Shrews

I must admit, I had/have my doubts about Hurst. I didn't think he was a bad manager by any stretch but I did begin to wonder if he had what it took to get us out of the league. Too often his side could be easily blunted, especially at home and we would seem to run out of ideas on how to break teams down who we were, perhaps, superior to. Too often our football would become very one directional.

However, the flip side is he often knew how to get results in big games (not always but often). Generally by keeping it tight and getting teams to come onto us. For me we often looked better against this opposition.

Once we got promoted, I actually thought Hurst would excel. In a higher division he would be able to deploy the tactics he was more comfortable with. Not as many teams would regard us as a big fish as they did in the national league.

When he decided to move to Shrewsbury, I thought it would suit him down to the ground. A backs against the wall fight against relegation, I think was tailor made for him and his tactics. They've made a very good start to the League One season and it will be interesting if they can maintain this start once teams realise they are a decent team and employ a more defensive approach to games against them.

I think the timing of the move was probably good for Paul, he went to a club who, off the field, are where we hope to be in the next 5 years or so. So we can't blame him for moving.

I wish him all the best, he proved me wrong and got us out of non-league football.

I'd say the majority of Town fans - if they're really honest with themselves - either wanted Hurst to go, or wouldn't have been fussed if he'd have been sacked, at one point or another, before he got us promoted.

He was always up against it. We, the fans, demanded promotion. Hurst, I believe, didn't have the top budget for the division.

As has been said already, we know of teams who fell away completely, teams that have never got out of non-league, and teams that did go up but either waited ages for it or paid huge sums of money.

And as amazing as Operation Promotion was - and the fact it allowed us to buy someone like Bogle - I think it was an extra bit of weight/pressure on Hurst's shoulders to deliver that season (particularly because of the way we missed out against Bristol Rovers).

If I were Hurst, I'd be mightily pleased with what I achieved at Town. As a fan I'm mightily pleased of the job he did. We could pick fault with Ferguson, Mourinho, Guardiola or any top manager in the world. Every one has his faults.

Sometimes it's more about their legacy. What did they give us? What do we have now that we wouldn't have got without him? That's the true measure of a manager.

Quoted from RichMariner

I'd say the majority of Town fans - if they're really honest with themselves - either wanted Hurst to go, or wouldn't have been fussed if he'd have been sacked, at one point or another, before he got us promoted.

He was always up against it. We, the fans, demanded promotion. Hurst, I believe, didn't have the top budget for the division.

As has been said already, we know of teams who fell away completely, teams that have never got out of non-league, and teams that did go up but either waited ages for it or paid huge sums of money.

And as amazing as Operation Promotion was - and the fact it allowed us to buy someone like Bogle - I think it was an extra bit of weight/pressure on Hurst's shoulders to deliver that season (particularly because of the way we missed out against Bristol Rovers).

If I were Hurst, I'd be mightily pleased with what I achieved at Town. As a fan I'm mightily pleased of the job he did. We could pick fault with Ferguson, Mourinho, Guardiola or any top manager in the world. Every one has his faults.

Sometimes it's more about their legacy. What did they give us? What do we have now that we wouldn't have got without him? That's the true measure of a manager.

What legacy did he give us? Well, firstly, League 2 football. The rest of it has been swiftly unpicked by successive managers (and Hurst himself, to an extent). I thought he was an excellent manager, though ironically, the best football we ever played under him was shortly before he left in League 2. It was only a small run of three games, but we looked great: Stevenage, Notts County, Luton. Then he seemed to get the fear about conceding so many goals and we went back to being slightly timid and his time with us petered out. I'm not surprised at all he's doing well. I think he was really under-appreciated here, as I suspect would any other manager that was in charge while we were in non-league.

33/1 for Shrewsbury to get promoted is looking very good value  

Just let's be realistic. It's 5th September. So far Shrewsbury has played 4 teams 17th or lower, 3 in the bottom 4 who have yet to win a game. The Shrews have yet to win by more than one goal. When they have played a few of the top sides it will maybe be time to assess properly if they are a better team than last year.

Hurst has had chance to build his own team and sort them out over pre-season which is good for him. A lot depends on how brave he is. To me he will remain a manager whose fear of losing always got the better of his desire to win.

Quoted from MarinerMal

I must admit, I had/have my doubts about Hurst. I didn't think he was a bad manager by any stretch but I did begin to wonder if he had what it took to get us out of the league. Too often his side could be easily blunted, especially at home and we would seem to run out of ideas on how to break teams down who we were, perhaps, superior to. Too often our football would become very one directional.

However, the flip side is he often knew how to get results in big games (not always but often). Generally by keeping it tight and getting teams to come onto us. For me we often looked better against this opposition.

Once we got promoted, I actually thought Hurst would excel. In a higher division he would be able to deploy the tactics he was more comfortable with. Not as many teams would regard us as a big fish as they did in the national league.

When he decided to move to Shrewsbury, I thought it would suit him down to the ground. A backs against the wall fight against relegation, I think was tailor made for him and his tactics. They've made a very good start to the League One season and it will be interesting if they can maintain this start once teams realise they are a decent team and employ a more defensive approach to games against them.

I think the timing of the move was probably good for Paul, he went to a club who, off the field, are where we hope to be in the next 5 years or so. So we can't blame him for moving.

I wish him all the best, he proved me wrong and got us out of non-league football.

I think that's why hes doing well at the moment.

Teams he is facing in league 1 are not setting up for a draw like teams was against us in non-league, and thats when he struggled

It must be so boring with nothing to look forward to when winning every match you play

Quoted from GrimRob

33/1 for Shrewsbury to get promoted is looking very good value  

How many games have they played so far ?  

Quoted from sam gy

They have been playing at a higher level than us for the last seven seasons, this is the eighth. For three of those seasons they were two divisions above us.

As I stated, they have been a more successful team than us in recent years.

Erm, like I said they didn't have JF & co on the board and Neil Woods as manager.

And as for success in recent years, if PH is that good why did it take him so long to get us promoted.

Well, we always had at least two or three clubs outspending us, often by a lot, so no great surprise we didn't pop straight back up. I actually thought we were a better team the season before we finally won promotion and deserved it more that year than the following. We just managed to put the results together that time (and without the terrible refereeing decisions going against us either).

I think he's a good manager. Certainly not a great one but perfectly capable. It's a real achievement for anyone to win promotion from the Conference, it's such a tight league at the top end. Many managers have failed there, often after spending a heck of a lot more money than Hurst ever did.