The departure of Gudjon Thordarson as Manager of Notts County represents yet another period of change and uncertainty for Trust members and Magpies supporters everywhere. This has been a difficult period for all concerned with the Club and the sudden change in Manager will hopefully be the last act of an extremely disappointing season. The new season is just a World Cup away and the Club must be ready for it to begin.

The Trust urges the club to respond swiftly and positively and commence the search for a managerial replacement as soon as possible. Whilst it is important to ensure that the new Manager has enough time to prepare for next season it is also vital that sufficient time is taken to appoint the right man. There have been too many managerial changes in recent years and a period of stability is now vital for the Club.

The new manager will walk into an encouraging situation at the Club which is now in a stable financial position for the first time in many years. It is also able to provide to the new Manager a highly competitive player budget, most of which is still available. Add to this the presence of our best players from last season and the basis is there, with the right appointment, for a successful season to come.

Yes Nigel, we're all really impressed by the Trust. Remind us, what do you do?


Get off your knees and do something FFS.

Hi,

This decision to for Gudjon to Leave was by said in the press release to be by "Mutual Consent". How can the Club or Trust consent to the Manager vacating his position at such a critical time, when we don't even, correct me if I'm wrong, have the capability of fielding a squad at the moment? Will the task of rebuilding the squad fall to the caretaker manager who ever that may be? Or could we miss out on some of the better signings to be had while we wait 3 weeks?

I personally think that this and the closure of the center of excelence should have been put to a Trust member vote.

Also I think that we should see some transparency on which way each director votes on the issues it's faced with. Couldn't these records be posted here?

I think expecting that the Trust membership vote on possible changes in management and the closure of the Centre of Excellence is unrealistic. Gudjon would not have been prepared to wait whilst we were balloted and a public discussion of the merits of continuing with the Centre of Excellence would have been incredibly damaging to both the club and those running it.

As members we appoint the Trust Board to take decisions (and undertake the necessary research) on our part and we also elect the key position of Supporter Director. We can hold them accountable at re-election and have the opportunity to question them formally at regular meetings throughout the season and often informally if you catch them around the ground. I've always sensed that it is quite easy to become involved if you wish though it would take up a lot of time.

The club board is different. We have a representative and, to date, his voice appears to have been taken seriously by other board members - probably because of the quality of the individuals nominated. Our shareholding enables us to prevent significant strategic change should we choose. I believe that a ballot might be appropriate in those circumstances, but not for general management of the club.

Transparent voting by Directors would encourage factions to emerge and focus on differences between ourselves (& haven't we had enough of that this year?). Once a decision is taken they have collective responsibility for it and I (for one) would prefer to see anyone continuing to agitiate removed from the Board - though there is nothing wrong with an issue being reconsidered at a later date. It would however be helpful to see attendance at meetings (how many each director attended from the number they potentially could have attended) - something my union does which helps when electing representatives.

Hi,
If we are part owners in the club I don't see how we cannot have a say in matters as crucial as these. I'm also unsure who represented us, the trust members, on the club board as I thought our previous representative had already vacated his position.

Shareholders appoint directors, directors appoint managers, that's the way it works in most, if not all, succesful organisations. What the chairman and the rest of the directors need to do is to explain.

Yes, so which Director represented us? when these decisions were made?

The announcement that Steve Thompson was standing down (on the Trust website homepage) says that Keri Usherwood would represent the Trust on the club board whilst the new Supporter Director was appointed.

Good so we did have a say... I know we "understand" the decisions but did we support them and what was our justification for our stance?

What's going on Now?
Why is Geoff Davey Inviting reject players from last season to contact the new manager? We don't even have one yet and surly it's for the new manager to decide who he speaks to. If they weren't good enough last season why even contemplate this.

It smacks of desperation.