Would you have Paul Hurst back?

Quoted from essexexile

Under Hurst we had Bogle Amond and Matt in the National, wish we had em now

Matt played for us under Jolley but I get what you’re saying.

Quoted from lee65

Yes, remember how many games we lost or almost lost from great positions by bringing Parslow on to keep what we’d got, 2-0 up away at Chester (final score 2-2) being one that sticks in the memory!

Even Parslow would be an improvement on what we have got now ( as a centre forward)

Ha ha what a ridiculous poll . Get a grip .

Give Ollie a break please,

We have only played ten league games with a bunch of strangers

Some have no experience of league football and some of the experience ones have arrived unfit or injured.

We have had a late start to the season then a enforced break inbetween.

Most of our league games have been away so less time on the training pitch.

We are now entering a period of home games after next week so less travelling more time on the training pitch and more players getting over their injuries.

I expect a upturn in our form and a settled team going into the new year which hopefully will give us a few wins.

We have a very experienced manager who is here for the long term and threads like this must be like a slap in the face to him especially after he is putting his own money into the club something that no other manager has done.

So I apologize to you Ollie this thread was not needed and should be sent to room 101.

Quoted from arryarryarry

That really wasn't the case :-

11/12   70 points  11th   (with gob shite)
12/13   83 points  4th    behind Kidderminster (With gob shite still)
13/14   78 points  4th    behind Gateshead   (gob shite left mid-September)
14/15   86 points  3rd    behind Barnet
15/16   80 points  4th    behind Braintree

We were just about standing still apart from the season we actually got promoted and despite Bogle & Amond we had gone backwards from the previous season.

And has been mentioned many times we made the final in 15/16 with grateful thanks to that clown of a Braintree player dragging down Gowling for the penalty when he needn't have done it then getting sent off later in the game.

I have mentioned those other clubs as some seemed to suggest we were battling bigger clubs with pots of money.
  
Hurst again, no thank you.

Look at where those clubs are now:

Kidderminster - National League North
Gateshead - National League North
Barnet - National League
Braintree - National League South

It is the toughest league to get out of. Consistently getting us in the play offs was a great achievement as large portions of the team were rebuilt year on year.

We weren't doing too bad when he left either. What followed has been an absolute car crash. Turning over players like you wouldn't believe. Before lockdown the signs were there that Holloway was going to build something. Without the current situation I'm sure our team would look a lot different right now but it is frustrating.

Last night we put out a team filled with players that you would expect will play a decent number of games for us this season and lost 2-0 to Hull City Reserves.

Quoted from aldi_01

The fact Hurst was even allowed or out in a position to leave speaks volumes to me.

Whatever anyone’s opinion, he is the only manager we’ve had since Buckley MKII that improved his side year on year, managed to take us up and even though he was shafted somewhat, or so it seems, still made us competitive once we went up.

We haven’t had that since, for varying reasons.

People might moan that he cupped his ear but given the shite he’s had, it was understandable.

Sadly, we currently have a manager and I’d imagine Hurst would swerve GTFC with the current club leadership still in place.

But he didn't improve us year on year did he?

The side that got promoted was in many ways lesser than the side that lost to Bristol Rovers the year before, this is despite having a strike force of Amond and Bogle.  He somehow managed to think that at various points of the season that each of them wasn't what we needed and brought in the likes of Lee Tomlinson, Patrick Hoban....to take their places.  On an individual basis it was probably a better team.  Amond over LJL etc.  But the team itself was ruined by the fact he was obsessed with playing Andy Monkhouse every week and sending his sides out with the sole tactic of launching it high onto the left wing.

The side that then started League Two was inferior to the one that got promoted.  Yes, that side needed freshening up, no argument on that one.  It fell over the line in the end with our better players choosing to leave (you can't blame anyone for that) - Toto, Nolan, Tait...all left of their own choosing.  

But it was Hurst who opted to not keep Amond and Arnold and then replaced them with lesser players.  Amond was a mistake and everyone makes them, but his replacement was so much of a downgrade it's laughable (Scott Vernon)  Arnold didn't before and hadn't since cut it at Football League level, but his replacement (Ashley Chambers) was a downgrade.  Craig Clay was another who probably wasn't what we wanted if we were going to kick-in, but his replacement was inferior (James Berrett)

For those who did leave of their own accord - Toto was replaced by Andrew Boyce.  Tait by Zak Mills.  Nolan by Luke Summerfield.  All downgrades.  That summer the only improvement we made was Danny Andrew replacing the retired Gregor Robertson.  Early in the season he also brought in Danny Collins which was a very good move.

But otherwise Hurst absolutely knackered up his recruitment that summer, which was largely based around bringing in players released by relegated York City.   Yes we were in a decent league position when he left but it was a very congested table at that point, look at the team from that last game - there's absolutely no hope in hell that it would have stayed there [url]https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37663681[/url]

As for the cupping of his ear.  It wasn't understandable at all.  His critics were in the minority.  The vast majority of fans stuck by him, as did Fenty and the board, despite limited to no improvements for 4 years and boring and dull football.   His cupping of the ear was petty and spiteful.  Compare that with Disley's TV interview at Braintree.  He spoke of the emotion and how it meant something to prove people wrong, people that doubted the club.   Hurst could have handled it with a similar level of class, instead he acted like a spoilt brat.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Look at where those clubs are now:

Kidderminster - National League North
Gateshead - National League North
Barnet - National League
Braintree - National League South

It is the toughest league to get out of. Consistently getting us in the play offs was a great achievement as large portions of the team were rebuilt year on year.

We weren't doing too bad when he left either. What followed has been an absolute car crash. Turning over players like you wouldn't believe. Before lockdown the signs were there that Holloway was going to build something. Without the current situation I'm sure our team would look a lot different right now but it is frustrating.

Last night we put out a team filled with players that you would expect will play a decent number of games for us this season and lost 2-0 to Hull City Reserves.

Definitely agree it's a tough league to get out of and the car crash since 2016.   But couldn't disagree more that the play-offs were a great achievement.

2015/16: FGR, Braintree, Us, Dover (just missing out Tranmere)
2014/15: Bristol Rovers, Us, Eastleigh, FGR (just missing out Macclesfield and Woking)
2013/14: Cambridge, Gateshead, Us, Halifax (just missing out Braintree and Kidderminster)
2012/14: Kidderminster, Newport, Us, Wrexham (next closest team was Hereford, 10 points away)

You're as good as you are and I don't buy into the idea that any club has the automatic right to any league position.  But matching up to Braintree, Dover, Eastleigh, Halifax and bettering Woking and Hereford is not something I think a club of our size should class as an achievement.

I totally understand why a large proportion of our fans wouldn't want Hurst to be managing us again.

I accept many of their arguments but, let's be honest, we have very selective memories.

We're all quick to claim we only got promoted because some Braintree defender lost his damn mind. No one remembers how the much-forgotten Marcus Marshall came on and changed things. Does Hurst ever get the credit for making that sub, or for the 70+ points he earned that got us into that position?

Do enough of us think back to the time we went to Luton (in 16/17) and played great football, won 2-1, and everyone was happy? Didn't we beat Stevenage 5-2 around then too?

For every negative you can select, and pinpoint (Parslow Point) you could, if you wanted to, find many more to positives outweigh them.

Like I said, I understand the reasons why many wouldn't want Hurst to manage us again, but we are guilty of honing in on his limitations, fixating on them, and always focusing on them, and never really focusing on the many wins (and cup runs) he gave us.

Winning 6-1 at Gateshead? That was hilarious! And we hammered Alfreton 7-0 a week later, if my memory serves me correct. By all means say they were excrement clubs, but you can't say we always played negatively.

McKeown, Pearson, Disley, Bogle, Amond, Arnold... just six players Hurst (and to some degree, Scott) signed, and are still highly thought of at this club. How many players do we think highly of that Bignot, Slade, Jolley or Holloway have signed since?

We know from our time back in L2 that we have a budget that will always prevent us competing for promotion, so it stands to reason that we didn't have the best budget in non-league either.

Hurst had us in and around the playoffs each year, where we deserved to be. Many might not like this, but he did his job. We should've been promoted a year sooner than we were.

Dour, ear-cupping, yes, yes, I can see how that upsets some. But if we're always going to dwell on his limitations then that's how history will remember him.

And although he might be from Yorkshire, for what he did for this club during its darkest time, I think he deserves to be remembered a bit more fondly than that.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Look at where those clubs are now:

Kidderminster - National League North
Gateshead - National League North
Barnet - National League
Braintree - National League South

It is the toughest league to get out of. Consistently getting us in the play offs was a great achievement as large portions of the team were rebuilt year on year.

.

Thought I'd have a look at where clubs who got promoted from the Conference are now

Mansfield and Newport
Luton and Cambridge
Bristol Rovers
Cheltenham (and us)
Lincoln and Forest Green
Tranmere
Orient and Salford
Barrow and Harrogate

Just two who went back down Barnet and Macclesfield

Otherwise all above us in the FL (apart from Mansfield) in some cases a division and in one case two divisions above

Yes we got out of a very difficult league but we have gone absolutely nowhere since

Quoted from diehardmariner

But he didn't improve us year on year did he?

The side that got promoted was in many ways lesser than the side that lost to Bristol Rovers the year before, this is despite having a strike force of Amond and Bogle.  He somehow managed to think that at various points of the season that each of them wasn't what we needed and brought in the likes of Lee Tomlinson, Patrick Hoban....to take their places.  On an individual basis it was probably a better team.  Amond over LJL etc.  But the team itself was ruined by the fact he was obsessed with playing Andy Monkhouse every week and sending his sides out with the sole tactic of launching it high onto the left wing.

The side that then started League Two was inferior to the one that got promoted.  Yes, that side needed freshening up, no argument on that one.  It fell over the line in the end with our better players choosing to leave (you can't blame anyone for that) - Toto, Nolan, Tait...all left of their own choosing.  

But it was Hurst who opted to not keep Amond and Arnold and then replaced them with lesser players.  Amond was a mistake and everyone makes them, but his replacement was so much of a downgrade it's laughable (Scott Vernon)  Arnold didn't before and hadn't since cut it at Football League level, but his replacement (Ashley Chambers) was a downgrade.  Craig Clay was another who probably wasn't what we wanted if we were going to kick-in, but his replacement was inferior (James Berrett)

For those who did leave of their own accord - Toto was replaced by Andrew Boyce.  Tait by Zak Mills.  Nolan by Luke Summerfield.  All downgrades.  That summer the only improvement we made was Danny Andrew replacing the retired Gregor Robertson.  Early in the season he also brought in Danny Collins which was a very good move.

But otherwise Hurst absolutely knackered up his recruitment that summer, which was largely based around bringing in players released by relegated York City.   Yes we were in a decent league position when he left but it was a very congested table at that point, look at the team from that last game - there's absolutely no hope in hell that it would have stayed there [url]https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37663681[/url]

As for the cupping of his ear.  It wasn't understandable at all.  His critics were in the minority.  The vast majority of fans stuck by him, as did Fenty and the board, despite limited to no improvements for 4 years and boring and dull football.   His cupping of the ear was petty and spiteful.  Compare that with Disley's TV interview at Braintree.  He spoke of the emotion and how it meant something to prove people wrong, people that doubted the club.   Hurst could have handled it with a similar level of class, instead he acted like a spoilt brat.

If you are talkiong about bringing in inferior players look no futher than the shower Holloway has recruited. Some of them are worse footballers than Newell's lot (just more sober perhaps)