How Far Have We Come..........

I just don't know anymore. I wish he'd just get us the fook up, so we don't have to keep having this conversation because it seems he has us in a no mans land of being too good to sack and not good enough to get us promotion, from what i admit is a tough league to get out of. Being perennially third and not quite hitting the 2+ points per game needed is torture.

I'll ask another question though. Are we really getting better or is the opposition not as good as previous seasons?

Quoted from promotion plaice

And as for a new stadium that seems to be dead in the water again. I see Eastleigh and now Torquay are in talks over moving to a new stadium.

Have you heard something, or do you mean the silence is deafening!

Quoted from TheCodfather1966

in the past three seasons !!!   I really don't know to be honest.  I am certainly not anti-Hurst at all, but still wonder how the likes of Macclesfield with hardly any fans and a very small budget have performed not far short of us over the past few seasons.  Is it the fact that so many teams are cannon fodder in this league that we win so many games which possibly distorts PH's achievements and makes him possibly look better than he actually is.  Given a choice between PH and an established manager with pedigree such as Gary Johnson, I would certainly opt for the latter.  If we do not go up this season, I personally would make a change at managerial level.  Not because PH has done a bad job, but more because things will probably need freshening up.  On a plus note crowds have been awesome this season, so that massively goes in PH's favour.  Sadly sometimes certain things in life do not happen, and maybe success and promotion for GTFC is not meant to be for PH.  I would love to see us go up this season, but if we don't, then Fenty has a huge decision to make for the start of the 2016-2017 season.  We have to get back where we belong ASAP.

UTM

There are lots of examples to think of but I just remember a cold foggy night in 2013 away at Braintree, we where absolute shite and beaten not for the first time by a set of part timers, even then we ended up in the play offs but did anyone really believe we would have enough and sure enough we did not.

The next year we ditched Gobby Robbie (long over due) good cup run beat the Scunts and despite being consistently inconsistent  kicked on to secure a play off spot again and again fell short. Despite all the stupidity away at Gateshead I think the draw at home cost us and that season we cleared out the Hurst and Scott squad and PH started to bring his players in and remember one thing he cannot be criticized for is being able to spot a player.

Last year a better squad, some good wins too many draws some stupid losses and poor home form meant that we where always chasing the top 2 BUT..... We did have our chances later in the season but we failed to take them. Our away from was unrivalled and the support was too but we cruised to a play off final after destroying a useful Eastleigh side over 2 legs. So to Wembley, again! And sadly the best team on then day lost on a penalty shoot out, how very English. Two weeks later most of the squad re-signed and "we go again" if PH was that inept players would not have signed as quickly as they did.

This year ............Massive support pre season with money raised and season tickets bought and a great starting 11, with massive support comes massive expectation and in the first 6 weeks we never really fulfilled the hype, most of which was not created by PH or the players. We are getting the ball down, we are scoring more goals than we can remember in ages and the defence is still pretty solid..........The fans are loyal, brilliant and turning out home and away in decent numbers (away in droves) some though are more obsessed with Cheltenham and FGR than they are getting behind the Manager. BUT though the title is probably one step to far  PROMOTION IS STILL POSSIBLE !

We have progressed but have not achieved our objective of getting back in the FL yet, this season though nobody else in this league has either. We have a good team and what appears to be a hard working "collective" culture within the playing squad & staff, that is down to the manager and his values.        

There's a guy called Wayne Bennett who is one of the most successful coaches in sport and tonight on Talk Sport they where going through some of his quotes one being "you are only a failure when you blame others" interesting quote that.

Earlier in the season we where the only ones discussing whether PH would go to Notts County, if he was that bad then why would we even think of it?      

  

Only PH's fans were seriously worried about him going to Notts County. The rest either thought he stood no chance or would have been happy or unmoved.

Pluses for Hurst. He has unearthed some good players and has instilled a good team ethic. He seems like a nice bloke. Bad points are he seems to have ditched a lot of the players he's recruited, he's not made the most of players he's recruited and has been outfought by opposition managers too often.

I tend to agree with what Alan Alger said on the Codpod the other week. To paraphrase, steady-eddies tend not to get promotion from this league.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Only PH's fans were seriously worried about him going to Notts County. The rest either thought he stood no chance or would have been happy or unmoved.

Pluses for Hurst. He has unearthed some good players and has instilled a good team ethic. He seems like a nice bloke. Bad points are he seems to have ditched a lot of the players he's recruited, he's not made the most of players he's recruited and has been outfought by opposition managers too often.

I tend to agree with what Alan Alger said on the Codpod the other week. To paraphrase, steady-eddies tend not to get promotion from this league.

This absolutely sums it up for me. You wouldn't ever expect to see Hurst behave like Darrel Clarke did last season or Steve Evans has in the past for instance, but they have done what it takes to get teams promoted. Hurst here and at previous clubs has regularly reached the play offs but for me doesn't have that extra bit of swagger that's needed for winning the title outright. He may do it through the play offs though with luck and a fair wind.

My biggest worry is that if we don't go up this season, the larger parachute payments come in next campaign and crucially, the emergency loan system is about to be extinct, meaning only the clubs with the largest budgets will be able to afford squads big enough to see them through the entire season, without the worry of injuries and suspensions or loss of form. It's about to get a whole lot tougher.

Remember that time John Still was filmed stood drunk up on a table in Luton telling the GET to "print that bar-stard"?

Quoted from LH

Remember that time John Still was filmed stood drunk up on a table in Luton telling the GET to "print that bar-stard"?

Yeah i get it, you don't need to be a twit to be a good manager.

Quoted from LH

Remember that time John Still was filmed stood drunk up on a table in Luton telling the GET to "print that bar-stard"?

Was that not Daryl Clarke?

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Was that not Daryl Clarke?

Yes, LH was making a point.

Quoted from ginnywings

This absolutely sums it up for me. You wouldn't ever expect to see Hurst behave like Darrel Clarke did last season or Steve Evans has in the past for instance, but they have done what it takes to get teams promoted. Hurst here and at previous clubs has regularly reached the play offs but for me doesn't have that extra bit of swagger that's needed for winning the title outright. He may do it through the play offs though with luck and a fair wind.

My biggest worry is that if we don't go up this season, the larger parachute payments come in next campaign and crucially, the emergency loan system is about to be extinct, meaning only the clubs with the largest budgets will be able to afford squads big enough to see them through the entire season, without the worry of injuries and suspensions or loss of form. It's about to get a whole lot tougher.

The parachute payments may have increased but usually the first person a relegated club needs to plicate is their bank manager rather than a greedy agent or two.

If a club comes down in the red with no benefactor underwriting that debt it may get called in by the bank if they have no visible income growth or the ability to pay their debts.

Agree completely though if we don't go up this year I am not sure what we can do to go to the next level. Lots of talk about income and budgets in recent days but that's not the managers job he has to work with what he has got. If the budget is not right maybe we should be looking to change the people who secure the income, if only...........!

Fans like managers who are "big characters" as they appear as passionate as the fans but it is not an essential credential for promotion. I admit that this is not a great comparison as he is a top notch coach but Eddy Howe has had some real success in recent years and we don't see him as a "big character". By that I am not comparing the two, if PH has half the success Howe has had he will have had a much better career than he could hope for,