Loyal support

Following the home defeat to Bromley and to a lesser extent the away loss to Wrexham, many on here were calling for the axe to fall on  Paul Hurst, including some of his more ardent supporters.

I must confess I was torn but felt sacking Hurst at the close of the January transfer window and with no better replacement lined up would be fruitless at best. I'd also like to see continuity at the club after we've switched and changed managers at an alarming rate in recent years - but obviously not at the expense of losing week in week out.

I felt (as others did) that we should give Hurst an extended leave of execution and judge him on the next 5 games. Having amassed 13 points from a possible 15 no one can deny that Hurst passed this test with flying colours. Yes, I know, we failed to beat King's Lynn at home, but even so.

We're now 3 points off the play offs - a deficit which we're more than capable of making up, especially as players come back from injury.

I'm certainly not suggesting group think but I think it goes without saying that the more people get behind Hurst and the players between now and the end of the season the more likely we'll achieve our goal. Get into the play offs and who knows?

I am behind Hurst, but I am unhappy with our league position. I'll support him for now, but I do have an open mind on the managerial situation which I'm sure the board will be reviewing should we fail to win promotion as looks likely. We're 9th I believe in the National League which is wholly unacceptable.

Quoted from fishboyUTM

I am behind Hurst, but I am unhappy with our league position. I'll support him for now, but I do have an open mind on the managerial situation which I'm sure the board will be reviewing should we fail to win promotion as looks likely. We're 9th I believe in the National League which is wholly unacceptable.

I doubt very much that the board will review Hursts' position if we don't get promoted. Very few times bounce straight back into the league. Considering what all this club has gone through in the previous 15 months I think our present position is pretty much what most of our  realistic fans had hoped for.

When we where  top and flying , he was best thing since slice bread , we had a wobble ( not that uncommon with a brand new team and young lads ) and then he needed  sacking … you can’t be an ace manager and shite one within a few months … he will get us up … just be next season now ! Don’t gauge real life by the fishy reaction

Surely people are not happy with our league position? At this horrific level?

Quoted from fishboyUTM

Surely people are not happy with our league position? At this horrific level?

There has to be a modicum of pragmatism and realisation in our expectations. I have been one of those who has referenced our Championship days and suggested it should be an ambition to one day (within realistic timescales) return there. This was 5 years or so ago and much as I still hold that belief it's to a much lesser extent, the reason being that football moves on and the landscape changes rapidly in terms of teams rising and falling.

Last season we were shocking and had quite possibly one of our worst squads in years and a manager that we thought would bring successes not seen since the Buckley years who turned out to potentially be one of our worst managers of all time. We had changes in ownership and a complete squad overhaul.

Add to that we were relegated into a division where the standard has improved drastically since we were last here and teams are able to attract and pay for players from L1. Much as our history might suggest we shouldn't be here, the reality of the modern game is that we are and the league is as far removed from its historical reputation as it could get.

I doubt we'll find many Town fans who WANT to be in this division, but I think it's not unrealistic to think that we'll be here for maybe 2-4 years before going up. Hopefully when that becomes the case the whole club will have a much better foundation (not unlike the one Hurst built last time) to keep progressing further in the same way Harrogate and Sutton seem to have done.

Quoted from fishboyUTM

Surely people are not happy with our league position? At this horrific level?

I think the standard in this league is on a par with League 2, if not better, and it's much more difficult to get out of with less promotion places up for grabs.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the football and think it's way above what it was last time we were in non league. I think we have also seen some much better games and much better football than we did last season in the EFL.

Although I hope we reach the play offs this season, I don't think we are ruthless enough up front, or mean enough at the back to come through them, though you never know. Anything can happen in one off games.

This season for me is about stabilising and slowly improving the squad to have a good crack at it next season. I think a lot of fans underestimate this league and dismiss it too readily. Chesterfield and Stockport struggled way more than we did when they came down. Wrexham have been down here for an age and Notts are only slowly finding their feet too.

I think Hurst has done well to build a competitive team from scratch and have us on the edge of the play offs. As I've pointed out, other established league clubs took a lot longer to come to terms with it.

Quoted from fishboyUTM

Surely people are not happy with our league position? At this horrific level?

Horrific based on what? Aside from probably 3/4 teams, quality wise it’s on a par with many of our games last season, even the ones against the alleged better sides.

We’re down here through nobody’s fault but our own, I see the arrogance that was an issue last time hasn’t disappeared…

Quoted from aldi_01

Horrific based on what? Aside from probably 3/4 teams, quality wise it’s on a par with many of our games last season, even the ones against the alleged better sides.

We’re down here through nobody’s fault but our own, I see the arrogance that was an issue last time hasn’t disappeared…

I say this constantly. Some teams are here through years of success and investment (King's Lynn, Boreham Wood, Bromley, Altrincham, Solihull, Wealdstone) whilst others are ultimately here due to years of neglect and failure (ourselves, Notts County, Chesterfield).

Unsure where to categorise Stockport as they slumped even lower but ultimately they are due to years of failure and they have had to work hard to finally start moving forwards.

We all deserve to be in this division and the pyramid has determined that no more than 23 spaces in the entire pyramid shall separate the teams for 44 games. Admittedly the lack of relegation since 2020 has widened the gap between the top teams and bottom 2 or 3 but overall the standard is very good.

I think Josh Gowling put it more elegantly on the DN35 podcast than I could ever put it on here, but the two-up, two-down system between the EFL and the National League is creating a bigger problem over time.

So at the moment you have fairly rubbish clubs scraping a living in the EFL season after season, surviving as the truly badly-run clubs fall. Meanwhile, you have clubs like Chesterfield, Wrexham, Stockport and the like, throwing five, six, seven, eight times more money at getting promoted than those in L2 are spending to survive.

It's created a bottleneck. I'd say the current top 10 teams in the NL would have a good go at promotion in L2 given the chance, because the bottom half of L2 really isn't up to much.

Swap the bottom half of L2 for the top half of the NL and you'd have a much more competitive division. Not saying that would ever happen, of course. But this bottleneck is causing/encouraging clubs in the NL to overspend. Imagine spending what Wrexham have spent this season, and not winning promotion?!

It's not sustainable in the long term and overspending at our level is only going to get worse unless the situation is rectified (but it won't be, because EFL clubs will never vote for 3 up, 3 down).

Quoted from rancido

I doubt very much that the board will review Hursts' position if we don't get promoted. Very few times bounce straight back into the league. Considering what all this club has gone through in the previous 15 months I think our present position is pretty much what most of our  realistic fans had hoped for.

The board would be failing in their duty if they didn't review Hurst's position if we don't get promoted. You can't keep someone in their post just because he is a very nice man.

Some of his signings these past 13 months have been basically crap and as I have said many times his record last season was worse that Holloway's.

As for building for the future, what building? according to the Cod Almighty site we only have 4 or possibly 5 players signed for next season so I see just the same happening, signing players that aren't good enough to get in the side they play for plus a load of young inexperienced loan players from higher clubs.

My position hasn't changed nor will it. If he doesn't get us promoted he should go.  

Quoted from RichMariner

I think Josh Gowling put it more elegantly on the DN35 podcast than I could ever put it on here, but the two-up, two-down system between the EFL and the National League is creating a bigger problem over time.

So at the moment you have fairly rubbish clubs scraping a living in the EFL season after season, surviving as the truly badly-run clubs fall. Meanwhile, you have clubs like Chesterfield, Wrexham, Stockport and the like, throwing five, six, seven, eight times more money at getting promoted than those in L2 are spending to survive.

It's created a bottleneck. I'd say the current top 10 teams in the NL would have a good go at promotion in L2 given the chance, because the bottom half of L2 really isn't up to much.

Swap the bottom half of L2 for the top half of the NL and you'd have a much more competitive division. Not saying that would ever happen, of course. But this bottleneck is causing/encouraging clubs in the NL to overspend. Imagine spending what Wrexham have spent this season, and not winning promotion?!

It's not sustainable in the long term and overspending at our level is only going to get worse unless the situation is rectified (but it won't be, because EFL clubs will never vote for 3 up, 3 down).

Very good point Rich.

Quoted from arryarryarry

The board would be failing in their duty if they didn't review Hurst's position if we don't get promoted. You can't keep someone in their post just because he is a very nice man.

Some of his signings these past 13 months have been basically crap and as I have said many times his record last season was worse that Holloway's.

As for building for the future, what building? according to the Cod Almighty site we only have 4 or possibly 5 players signed for next season so I see just the same happening, signing players that aren't good enough to get in the side they play for plus a load of young inexperienced loan players from higher clubs.

My position hasn't changed nor will it. If he doesn't get us promoted he should go.  

Did you honestly expect us to get promoted this season after all that has gone on at the club?
It is easy to quote Cod Almighty on the number of players who have re-signed up for next season but they (and you) have no idea at what stage any negotiations are at with those that Hurst wants to retain. From what you write you give the impression that you want the club to get in a recurring cycle of sacking managers season after season until one gets us promoted.

Quoted from arryarryarry

The board would be failing in their duty if they didn't review Hurst's position if we don't get promoted. You can't keep someone in their post just because he is a very nice man.

Some of his signings these past 13 months have been basically crap and as I have said many times his record last season was worse that Holloway's.

As for building for the future, what building? according to the Cod Almighty site we only have 4 or possibly 5 players signed for next season so I see just the same happening, signing players that aren't good enough to get in the side they play for plus a load of young inexperienced loan players from higher clubs.

My position hasn't changed nor will it. If he doesn't get us promoted he should go.  

Who are the ‘crap signings’ for this season?

Think that’s quite harsh tbh. As much as I hate to say it, only really Lenny has stood out as being sub-standard to me.

Revan wasn’t a hit but I think it would be harsh to call him crap. He was/is highly rated and came from a Premier League side and he never really got a run.

Grant hasn’t turned out well but you can’t call him a bad player either because we haven’t seen enough of him.

I don’t think Hurst’s signings have been bad at all tbh. There are always gonna be a couple of misses. I think this squad just needs a sprinkling of extra quality now, say three top players in the summer and we should be good next season.

I don't think there have been any 'crap' signings.

Grant was a gamble but should obviously have had the potential given his record. Seems he's like another Matt Green - a once good player who has just completely lost it in the latter stages of his career.

Sears looked decent until his stupid mistake. Longe-King a bit disappointing. But crap? No crap players this season that I've seen, even if some have been underwhelming.

Quoted from fishboyUTM

Surely people are not happy with our league position? At this horrific level?

As things stand I'd say we as Town fans have more to look forward to than Scunny fans do

I know we're non-league and they are still currently in there but our future prospects are a lot brighter

Only my opinion of course but I'm ok with where we are.... and you never know, keep this current run of form going and we might be in an even better position in a couple of months time