Notts County paid the price with relegation for 2018 decision involving Northampton Town man | OneFootball

The Magpies sacked Kevin Nolan just five games into the 2018/19 season and paid the worst possible price.

Notts County paid the ultimate price for their 2018 decision to sack current Northampton Town boss Kevin Nolan just five games into the League Two season.

Despite challenging for automatic promotion the season before and agonisingly crashing out of the play-offs against Coventry City, Nolan was unceremoniously relieved of his duties by controversial owner Alan Hardy less than a month into the 2018/19 campaign.

The former Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United midfielder was the first of three permanent managers to step into the Meadow Lane dugout in what was a catastrophic season for the world’s oldest Football League club.

The Magpies were among the favourites to win the league title before a ball was kicked, after some substantial summer spending, but ultimately found themselves relegated out of the Football League for the first time in their then-157-year history.

While you can never say for certain, given what he had achieved with an unfancied squad the season before, Nolan would surely have steered Notts well clear of the relegation zone had he been allowed more time.

The decision to sack Nolan ultimately proved costly for Notts

When Nolan was appointed at Meadow Lane in January 2017, he walked into a club in a perilous position. The Magpies had lost 10 straight games in League Two, a dire run of form which had left them hovering just one point above the relegation zone.

It was only the Liverpudlian’s second job in management, having had a brief, 15-game stint with Leyton Orient the year before.

Nevertheless, Nolan steadied the ship and guided the struggling side to a 16th-placed finish in League Two, not a strong finish for the club in the fourth tier by any means, but a perfectly welcome one given the campaign they had endured.

Then in 2017/18, Nolan began to show the man-management credentials that brought him so much success with the Nottingham outfit. He led an unfancied squad to a fifth-placed finish and, while automatic promotion had seemingly been on the cards for the majority of the campaign, it was still the club’s first top-half finish in any league for the last five seasons.

They were ultimately dumped out of the play-offs at the semi-final stage by Mark Robins’ Coventry, in a tie that saw several key refereeing decisions go against them.

Optimism was high ahead of the following season, with summer signings like Kane Hemmings, Kristian Dennis and Enzio Boldewijn helping to bring a real air of excitement to Meadow Lane.

However, despite being hotly tipped as title favourites over the summer, Notts took just one point from their opening five league games, a spell which saw Nolan lose his job.

It was an unpopular decision among the fanbase, and ultimately set Notts on the path to their eventual relegation.

Harry Kewell was the next man into the dugout. The Magpies paid compensation to Crawley for his release, and handed the Australian a long-term contract, only to then sack him as well after just 15 games in charge.

The responsibility then fell on Neal Ardley to keep the club up and, although there were flashes of promise at times, Notts ultimately lost their treasured EFL status in embarrassing fashion, finishing below a Macclesfield Town side that hadn’t been able to pay their players for several months.

While the blame for the club’s relegation must be shared equally between the owner, the three managers and the players from that season, it would be a fair assumption to suggest that the Magpies would have been nowhere near the bottom two, had they given Nolan the time he needed to properly bed in the new signings.

Nolan had success with West Ham and now manages Northampton

A year-and-a-half on from his Meadow Lane dismissal, Nolan was appointed as first-team coach at West Ham United, becoming part of David Moyes’ backroom staff.

He spent four-and-a-half seasons as part of Moyes’ coaching team at the London Stadium, helping to oversee two campaigns that saw the Hammers qualify for European competition, as well as playing his part in their famous UEFA Conference League triumph back in 2023.

Nolan then left the East London outfit along with Moyes at the end of last season, before taking on the Northampton Town in December. His Cobblers side are currently sat 18th in League One.

Unfortunately for Nolan, his sacking was symptomatic of a continuously chaotic and poorly thought-out era at the club. While his style of football doesn’t necessarily align particularly well with the club’s ethos at present, it would have been interesting to see how Nolan would have performed in a more stable environment at Meadow Lane – akin to the one created by current owners Christoffer and Alexander Reedtz.