Hurst should 100% stay

During his last spell I wasn’t Hurst’s biggest fan. I felt he should have been sacked in both May 2014 & 2015 when he failed to win promotion. But he got the job done in the end even if it took longer than we wanted it to.

I think he’s done a great job trying to rescue the season and did remarkable to construct a nearly entirely new team in January.

If you look at Holloway he inherited a decent squad. His 14 matches last season returned 21 points (1.5 per game) with a goal difference of -1.

The useless squad he assembled managed 19 points from 19 matches and a goal difference of -15. That’s a third less points than last season and a catastrophic GD.

And much of this points were at the start of the season when every team was struggling with consistency and training restrictions. (Even Colchester got 20 points from their first 8 home matches)

Which sums Holloway up. His 2 stand out successes came when he took squads that were already largely assembled into the Premier League. He never built a successful team himself. He’s a motivator not a builder.

Hurst had 5 matches with the dross he inherited. And got just 1 point from those matches (0.2 per game) with a -9 GD (-1.8 per game).

The squad he knocked together in January has so far managed 19 points from 17 (1.12 per game) with a -4 GD (-0.24 per game).

Over a season that’s around 51 points which whilst not spectacular is enough to stay up. And he did that in 31 days in January. If he had the summer it’s safe to say he would have built a better squad than he was able to in January and would have achieved more than the 51 points his team has averaged since the transfer window closed.

Hurst did a good job last time when he just had an assistant, a GK coach & a physio. He also did most of the player recruitment scouting.

He now has an assistant, a first team coach, a GK coach, a fitness coach, a performance analyst and a physio.

He has more tools at his disposal and if we add infrastructure improvements that have been suggested as well he will have everything he needs to be even better than he was last time.

Lets be realistic. Who can we possibly get who is better than Hurst? Of course he should stay.

We know he is staying.

He won't stay forever though, and how long it is will depend whether he can get us up in quick time. Despite everything we have endured, things are actually in his favour. He knows the club inside out, he will have new supportive owners who presumably will finance the team he wants.

He has plenty of time to get things ready for next season, we are a bigger fish in a smaller pond to get the best players and there will be improvements to the infrastructure of the club. He needs to hit the ground running and start really well as next season will probably be our best chance of a quick return.

He should defo stay.  He's grown as a manager compared to when he was last with us I feel.  I almost stopped watching the keystone cops version of football when we were under IH but since PH has returned, you can see some pride and fight in the players as well as more shape and composure. That cannot be done overnight but he managed to do it in a very short time.  

Quoted from GollyGTFC

During his last spell I wasn’t Hurst’s biggest fan. I felt he should have been sacked in both May 2014 & 2015 when he failed to win promotion. But he got the job done in the end even if it took longer than we wanted it to.

He has more tools at his disposal and if we add infrastructure improvements that have been suggested as well he will have everything he needs to be even better than he was last time.

I go with that. For me he should stay. I think because he got us promoted as well first time around from the conference to the league means there is a bit of love for this club on his part as well.

Quoted from Mayaman

He should defo stay.  He's grown as a manager compared to when he was last with us I feel.  I almost stopped watching the keystone cops version of football when we were under IH but since PH has returned, you can see some pride and fight in the players as well as more shape and composure. That cannot be done overnight but he managed to do it in a very short time.  

He had half a season.

Not a Hurst fan at all but, I think, and from listening to last night’s interview he’s guaranteed for next season, he’s the best placed to sort out all this season dross, he knows all the squad so has already decided on which ones he wants to keep, if any. If a new manager comes in then he has to start from scratch assessing the squad and my fear would be he might keep too many of them.

I think you should all re read these posts around Christmas when Hurst is sacked

Quoted from realist

I think you should all re read these posts around Christmas when Hurst is sacked

Nothing like being negative in your thoughts. The current season not ended, new owners not in place, next season no fixture list as it's not started.

Try giving Hurst a chance under the new owners and not judge him when he was given little or no money to spend under Fenty.

Quoted from Gaffer58

Not a Hurst fan at all but, I think, and from listening to last night’s interview he’s guaranteed for next season, he’s the best placed to sort out all this season dross, he knows all the squad so has already decided on which ones he wants to keep, if any. If a new manager comes in then he has to start from scratch assessing the squad and my fear would be he might keep too many of them.

We need to judge mangers on results not interviews. See previous managers for further details.

He turned us around from our lowest ever ebb before and I feel more confident in him than anyone else to do it again and at least have us in the mix for the playoffs next year.

Hurst managed to get a team/club on its ar£e at Xmas and gave us all hope with 3 games to go. Would Holloway of done that with the sh!tshow he assembled?..nope, we'd have been gone by February.

PH for me 🤙
He identified a team with existing players, LJL, Matete and Menehuse and Habergham - then got them reasonably fit in 2 or 3 weeks and welded them in to an effective football unit.
I think that is impressive.
Give him some more resources - he deserves it.

We can discuss him forever and a day, but he will start the season as manager whatever we say or think.

Like every other manager, he will stand or fall on his results, but I think people underestimate the size of the task and how far behind where we should be.

Other clubs, many of them with less fans and potential, have left us behind in their wake.

It's not just the team that needs rebuilding, it's the entire club and infrastructure.

Quoted from Teestogreen

PH for me 🤙
He identified a team with existing players, LJL, Matete and Meneyese and Habergham - then got them reasonably fit in 2 or 3 weeks and welded them in to an effective football unit.
I think that is impressive.
Give him some more resources - he deserves it.

Quoted from ginnywings

We can discuss him forever and a day, but he will start the season as manager whatever we say or think.

Like every other manager, he will stand or fall on his results, but I think people underestimate the size of the task and how far behind where we should be.

Other clubs, many of them with less fans and potential, have left us behind in their wake.

It's not just the team that needs rebuilding, it's the entire club and infrastructure.

Agreed - but this thread is about Hurst 100%.
After that - it’s about the club management getting its house in order to back him up imo
UTM

Quoted from psgmariner

We need to judge mangers on results not interviews. See previous managers for further details.

I get the feeling you simply dont like Hurst, and nothing he could do will change it. He was always marmite, but many who were on the dislike side have given him some credit for turning us into a competing team with the mess he inherited.

Who would you have instead, who would realistically come to National League Grimsby Town?

We're in a much better place now than when we last went down and PH joined midway through the first season. There should be a much wider pool of players to select from than the limited amount he could do in January and I'm sure he'll amass a competitive squad. That first year in non-league was a write-off, but I don't think next season will be. Just hope we won't be distracted by the FA Trophy!

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Hurst managed to get a team/club on its ar£e at Xmas and gave us all hope with 3 games to go. Would Holloway of done that with the sh!tshow he assembled?..nope, we'd have been gone by February.

Erm.....PH still hasn't yet managed Holloway's points per game total.

Quoted from MarinerWY

I get the feeling you simply dont like Hurst, and nothing he could do will change it. He was always marmite, but many who were on the dislike side have given him some credit for turning us into a competing team with the mess he inherited.

Who would you have instead, who would realistically come to National League Grimsby Town?

Same old bull excrement question, We never got to know who would have come or will come now as PH was given the job virtually straight away and will be in charge next season.

Could anyone have come in and made it worse?  We are frigging relegated.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

During his last spell I wasn’t Hurst’s biggest fan. I felt he should have been sacked in both May 2014 & 2015 when he failed to win promotion. But he got the job done in the end even if it took longer than we wanted it to.

I think he’s done a great job trying to rescue the season and did remarkable to construct a nearly entirely new team in January.

If you look at Holloway he inherited a decent squad. His 14 matches last season returned 21 points (1.5 per game) with a goal difference of -1.

The useless squad he assembled managed 19 points from 19 matches and a goal difference of -15. That’s a third less points than last season and a catastrophic GD.

And much of this points were at the start of the season when every team was struggling with consistency and training restrictions. (Even Colchester got 20 points from their first 8 home matches)

Which sums Holloway up. His 2 stand out successes came when he took squads that were already largely assembled into the Premier League. He never built a successful team himself. He’s a motivator not a builder.

Hurst had 5 matches with the dross he inherited. And got just 1 point from those matches (0.2 per game) with a -9 GD (-1.8 per game).

The squad he knocked together in January has so far managed 19 points from 17 (1.12 per game) with a -4 GD (-0.24 per game).

Over a season that’s around 51 points which whilst not spectacular is enough to stay up. And he did that in 31 days in January. If he had the summer it’s safe to say he would have built a better squad than he was able to in January and would have achieved more than the 51 points his team has averaged since the transfer window closed.

Hurst did a good job last time when he just had an assistant, a GK coach & a physio. He also did most of the player recruitment scouting.

He now has an assistant, a first team coach, a GK coach, a fitness coach, a performance analyst and a physio.

He has more tools at his disposal and if we add infrastructure improvements that have been suggested as well he will have everything he needs to be even better than he was last time.

excellent post. You've also got to take into account that Hurst achieved this with players he could convince to come join a team bottom of league 2, bang out of form. You'd think if he was starting at the same point Runaway did in pre season he'd have been able to attract a much better caliber of player.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

During his last spell I wasn’t Hurst’s biggest fan. I felt he should have been sacked in both May 2014 & 2015 when he failed to win promotion. But he got the job done in the end even if it took longer than we wanted it to.

I think he’s done a great job trying to rescue the season and did remarkable to construct a nearly entirely new team in January.

If you look at Holloway he inherited a decent squad. His 14 matches last season returned 21 points (1.5 per game) with a goal difference of -1.

The useless squad he assembled managed 19 points from 19 matches and a goal difference of -15. That’s a third less points than last season and a catastrophic GD.

And much of this points were at the start of the season when every team was struggling with consistency and training restrictions. (Even Colchester got 20 points from their first 8 home matches)

Which sums Holloway up. His 2 stand out successes came when he took squads that were already largely assembled into the Premier League. He never built a successful team himself. He’s a motivator not a builder.

Hurst had 5 matches with the dross he inherited. And got just 1 point from those matches (0.2 per game) with a -9 GD (-1.8 per game).

The squad he knocked together in January has so far managed 19 points from 17 (1.12 per game) with a -4 GD (-0.24 per game).

Over a season that’s around 51 points which whilst not spectacular is enough to stay up. And he did that in 31 days in January. If he had the summer it’s safe to say he would have built a better squad than he was able to in January and would have achieved more than the 51 points his team has averaged since the transfer window closed.

Hurst did a good job last time when he just had an assistant, a GK coach & a physio. He also did most of the player recruitment scouting.

He now has an assistant, a first team coach, a GK coach, a fitness coach, a performance analyst and a physio.

He has more tools at his disposal and if we add infrastructure improvements that have been suggested as well he will have everything he needs to be even better than he was last time.

excellent post. You've also got to take into account that Hurst achieved this with players he could convince to come join a team bottom of league 2, bang out of form. You'd think if he was starting at the same point Runaway did in pre season he'd have been able to attract a much better caliber of player.

Once again, persuading players to come across to the far east of the motorway services, with north sea winds lashing in on wintry nights will be hard work.

I suspect that Hurst will be first looking for defenders to make the goals against vastly reduce.

Obviously hoping that his 2 higher level manager jobs will have widened his circle of scout contacts and mansgers willing to loan developing rough diamonds to us.

If by any miracle we can get Matete back and make him an sttacking midfielder to add goals, itwould be a sign of intent.

One thing is certain - there will be rumours abounding, and the "rabbit out of the hat" signings will appear again.

How many ex players will be rumoured for returns?

An interesting close season awaits !