Reflection Time

Quoted from moosey_club

Reflection comes at the end of the season....however...

Lack of decent striking / attacking options
Don't lose vs winning mindset
Substitutions

Three themes which have come up previously and the latter has dogged Hurst throughout his tenure(s).

His substitutions in the playoffs didn’t do too badly though 😎

Quoted from 140381

A lot of sense on this thread. Well done all.  

I agree. Enjoyed reading this thread. Well thought through comments and it is great to see the optimism coming through. Right through the season we have had a team with fight and commitment, with Luke setting the tone. There is pride back in our team and hopefully we will continue this upward trajectory.

Quoted from RonMariner

His substitutions in the playoffs didn’t do too badly though 😎

To be fair to Hurst in attacking terms today he had Orsi, Khan and O’Neil to fall back on, hardly the cavalry was it?

Quoted from DB

As far as we are concerned the season is over. We will be an upper/lower mid-table team and is that good or bad? Compared to last year at this time it's not good, it's bloody fantastic when you included an FA Cup quarter-final.

We have what was basically an NL side with additions. Today and March has shown the limitation of some players, and that is not to say they have not played to the best of their ability but to the best of their ability. We now need to progress to a level that gets us promoted to league 1, it will be adios to some players and welcome to new ones.

BP will have safety updates, safety for all fans and hopefully somebody will put a spade into the ground for the long-awaited new training ground.

No it isn't. We need to look as progressive as possible by having a strong end to the season. It will help recruitment in the summer. A cup run and writing off the season from now will look like a one off cup run from a struggling League Two side. A strong finish in the top half gives a whole new perspective on our intention of progression..

Another point.. our strongest players this season have mainly been the ones who won promotion or were signed from the National League. I've been far more disappointed in general with our signings from EFL clubs..

Providing we end up no lower than we are now (I think we'll finish 12thish) then I'll look back on this season as a positive. Fantastic fa cup run and a mid table finish in our first season back.
We do need to be realistic and see the teams like Bradford will always attract better players due to the amount they can invest with their fanbase etc.
I am optimistic for next season. Top half finish should be the goal, the aim should be the play offs. PH will already have 1 eye on next season and have a few conversations lined up. I believe we have a back bone of a very good league 2 team. If we added in 3-4 quality players I think we can hit top 7.

Quoted from RonMariner

At this stage of the season the table doesn't lie. It's telling us that we are a mid table side.  But that isn't bad considering we finished 6th best in the NL last season, had a short pre-season, and made very few squad additions, most of them from NL and below.

So finishing mid table this season is ok in my book in the circumstances, and the cup run makes it a truly memorable season anyway.

But I think we all need and expect something better next season.  

Totally agree with this. We all know what happened last time we didn’t have a proper pre season. 6th best team in the league below and we’ve held our own in League Two. Can’t underestimate the impact of playing twice a week every week. Lots of travelling and late mid week nights will have taken its toll. Hurst will learn a lot between now and the end of the season. I’d like to see Khouri get some game time and would be happy for McAtee to sit out a few games with a view to next season.

For me, the season was over once people started to arrive for a quarter final with face paint and to ‘enjoy a day outs rather than to win, but that’s just me.

I’d have snapped your hand off at mid table mediocrity this year. I’m ambitious, as are the club but I’m also realistic. What we did last year is nothing short of a miracle so you can forgive people for getting carried away but we must remember, we haven’t really competed in League 2 since our failed playoff attempt way back when. It’s been less than average, with three horrid seasons, two of which saw us relegated.

The club as a whole has changed, that naturally impacts the squad and we’re still moving in the right direction. Hurst knows the issues, the players know the issues. A few fans crying on social media like it’s the end of the world when we lose a game is becoming tiresome.

We got promoted last season from a league witj 2 teams who literally spent more than average League 1 clubs. Arguably, 3 teams, one of which was losing £100k a week, there or their abouts. Gives you a massive indication of how much change has happened at the club. We’ve been told repeatedly, through very subtle comments, about the state of the club off the pitch and just how much investment, both time and money has needed to be spent which I have no doubt has been diverted from the playing budget. We all know who to blame for that.

We are probably better than results suggest but we can’t turn back the clock, they happened. We have to learn from it and keep moving forward. I guess I’m just confused as to what some people actually wanted, it’s as if they can’t see the past. Remember, our last game at Bradford saw one of the worst Grimsby Town sides see two of its own players sent off for fighting each other, and even the fight was a flipping farce.

I know people like to lose their minds when we lose, that’s their choice but I do think some perspective and reflection of where we’ve been, and where we’ve come from is needed, especially this season. I know, after years of abject failure and zero ambition or investment it’s natural to get twitchy but we’re not a rudderless ship anymore. We’re not a club on life support…

Let’s look at ourselves, let’s not worry about anyone else and let’s just take stock and remain calm.

We had, essentially, a 4 week pre season last year…

I"m happy not to be peeing in the bushes at Aldershot or getting P**? Wet through at Bromley in the National League come next season ,stable in league 2 after 20 years of "Being Whore's Draws!" =up and down so we can stabilise then build up on what we have got
Given a chance to show what "Town" can do ,
As in the FA Cup was a morale  booster feel good factor break from the bread &butter of the league.
You have the moaners and groaners on here BUT they will be there at BP come next season mid week mid winter game.
While I listen to commentary  on MarinersTV/ Radio Humberside .
Look forward to next season's fixtures to see where and when i can go to watch "Town" play thats not a shed in Dover!!
This season my last game is Stevenage hope its a cracker like Eastleigh  was.
UTM

Quoted from RonMariner

His substitutions in the playoffs didn’t do too badly though 😎

With all the stats out there I presume there must be some regarding introduction of subs and goals scored, points gained, points lost etc to give can idea of sub success.

My overriding feeling is that our subs generally are too late and prove ineffective. That could just be my feeling and stats could prove I am wildly wrong.

Subs more than ever are a huge part of a season and a huge opportunity to make a massive  difference in a game and I honestly don't think we make the most of it.

I think it’s fair to be delighted to be out of Non League ahead of schedule, be amazed at the cup run but still be relatively disappointed with the league season on the whole.

As others have said, the frustration is that we don’t seem a million miles away. I look at some of the games this season and very few I can say we were fortunate when we’ve won/drawn but I can name 5/6 games where we’ve been very unfortunate to come away without a win, most of them being our own doing.

We absolutely must bring in 4 or 5 forward players in the summer and get rid of most of what we have. I still stand by the fact the January window was a poor one and has given us a lot to do this summer.