Notts 2015-16 [illustration: Natalie Owen]
In a million years’ time when archaeologists of the next civilisation unearth Meadow Lane, careful study of the measly artefacts evidencing our existence will surely reveal that the 2015/16 season was our annus horribilus.
Expectations have eroded considerably from the blind optimism of last summer, which led to a number of punters making bets that now seem ridiculous. The subsequent procession of unmitigated disaster has moved the goal posts considerably, such that, with the sale of the club apparently progressing in the background, a reasonable measure of late-season success would be for the club to pull together and show some pride on the pitch. This would include avenging the early-season humbling by Mansfield Town, but we’ll get to that later.
The positive to cling to is Mark Cooper. In the short period the new gaffer has been warming his posterior on the managerial hot seat, he has served as a unifying force between the elements of the club that were openly at war during the brief tenure of Jamie Fullarton. This 70-day ‘reign of terror’ was undoubtedly a low point in the club’s already chequered history, a cataclysmic appointment of mind-boggling absurdity which triggered outright anarchy on the terraces and the spilling of blood on the boardroom carpet.
There remains a degree of post-traumatic stress amongst supporters from this unsavoury episode. Under Cooper it appears the nightmares will eventually subside and we will slowly become less likely to wake up in a cold sweat to the chilling image of Jamie Fullarton stood motionless in our back garden, hands in pockets. Having a ‘manager’ in charge of the team and not an overreaching development coach is therapeutic, providing a healing reassurance that we now have someone with the experience required to succeed in the role, a comfort fans have not enjoyed for many years.
Mark Cooper
How long this security will last is anyone’s guess. Cooper has been appointed until the end of the season on a contract containing a clause that, if a pre-determined points threshold is exceeded, automatically activates the offer of an extension. Given that the club remains up for sale, it is therefore uncertain at the time of writing just who will hold the decision-making dice at Meadow Lane come the end of the season, so this way of structuring the contract offers Cooper the opportunity of having his destiny in his own hands, although a 4-0 mauling down at Portsmouth hardly got the totalizer off to a flying start.
With just a few days to prepare his beleaguered squad prior to the Easter double-header, the Magpies were overawed on Good Friday by a rampant Pompey and suffered a chastising defeat. Nevertheless, Cooper gained kudos among the fan base by recognising the folly of the previous regime in jettisoning Stanley Aborah, immediately restoring the midfield talisman to the first team.
However it was perhaps Cooper’s post-match interview that provided the starkest contrast between himself and Fullarton. Whereas the previous manager went to toe-curling lengths to avoid saying anything meaningful to the media, exasperating even Colin Slater, a clearly irked Mark Cooper drew an early line in the sand by throwing his team under the bus. In an age where the modern day footballer is indulged to the point of embarrassment, this public digging out of players who have persistently disappointed this season judged the mood of supporters perfectly, serving to highlight the difference between a 'head coach’ and a ‘manager’ able to command respect and stand as a figurehead.
Fullarton: wrong place, wrong time
Bank Holiday Monday saw the visit of Wycombe Wanderers to Meadow Lane and, perhaps more significantly, the first chance for fans to return to the scene of the crime that was Fullarton’s reign. In just 90 minutes at Fratton Park, Cooper had seen enough of the hapless defending which has undermined our campaign from the off, becoming around the 31st (estimates vary) Notts manager to turn to veteran centre half Mike Edwards in our hour of need.
The art of defending is dying out in the modern game, a combination of rule changes that have engendered an almost contactless sport, and a basic negligence in scouting defenders on the basis of stopping power as opposed their abilities going forward. Watching Edwards steward the back line during the 0-0 draw with the Chairboys was like stepping back in time, to the days when the basics at the back were done correctly and with a minimum of fuss. On the basis that Civard Sprokel can successfully pass a club medical, more retired defenders should consider dusting off their boots to play at this level.
A daunting trip to champions-elect Northampton Town the following weekend was successfully negotiated, a galvanised Notts coming away with a credible 2-2 draw and postponing the Cobblers’ promotion party for another week. If Mark Cooper had managed to put the brakes on Notts’ downward spiral towards oblivion, all that was needed was a victory to engender the sense that we were beginning to move the right direction. We wouldn’t have long to wait.
There are many afflictions in modern football which turn the stomach. Fans further up the pyramid must endure the phenomenon of half-and-half scarves, or the frustration of last-minute scheduling changes. We, down in the football doldrums, are plagued by Stevenage FC.
The historic Stevenage piazza, with neoclassical clock tower
Up and down the country there is always one side in each local amateur league notorious for being truly abhorrent to play against, not just for their brutality and cynicism on the pitch, but also the accompanying unpleasantness off it. As painful as it may be, pause for a moment and recollect your own experiences here. In fact, don’t bother, as Stevenage are the living embodiment of every dog-rough pub team which kicked each and every one of us off the park when we were younger (and then got in our face in the car park afterwards).
Thankfully Notts under Cooper were too canny to be undone by the underhand tactics that continue to be employed by Stevenage, despite the departure of their Skeletor, Graham Westley. In a similar fashion to the way Jack Grealish was targeted a couple of seasons ago, Stanley Aborah endured the ‘reducer’ time and again, all going mystifyingly unpunished by officials who more than justified their assignment to a level below third rate. Fortunately a late moment of quality from Liam Noble sent the dastardly visitors back down the A1 to their Luton overspill empty-handed.
Further illustration of the steady progress made under Cooper was etched by the midweek visit of Hartlepool United. A neutral observer, unwitting to the lowly league positions of the two sides, would have struggled to believe the match was contested by teams mired in the bottom half of the fourth division, Notts running out 1-0 winners in an entertaining game. Happily this is the result that made us mathematically safe from relegation, something few expected to take as long as April.
At home at least, the difference in excitement, atmosphere, individual performance levels – in fact any yardstick you care to apply as a means of measuring Notts under Cooper to the previous manager – is palpable. We are talking the difference between organ grinders and monkeys here, providing an acutely frustrating reminder as to just how misguided the club were in appointing Fullarton ahead of Cooper in the first place.
The fourth goes in at Mansfield
Things had been mostly positive up to this point, so how could they go so terribly wrong in the Nottinghamshire derby? Blame for the 5-0 stuffing at the hands of Mansfield Town can be laid squarely at players no longer protected by the mitigation of having to work under a comedy manager and in front of hostile fans. The sad fact is that in the vast majority of cases they just aren’t very good and, moreover, do not possess sufficient minerals to roll up their sleeves when the going gets tough. They will not get a cuddle off this manager, who intimated in his post-match interview that the performance had coloured his opinion of who would be shipped out in the summer. The sooner this turgid excuse of a squad and the recruitment structure responsible for assembling it is dismantled the better.
Now we are safe from the drop, the remaining blanks to be filled in concern off-field matters, and just who will be commissioning our annual summer overhaul is anyone’s guess. Current owner Ray Trew revealed recently that he had accepted offers from two interested parties: an Asian corporation and a UK hedge fund. The absence of further detail precludes meaningful analysis. However, it is difficult to see what value a prudent investment vehicle would see in a basket case of a business such as Notts beyond the considerable redevelopment potential of the Meadow Lane site, our home for over 100 years.
Due to the uncertain situation with the ownership of the club, it is wise not to get too emotionally attached to Mark Cooper. Rather like chatting to a nice girl at an airport whilst waiting for a connecting flight, it is quite conceivable that Notts and Cooper could be some distance apart before too long. What his short reign has shown is that the present squad is not fit for purpose and, despite now being shepherded to water by an experienced hand, simply refuses to drink. The end of the season cannot come soon enough, by which time it is hoped we will have clarity on who is to be bankrolling the Meadow Lane big-top.
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