Blarney

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.

Match 14

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

PizzaTrophy: Northern Section Group B

Match 5 Postgame Presser Not to pour salt on the wound but that makes 5 without a win in League One. How is the attitude in the changing room? Not great, but that's to be expected. Would you rather they were partying and acting like everything was perfect when it's not? Granted, I don't want them coming down to hard on themselves either, but at the same time they need to understand the circumstances we're in at the moment, which I know they do. The thing is we're not that far off. We haven't really been blown out so we're competitive, just on the losing end of things at the moment. The lads want to win so they're giving their everything to make that happen. Now it's on me to find out why we're not and tweak what we can and turn things around. You've had a good run for 2 seasons and have enjoyed pretty much full support from the fans, is there any concern about the mood changing with them if things don't improve? Let me say this so it's not misunderstood. We love our supporters. Without them there is no Notts County... but at the same time I can't concern myself with any criticism or swing in support that might come at a whim because of a bad match or two or three. It's not my job to manage how they want but rather to manage how I know to win. I answer to the board and if I'm not winning they will say something to me. Not that I'm not always appreciative of what the supporters have to say... but nobody can manage if they're constantly concerned about a little criticism here or there.

Matt Smith Injured He's arguably our best midfielder.... and now he's going to miss probably half the season.

Coaches Meeting I don't need to tell you that this is not the start we envisioned, even if privately we had some concerns coming into the season our play, especially on the defensive line has not been good. We all know Mair's quality so we can't fault him on allowing so many goals early on even though we probably expected he wouldn't have it quite as easy as he has the past 2 seasons. I don't think this formation is working the best for us at the moment even though we are scoring a decent amount we're far too porous on the back end. We're going to have to pull another body back to help in defense. This means probably going away from the wing game again... which honestly hasn't hurt us the past 2 seasons even though I think it's our best formation with the personnel we have available. We could just pull the center-attacking mid back to a defensive-mid position but personally I like having 2 attackers up front as it seems to put more pressure on the opposition. We might test just a 5-2-3 wide formation using wing-back and wingers up front but I'm still worried about having the 2 midfielders playing up as I think we need to focus more on defense. If we use wingers then we really need more traditional midfielders in a supporting role but that leaves us with holes on the defense I believe. So my thought right now is to use a diamond formation... 5-4-1 with 3 men on the defensive line, 2 wing-backs a defensive mid, 2 traditional mids, 1 center attacking mid and a striker... or we could move the center attacking mid up to a shadow striker position. I don't know that I love this formation but for now I think it gives us the best defense while still maintaining strikers up front. As we get more comfortable in League One we'll rotate out of this and try other things, but for now I want the boys to settle down and not worry about having to shut down everybody they face. We'll at least try it for a couple/few games and see how everyone plays their roles in it. For now, just keep working hard on getting everyone ready for matches and attitudes as high as they can be. We knew this wasn't going to be a walk in the park but we can't afford to let the season get away from us, especially on the mental side. Thank you.

August Review Schedule Well I guess it could have been worse. We did manage 2 draws but with 2 losses on top of that. Something certainly isn't working or we're just not ready for League One. Or it was just a bad month, but whatever it is we'll need to figure it out quickly. Table In the drop zone is obviously not where we want to be but everyone has only played 4 games so we're only 8 points back from the top spot and 3 points from being mid-table. We're not in panic mode yet, but we can't afford to keep slipping. Notts Attacking Stats Cedwyn is doing fine and Barry is helping with a couple of goals but beyond that there's not much to be excited about. Overall our numbers are okay. Notts Defending Stats Our save percentage on shots is not good. Our defense isn't playing terrible but we're giving up a lot of goals. I'll have to remedy this by probably pulling another defender back. Team Stats: League Offensive conversion is good, opposition conversion is horrible. Player Stats; League Attacking Data Defending Data We are not going to get far giving up 2.5 goals per game...... Finances

Match 4

Match 3

Match 2

Carabao Cup First Round Postgame Presser You lost to Mansfield from League Two which certainly couldn't have been the plan. After a poor showing in the pre-season, a draw in your first match and now a loss against a lower tiered club are there any concerns with the club at the moment? I'm never concerned about the pre-season win or lose, it's all about getting ready for matches and testing tactics and getting players in match shape. We had one bad half in our first league match and then one excellent half. And we lost this game, which isn't the first time nor probably the last time we'll ever lose to a club that pundits say we shouldn't. Arsenal, Man City, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain have all done the same.... I think it's acceptable if we do also from time to time. Next question. That's a fair response but at the same time the supporters will want to know if there are any plans to mix things up? We're always looking at ways to improve whether that's bringing in new players or changing personnel on the pitch or changing tactics or whatever is required to reach our goals.

They're out of hand you mean.... lol. I'm not even sure why we're paying them to be honest, but we have the money, League One money I guess. We're definitely pushing the top of what we have available but as long as we can afford it I guess we're okay. I'd still like to drop a few guys and lesson the burden on the pocketbook.