The manager's statement

If anything this was more depressing than JF's effort.

"We can still challenge for promotion" - notice he does not say we can still actually get promotion, just "challenge" for it.

"Don't get me wrong, it looks tougher but there's a long, long way to go and, if in time, the players can get the belief back that I think is slightly missing, then we've shown we can be a match for most teams in the league." - just whose job is it to give the players "belief"?

"They're two long, tough trips but if we can get a victory against one of those teams, maybe that will give us the lift in confidence that we need at the minute." - One victory? Maybe? Are these the words to inspire players or the faithful who will be trekking alongside the team to the other end of the country?

He's a yorkie as am I and he ought to remember - "If in doubt, say nowt".

If scoring 13 goals in 2 games do not give you confidence,

What will ?

No talk on new striker so no chance of getting promotion imo.

You know what he would have got more support if he had said, I should have been more active in the search for a striker weeks ago rather than scratting about for someone else`s unwanted, the players are giving their all so I need to look at my methods more closely to find out why its not working

Course we can still get promotion but Paul needs 2 new strikers and to stop chopping/changing.

Quoted from cmackenzie4

Course we can still get promotion but Paul needs 2 new strikers and to stop chopping/changing.

Can Hurst change his style Chris,

I think we have the players to get us promoted with the addition of a striker,

If we do go up , it will not be with Hurst.

I am sure the right man could get a lot more out of our players than Paul.

Another pointlessly downbeat phrase in the interview "we can be a match for most teams in this league"

I cannot imagine Buckley for example saying anything but "we can be a match for any team in this league".

This constant playing down of expectations represents to me a lack of confidence within the bloke himself. Setting himself lower goals might, he thinks, allow him to claim success but he is not facing reality. Nothing less than promotion this season will be a success for this club. Anything else, even a playoff final defeat, will be a failure because he has had every chance to create his own team to do the job. He can't complain if he is judged by the facts and not his low expectations.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Another pointlessly downbeat phrase in the interview "we can be a match for most teams in this league"

I cannot imagine Buckley for example saying anything but "we can be a match for any team in this league".

This constant playing down of expectations represents to me a lack of confidence within the bloke himself. Setting himself lower goals might, he thinks, allow him to claim success but he is not facing reality. Nothing less than promotion this season will be a success for this club. Anything else, even a playoff final defeat, will be a failure because he has had every chance to create his own team to do the job. He can't complain if he is judged by the facts and not his low expectations.

The thing is his low expectations are starting to work on some on here !
There are fans on here that would be happy with a mid table finish playing the most boring football ever seen at Blundell park, the only thing is there will only be less than 2000 of them willing to go watch it.

Quoted from grimps

The thing is his low expectations are starting to work on some on here !
There are fans on here that would be happy with a mid table finish playing the most boring football ever seen at Blundell park, the only thing is there will only be less than 2000 of them willing to go watch it.

Are there?

It will not be long before a home attendance is lower than the amount of season ticket holders we have.

Unless things change of course.

If the manager doesn't believe we can win every game, who's going to give the players the confidence and belief that they can?

You need that confidence and belief to win a league, I'd say.