“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence”.

- Helen Keller; American author, disability rights advocate, poilitical activist and lecturer.

I read this quote today and immediately made the connection to Town. Thanks to Jason, Andrew and their team for bringing optimism back to our club and making all of the small changes that collectively really do contribute to winning three points on a Saturday afternoon.

Long may it continue.

UTM

I agree completely; confidence changes your performance in lots of life's challenges. A lack of it cannot possibly help.

Depends. Over-confidence can lead to failure. Plenty of examples of that through history.

I agree... But also, faith without works is dead. Luckily we seem to have both in abundance!

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Depends. Over-confidence can lead to failure. Plenty of examples of that through history.

But confidence and over-confidence are not the same. Personally speaking I try to be as accurate as I can with what I say, so I agree with you, but that isn't what I was saying, just to be clear. I think this is where Hurst seems to have it right, at the moment. The longer we are top and winning games, the harder it will be to keep that balance, for sure. But confidence, if not misplaced is a good thing.

Quoted from BeijingMariner

But confidence and over-confidence are not the same. Personally speaking I try to be as accurate as I can with what I say, so I agree with you, but that isn't what I was saying, just to be clear. I think this is where Hurst seems to have it right, at the moment. The longer we are top and winning games, the harder it will be to keep that balance, for sure. But confidence, if not misplaced is a good thing.

I don’t disagree with that BM. Confidence helps if it’s a spur to effort (and vigilance).

Hurst and Doig will keep the players firmly on the floor, encouraging those who need a lift, complimenting good work but ensuring they do not think that they have a God given right to win games.

They also have to keep the non playing squad players ready to go - Sears being the latest example, and Pearson and Longe-King being notable ones who might have been early season 1st choices.

Every Hurst interview is happier, but he always says  - good to date, but the next game is the one to concentrate on.

Each game is a challenge - anyone can beat anyone on their day, so Town have to keep at 100% to make the matches THEIR day !

Quoted from acko338

They also have to keep the non playing squad players ready to go - Sears being the latest example, and Pearson and Longe-King being notable ones who might have been early season 1st choices.

Agree with this in spades, and Hursty seems very aware of this. I think Sears did very well coming in for Efete, testament to the fact this is a squad with depth and shared spirit. Bouncing back from that Bromley result speaks volumes about that. Now we have the FA cup coming up too, want to win for sure but this might be a chance for Seb Revan to get another go, Pearson, LJL etc

The main thing for me that Fenty never grasped was to give the fan base HOPE because without it we are nothing . The one time he actually gave the support hope he then inexplicably decided to penny pinch again and shatter all the hope the team had built after the Forest Green game . One day when he's old and grey he will realise what it takes to run a football club , the fans never want too much really but Hope is top of this list

Quoted from It Bites

The main thing for me that Fenty never grasped was to give the fan base HOPE because without it we are nothing . The one time he actually gave the support hope he then inexplicably decided to penny pinch again and shatter all the hope the team had built after the Forest Green game . One day when he's old and grey he will realise what it takes to run a football club , the fans never want too much really but Hope is top of this list

I think Fenty gave us plenty of hope because that is all he had - hope a new manager would do the trick, hope a change of squad would do the trick, hope football fortune would come along.  He went to meetings with officials hoping they would deliver him a new stadium.  He was photographed standing next to empty fields hoping a stadium would be there when he turned round.

He gave us plenty of hope but did not possess an ounce of ability to go with it, or could ever see that working colleigetly with others with the wisdom and knowledge he lacked would pay dividends.

I agree the new owners are giving us hope, but also the expectation they have the expertise and contacts to make it all a reality.

Quoted from It Bites

The main thing for me that Fenty never grasped was to give the fan base HOPE because without it we are nothing . The one time he actually gave the support hope he then inexplicably decided to penny pinch again and shatter all the hope the team had built after the Forest Green game . One day when he's old and grey he will realise what it takes to run a football club , the fans never want too much really but Hope is top of this list

Lots of great points about confidence on the pitch, but agree with the above. It’s a collective thing and the impact on the club as a whole, from the restored belief that we as fans share to the smile on Paul Hursts face. Easy to over analyse and let’s not detract from the credit Paul Hurst deserves in pulling this squad of players together who are both talented and of the right character. But, it all adds up to optimism and however we arrived at this point it feels great. The key is to maintain that optimism and that’s where we as fans can play our part - there will be more Bromley moments, but keep the faith, our club is moving in the right direction.

UTM

Helen Keller gets quoted on The Fishy! I bet she didn't see that one coming...

Optimistic of course, this Forum has a total positive vibe from a while back.We all know why, so I won't mention the reason.

What a difference 👏 it's fantastic.

When you look at how the manager is carrying himself that runs off on the players and breeds confidence unlike the behaviours of his predecessor. Dogs look like their owners football teams like their managers last seasons team was a shambles.