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A Driven Individual and - So Far - a Serial Winner
Written by monty_radio on Friday, 14th Sep 2018 13:59

In such a day as this when allowing your new manager and regime 10 games is considered the height of patience and sense and, by some, lenient nonsense, Paul Hurst is naturally incurring fans' spoken and written doubts after seven - albeit with an unrecognisable team.

Pointing out that Bobby Robson needed time and was, at one point, deeply doubted is, of course, deemed irrelevant because that was then and this is now.

It's a now when every public figure is on speed-dating as far as making a favourable public impression is concerned. And Hurst, being a nobody from somewhere or other, is being afforded even less time and credibility.

This is not the same as fan-anxiety. Being at the bottom is always deep-down discomforting and long winless runs will ever bring out the concern and, for us as football fans, the cynicism.

In this turmoil of consumer and client dissatisfaction a further victim tends to be trust. We expect that Marcus Evans sees what we see and that if he doesn't Specsavers are set to come calling.

We discount the long, painful process that preceded Hurst's appointment as we discount Evans's ability to be wiser than we are, even when his amassed fortune might just suggest otherwise.

But Evans, though obviously swayed by Hurst's confident manner and the feel he gives off of a-man-with-a-plan had something else to weigh in the balance - Hurst has, up to this point as a manager, been a serial winner. Four clubs with three promotions and a Shrewsbury near-miss play-off final is mighty impressive by any yardstick.

He continues under pressure to come across as a manager who knows exactly where he is going and just how he plans to get there. His recent comments around Bart, Dozzell and the loaning out of the younger players demonstrate that he manages by conviction and firmness.

Of course it could be that at almost 44 his rise has tailed off and that he will now settle down as just one more show-pony on the carousel of middle-age managerdom, but there's nothing to back that up - unless it's a poor start and the uber-discernment of the ultra-anxious fan that Hurst has finally been promoted to the level of his incompetence. But I'm not banking on it.




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PortmanTerrorist added 14:45 - Sep 14
WE are not typical supporters, we will give him and our new team the time they need. The atmosphere alone at both the home and away games i have attended has been something closer to our reputation of (once, not so long ago) being the most vocal in our league.

Our Club has life again, hope again, and some really encouraging performances.

Something i considered the other day was whether under Mick we could have ever gone on a run of good form. We won some games early doors last year but really, they were sketchy games (6 forwards, no CBs?!), however much i enjoyed Millwall.

This new team has the necessary ethos, fitness, motivation and therefore the possibility of going on a good run of form where we win games and dominate matches. If ever patience was warranted it was now.
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stormypetrel added 07:02 - Sep 15
You hit the nail on the head with the word “trust”.....it is the trust that Hurst has got it right with Dozzell, the trust in the decision of loaning out of the youth of the Town, the trust in the recruitment of lower league potential, the trust in getting the handling of senior players correct....yes, a lot of”trust” in the right decisions Hurst is making....

....once the trust that is being shown towards Hurst’s decision making is possibly exposed then the man with a plan might be shown to be limited...

On the other hand that trust might be rewarded, that Hurst called it right in so many of his decisions, that the man with a plan was right....

As another blog wrote....it’s a journey....and, at the moment quite refreshing.....
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MVBlue added 19:43 - Sep 17
Agree with PortmanTerror... (though not that handle name),
We wouldnt go pn a run of good form under the previous regime because we were playing ping pong. If we stick to the passing football seen in our better games and build on them we will string results together. Come on Paul get the match tapes out, analyse the opposition, get the team and game plan righy and lets go at them early.
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MVBlue added 19:44 - Sep 17
Bloody typos from smart phone.
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ElephantintheRoom added 10:25 - Sep 18
Hurst is NOT a serial winner. He is a serial runner up - and serial failure in play-offs. Grimsby fans might even argue he underachieved there - though his attritional style did very well for Shrewsbury. He will get all the time in the football world because Evans cannot afford to sack him even if he wanted to. You cannot ignore that Hurst's start has been distinctly iffy. He inherited an threadbare squad that needed strengthening in most departments. He chose to weaken it in most departments, particularly up front then buy in a job lot of unproven replacements with no time to create a team. This was AFTER he rubbished what he inherited. He ignored all the young players and loaned in a couple who are no better than what he already had. Now he is thrashing around for injured, aged and released duds. None of these are the actions of a competent manager. He WILL get time, that is the nature of absentee ownership. But it looks like a car crash happening in slow motion with the worst yet to come. But hey - ho early days.
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