Notts County struggled to avoid League One relegation in May but are now fourth under an unusually laid-back Martin Allen
You may not see many tie-dye T-shirts being worn by the Trent or hear Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow blaring from car stereos in south-east Nottingham but there's something of a hippie vibe growing around Meadow Lane. Martin Allen emits a long chuckle when asked how exactly he has turned the fortunes of Notts County around: "Laughing, smiling, enjoying every day that we go to work, a very positive attitude ? We support and look after all of our players."
It would be an exaggeration to suggest that County have flower-powered their way into fourth in the fledgling League One table, but Allen has certainly changed the mood. Giggles and grins were few and far between when the new manager arrived in April. County had lost seven on the bounce, the bitter tail end of a run of poor form that had begun in January when the club were sitting comfortably in mid-table. The new manager could not arrest the slide immediately, two further defeats leaving County staring down the barrel ? 22nd and deep in the relegation mire with five games to play. The power of positive thinking then kicked in, Allen's side winning successive away games at Tranmere Rovers and Swindon Town and picking up eight points in that final quintet of fixtures (as many as they had garnered from the previous 17) to keep the Magpies up by the skin of their beaks.
So coming into the new season expectations were, unlike those long-haired layabouts of the late 60s, not high. "It's not too far out of the question to see us pushing on for mid-table this year," wrote Notts County blogger Stuart Brothers in our pre-season preview, a prediction qualified with a couple of ifs and the odd as-long-as. But, while six of the top seven in League One are the pre-season favourites ? Charlton Athletic, Huddersfield Town, MK Dons, Preston North End and the two Sheffield clubs ? bobbing along quite happily in fourth, only three points off the summit, are Notts County.
Allen admits it has been something of a surprise even to him ? "With bringing in so many players and just avoiding relegation at the end of last season, to be where we are now ? I have to pinch myself" ? but he puts it down to "exceptional" player recruitment over the summer and since, and the way in which the players have taken to his methods.
"I think they have, even the ones that aren't playing," he says. "Of course, they're not going to be happy not playing but I've been honest with them, I've been straight with them, we treat everyone exactly the same, nobody gets any star treatment and the one biggest thing is we all want to get the ball down and play. So on the field we play good football and off the field, believe it or not, we don't have any rules or guidelines for bad behaviour or bad conduct. In the past I've always fined players or there's always been a code of conduct or a book with rules saying what they can and can't do. We haven't got one. These people they're men. I don't treat them like they're kids.
"It's how you manage them on a day-to-day basis. Someone was late coming in the other day because of a traffic jam. We didn't fine him ? he was just late because of the traffic. Someone asked me the other day: 'What if someone does a Carlos Tevez and wouldn't come off the bench?' They wouldn't do that to me, I don't think."
A pre-season spell with the military has, says Allen, been vital. But this wasn't the standard programme of assault courses, route marches and muddy scrambles. "We took the players away for a week to the army and together with the army trainers and teachers, worked on ethics and the way they go about their work ? it was a lot of mental work, not physical. It wasn't all beastings and being horrible ? we worked on team building, bonding, motivation, communication and from that that's really where it's all come from."
"Communication" has been a key word at Meadow Lane since Allen's arrival. Regular visitors to the club's official website will be familiar with the regular "Manager's Message" articles ? informal, first-person pieces by Allen directly addressing the club's fans. On the day we spoke three Manager's Messages had already been published on the site, dealing with issues as diverse as a youngster's first professional contract, speculation over the future of the midfielder Ricky Ravenhill and a charity auction next week.
In August he appealed for a whistling teacher to help him attract attention when in the technical area. A local man volunteered to help and his given the manager homework. "I'm supposed to practise every day ?" Allen says slightly sheepishly. "I haven't mastered it yet." The immediate reaction of many would be to smirk at such apparent eccentricity, but in an era when football clubs often come across as secret societies and cut-off corporations, efforts to break down the barriers between clubs and supporters should be applauded.
Allen and Notts County have made a conscious effort to do just that. "Last year Brighton & Hove Albion got over 1,000 appearances in the community and they won the league," Allen says. "When I saw the stats Notts County were down near the bottom of that league. So we've made a conscious effort to promote the fact that our players will go out and meet people. They're not superstars ? they're heroes to our supporters and they are available. We've not turned one request down for our players to open or appear or meet or see or make any appearance. You name it, our players go out and do it.
"And with the website, the communication with the supporters ? We had over 2,000 supporters at Chesterfield on Saturday. The supporters are very much playing their part. It's been remarkable. And we're involving them by letting them know what we're doing, that our players are available to them, and communicating what is happening at the club. In a difficult financial climate, with people losing jobs, people worried about their jobs, young people unemployed ? we can certainly do a lot more for them."
As for the future, cautious optimism seems to be the prevailing mood. "When we set out at the start of the season, all I was interested in was getting to that 50-point mark as quickly as possible," Allen says. But with Notts already halfway there, sights have now been set higher. "We can go on and finish in the top six," the midfielder Gavin Mahon told the Nottingham Evening Post this week. "We know there is a long way to go, we know we have to take it game by game, but we can do it."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2011/oct/19/martin-allen-notts-county
Sheldon Souray Jaroslav Spacek Frederic St. Denis Marc Staal
No comments:
Post a Comment