Unbelievable

Quoted from MeanwoodMariner

I'll grant you that criticism is still allowed after a win if you don't enjoy it. I think for most people winning is the overwhelming factor as to whether they enjoy the game or not so that's why there is bemusement at those still unhappy after 3 straight wins with just 1 goal conceded.

My own gripe would be aimed at the anti-Hurst posters who keep moving the goalposts. Earlier in the season there were complaints that we couldn't break down the lesser teams who park the bus as BP and Hurst didn't know what to do. We seem to have turned that around but now the problem is that we aren't putting 3 or 4 past them so Hurst is still clueless. There are some who are already complaining about what performances and results would be like in League 2 under Hurst!

The goalposts are set in concrete for me. I want Grimsby Town FC to be as successful as they can be. My opinion - worth just the same as yours - is that we have enough good players in the squad to be top of this league and I credit Paul Hurst for getting those players to the club. Equally, I don't believe that he knows how to get the best out of those players, and he certainly doesn't know how to get the best out of the fans, we start slowly - no momentum for the crowd to get behind and BP gradually turns into a morgue.

This thread puts me in mind of Buckley Marks 1 and 2. We all look back (well those of us old enough to!) in reverence at the brilliant football played, wishing it was like that now. Yet, at the time there were a lot of people very vociferous (but no t'internet to broadcast it on!) about how boring it was! I can remember being at a night game fairly early in the season against Port Vale where there were less than 4000 in B.P. in what is now The Championship with the build up to the game being all about "I cannot be bothered" to go for another ninety minutes of...
I vividly remember standing on the terraces at Oxford early in the 1998/99 season singing "All we are saying is give us a goal"
The man was sacked after a 0-0 away draw at Portsmouth. The interviews in the street outside the ground were all about how boring it was..
I'm (obviously) not making any comparisons between the attributes of the respective managers-merely trying to say that some peoples idea of entertainment and others differ somewhat.

It's all true mate and I remember it well. I think the salient point is that - we were in the championship. We'd obviously shown some ambition and we were rarely if ever intimidated by playing bigger clubs. Yes the football got a bit boring at times - endless, needless, go-nowhere passing with little incisiveness on occasion, but we were a little club in a big league and we weren't restrained or conservative or speculative in our play. Fast forward to the present day, and we're a big club in a little league that plays with caution and trepidation, and appears to be intimidated by the thought of being caught going too hung-ho at home to Braintree et al!

Quoted from ginnywings

And that's the Conference in a nutshell. LJL will run 'til he drops but try as he might, he has never and will never have a clever football brain. Neilson has all the skills required but can't be arsed. The two archetypal non-league players.

Which type do you go with? Getting the balance right is the hard part.

No brainier, Lenny every time. He has contributed much more than Neilson who flattered to deceive when he could be bothered. Found his level now until he decides he does not want to work any more.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

The goalposts are set in concrete for me. I want Grimsby Town FC to be as successful as they can be. My opinion - worth just the same as yours - is that we have enough good players in the squad to be top of this league and I credit Paul Hurst for getting those players to the club. Equally, I don't believe that he knows how to get the best out of those players, and he certainly doesn't know how to get the best out of the fans, we start slowly - no momentum for the crowd to get behind and BP gradually turns into a morgue.

I'm glad you want Town to be successful but I would hope everyone wants that fella! I think the rest of your post is a little muddled though. You say that the goalposts are set in concrete for you, but then you merely express an opinion of Hurst. It reads as though it's your opinion that is fixed as opposed to the criteria you judge him on. My point was that I find is slightly annoying when people say specifically, for example, I don't rate Hurst because because we can't break down the lesser teams at home. We then manage to beat a couple of teams who parked the bus but now that's suddenly not enough either.

Quoted from MeanwoodMariner

I'm glad you want Town to be successful but I would hope everyone wants that fella! I think the rest of your post is a little muddled though. You say that the goalposts are set in concrete for you, but then you merely express an opinion of Hurst. It reads as though it's your opinion that is fixed as opposed to the criteria you judge him on. My point was that I find is slightly annoying when people say specifically, for example, I don't rate Hurst because because we can't break down the lesser teams at home. We then manage to beat a couple of teams who parked the bus but now that's suddenly not enough either.

Fella? Are you John Fenty?

Re: the moving the goalposts comment. I would say the criticism of Hurst's approach is that we have failed to breakdown the smaller clubs at BP often enough; and being content with 1-0 is a dangerous ploy.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Fella? Are you John Fenty?

Yeah, because I get mildly irritated by sloppy logic I must be part of a mythical blind pro-Fenty/Hurst brigade.

FWIW I don't think results are sufficient by themselves. Whatever division we're in, whatever position we are in the league, if going to BP is not enjoyable then what's the point? But we do seem to be playing better of late, Braintree match aside, so I'm happy for Hurst to keep going for now.

Just to say we've beaten Braintree twice this season. Barnet drew and beat them. Bristol Rovers lost one, won one. They're not as bad as a lot of the people on here think.

Quoted from mike_d

Just to say we've beaten Braintree twice this season. Barnet drew and beat them. Bristol Rovers lost one, won one. They're not as bad as a lot of the people on here think.

Ah, but I bet that Rovers lost that game playing with some real style.