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Quoted from mariner91

Then we must have had an exceptionally good squad of players last season for them to make the play offs despite the hindrance of the current manager being in charge.

No we had a squad that just managed to get there despite the manager making it more difficult by picking a very weakened side and losing what he considered an unimportant game that cost 3 valuable points we could easily have regretted if you remember.

That is just one of the manager's "tactical" selections that some would say have cost the side several points already this season.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

No we had a squad that just managed to get there despite the manager making it more difficult by picking a very weakened side and losing what he considered an unimportant game that cost 3 valuable points we could easily have regretted if you remember.

That is just one of the manager's "tactical" selections that some would say have cost the side several points already this season.

We were 4 points ahead of Braintree, hardly scraping in is it? Amuses me that the anti-Hurst fans keep saying "we've got a good squad but might not make the play offs because of the manager". Based on what exactly?! He's made the play offs comfortably the past two seasons so it's not like it's beyond him. And this squad that might be hindered by him according to the experts, was put together by him, so he can't be completely useless.

Is he perfect? No. Does he frustrate me at times with selections and tactics? Yes. Is there still room for improvement? Of course. But he's a young manager who has done pretty well the last two seasons and will hopefully continue to improve. His record here alone should prove to the doubters that he isn't completely clueless. Even our form in the last 10 games should prove that, 21 points from 30 is not a bad showing and is in fact better than Barnet's.

We are a fifth tier football team. We are not going to be able to afford a top class manager, whoever we have will have their faults. PH would be snapped up very quickly by nearly any other club in this league and we'd have to be pretty canny to get a better manager for the same amount that we're paying Hurst, Luton had a better manager but I read somewhere he was on £200,000 a year which I bet is four times what we're paying PH. We can't afford that!

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

No we had a squad that just managed to get there despite the manager making it more difficult by picking a very weakened side and losing what he considered an unimportant game that cost 3 valuable points we could easily have regretted if you remember.

That is just one of the manager's "tactical" selections that some would say have cost the side several points already this season.

Best bit of the re-writing of history I've seen on here for a good while. IF you are referring to the Dartford game it came a couple of days after our r previous game and 48 hours before an equally important home game v Chester. Something had to give. The easier of the two games on paper was Dartford and Hurst picked a team that should've had enough about them to have won...  

Quoted from mariner91

We were 4 points ahead of Braintree, hardly scraping in is it? Amuses me that the anti-Hurst fans keep saying "we've got a good squad but might not make the play offs because of the manager". Based on what exactly?! He's made the play offs comfortably the past two seasons so it's not like it's beyond him. And this squad that might be hindered by him according to the experts, was put together by him, so he can't be completely useless.

Is he perfect? No. Does he frustrate me at times with selections and tactics? Yes. Is there still room for improvement? Of course. But he's a young manager who has done pretty well the last two seasons and will hopefully continue to improve. His record here alone should prove to the doubters that he isn't completely clueless. Even our form in the last 10 games should prove that, 21 points from 30 is not a bad showing and is in fact better than Barnet's.

We are a fifth tier football team. We are not going to be able to afford a top class manager, whoever we have will have their faults. PH would be snapped up very quickly by nearly any other club in this league and we'd have to be pretty canny to get a better manager for the same amount that we're paying Hurst, Luton had a better manager but I read somewhere he was on £200,000 a year which I bet is four times what we're paying PH. We can't afford that!

Using Barnet as a yardstick is pointless until April because their opponents have not been the same as ours over those games. Many would argue that if you looked at the fixtures before those games we had some pretty easy ones. After those games we are left looking at points lost in those games.

My concern is that good managers learn from mistakes, that's why I mentioned his Braintree decision. Has he learned or has he gone in the wrong direction? There has been some funny sides chosen hasn't there? Why is it also that on several occasions the side has failed to capitalise on weaker opposition and good situations in the games by taking the game to the opposition. Someone has already said that just a small number of goals in drawn games would have seen us above Barnet.

But when the side don't do these things we get the usual stuff trotted out. It's down to the players, they say. Well they are his players, his team. Nobody else to look at there, surely. Then they trot out the old chestnut about budget. But, did York have a bigger budget than us? What's Gateshead's or Woking's or Macclesfield's like compared to ours? Somebody will no doubt find out. Bet they are massive!

We are a conference team, they say. Don't we know it? Some of us remember the first time and the second time we were inches away from promotion to the top league in the land and it grates to hear that 'we are a conference team'. We aren't. We are a league team in the wrong place and unless we start to believe that we will stay in this league for ever.

In my opinion for what it's worth, it is the manager's job at Grimsby Town to install that belief and arrogance in the team and I don't care what his salary is. I cannot find anyone who thinks that is currently the case. No, it's all oh we've done well haven't we? The manager has done well hasn't he? Playoffs for the past two seasons! Whoopee! And where are we now? Still in fifth place in the conference hoping the others don't win their games to send us sliding down, praying to scrape into the playoffs again and then squeeze back into the league somehow.

I get fed up of reading these reasonable explanations about why we are where we are and if we get X points while the others drop Y points we will be Z points nearer to Barnet by Pancake Tuesday. The one fact I am interested in is that our team is a long way from the top of this crappy league and it shouldn't be.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Using Barnet as a yardstick is pointless until April because their opponents have not been the same as ours over those games. Many would argue that if you looked at the fixtures before those games we had some pretty easy ones. After those games we are left looking at points lost in those games.

My concern is that good managers learn from mistakes, that's why I mentioned his Braintree decision. Has he learned or has he gone in the wrong direction? There has been some funny sides chosen hasn't there? Why is it also that on several occasions the side has failed to capitalise on weaker opposition and good situations in the games by taking the game to the opposition. Someone has already said that just a small number of goals in drawn games would have seen us above Barnet.

But when the side don't do these things we get the usual stuff trotted out. It's down to the players, they say. Well they are his players, his team. Nobody else to look at there, surely. Then they trot out the old chestnut about budget. But, did York have a bigger budget than us? What's Gateshead's or Woking's or Macclesfield's like compared to ours? Somebody will no doubt find out. Bet they are massive!

We are a conference team, they say. Don't we know it? Some of us remember the first time and the second time we were inches away from promotion to the top league in the land and it grates to hear that 'we are a conference team'. We aren't. We are a league team in the wrong place and unless we start to believe that we will stay in this league for ever.

In my opinion for what it's worth, it is the manager's job at Grimsby Town to install that belief and arrogance in the team and I don't care what his salary is. I cannot find anyone who thinks that is currently the case. No, it's all oh we've done well haven't we? The manager has done well hasn't he? Playoffs for the past two seasons! Whoopee! And where are we now? Still in fifth place in the conference hoping the others don't win their games to send us sliding down, praying to scrape into the playoffs again and then squeeze back into the league somehow.

I get fed up of reading these reasonable explanations about why we are where we are and if we get X points while the others drop Y points we will be Z points nearer to Barnet by Pancake Tuesday. The one fact I am interested in is that our team is a long way from the top of this crappy league and it shouldn't be.

All this yet I don't think I've ever seen you offer a viable alternative to PH. Certainly not one we could get within the immediate future if PH was to be sacked. We have a good conference level manager. Certainly not excellent, not the best in the league but he's a good manager for this level. Whilst we are in the current position (where only Eastleigh could reasonably expect to over take us with games in hand) I'd say it would be one hell of a gamble to try and get a better manager than PH as there are no obvious or outstanding candidates readily available.

I won't say if we get X points or Y points or whatever. But we're in the mix at the right end of the table, on a decent run of form with the best defence in the league. It's not ideal but it's not a terrible position to be in either. We drop points against teams that we arguably shouldn't do but you conveniently forget to mention we often pick up wins against teams considered difficult. It's a lot easier to start beating lower placed teams than it is to start beating teams at the top of a table, look how Arsenal continue to struggle against teams around them.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Using Barnet as a yardstick is pointless until April because their opponents have not been the same as ours over those games. Many would argue that if you looked at the fixtures before those games we had some pretty easy ones. After those games we are left looking at points lost in those games.

My concern is that good managers learn from mistakes, that's why I mentioned his Braintree decision. Has he learned or has he gone in the wrong direction? There has been some funny sides chosen hasn't there? Why is it also that on several occasions the side has failed to capitalise on weaker opposition and good situations in the games by taking the game to the opposition. Someone has already said that just a small number of goals in drawn games would have seen us above Barnet.

But when the side don't do these things we get the usual stuff trotted out. It's down to the players, they say. Well they are his players, his team. Nobody else to look at there, surely. Then they trot out the old chestnut about budget. But, did York have a bigger budget than us? What's Gateshead's or Woking's or Macclesfield's like compared to ours? Somebody will no doubt find out. Bet they are massive!

We are a conference team, they say. Don't we know it? Some of us remember the first time and the second time we were inches away from promotion to the top league in the land and it grates to hear that 'we are a conference team'. We aren't. We are a league team in the wrong place and unless we start to believe that we will stay in this league for ever.

In my opinion for what it's worth, it is the manager's job at Grimsby Town to install that belief and arrogance in the team and I don't care what his salary is. I cannot find anyone who thinks that is currently the case. No, it's all oh we've done well haven't we? The manager has done well hasn't he? Playoffs for the past two seasons! Whoopee! And where are we now? Still in fifth place in the conference hoping the others don't win their games to send us sliding down, praying to scrape into the playoffs again and then squeeze back into the league somehow.

I get fed up of reading these reasonable explanations about why we are where we are and if we get X points while the others drop Y points we will be Z points nearer to Barnet by Pancake Tuesday. The one fact I am interested in is that our team is a long way from the top of this crappy league and it shouldn't be.

good well reasoned reply ,

[quote=657]

Using Barnet as a yardstick is pointless until April because their opponents have not been the same as ours over those games. Many would argue that if you looked at the fixtures before those games we had some pretty easy ones. After those games we are left looking at points lost in those games.

My concern is that good managers learn from mistakes, that's why I mentioned his Braintree decision. Has he learned or has he gone in the wrong direction? There has been some funny sides chosen hasn't there? Why is it also that on several occasions the side has failed to capitalise on weaker opposition and good situations in the games by taking the game to the opposition. Someone has already said that just a small number of goals in drawn games would have seen us above Barnet.

But when the side don't do these things we get the usual stuff trotted out. It's down to the players, they say. Well they are his players, his team. Nobody else to look at there, surely. Then they trot out the old chestnut about budget. But, did York have a bigger budget than us? What's Gateshead's or Woking's or Macclesfield's like compared to ours? Somebody will no doubt find out. Bet they are massive!

We are a conference team, they say. Don't we know it? Some of us remember the first time and the second time we were inches away from promotion to the top league in the land and it grates to hear that 'we are a conference team'. We aren't. We are a league team in the wrong place and unless we start to believe that we will stay in this league for ever.

In my opinion for what it's worth, it is the manager's job at Grimsby Town to install that belief and arrogance in the team and I don't care what his salary is. I cannot find anyone who thinks that is currently the case. No, it's all oh we've done well haven't we? The manager has done well hasn't he? Playoffs for the past two seasons! Whoopee! And where are we now? Still in fifth place in the conference hoping the others don't win their games to send us sliding down, praying to scrape into the playoffs again and then squeeze back into the league somehow.

I get fed up of reading these reasonable explanations about why we are where we are and if we get X points while the others drop Y points we will be Z points nearer to Barnet by Pancake Tuesday. The one fact I am interested in is that our team is a long way from the top of this crappy league and it shouldn't be.[/quote


Excellent post IMO

Where's the Red Cross brigade  

Quoted from mariner91

All this yet I don't think I've ever seen you offer a viable alternative to PH. Certainly not one we could get within the immediate future if PH was to be sacked. We have a good conference level manager. Certainly not excellent, not the best in the league but he's a good manager for this level. Whilst we are in the current position (where only Eastleigh could reasonably expect to over take us with games in hand) I'd say it would be one hell of a gamble to try and get a better manager than PH as there are no obvious or outstanding candidates readily available.

I won't say if we get X points or Y points or whatever. But we're in the mix at the right end of the table, on a decent run of form with the best defence in the league. It's not ideal but it's not a terrible position to be in either. We drop points against teams that we arguably shouldn't do but you conveniently forget to mention we often pick up wins against teams considered difficult. It's a lot easier to start beating lower placed teams than it is to start beating teams at the top of a table, look how Arsenal continue to struggle against teams around them.

I honestly don't care who the manager is, I only care what he is.That's why I don't offer an alternative. It's not my job to pick managers. If PH suddenly becomes the inspirational leader we need who takes us shooting up the table then I would be delighted.

On the subject of dropping points, a manager said a few years ago that if you win your games against the teams below you then you win the league. That was Evans at Crawley after we won there. We seem to go into too many games against teams below us with worry beads in the dressing room. Teams above us and it's a different story for some reason known only to the manager and players.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

I honestly don't care who the manager is, I only care what he is.That's why I don't offer an alternative. It's not my job to pick managers. If PH suddenly becomes the inspirational leader we need who takes us shooting up the table then I would be delighted.

On the subject of dropping points, a manager said a few years ago that if you win your games against the teams below you then you win the league. That was Evans at Crawley after we won there. We seem to go into too many games against teams below us with worry beads in the dressing room. Teams above us and it's a different story for some reason known only to the manager and players.

It's not anyone's job on here to choose an alternative but unless there is one so blatantly obvious and available, why would we risk gambling in our current position? In the mix, good defence, good run of form. Not ideal but a decent place to be. Why get in a new manager and put it all at risk with everything still to play for? You used the games in hand stick to beat PH earlier but after tonight's results if we win ours we would go either third or second depending on Macc, that is a good position.

My opinion for the reason we don't beat teams below us is that we've not got the right striker playing against them. LJL is fantastic against teams who will come at you because he can hold it up and cause them problems taking the pressure off our defence. Against teams who will park the bus he lacks the finesse and finishing often required. Not always, he did it against Braintree, but too often. I'd like to think Pittman could be the man to get us beating those teams but he needs to remain fit and get a good run of games going. If that isn't possible, then a striker who will get us beating those teams lower down is the only thing stopping us catching Barnet.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

I honestly don't care who the manager is, I only care what he is.That's why I don't offer an alternative. It's not my job to pick managers. If PH suddenly becomes the inspirational leader we need who takes us shooting up the table then I would be delighted.

On the subject of dropping points, a manager said a few years ago that if you win your games against the teams below you then you win the league. That was Evans at Crawley after we won there. We seem to go into too many games against teams below us with worry beads in the dressing room. Teams above us and it's a different story for some reason known only to the manager and players.

That's the cautious nature of the manager I'm afraid and that will be nailed into the players
Take brown when he first came here,, always getting forward, now thinks about defence first and foremost . We just invite pressure by sitting deeper and deeper the longer the game goes on.
Always get hurst in the paper saying that he didn't like the way we defended deep during the second half,, that's when I'd be balling at them from the touch line but he just stands there with his hands behind his back doing nothing.
It all comes from him and nobody else, fills me with no confidence at all about getting promotion from this league