Blarney

Match 20 Postgame Presser You've just completed what may be arguably your worst month of managing professional football. You were winless for the month, losing in 5 league matches and then the FA Cup and your 3rd match in the Papa Johns Trophy. At times your players looked absolutely mentally drained and sluggish on the pitch. Rather than ask what the attitude is in the club, which is somewhat obvious... at this point are you concerned there is no coming back from this? Can't think that and honestly don't think that. We couldn't have done what we did the past 2 seasons and not have it in us to fight back when things aren't going our way. We've come back from too many matches where we were facing defeat. Now, I know the season isn't one match but it shows what we have in us. I have to believe that my guys know they're better than this, we just need something to go our way. Are you worried about your job? Again, can't be. That's out of my hands. Have you had conversations with the club about your position here? There were reports that West Ham came calling and that you accepted an invitation to sit down with them and discuss their opening and that maybe you were even offered the job. No, I have not had conversations with the board about my job here and I don't plan to do so. The job here is mine until I'm told it's not so worrying about it or asking about it solves nothing. As far as the West Ham job, a Premier League club came calling and I talked to them because I was curious, mostly because that's our goal here at Notts County... but I was never going to take that job, not at this time. I will not go into whether the job was there to take or not.

Match 19

Match 18

Match 17

Pizza Northern Section Group B Match 3 Postgame Presser After winning your first match it seemed set up that you would advance past the group stage yet 2 bad losses in a row means you're going home in this competition. You've failed to advance in any competition this season, out in the first round of the FA Cup and Carabao Cup and now out in the group stage of the Papa Johns Trophy... this can't be what the board or you intended. I'll take that as a question and respond with a no, it's not what any of us wanted. Next question. So far really nothing seems to be working as planned in league play or otherwise... are there plans to make any changes? We have to stay the course inasmuch as we have what we have here and we need to make it work. Any and all changes will come from within.

FA Cup First Round Postgame Presser Out in the first round much like with the Carabao Cup has to be a little disappointing. What's the attitude in the changing room currently? Yeah we're disappointed. But moreso because we know we're better than this. Honestly, maybe it just gives us a better opportunity to focus on league play which is much more important at the moment, but it's notl ike we didn't want to win here.

Match 16

Match 15

Job Offer Wow... I really didn't think they'd offer me the job. I can't imagine how they'd think I'm qualified after just 2 seasons in charge at Notts -- albeit 2 straight promotions, but facing relegation this season with the way we're playing. My only reason for even talking to them was to get the Notts board to start paying attention to things we need to fix but they haven't even said a word in the 2 weeks that this has been going on. I don't really want to go to West Ham as my whole function here was to get Notts to the Premier League but we're really struggling here right now and I think with how fast we got promoted and how quickly our wage budget got out of hand we're probably 2-3 years away from fixing this. I think I'm going to take the night to figure out how to proceed.

This is getting interesting The funny thing is the Notts board hasn't said a word. Hasn't requested a meeting. Hasn't told me to lay off. Nothing. Strange.

West Ham Really.... West Ham???? This was completely out of the blue. This is my first job offer and it's a Premier Division club... with me faltering severely in League One. This is interesting. Very... very.... very interesting. I don't want the job, I have zero interest in going to West Ham, but I'm exceedingly curious what would happen if I accepted the interview and how the Notts board would respond. Meaning would they take it as I want to leave and do everything they could to keep me.... or would they just say, fine go and sack me? **This is a time where I'm going to do something I normally don't and save the game and accept the interview just to see what happens and if I get sacked, go back and reload the original save. I just really really want to see what happens here and why they want to talk to me.**

New Signing Andre Dozzell I've had holes in the middle of my lineup with Matt Smith injured and others not really playing well. I think that's been part of my defensive concerns, so hopefully we can solve some of them by placing another warm body there. I don't know that he's going to add much... but at this point it can't hurt to try.

October Review Schedule It was looking to be a really bad month until we got the 2 wins to end the month, including a 3-1 victory where we finally managed to get more than 1 or 2 shots to go in the back of the net. Still... I'm not taking much solace from the fact that we are still not playing well. Table We pulled ourselves out of the drop zone but we're only a point clear. Truth is that there really isn't much separation at the moment from going up or going down -- 8 points in all. I expect the gap to widen over the next couple of months though. League Leaders: Teams Somehow we're still sitting 3rd in total goals scored... although our possession rate and conversion rate has fallen. We are allowing a ridiculous amount of goals however and have a horrible opposition conversion rate. Goalkeeper issue or defense as a whole? League Leaders: Players Cedwyn goes 8 games without scoring and still is 3rd in the league. Nobody else of real note is on the leaderboard anywhere. Notts Attacking Analysis Notts Defensive Analysis Finances Once again we are bleeding cash. Our expenditures - especially our payroll is too high - and we're just not taking in enough money. This is an issue. Thoughts Our data analysis shows we're attacking well and defending well... but we're losing so something isn't "well" and I wish I could figure out what it is. We're in almost every game but we just tend to give up 1 more than we score... which would tend to tell me that we're not defending well, but my analysists tell me we are. When I pull back players to help defend we don't score. When I push them ahead we give up goals. So my thinking is we're just not good enough, it's just a small talent difference at the moment. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do about that because we can't really do anything but free transfers and there's only a few people that appear to be better than my guys are that might be available. I think my bigger concern is that a few of the contracts I've handed out just aren't working out to be worth it... and I'm not sure I can even give those guys away. Right now I'm almost in a "just hold on" mode and hoping that we can just survive the season and hopefully my young guys will grow throughout the year and we can be slightly more competitive next season.

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Match 13

Match 12 Postgame Presser This makes it 4 in a row without a win and also puts you back in the drop zone. Needless to say this season isn't going well at the moment. Do you have any thoughts on what's going wrong? Yeah... we're not winning. And not winning generally means you're losing. And losing in league play generally means you have the potential of being relegated. With respect, your answers appear to be very short this season. Is it fair to say the pressure is mounting on you and the club? There is no more pressure this season than there has been the past couple. The difference is we were winning then and we're not now. If anybody, including the board or the supporters thought this was going to be easy they were fooling themselves. That's not making excuses. We know we're playing poorly right now but it's not like we're just sitting back and accepting it. We have good players here. We just have to figure out how to play good together and turn this thing around. In other news.... Cedwyn Scott ended his 8 game skid without scoring a goal. This has to be good news. We know what Scotty can do so we weren't overly concerned. Nevertheless, it is certainly a nice thing to have ended that drought.

Match 11

Match 10

Papa Johns Northern Section Group B Match 2 Postgame Presser You had a chance to secure the section and advance with a win here. How disappointed are you to not get the victory? As disappointed as we are with every loss. It's not over, it just means we need to finish it with our final match.

Match 9

Gratz on the new job, well deserved! Sorry, I was away for a few days and didn't respond to your question. It would have been a tough decision for me. I was sacked once in FM for inquiring about another job I wanted, but in fairness the board did warn me first to stop being happy that I was being considered for other jobs. If they would have stepped up and ever given me what I needed to run the club maybe I wouldn't have.

September Review Schedule 2 up, 2 down.... we can live with that. Table It's still early but we're surviving. If we continue this way I'm considering the season a success. I'm still looking for growth from some of my youngsters. Notts Attacking Notts Defending League Leaders: Team League Leaders: Players Finances Ouch! We are bleeding cash at the moment.

Match 8 Postgame Presser A resounding victory for your side today. This has to feel good compared to how most of your matches have gone so far this season. Would that they were all this easy but then it probably wouldn't be as fun. Yeah it's nice to have one go our way without me walking the touchline frantically hoping for the best. The lads were very happy as well. The season has been a little rough to start so it's good to get an easy one and not feel the pressure that we have been.

Match 7 Postgame Presser Tough loss against the team at the top of the table. Do you take anything away from this? We lost. I've been asked this before and I'll give the same answer, I don't believe in moral victories but at the same time it's always good to be competitive in matches like this rather than get blown away. It at least shows that you're in the game instead of world's apart.

Match 6