Notts County have sacked Stuart Maynard following their play-off semi-final defeat to AFC Wimbledon.
This brings an end to a 16-month tenure as Notts boss, where Maynard won just 28 of his 73 matches in charge.
The job was Maynard’s first in professional management, having spent nearly three years at National League side Wealdstone, who operated on a part-time schedule.
This meant that Maynard had to juggle part-time management with an engineering job at BT, where he worked for 19 years before joining Notts County.
In an interview with the BBC upon joining Notts, he expressed his excitement at being able to focus solely on the footballing side of his job.
What Stuart Maynard said upon Notts County manager appointment
In an interview with BBC East Midlands today in January 2024, Stuart Maynard admitted that it was “very tough” to manage part-time, and that he was “excited to solely focus everything [he] had on football.
“With football, you have to give your whole commitment and be all in – it was a lot of nights out watching games to understand players and trying to improve. It’s 24/7,” he said about his part-time coaching career.
“And that’s what got us excited [the prospect of full-time management]. What we achieved at Wealdstone, basically training three hours a week, to now having everything at our disposal. There are no excuses for anything.”
Maynard brought across Matt Saunders and Craig Saunders, his assistant and first-team coach at Wealdtones, with him to the new job, and explained how getting into the full-time game was always their plan.
“It was always the ambition to get into full-time management,” he added. “We knew it wasn’t an easy step, but we also knew that when we did, we wanted to come to the right club and the right project.”
Stuart Maynard had a tough act to follow at Notts County
When Notts County were in the market for a new manager in January 2024, it wasn’t by choice, after Luke Williams departed to the Championship to take over at Swansea City.
Williams was a likeable figure at the club after securing promotion out of the National League the season before, and just five wins and 11 defeats in the 19 games last season under Maynard made for a worrying atmosphere around Meadow Lane going into this season.
Notts County’s League Two finishes over the past two seasons
Season
2023/24
2024/25
Games
46
46
Wins
18
20
Draws
7
12
Defeats
21
14
Points
61
72
League Position
14th
6th
Banners reading “Maynard Out” appeared in the crowd at times last season, but ultimately, this campaign saw improvement, with a more assured defence and a better league position, albeit with promotion becoming more and more the end goal as the season went on, as it became more attainable.
Just one win in the final six games of the season meant that Notts missed out on promotion by six points. Following in the footsteps of Luke Williams was a tall order initially, but despite a play-off finish, it never seemed that Maynard was able to live up to his predecessor in the eyes of Notts County fans.
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