Statto
Free Kick Specialist
Not sure at the time you'd find many would have agreed that ND should have let Kinnear go at the end of the season and appointed someone else. He had done a good job and achieved results keeping us in the division quite easily, had we reproduced that form over the season we would probably have reached the playoffs or at least been in contention.He served a purpose for the remainder of the season after he replaced Paul Hart by introducing an uncomplicated, back-to-the-basics approach into a dressing room that had gradually been dragged down by Harty's morose response to being denied the opportunity to apply for the West Ham and Leeds jobs, which was plunging us in a seemingly unstoppable downward spiral. A situation compounded by Hart's stubborn refusal to abandon a diamond formation that every other team had long-since rumbled.
At the end of that season ND should have thanked Kinnear for his efforts and seen him on his way rather than irresponsibly offering him a 3-year contract. A decision that undoubtedly triggered the worst period in the club's history.
What actually happened was that a lot more players left and were not replaced with those of equivalent standard - Williams for example.