AmericanPie

After such a bright start for Notts, the results against Mansfield, Oxford and Accrington Stanley have been disappointing to say the least. Yet, with the spine of Notts County's 2015-16 squad being quite varied, it is a concern of mine about how these players will settle down. I also wonder just how many are in fact Ricardo's men, as Head of Requirement Guy Branston appears to have ideas above his station. After the recent media-related misunderstanding at Notts County Football Club – I feel I can call it that – and on the back of the day-long ban of the Nottingham Post, it makes me query several of our summer signings. For example, if you re watch interviews on the Magpie Player, you will hear many of the signings speak about not having met, seen or spoken to Ricardo Moniz and yet several praise Branston. It's clear, Moniz would never have heard of Scot Bennett for example - why would he? Yet he is just one of the summer recruits who appears to have been signed by someone other than the Notts manager himself. Even the summer’s star signing, Jon Stead, spoke about how the deal came about after Branston repeatedly made contact about the striker’s services and future as a player. It leaves me wondering – will Moniz master this Notts squad? If all the signings have been approved by our manager, then I would expect to see them near to the first team – yet some appear to have fallen off the radar. It seems ideal that he would be more trustworthy of the players he introduced to the club, at a stage whereby two defeats and draw in our last three games may call for more changes to the previously selected starting XI – unless this is a case of quantity and not quality. I really wonder how players like Rhys Sharpe will settle. I mean, where is he? Does anyone recall the tweet whereby the chief scout, I am sorry, I mean "Head of Requirement", actually declared that existing players Blair Adams and the unfairly released Jordan Cranston couldn't boss a certain intimidating lower division striker? In fact, the tweet also mentioned that "we signed him". Should this not have been a simple recommendation for Moniz? See, there appears to be a lot more going on at the club and I believe this is the reason why the manager actually publicly spoke about the disagreement with Branston. I believe that Notts have found a real coup in Moniz; he appears to have the foundations for success, but I believe the internal politics require cleaning up, especially in order for our football to improve. The club must get a grip on the field of play, cutting down the squad numbers and improving on all the mistakes made within this past month. Notts is a community club, driven by the fans, so banning the Nottingham Post is completely out of order because it is the fans that would ultimately suffer. Leave Moniz to call the shots with regards to building a squad worthy of promotion – if this is achieved, I believe we will see the style of attacking play, the one we know our manager can achieve, happen in a regular basis for Notts. --- To voice your opinions on this article, check out the related thread on the Pride of Nottingham forum, and join the conversation.