Notts County fans are concerned they are "back to square one" after it was announced that Magpies boss Ian Burchnall has joined Forest Green Rovers.
Burchnall, 39, leaves Meadow Lane after 14 months in charge of the Magpies to join Forest Green Rovers. Forest Green made an official approach for Burchnall after Notts were knocked out of the National League play-offs by Grimsby Town on Monday, losing 2-1 to the Mariners as their hopes of a return to the Football League were ended once again.
In an open letter to supporters, Burchnall said he was "grateful and excited" about the move to Forest Green, but it equally brings "a great deal of sadness that I say goodbye to a club that I will always hold close to my heart."
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As well as thanking the club's staff, he said: "I am also grateful to the players, who put their faith in our philosophy and delivered many exceptional and entertaining performances.
"I know they are hurting as much as me about how our season ended but, with the ability in the squad and no doubt several quality additions to come this summer, I am sure promotion will be a very realistic aim in 2022-23.
“Finally, our supporters. After a somewhat fractured start having been unable to meet you due to Covid, it’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know you all and an honour to represent your club.
"Of course, leaving without the promotion we all crave is not how I wanted this to end, but I hope on reflection we can all look back on a period in Notts’ history where the team played some outstanding football and many individual players saw huge improvements in their game."
County are now searching for a third manager since January 2021 and Magpies fans have mixed views on Burchnall's departure.
@LauraJ86: Here we go again!!! I wish him well and all that but selfishly it feels like we’ve gone back to square 1. Hard to keep being a positive soul when you’re a Notts fan.
@willbobs46: Best of luck! Was always a huge fan and can’t blame him for progressive his career, interested to see who is on this shortlist
@jonnybwana: That’s a shame but inevitable. All the people saying ‘he’s *****, good riddance’… the football is the best I’ve seen at ML, the league this year is stupidly competitive filled with £££, & when was the last team our manager got pinched from a side 2 leagues above?
@ojames_: I’m not being funny but having one of the biggest budgets in the league and bottling two play offs doesn’t merit this move. His agent is unbelievable.
@JoeLoughran26: It just gets worse and worse being a Notts fan.
@kencar66: We were never going to get promoted under IB. I enjoyed his football when it worked but we were too predictable, as shown last Monday. Good luck to him though.
@DazzG86: Not at all fussed by this tbh. Achieved nothing with us. We are Notts, we move on.
@adamjamesred: Helped us to produce some amazing, easy on the eye football at times for which I’m grateful to him for. However, there was always a brittleness in his squad & the style we played that meant we were out-muscled in the big games. Good luck to Burchnall as he’s a genuinely nice guy.
@darkoparko11: Best of luck Ian, reckon you will a great job there and have a big future in the game, real shame it won’t be at Notts. Hope some of our ‘fans’ are more patient with the new guy, but I won’t hold my breath.
