By: Manic Loop
For a while on the red side of the Trent we have jokingly referred to Notts County as Clownty.
I’ll be fair, I’ always had a soft spot, and regarded them as not a rival but mere neighbours.
Rather than neighbourly conflict, I have always seen it as a friendly rivalry.
The recent takeover has somewhat changed matters though.
One of the stated aims quoted by Peter Trembling, the chief executive, is to be bigger than Nottingham Forest. Now if you want to have any integrity I’d argue the first thing not to do is to start throwing your weight around.
If you moved into a new home, as the owners have, you don’t immediately try and upset your neighbours. This seemed to be the first thing County did.
I was amazed that one of the very first moves was t unveil a new club logo. One that suddenly includes purple. It’s a bad sign when you have to explain what some of the things you have put on to signal your new era mean (Is that a H, is that an arrow?)
And then came Sven. This more than raised eyebrows. The massively successful and decorated Swede was coming to League Two? And to a club that has for the last few seasons struggled to maintain their league status? Something didn’t add up.
Following Sven, they started signing fairly prestigious players for their level. For that I give them credit. As much as Lee Hughes is much maligned for his past, there is no doubt that his signing is only going to be a good thing considering his track record.
Kasper Schmeichel is a highly regarded young goalkeeper that a number of Championship clubs (including Forest) had been linked with. He then moved to Notts County for a club record fee (I’m still not sure what the exact fee was).
The Sol Campbell incident seems to be the first sign that things were not going to go all County’s way. The whole deal seemed somewhat unbelievable from start to finish. Sol Campbell, former Premiership champion, and till as recently as May a Premiership starting defender, was signing for Notts County?
But hang on, isn’t the law in League Two that clubs cannot spend more than 80% of their turnover? Campbell’s purported £60,000 a week wages minimum were never going to be in with that. I know for a fact that this angered a number of fans of other clubs, because County got round it by various borderline legal methods.
So it was kind of funny when Sol walked out because (reportedly) the club had promised him that they were signing Roberto Carlos. The official reason doing the rounds being he didn’t any longer see the greater scope of the plans.
And then came the questions of ownership. The shady murky waters surrounding just who are Munto Finance started out more as a flippant question. Just who would spend all that money on a League Two club? The full details are still yet too out, but my and my friend the other day went with a full flight of fancy and decided its probably Osama bin Laden funding County in a new attempts to take over the world.
As I said me and my Forest supporting friends were already laughing at them for the fact that they were being like an embarrassing uncle. Saying all the wrong things and generally being someone you don’t invite round if you can. For a start the sudden proliferation of County fans must be annoying for those who have sat through the days were they toiled at pretty much the basement of the League structure. Here comes a little it of possible success and they all go crazy.
Now, add all this up and things are turning into a soap opera. A vaguely surreal soap opera. Then yesterday they sacked Ian “Charlie” McParland. I have a lot of time for Charlie. Yeah his interviews are often drawled in some kind of nonsensical mess, and he always sounds grumpy.
However, he had spent best part of 2 seasons managing a team with no resources, struggling to stay up. I think he should have been rewarded with more than a dozen games and being within frankly touching distance of the top of the table. Rome was not built in a day.
Charlie’s days were pretty much numbered when the take over was made and Sven bought in. It always seemed likely to me Sven would want his own yes man, and County fans I feel for you if David Platt gets in, I really do. The guy makes John Barnes looks odds on favourite for the Man Utd job when Fergie retires. I also feel sorry for Charlie. He must have known this would always end in tears. They just wanted the opportunity to make this decision without looking harsh. Try and make a tie in with the old era so as to try and show respect for the past.
Now it just seems County have become nothing more than at best, a farce.
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