had a feeling back in August that this would not end well....

I don't think we can point the finger at him, but it has proven just how much work Neil Cox did in terms of supporting Neal Ardley and the players.