Just over a year on and Maynard’s belief in his ability has paid off, with County - who are owned by Christoffer and Alexander Reedtz, the Danish brothers behind statistical football analysis company Football Radar - second in League Two, hunting down leaders Walsall who had threatened to run away with the division.
Instead of relying on Langstaff, who has scored just once in the Championship with Millwall since joining last summer, the goals have been more shared around this season, led by Gambian international Alassana Jatta (17 goals) and the evergreen David McGoldrick (13), still firing them in at 37.
Maynard knew something had to change and despite losing the talismanic Macaulay Langstaff, labelled the 'non-League Haaland' after scoring 71 goals in 96 games for the club, he underwent an aggressive recruitment drive in the off-season.
This has helped Maynard turn what was League Two’s leakiest defence into the second-tightest this time around, with Bass’ 12 clean sheets instrumental to the transformation.
Over the previous three years Maynard had been balancing being manager of Wealdstone in the National League with his other role, as a senior engineer at BT.
