Kimowya Tenure Over. Uncertainty at Notts County

Chris Kiwomya has left his post as manager of Notts County 'by mutual consent', the club announced on Sunday 27^th of October 2013. The Magpies lost 1 - 0 at home to Preston North End on Saturday, leaving them bottom of Sky Bet League One, with just two wins, one draw and ten defeats from their opening 13 matches. Kiwomya, who played for a variety of different clubs during his player career, such as French side Le Harve, Ipswich Town and Arsenal, joined County in February 2012 as their development squad manager and has been in charge of the first team since February this year following the departure of Keith Curle. Assistant manager Mick Jones and first-team coach Andy Watson have also parted company with the club. Development squad manager Steve Hodge will take charge of the first team for Tuesday night’s league game against Oldham Athletic.

Sky Bet have made former Sheffield United Manager Danny Wilson the early favourite to succeed Chris Kiwomya as Notts County at odds of 4/5. Some suspected candidates are listed below:

Steve Hodge        5/1
Steve Cotterill      8/1
Mick Jones          14/1
Kevin Blackwell 16/1
Gary Megson      18/1
Paulo Di Canio    20/1
Tony Mowbray    25/1
Michael Appleton 33/1
Craig Short           33/1 
Sven                     33/1
Steve Kean           33/1

Jim Rodwell (Notts County Chief Executive): “I cannot express how difficult a decision that this has been for the Board of Directors. This has been a gruelling year for Chris, both on the pitch and personally. Chris has conducted himself with dignity and professionalism throughout.  We would like to state, for the record, that we continue to hold Chris in high regard. His work rate, enthusiasm, commitment to the club and importantly, honesty and integrity are commodities rare in football today. We put our faith in Chris towards the end of last season and genuinely thought that we had found the man to bring stability and a long-term vision to the manager's role here at Notts. However, it simply hasn't worked out how we had envisaged and unfortunately, as we all know, this is a results driven business and there has to be a line that we simply cannot cross. Chris has a real talent for spotting and nurturing young talent that I am confident will serve him well in his career. As a Board it is our responsibility to look after the best interests of the club at all times and above all else, which is why we felt obliged to agree to go our separate ways, but Chris can be proud of his time at Meadow Lane and company with the club with a little more luck I honestly believe things could have been very different.”

Final Word: After reading the news that came through on the official Notts County Twitter page, I must admit, a huge sense of relief was felt after seeing that the Board had finally come to their senses and terminated Kiwomyas tenure as Manager after our disastrous and appalling start to this season which has only gone in 12 games so far.  I was flabbergasted that it took the Board this long to see that unless a change was to occur in the near future, we would be fighting relegation for the remainder of the season. Im not saying this as a bias Notts County fan, so no disrespect to other League One clubs, but, we are a team with a squad that should be situated much higher in the table than what our position currently shows. We haven’t had much luck as our League position shows, and in some matches, I will admit, we have been rather unlucky at times (Such as Liverpool in the Capital One Cup) Don’t get me wrong, I wanted him to succeed. I had my doubts at the start when they appointed him as successor to Keith Curle, who, by the way, should never have got the sack in the first place because he was producing an attractive style of Football that was winning matches, and, in the words of Liam Angel (@SSLJA) there are too many “ itchy trigger finger” Chairman’s out there who will sack a Manager after one loss, or, after a ridiculous behind the scenes argument, and not think towards the future of the club. But im going off topic. In some cases, Chris did succeed during his time with us, even though he was sacked after less than a year in charge. He can however leave with his head held high. Kiwomya, as a Man, is one of the most genuine nice, kind hearted individuals out there who you can say, is a true Gentleman with integrity and class. He is down to Earth, and, although he wasn’t the best at his tactics, without meaning to be disrespectful to his knowledge about Football, he did put his points across to the players during matches, whether they worked or not, he demonstrated confidence to try something new.

Maybe they just didn’t click, or maybe his tactics where just wrong altogether. I felt that his tatics were not the best to use, but as a rookie Manager, this can be expected. I just wish that the Board had seen this at the beginning instead of giving a rookie a chance in a sticky situation such as ours. It wasn’t the right time, and in the end, Kiwomya paid for price for not having the necessary knowledge to win many matches. He did manage to develop some great young players into the team such as Midfielder Greg Tempest, who has been recently called up into the Northern Ireland under 21s, and Goalkeeper Fabien Spiess, who has been exceptional whenever he has had to step in between the posts for Bialkowski, so his tenure as Notts County Manager cannot be necessarily seen as a waste as we have a great crop of young talented, and local I should point out, such as Curtis Thompson, players coming through the system that will stake hard for places in our first team. Personally, I think that he was the wrong Manager to succeed Keith Curle back earlier this year. It should’ve been someone with more experience who knows what it takes to get out of League One, and be able to motivate the players who can play an attractive style of Football playing the ball on the ground and draw big crowds back for home matches. With no disrespect intended, Chris Kimowya was not the Man who would draw big crowds back to Meadow Lane for matches. He does however, leave with some great memories that I will personally be able to live with for the rest of my natural life, such as the Liverpool Capital One Cup game away at Anfield, which we were unfortunate to lose in extra time, and also the Johnstones Paint Trophy match at Molineux against Wolves, which was again, one of the best games that ive ever been to so far. That Penalty Shootout victory was plain crazy!

I wish nothing but the best of luck to Chris Kiwomya for the rest of his career. Hopefully, he can find a job that will start him off somewhere that will suit him and his skills, and then, he can work his way up the ladder to becoming a better Manager. I don’t think that he is ready to become a Manager, yet. If, however, he can become for instance, say an assistant coach, or, a youth team Manager at another Football League Club somewhere in the near future and gain some more valuable experience, then I truly believe that he will be ready for a Managers position somewhere, and become a successful coach in the future. As with anything in life, you learn from your mistakes and they make you a better person because of it. Chris will learn from his mistakes at Notts County and they will make him a stronger coach and a stronger Man because of it.

If you ask me who I would like as the new Notts County Manager (Ian Holloway… Just kidding! We can’t afford him) then I would put a cheeky £1 bet on Paulo Di Canio. Why? Because for starters, he knows League One Football off the back of his hand. Look at what he did at Swindon Town. He played an attractive style of Football and, although he did have some arguments with a couple of players during his tenure there, he motivated and encouraged success and he did not tolerate any rubbish from anybody. We need that here at Notts County. Someone who will help motivate, shout, be nasty when needed, but also give guidance and encouragement to the players when they need it so that they can continue to do the right things and learn from their mistakes. Two, he will have a point to prove in English Football after his brief tenure at Sunderland in the Premier League earlier this year. He will feel that he wants to succeed in England, and, if given the time, I truly believe that he would succeed here at Notts County.

I know a lot of fellow fans will disagree with my opinion on Paulo Di Canio. Yes, he is a fascist, but, I judge the man solely on his football management ability, and I truly believe that he would be the right man to lead Notts County to future success… if, a big if, we could afford him. We always seem to go for the cheapest available option out there, so let’s see if Jim Rodwell will prove us all wrong and go for a Manager with ambition, hunger, drive and a vision for success. Otherwise, we might as well start planning for life in League Two (Oh the thought!)