DA

Can we now just stop looking for a stick to beat DA with ? Just for a week ? . He’s clearly up to the job and his luck this season with injuries for such a small squad is just terrible but the lads are obviously playing for him so perhaps it’s time to just get behind him and the lads ?

Short, sweet but absolutely perfect post.

Quoted from It Bites

Can we now just stop looking for a stick to beat DA with ? Just for a week ? . He’s clearly up to the job and his luck this season with injuries for such a small squad is just terrible but the lads are obviously playing for him so perhaps it’s time to just get behind him and the lads ?

We've got a game this Tuesday  

He kept last seasons squad up, and we are competing in League 2.

It's far from perfect, and we have our injuries, but he's earned his chance.

Quoted from It Bites

Can we now just stop looking for a stick to beat DA with ? Just for a week ? . He’s clearly up to the job and his luck this season with injuries for such a small squad is just terrible but the lads are obviously playing for him so perhaps it’s time to just get behind him and the lads ?

I'm firmly off the fence in a good way .

We might lose the next two games , but even if we do I have seen and heard enough to think  we are in a much better place .

I think everyone just needs to get down to the Donny game and give them that old school  electric atmosphere .

Well done Big D

Quoted from Mappers

I'm firmly off the fence in a good way .

We might lose the next two games , but even if we do I have seen and heard enough to think  we are in a much better place .

I think everyone just needs to get down to the Donny game and give them that old school  electric atmosphere .

Well done Big D

Donny got stuffed at home today.

Please can we also stop targeting some players via the fishy. As mentioned we are ravaged by injuries. Time to be positive and get behind all our players. The last 2 games they have fought their socks off for the Club.

I reckon the last 2-3 home games I’ve started to hear DA”s black and white army toward the end of games from the ponny

That bodes well I reckon.

Think he’s doing a good job, like he said it won’t work every week, this week it did.

If we get the majority of the squad fit we could be quite a handful.

Quoted from Nelly GTFC

Very good interview and he says it as it is.

Yes, he seems a pretty straight shooter. A genuine guy that merits our support.

And he often recognises our impressive travelling support too.

It was only back in February that I vehemently wanted Artell out. His record following that 5-1 defeat at home to Donny was objectively dismal, quite literally the worst in our history at that point, and I saw only one outcome if he remained at the helm for much longer. I was equally shocked and dismayed that he was still in the dugout at Morecambe a week later.

But, as is often the case with my strongly held opinions on football-related matters, I was wrong. I think we can say as much at this point. He found the necessary pragmatism to keep us up last season, and this time around we’re picking up points at a decent rate and playing reasonably entertaining football in the process.

Let’s be clear, it’s still not perfect - I worry that, as things stand, we fail to do the defensive basics often enough to mount a serious play-off push, but that even mentioning the play-offs isn’t completely ridiculous is a tangible sign of progress in itself.

Yesterday marked 11 months since the sacking of Paul Hurst. As much as I will always be grateful for all that PH did for this club, it’s undeniable that we were in a sorry old state a year ago. At this juncture, you simply cannot say that we haven’t made meaningful progress.

Full credit to him. It’s clearly not been an easy journey for David Artell, but it’s the destination, ultimately, that counts.

Just had a quick look at Artell’s record since Donny slapped us that fateful day.

P23 W9 D5 L9 (39.1%)

That’s really not too shabby from where we were at the time - picking up points in almost two thirds of games. Given his win ratio was sub-12% back in Feb, that really is an impressive turnaround.

Quoted from Poojah

Just had a quick look at Artell’s record since Donny slapped us that fateful day.

P23 W9 D5 L9 (39.1%)

That’s really not too shabby from where we were at the time - picking up points in almost two thirds of games. Given his win ratio was sub-12% back in Feb, that really is an impressive turnaround.

If we can match our start win ratio until Jan and have a full squad to choose from then, it could make the second half of the season interesting in the right way at this level - for a change.

Pleased that DA got a decent result yesterday but going back still would have loved Neil Woods to have been a success. In-house manager who was a lovely man who inherited a squad who in a fair few cases weren't on it loving a drink a bit too much.

This is worth a listen, one thing I like about Artell is he appears to have time for people and whether you agree with him or not he’s certainly well thought out in what he talks about.



This will also put to bed the utter nonsense that posters have spouted about 1878 “telling” him how to play.

Quoted from Rick12

Pleased that DA got a decent result yesterday but going back still would have loved Neil Woods to have been a success. In-house manager who was a lovely man who inherited a squad who in a fair few cases weren't on it loving a drink a bit too much.

I think NW will always be tainted by that time regardless of how good a coach he could be. DA  inherited a squad that was limited in ability and certainly nothing suited to the kind of football he wanted to play. That has now been rectified and I think we're can now look forward to a much better season than last.

Quoted from Poojah

It was only back in February that I vehemently wanted Artell out. His record following that 5-1 defeat at home to Donny was objectively dismal, quite literally the worst in our history at that point, and I saw only one outcome if he remained at the helm for much longer. I was equally shocked and dismayed that he was still in the dugout at Morecambe a week later.

But, as is often the case with my strongly held opinions on football-related matters, I was wrong. I think we can say as much at this point. He found the necessary pragmatism to keep us up last season, and this time around we’re picking up points at a decent rate and playing reasonably entertaining football in the process.

Let’s be clear, it’s still not perfect - I worry that, as things stand, we fail to do the defensive basics often enough to mount a serious play-off push, but that even mentioning the play-offs isn’t completely ridiculous is a tangible sign of progress in itself.

Yesterday marked 11 months since the sacking of Paul Hurst. As much as I will always be grateful for all that PH did for this club, it’s undeniable that we were in a sorry old state a year ago. At this juncture, you simply cannot say that we haven’t made meaningful progress.

Full credit to him. It’s clearly not been an easy journey for David Artell, but it’s the destination, ultimately, that counts.

TBF. Most here wanted him out. I think I only remember myself and 3 others believing he could keep us up, or at least bold enough to publicly state it, and I think we did have a debate about that at the time!

Quoted from rancido

I think NW will always be tainted by that time regardless of how good a coach he could be. DA  inherited a squad that was limited in ability and certainly nothing suited to the kind of football he wanted to play. That has now been rectified and I think we're can now look forward to a much better season than last.

Good on you Rancido; always have liked the general tone of your posts especially the supportive nature of Grimsby Town players especially the ones that try. In youth team football especially this mentality does make a difference. At times Ive seen coaches in professional youth team set ups that have been cold to youngsters and this affects progress. Going down to see friends of mine who played in the academy system I was glad to see certain types of youth managers who were often counterproductive to youngsters get the boot.

Quoted from Rick12

Pleased that DA got a decent result yesterday but going back still would have loved Neil Woods to have been a success. In-house manager who was a lovely man who inherited a squad who in a fair few cases weren't on it loving a drink a bit too much.

Neil's talents lie within youth football and we're very lucky to have him here but it doesn't always translate to senior success and vice versa.

Quoted from LocalLadGTFC

Neil's talents lie within youth football and we're very lucky to have him here but it doesn't always translate to senior success and vice versa.

Fair point pal. I think though having had a decent career Neil Woods will garner respect in the youth. I remember seeing it in a club I was at in London with some of the youngsters in the short time I was there before moving on to pastures new due to other job commitments in a different field. Some of the lads who came down via the community coaching side were quality and good enough to make it at League 2, National League for one minimum (I remember some were on the books of other semi-pro sides and were using the community coaching as fitness/drill training).  It certainly helped if you could play the play the game a bit as talented youngsters especially will look up to coaches who can play a bit.

Quoted from AncientExiledMariner

TBF. Most here wanted him out. I think I only remember myself and 3 others believing he could keep us up, or at least bold enough to publicly state it, and I think we did have a debate about that at the time!

I remember as much, and I won’t lie, I thought you were absolutely mental! 🤪

‘twas very prescient of you as it turns out. Fair play.

Quoted from Rick12

Good on you Rancido; always have liked the general tone of your posts especially the supportive nature of Grimsby Town players especially the ones that try. In youth team football especially this mentality does make a difference. At times Ive seen coaches in professional youth team set ups that have been cold to youngsters and this affects progress. Going down to see friends of mine who played in the academy system I was glad to see certain types of youth managers who were often counterproductive to youngsters get the boot.

Thanks Rick. I try to be supportive of our players with the belief,  that in general, they try their best. If that isn't enough then it's not really down to them but the managers and coaches who think they are good enough. I might have a moan at the match but never call a player " sh*t or verbally assault them on here.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

This is worth a listen, one thing I like about Artell is he appears to have time for people and whether you agree with him or not he’s certainly well thought out in what he talks about.

Tweet 1840314716322722210 will appear here...

This will also put to bed the utter nonsense that posters have spouted about 1878 “telling” him how to play.

Thanks - great listen. Clearly, we have a manager who thinks deeply, consults, reflects and then acts. As with the owners, one thing we won’t get is knee-jerk.

Great that there's both a swarm of support for Artell this weekend and a distinctly noticeable quietening of the grumblings about him.

But as has been the case pretty much since he walked in the door last November, there will be more ups and downs to come. His style and approach leaves us open to absolute disaster performances and with that tonkings.  I don't think for a second we'll go the rest of the season without another proper pasting, probably one that we'll look at and wonder what the hell happened.  But we have to accept that. If we want our players to be confident in their expression of play, forward thinking, bold and brave on the ball then that risk factor will remain.

I've long felt and still feel that we're seeing something very special in development. But we're not going to be a 1-0 every week on autopilot kinda team, we've not got that in our toolkit and neither has Artell.  What we've got is a side that you can see going on winning runs with high score lines and convincing results, yet then getting battered at home to 2nd bottom Morecambe who hadn't managed a single shot on goal in their previous 8 games.

Buckle in, it'll be bumpy and rough but I really fancy this is going to be exciting.

Quoted from Poojah

I remember as much, and I won’t lie, I thought you were absolutely mental! 🤪

‘twas very prescient of you as it turns out. Fair play.

Not mental. Maybe stubborn and dogmatic. Generally, my view is that managerial changes often have a worse effect imho. I was also one that would stick with Hurst in non-league when everyone wanted him out (which was correct).

To my detriment, even though towards the end of Hurst when things sucked, I thought he could turn it around with a transfer window (he had demonstrated he could navigate a transfer market and fix mistakes, and oh boy, was there mistakes in the recruitment). Maybe that wasn't correct. Looking back, his transfer policy was a little too hunch based for my tastes and that is what really hurt us last year.

There is a reason clubs like Watford, Chelsea and Man U have been basket cases for a while. Either you have a manager held to account who fixes the squad, or the squad determine the manager, get comfortable and sit pretty.

My view, is pick the right manager who has the capability to improve things year on year, and back them through the hard times. After 2/3 transfer windows when they have their own squad, have fixed earlier mistakes, and have optimised it, and you can really start to see the fruits of that. By that I mean, promotions, staying in the league above and kicking on towards the top end of that table.

You don't get a great squad by absorbing the costs of 3 or 4 managerial teams at a time.

We don't look like title contenders, even though we're playing some really good stuff at times, but I take heart from the fact that Buckley's teams never really got close to winning a title, even though we tended to be one of the best footballing sides in the division.

If you keep playing well, you'll win enough games to do decently and if you can manage it often enough, you're always in with a shot. Especially in the 4th division with 4 promotion places on offer.

Given that we've had a pretty tough start to the season and so many injuries to key players, we're probably doing just about as well as could be expected.

Hopefully, we can keep up the decent form for now then go from strength to strength when Thompson, Obikwu (and perhaps Luker) become available.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Great that there's both a swarm of support for Artell this weekend and a distinctly noticeable quietening of the grumblings about him.

But as has been the case pretty much since he walked in the door last November, there will be more ups and downs to come. His style and approach leaves us open to absolute disaster performances and with that tonkings.  I don't think for a second we'll go the rest of the season without another proper pasting, probably one that we'll look at and wonder what the hell happened.  But we have to accept that. If we want our players to be confident in their expression of play, forward thinking, bold and brave on the ball then that risk factor will remain.

I've long felt and still feel that we're seeing something very special in development. But we're not going to be a 1-0 every week on autopilot kinda team, we've not got that in our toolkit and neither has Artell.  What we've got is a side that you can see going on winning runs with high score lines and convincing results, yet then getting battered at home to 2nd bottom Morecambe who hadn't managed a single shot on goal in their previous 8 games.

Buckle in, it'll be bumpy and rough but I really fancy this is going to be exciting.

Agree, think the disaster performances are now reducing into disaster periods in games.

Quoted from Maringer

We don't look like title contenders, even though we're playing some really good stuff at times, but I take heart from the fact that Buckley's teams never really got close to winning a title, even though we tended to be one of the best footballing sides in the division.

Agree with the sentiment but Buckley's 90-91 side should have won Div 3 comfortably.  5 games prior to that Exeter game we only picked up 3 points and just looked to be falling off a cliff.

Ended up 3 points behind the title winners in the end.

89/90 we had a monster second half of the season to finish where we did. 97/98 we were in it until the moment we reached the final of the AWS and our league form plummeted.

All 3 prove though that you get the same number of points for wins and draws in October as you do in January and April. They all count the same.

I think out season will be defined from November through to Boxing day when we have our easyiest(on paper at least ) stretch of games against the likely  basket cases (Morecambe ,Swindon and Accrington ) + 4 or 5 more very winnable games , especially if we have a fair number of our injured players back .

We're obviously talking after a magnificent win at Carlisle, a game in which we did something that we'd never previously done under Artell and that's to win a game from a losing position.

I would also add, though, that the grumbles were probably legitimate at the time. The club had recorded a sequence of terrible home results, and we were all rightly nervous about getting dragged into a relegation dogfight when I'm sure we all hoped for better things once he took the reins.

I guess you'd call me a sceptic rather than an 'Artell out' guy. I think some measure of scepticism is healthy, and my feeling was that he talked a good game, seemed to have the intelligence, the tactical nous, the creativity to succeed at this level... but couldn't get it to translate to the players on a consistent basis.

And while we're continuing to be inconsistent this season (we could quite easily lose our next two) I'll freely admit that he's forcing me to eat a bit of humble pie. There was something about that performance yesterday that felt a little different; like something clicked a bit more than normal (because I was feeling a little down and frustrated at half time).

We showed guts and fight and bravery. My main criticism of DA has been that he seems to be 'over coaching' the players. Clearly, he's got ideas and is trying to impart a certain style, and from what I've seen on match days is players looking a little confused, caught between two modes of thinking — do I follow instructions, do I think for myself — and maybe some of them can't carry possibly elaborate instructions for what is fundamentally a simple game.

Anyway, long story short, it's taking time and he's been afforded time that other managers don't necessarily get, but it looks like his methods are being carried out with a little more consistency, accuracy and, most importantly, confidence, by players throughout the squad. Because we've had to use the full squad already!

Like I say, I've never called for him to go, but also I don't think someone who presided over some pretty awful results gets a free pass. Another poster put it better than me — on the fence in a healthy way. Things can change quickly in football, but the general trajectory is good and I'd be delighted to look rather foolish for ever doubting him!

I think the owners mantra is spot on. A model of continuous improvement is the way to a sustainable future right. We fans can feel the squad is better this year. We're 2 points better than this time last season.

Granted it's only 2 points, but we've been sh!t out of luck with injuries let's be honest. And despite a few big scorelines not in our favour l, notts county the anomaly because of crap officiating (though they played well on the night)

Footballs so fickle and it's all about short term outcomes. I got one are more than Happy with this season. Because I'm confident we will be an improvement from last year. Which in my eyes is progress. How other perceive that, well that's their right. But we're on an upward trend. UTM

Quoted from RichMariner

We're obviously talking after a magnificent win at Carlisle, a game in which we did something that we'd never previously done under Artell and that's to win a game from a losing position.

I would also add, though, that the grumbles were probably legitimate at the time. The club had recorded a sequence of terrible home results, and we were all rightly nervous about getting dragged into a relegation dogfight when I'm sure we all hoped for better things once he took the reins.

I guess you'd call me a sceptic rather than an 'Artell out' guy. I think some measure of scepticism is healthy, and my feeling was that he talked a good game, seemed to have the intelligence, the tactical nous, the creativity to succeed at this level... but couldn't get it to translate to the players on a consistent basis.

And while we're continuing to be inconsistent this season (we could quite easily lose our next two) I'll freely admit that he's forcing me to eat a bit of humble pie. There was something about that performance yesterday that felt a little different; like something clicked a bit more than normal (because I was feeling a little down and frustrated at half time).

We showed guts and fight and bravery. My main criticism of DA has been that he seems to be 'over coaching' the players. Clearly, he's got ideas and is trying to impart a certain style, and from what I've seen on match days is players looking a little confused, caught between two modes of thinking — do I follow instructions, do I think for myself — and maybe some of them can't carry possibly elaborate instructions for what is fundamentally a simple game.

Anyway, long story short, it's taking time and he's been afforded time that other managers don't necessarily get, but it looks like his methods are being carried out with a little more consistency, accuracy and, most importantly, confidence, by players throughout the squad. Because we've had to use the full squad already!

Like I say, I've never called for him to go, but also I don't think someone who presided over some pretty awful results gets a free pass. Another poster put it better than me — on the fence in a healthy way. Things can change quickly in football, but the general trajectory is good and I'd be delighted to look rather foolish for ever doubting him!

Spot on - who the Manager is has/will never bother me - agree totally he has been King of the Castle whilst we were pretty mediocre but I have enjoyed more of the season than not this year and I do not think we are in any kind of danger - you are only as good as your last result - funny old game, eh?  I get a sense of more humility this season - but that is an opinion and I know how some feel about opinion on here   maybe he tried to run before he could walk with the players.

Quoted from Watch and Shoot

Spot on - who the Manager is has/will never bother me - agree totally he has been King of the Castle whilst we were pretty mediocre but I have enjoyed more of the season than not this year and I do not think we are in any kind of danger - you are only as good as your last result - funny old game, eh?  I get a sense of more humility this season - but that is an opinion and I know how some feel about opinion on here   maybe he tried to run before he could walk with the players.

I recall that after DA's first training session with the squad after he took over he said something on the lines of how he was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the players. I think this gave him a false belief that they could take on board how he wanted them to play and show that in match conditions. Sadly we saw that they couldn't and it took a few games for things to " come to a head" and the subsequent " meeting". He now has the players of his own choosing, recruited with the knowledge that they can play his way. It will take time but the evidence that we are getting there is plain for all to see. I think a upper mid table finish this season will be achieved. Two more transfer windows and I think we will have the squad and playing style to be serious promotion contenders.

If a slow improvement in playing standards can be combined with players returning from injuries, then there is every possibility of reaching and staying somewhere near the play off places.

The current bugbear is the ease of teams scoring against us, especially the near post corners !!.

Eradicate that problem and we will be a much stronger team.

I wonder if anyone on this thread wants to change their minds. 3 wins out of 3 and 2 of those on the road, 1 being the league leaders.

DA has had his doubters, me included, but I can only say that the man knows what he's doing. Yep, we are going to lose a few but I can't help thinking it's our year and promotion is in the air.

UTM

Quoted from DB

I wonder if anyone on this thread wants to change their minds. 3 wins out of 3 and 2 of those on the road, 1 being the league leaders.

DA has had his doubters, me included, but I can only say that the man knows what he's doing. Yep, we are going to lose a few but I can't help thinking it's our year and promotion is in the air.

UTM

Last time you came out with that we did get promoted I recall Dave 🤞

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Last time you came out with that we did get promoted I recall Dave 🤞

I hope it's a good omen.

Quoted from DB

I hope it's a good omen.

Speaking of omens, I saw this somewhere on Twitter... Prior to last night, Town had only ever won 4 games at Gillingham. Those wins were in 1971/2, 1979/80, 1989/90 and 1997/8. Now what else do those seasons have in common?

Quoted from DB

I wonder if anyone on this thread wants to change their minds. 3 wins out of 3 and 2 of those on the road, 1 being the league leaders.

DA has had his doubters, me included, but I can only say that the man knows what he's doing. Yep, we are going to lose a few but I can't help thinking it's our year and promotion is in the air.

UTM

I don't think we will get promoted this season but stranger things have happened ( look at our last promotion from non- league). However I am convinced that DA has the ability and nous to get us promoted next season.

Last night showed that the near post corner routines can be defended and we don't have to lump the ball out every time.

The passing seemed to be a lot crisper and sharper then previous losing games.

I do hope that the so called "easier" games up to Boxing Day are given the same priority and importance as any others.

What we achieved against the Gills last night can also be inflicted to us if complacency drifts in !

High energy levels, 90 minutes fitness, plenty of harassing and covering, good quality protection at set pieces, throwing bodies at the ball, and taking one for the team are all things that made us win last night.

Several bits of skilful play and positioning awareness may also have crept in as well, if people noticed ??

All good signs going forward !!

😎