10 reasons why PH can have no excuses in 21-22

imho Hurst is the best manager we can realistically hope for - i honestly don't think there are many better managers in the NL. Having said that he can have no excuses if we aren't challenging for the top places.
Here's 10 reasons why not, and why we have 10 reasons to be hopeful
1) he has had 4 full months to assess what is needed on and off the pitch, which gives him an obvious advantage over someone coming in cold during pre season
2) Hurst relies on having a small, tight, hard working committed squad. I think it's evident from the performances over the last 6-8 weeks that he has got that going ,so has at least the basis for such a squad
3) he has 4 full months now to recruit a squad and get them up to full fitness, at least a 5-6 week advantage over the rest on the NL
4) our main competitors in the NL won't be finishing their season until mid June, so won't be able to recruit properly as they won't know what division they will be playing in, nor what budget will be available
5) leading on from that they have only 2 months to rest, recuperate and prepare for the start of 21-22
6) we have the parachute payment ,which gives us a huge financial advantage over nearly all of the NL, the vast majority of whom will be financially weaker than they were 12-15 months ago
7) Things are going to improve off the pitch in terms of staff and facilities, which will undoubtably give a boost to performance levels, and should help with injury prevention
he's got new bosses to work with, who he obviously trusts, and will no doubt give him the backing he needs. It'll hopefully be a properly competitive budget rather than a Fenty style budget
9) it's obvious the new board are big on motivating staff and making them happy at work. i think we can all guess how much productivity levels are going to go up with happy workforce, and the contrast that will be to the gloom and misery that they will have been working under the Fenty penny pinching regime
10) finally - US ! i think the new board are going to enthuse the fans, and lets not forget we are going to be in the top 3 of support, and i'd imagine the biggest away following. That's got to be good in driving the players on and raising their performance levels to even higher standards, plus it'll mean more pennies coming in to support the budget

no pressure then Paul!

I agree with your 10 reasons but we're already in danger of heaping massive pressure and expectation on him.

Rome wasn't built in a day, there's an awful lot to do both on and off the pitch but, in reality, the time to raise our hopes is when we see who he gets through the door.

23 other factors to consider - every other team in the league next year (presuming it's a full league...)

I agree with all the points you've raised above and in terms of the club bouncing back and installing some feel good, Hurst needs his team to hit the floor running.  

I just don't think it's going to be that easy.

We're going to be the big fish in the pond again and the one that a lot of clubs will want to take shots at.  Relatively big name, relatively big ground, new owners, bigger budget due to parachute payments, be one of the bookies favourites...

It'll be teams coming here and parking the bus again, hoping to get a breakaway goal.  

My worry is that if we don't pick up say 12 points from the first 4 games then the mood will dampen quite quickly.

Quoted from diehardmariner

23 other factors to consider - every other team in the league next year (presuming it's a full league...)

I agree with all the points you've raised above and in terms of the club bouncing back and installing some feel good, Hurst needs his team to hit the floor running.  

I just don't think it's going to be that easy.

We're going to be the big fish in the pond again and the one that a lot of clubs will want to take shots at.  Relatively big name, relatively big ground, new owners, bigger budget due to parachute payments, be one of the bookies favourites...

It'll be teams coming here and parking the bus again, hoping to get a breakaway goal.  

My worry is that if we don't pick up say 12 points from the first 4 games then the mood will dampen quite quickly.

i agree we need to get a good start. i think we averaged about 14-15 points from the first 10 games when we were last down here and we were always struggling to catch up. That really needs to be 20 .
i have the impression that we always started the season 1,2 or 3 players short and those players arrived either without having a pre season or being signed as the August transfer window grew to an end, by which time we'd played half  a dozen games and already lost ground on the leaders.
hopefully that won't happen this year as he has the time and the money
on your other point ,yes, teams will park the bus ,but hurst knows this will happen and now has the experience and confidence to be able to deal with it.

I don't expect anything for next season but I hope will do well.

I don't expect to win the league but will be over the moon if we do.

I do expect us to make the play offs and what a nice way to return to the league a massive following at Wembley chanting FISH !!!!!!!!!


The massive crowd will show a certain disgraced ex fish monger/chairman what can be achieved when the board respect the fans.

Whatever we do it will be better with Jason running the ship.

Whilst we are one of the big boys we are certainly no bigger than Notts County, Chesterfield, Hartlepool, Wrexham and probably Stockport and the last two of these will also have decent budgets. We probably have one of the largest away following in any league below League 1 but our home attendances have never reached the levels witnessed in the early seventies and eighties despite a number of years in the Championship.

Whilst disappointed with Hurst’s failure to turn round results until March iit is evident from the last ten games what his qualities are and that’s putting out a team that will have pride in playing for town and for each other. He also appears more relaxed in his interviews and seems less concerned with the opposition and more focussed on how we play.

Going into next season I want to see signings that make us favourites to win the league before it even starts and start the season with kind of confidence (bordering arrogance) that Crawley and Fleetwood demonstrated in our first two years in non-league where they expected to win every game. We obviously give the opposition respect but hopefully our squad will be good enough to return us a la Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham at the first attempt.

It certainly won’t be easy but it’s very achievable and with the right positive attitude from the board down and some attractive salary packages maybe the likes of Meyainaisse, Matete and Hewitt will be happy to stay and help deliver that success. Us older fans know that once the town juggernaut gets rolling forward the backing home and away will be significant and loud so let’s get the right players to deliver this identified and brought in.

Quoted from forza ivano

6) we have the parachute payment ,which gives us a huge financial advantage over nearly all of the NL, the vast majority of whom will be financially weaker than they were 12-15 months ago

My only concern with the finances is where the funding will come from to pay JF 500k next season as part of the agreed 'benign' loan repayments.

It would be a great gesture of goodwill if he would postpone repayments for 12 months to give the new owners the best possible chance to get the club out at the first attempt - but then again this is a man who is walking away 200k up from the Trust Shares that he didn't pay for.

We have to get a good start next season. With only one automatic promotion place we simply can't afford 14-15 points after 10 games. Every single season (bar maybe 12-13) we were out of the title race by September last time.

Hopefully the ability to get off to a flier by keeping the core of the squad we have now. The problem with that in some respects is that the majority of the players we'd want to keep will probably find themselves league clubs or return to their parent club, I'm thinking Menayese, Matete, Hewitt, maybe even Coke and Hendrie although I think we stand half a chance of keeping them if we offer a decent enough contract.

Another issue we have is Gibson, Scannell, Williams, Rose, Morais and Waterfall are all under contract for next season and I imagine all but Gibson and maybe Morais are pretty big earners. Hursty needs to see if he can come to some sort of paying-off arrangement or find those lads new clubs as they aren't going to be part of Hursty's plan.

I have a funny feeling that Jackson Jr. could be lethal in the league below. He clearly knows where the goal and always looked lively, he could be a world-beater at that level. Obviously, we don't want to big the lad up too much, he doesn't need the pressure but I'm confident he will play a big part next season.

Hanson is too injury prone and lost some degree of effectiveness this season, he's probably a big earner too so he will be released. Greeney certain to be released too. Spokes is an interesting one, think he could do a decent job in the Conference but do we need better if we want to get promoted? I think we might. Harry certainly needs a new contract, he's been superb in recent weeks and being a Grimsby lad will be likely to sign I'd imagine. Maybe if we can keep Max Wright fit he'll be very dangerous at that level.

In other words, I think there's the basis of a promotion winning squad in there already. It's a case of Hursty seeing if he can retain the better ones and signing some top, top Conference level players.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

Whilst we are one of the big boys we are certainly no bigger than Notts County, Chesterfield, Hartlepool, Wrexham and probably Stockport and the last two of these will also have decent budgets. We probably have one of the largest away following in any league below League 1 but our home attendances have never reached the levels witnessed in the early seventies and eighties despite a number of years in the Championship.

Whilst disappointed with Hurst’s failure to turn round results until March iit is evident from the last ten games what his qualities are and that’s putting out a team that will have pride in playing for town and for each other. He also appears more relaxed in his interviews and seems less concerned with the opposition and more focussed on how we play.

Going into next season I want to see signings that make us favourites to win the league before it even starts and start the season with kind of confidence (bordering arrogance) that Crawley and Fleetwood demonstrated in our first two years in non-league where they expected to win every game. We obviously give the opposition respect but hopefully our squad will be good enough to return us a la Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham at the first attempt.

It certainly won’t be easy but it’s very achievable and with the right positive attitude from the board down and some attractive salary packages maybe the likes of Meyainaisse, Matete and Hewitt will be happy to stay and help deliver that success. Us older fans know that once the town juggernaut gets rolling forward the backing home and away will be significant and loud so let’s get the right players to deliver this identified and brought in.

No bigger than Chesterfield, Hartlepool or Stockport? Really?

Quoted from smokey111

No bigger than Chesterfield, Hartlepool or Stockport? Really?

Not on our average crowds over the last 20 years, I would guess they are all pretty similar and Stockport had reasonable crowds when in the league and used to have a decent following at BP when they came. They certainly appear to have plenty of money at present.