Disappointed with the lack of intensity, passion and urgency from Hastings today. This was a game Hastings needed to win but not sure all the 11 players were that bothered. What we don't need now is Sean saying we are in a false position. At the moment Hastings are there for the taking against any team who show any sort of desire to win. We were not prepared to work hard enough as a team to earn the 3 points. This needs to be put right against Harrow.
Just don't know what to make of it anymore. Why do we continue to play 4-3-3 when it clearly hasn't worked all season?.Why start with Richardson at left back when it has been proved on numerous occasions he's not a left back? Why start Jack Dixon on the bench? is he fit or not as he looked the best player on the pitch when he was introduced. Just so many odd decisions and I'm starting to wonder what we are paying Hugo to do as i've seen no improvement since his arrival, although he was involved with the signing of the mighty Ray Freeman.
Good to see Matt back, although he was at fault for the goal and once again I thought Judge was MOM. He is certainly improving every game and it will be good to have Sean back along side him on tuesday.
Results seemed to go our way once again today and it's hard to beleive that with just 4 wins this season we are still within shouting distance of the teams above us. Still think we will be safe but only because we are fortunate enough that only 2 will go down this season and that Carshalton looked doomed and Wingate have pressed the self destruct button or am i clutching at straws?
Good points made John. Don't think our midfield is strong enough just to have 3 and they don't get much help from the front players. Don't really know why we need 2 coaches on the sidelines either. Did Tom Vickers pick up an injury? Thought he did well apart from one unfortunate slip in the first half. Have to assume Jack is not fully fit otherwise he must have started.Thought Zac and Ben had good games but we could have played for another 90 minutes and still not scored today.
Have to agree with the posts. The boys do not get any inspiration from the bench so not sure what Hugo brings as we have certainly not improved since he has been with us.
29 league games and 4 wins ,what other manager would still be in his job?
Very worried now as we can't keep relying on others to lose.
Poor attendance today considering there was no local football on. Sensible lot that 4000 at the Harrogate gamethey knew not to bother coming back. Talking of Harrogate have you seen their league position?
Well done to Simon and his gang for getting the game on. Why do the players have to warm up on the pitch and churn it up when there is plenty of room behind the goal. Simon did not look happy.
Agree with above, we did not look interested and all the passion from the fa cup is nowhere. we waved the white flag. first half was unbelievably poor and we only look as if we cared when Leiston scored. but then despite of chances i never thought we'd score. have to agree i am not sure what Hugo has brought but the players look scared to play football worrying about plan A B C or D. It dont look natural. I think he is highly qualified but maybe hes over qualified for non league. keep it simple, keep settled sides i think. the pitch has not been good this season and was badly cut up near the food bar before the game started yesterday. I am sure a lot of work went into getting it playable, i thought it would be off, but the state of it probably did not help either side. if that was the warm up then as Barry says why cant they do it off the pitch? With the forecast for rain the next few days and state of pitch dont think Tuesday will be on so dont need to think to much about whether to go on Tuesday or not, thankfully
For the first hour, they looked the better of two pretty average sides. Admitttedly conditions were difficult but they always looked far more likely to get the important first goal. From then on, and with the arrival of Jack, we seemed to play with a lot more purpose and probably just needed a kind break of the ball to get the equaliser. I certainly felt the last 30 minutes were more encouraging than a lot of what we have seen at the PF this season.
Zac, Bailo and Elvis all worked hard but, Oh God ! so little in the way of an end product. We're going to have to find some goals from somewhere if we are to survive and at the moment it's not clear where they are coming from.
Tim.... Tom was certainly injured just before half time. I didn't see the incident but he could barely walk when he came off. Shame because he and Ben looked pretty solid first half.There certainly seemed to be far more alarms once he departed. John......maybe a tad tough on Matt re the goal. He got a decent punch in and it was a little unfortunate that it found the one Leiston player in acres of space.
I think Jack has to start in midfield alongside Danny and probably Sam, who admitteddly has been rather disappointing. I guess Bradley is back soon and will replace one of yesterdays front men, take your pick which.
Agree with most of what you say Mick, especially the last line but have to agree with John regarding the goal. Thought Matt should have caught the ball in the first place instead of punching & i thought the punch was weak. Couldn't understand the last two substitutions we made. Thought Bailo looked the busier & more threatening of our front three & why take Elliot off? ( unless he was injured) He is a good outlet ball & a lot of our threat eminates from his supporting or overlapping runs. If they wanted to go three at the back surely the obvious thing to do would have been to push Jack into midfield use Elliot on the right Jono on the left & Ben in the middle of the three. I know we all see the game differently but it made no sense to me at all.
To be fair I dont think there was too much in it between the sides....we had chances but failed to score...they had a chance and put it away....thats the way it goes in football...we could analyse and comment until the cows come home but we failed to put the ball in the back of the net with the half dozen chances we had....I dont think we looked too bad and defended well....on another day we could have won 4:1 !!!!! need to get behind the boys and hugo big time....no space for slaggers off!!!!
Interesting views on the game. I'm sure the Leiston camp will be saying pretty much the same as hastingsbuoy. Mick-if that is Elvis working hard I wouldn't want to see him on an off day! Thought Zac and Bailo tried hard enough with Zac making some great runs down the right. Shame there was no one on the end of his crosses. Have we seen the last of the Aldershot left back?
Well...we'll have to agree to differ, Tim, because I maintain it's not lack of effort that's Elvis's problem. I totally agree that the outcome from his two home games has been poor....I can't remember a goal attempt..... let alone one on target.....let alone a goal !
I can't put my finger on it...poor service? poor first touch ? poor movement ? lacking skill/pace ? I don't know which.....but I won't blame lack of effort...certainly there seems to be little cohesion between him and anyone else in a Hastings shirt. Very disappointing after the big build up !
He's certainly not a typical hard working centre forward comparing him with someone like Ade. Looks more like the Frankie Sawyer, Lee McRobert type! Like many Hastings players he could work a little harder when Hastings lose possession-which does happen quite a lot this season. I see Hugo on Twitter is asking for the Pilot Field to be "buzzing" this Tuesday. Don't think there'll be many there after Saturday and there won't be much if any atmosphere. Hope Hugo concentrates instead on getting the players buzzing.
Sean do us all a favour and resign, the tactics you deploy aren't working, lets get back to a tighter 4 4 2, as playing 4 3 3 means we need to score goals, as we always concede, and we have an unbalanced midfield/attack which can leave the defence exposed.
Pretty sure Hugo was not at the league cup semi and it was just Mr Stapley and the usual 2 subs!
Any truth that the reserve game on Saturday was called off because we could not raise a team and the manager has resigned?
Whats happening?
I believe there will be a statement in tomorrow's programme regarding the Reserves manager, before anyone goes blaming anyone on this they must remember the Development centre is run and funded separately from the 1st team.
-- Edited by HastingLion on Monday 18th of March 2013 12:53:05 PM
I see Hugo on Twitter is asking for the Pilot Field to be "buzzing" this Tuesday.
Does Hugo not relise that is what we`ve been doing all season,"getting behind the team", we are doing our bit, its about time they started (before it is to late) to do theirs.
There were a few crosses on saturday but there was no one finishing, thats the problem up front.
When you see that we are now the lowest scorers in the league with just 29 in 29 games and that our top scorer in the league is Zac with a paltry 6 league goals you would tend to agree with your comment rev59 but the problems are a lot deeper than that. Lets remember that up to a couple of weeks ago we went 21 games without a clean sheet and just 1 in 27, so can we heap the blame on the defense and keeper? Or can we blame the midfield? Our goalscoring exploits from midfield this season are as follows, Lee 27app 2 goals (i believe a free kick and penalty), Jack 18-0, Danny 22-1, Jamie 26-0, Vickers 22-1. I make that 2goals in 115 games from open play, from midfield. That record is quiet staggering and on current form Sam Adams and Ray Freeman certainly are not going to improve that record, although let me put on record that I believe both Jack and Danny have been our stand out players of the season.
So where does the problem lie. Momentum is building both on the forum and at the ground on Saturday that Sean should go. I don't know why, but I still believe in him and still believe he can save us and I just don't think a change of management at this time of the season will help anyone. I don't think it helps him being player manager but there is not a lot that he can do about that as he is still arguably our best player. I think he has a good assistant in Stapley although between them very little management experience,and then we have Hugo. As mentioned, I'm not sure what he does for us and what his role is. I believe he didn't even go to the league cup semi final so maybe someone (Hastings Lion/Barry ?) could clarify because perhaps it is unfair criticism he is getting.
Looking at the fixtures you would think that Carshalton are done for and Wingate & Finchley have an absolute nightmare run in with only Cray at home looking winnable which means 9-10 points may just do it from our last 13 games. Surely we can pull that off.
So apologies for the long winded response to rev59 but the problem is a whole lot deeper and a whole lot more serious than our forwards not hitting the target.
I believe that like John W, Sean is the best man for the job he has proved that by getting us as far has he did in the FA cup,altough league games have not gone our way. I think we should be patient at least until the end of the season. Even if we did drop down would that be a bad thing? I can't think of a season since we been in this league that we haven't struggled please correct me if I am wrong ( I am sure someone will). In my opinion 18 months is not long enough to build a team.
I agree that a change of manager at this stage of the season would be suicide and would be pointless and moral would drop for the fight ahead.
Agree that a drop down would not be the end of the world...look at the likes of Bognor and Maidstone how they have come back stronger....dont think it would impact on attendances massively.....more local derbies and less travel??? Hythe? folkestone?maidstone?eastbourne town? peacehaven?
At the beginning of the season I would have settled for 19th in the league and 3rd round of the fa cup ( money spinner ) plus 2 semi final appearances so lets put in perspective a little. Still a possibility of an appearance at the AMEX.
Last 5 games only conceded 2 goals....spot light needs to focus on midfield and strikers, interesting read from JW on this point as well.
Would settle for it going to last home game of the season with a 1000 crowd to spur on the mighty U's...as long as we win 1.0 .....
Some good, interesting points from well respected supporters but i'm sorry but I cannot accept that it would not be a bad thing for Hastings to get relegated. It would be an absolute disaster. In the Ryman Premier we at least have a chance of holding on to the likes of Goldberg, Judge, Dixon and Cox but in the Ryman South, I just cannot see it. And we certainly will not be enjoying a local derby with Maidstone as Hastingsbuoy states as they are almost certain to replace us should we be relegated.
The players have the ability to pull us out of this. Talk of Sean Resigning? In my opinion that is nonsense. We have to come to a point where we actually as a club and supporters - need to support the manager and not keep changing them. Sean is learning his trade and in my opinion has done a good job. Certainly Big O- you have your opinion but forgive me for being wary of a first time post from someone who hides their identity. To say that DW should have asked sean to step aside on the coach back from Middlesbrough is absolutely absurd.
The current run of form is depressing - moreso because we know we can do better with the players we have. I disagree with Chris B - its time we backed the manager and got behind the team. John W said a while ago that some of the players need to step up and I agree with that. We have been here before with possibly more qualified managers than Sean, so that arguement doesnt work in my book. Mark Stapley is also very respected by the players and certainly myself and pretty much all at the club. We have the right management team - changing would be utterly wrong.
-- Edited by Pat on Monday 18th of March 2013 07:48:58 PM
JohnW sorry I didn't notice your reference to me in your post. I have shared maybe half a dozen words with Hugo and in all honesty I don't know what his role is, he done a lot of scouting for us in the cup run and from what I recall he was brought in to give some new ideas to the way we play etc, personally I don't see any difference in the way we are playing, ok we've only conceded twice in five so maybe there is a difference there but we need to be scoring too. I'm not going to start having a pop at Hugo I don't know him and it wouldn't be fair to do that. I will however say, Hugo is highly qualified and I know that most of the squad have had experience at pro clubs maybe Hugos knowledge and technical ideas are a bit of an overload for the players? I'm not insulting their intelligence at all, what I think is that Hugos ways may be a bit too technical for our level of football and more in line with that of a pro club? I know how technical the coaching methods are at a pro level from the coaching sessions my son has had and that maybe why they're not still at pro clubs it may just be a bit to much to take in, I know I would be confused listening in at times to my lads sessions. Not many make it as pros as we all know and that maybe the small difference, just a thought that's all.
I think we need to put this to bed regards Sean resigning, it's a ludicrous idea I can't see it happening at this late stage of the season and it would be stupidity to do so, we're to close to the end of the season to be bringing in a new manager, theyd have different ways of playing and new ideas, that takes time to evolve and we've not got that. If and it's a big if, we do go down then yes none of us would like it but I honestly feel we'd come back a stronger side like some others have eluded to, Maidstone have done well, not sure how much the new stadium increased gates etc have had to do with that but they're sitting well in the league as Bognor are without a new stadium. Maybe going down wouldn't to bad, I hope we don't but its something to think about.
I've got no bones with us investing in youth. It's a sensible thing to do. Throwing money at the first team will mean that money will run out very quickly. It's very simple business sense and I'd expect no less. Spread the money out, make it last, we don't get it very often.
However, I watch Sean during the games and he spends most of the time cursing and getting angry, but other than make the odd panicky substitution he doesn't seem to offer much else. This Hugo guy has come in and there was a lot of hype at the time about him being this great coach, but he's brought a useless player into the club, and does his thing with his ipad, yet what's changed? If he's that good why was he at Horsham? Stapley's a good bloke, a bit grumpy at times but I like him, but he just seems to watch the games with his arms folded and between them when things aren't working they do nothing.
The last few games I've seen players physically questioning what they are supposed to be doing. Our full backs have little options but to hoof the ball and lose possession over and over again and when they get moaned at you can tell they don't know what else to do. There seems to be an abhorrent lack of any strategy or tactical plan on the pitch. That's why I think Razor needs to go. Put him in charge of the youth team if they work he's doing with the kids is so important. Bring in someone who can take 11 good players and give them a tactic to use, and who can change things if said tactics don't work. Razor may be a legend n the field, and I agree, he's one of our best players, but he doesn't have what it takes to manage at this level. You can see that on match day when he just walks around looking angry.
As for Crellins comments being justified and apparently aimed at the supporters on Saturday, I've just read the tweet for myself and its seems to be aimed at this forum actually. I'll still continue to pay my £10 each game to get in and watch, but all the time our players and demanding I support their poor excuse for football I feel I have a right to complain. Ultimately, I also have a right to take my £10 and sod off, which I may well do soon. There's only so many hundreds of quid I can spend each year on a team that simply don't look interested in winning games. Yes you did well in the FA Cup, yes I enjoyed watching the run, but how long are you going to hide behind that? Do I have to wear a fake smile and pretend everything is ok for the Rest of my life now? How many false smiles and positive comments does an FA cup run get you when what you serve up on the pitch is on par with County league football?
-- Edited by Jez1066 on Monday 18th of March 2013 10:01:53 PM
To clarify I dont want to go down or expect us to go down either but Sean certainly deserves the chance to see this season at the very least through primarily but not exclusively due to the FA cup run.
If you've asked me at the beginning of the season if i would have chosen between a run like we had in the FA cup 3rd round and relegation or no cup run and survival I know which one i would have chosen if i had to choose one.
The FA cup has given us excitment, memories & decent financial stability for a while and thats something that we would not have had otherwise.
That is in a large part down to Sean and Mark and because of that they deserve the full oppotunity to get us out of it till the very end of the season in my opinion.
Yes the crowds may not have grown as much as we hoped due to the poor run following the Middlesbrough match and that is a missed oppotunity but they are still up on last year and who knows how bad they could have been with out the FA cup run and just a 'same old same old' succesfull relegation battle.
The games in hand ( though easily dismissable by saying that people saying that they mean nothing with no points in the bank yet ) are vital as their are at least two teams above us who could easily be in our position that have played 3 and 6 games more respectivley.
At this point I can't see that anything can be gained from changing leadership and think we've got to trusr the manager and players to pull this around come what may.
Hastings lion you say it's ludicrous Sean resigning because we would have to change our style of play, have you not been watching all season, our style of play needs to change or we will keep losing. Our players are good enough it's the manager that isn't.
Yes I have been watching and I still stick by what I say. Changing a manager now would be stupid, you're entitled to your opinion Chris and what I have said is mine and I'm sure a lot of others too.
My views for what they are worth: Tactics: Not very good, we are in a dog-fight and need to play 4-4-2. 4-3-3 just hasn't clicked. We need to get as much experience as possible in the starting eleven. I remember the days when teams hated coming to Hastings Town or United, nowadays we are a soft touch. We need to play direct, bully teams, turn teams and most of all out-work our opposition. We are in a struggle so set peices for and against will be critical, we need to improve massively in both boxes....not sure you learn all this from an ipad!
I think we will be safe come the end of the season but league wise we have been miserable, I think we will survive as Wingate will not get enough points, we will win 9 points by the end of the season, thank God only two go down.
Management: Either we have a very supportive Chairman or a very naive one. In my opinion Razor should have asked to step aside on the coach back from Middlesborough, Cup runs are great, League is what you are judged on. Abbott should have been given managers job, Razor concentrating on playing. Instead we make Abbott the fall-guy (huge non league experience and doubled up as a player) and bring in a coach who looks great on paper but hasn't improved a thing. Our back room team now (excluding Razor) have no Ryman Premier experience, Hugo at such big clubs as Thamesmead, Herne Bay, Horsham and Ashford, Mark promoted from Reserves. Coaching qualifications are great but remember this is non-league football and we need results now and neither cut the mustard. If he was that good why has he never been anywhere other then Ryman South/North or Kent League? Over qualified for our players?? Rubbish!! Rumours suggest that Ressies need a new manager so Mark Stapley can fill that role.
Probably too late to change manager now, should have been done before, Ben Judge would be the ideal guy for next season. Someone said we always struggle in the league, do we? 2009/10 we finished 7th! j
I agree about Gary Abbott...hugh experience but maybe his face didnt fit? If you are looking for a reserve team manager what about Scott Price...under 16 manager now I understand... did a good job over at Rye...got a good eye for developing local players by all accounts. It feels like the reserves are a total different entity and surely we should have a strong reserve team pushing for places and able to do a job when injuries/suspensions occur...think this is what may have upset the balance of the team bringing in so many new players...go to the web site and take a look at team appearances and you will see there is little consistency...7 keepers for a start.
The only thing that I agree with is that now is definately not the time to change manager, but if we do or dont get relegated surely the current team cant go on like this, if we stay up everyone will say "did`nt they do well at saving us from the drop" when who put us there in the first place? surely change has to come at some stage, otherwise we`ll be here this time next year going thru` the same old....
Pat, this is my first time on THIS forum, regular poster on old "elphinstone" forum, name is Roy hence the BigO status and have been going to see Hastings since for more years than I can remember. I think even a staunch supporter as you would agree that most clubs would have got rid of the manager ages ago. Funny that when we are doing it well its down to the manager, when we are not its the players. Like I say I am not being negative as I think we have enough to survive but next season needs a change! Sorry for being so absurd, now where are my rose tinted glasses!
My my how some people have very short memories, just over 2 months ago we were praising Razor and the lads for reaching the biggest game in the clubs history, had the nations sporting press tv and radio singing about us and now we've got some supporters wanting Razor out, I think the cup run and the financial rewards that came with it are enough to stick by the manager until at least the end of the season. forgive me Roy i dont know you but I would love to know if you have any background with coaching at pro club level? If you have then you'd realise that I'm not talking rubbish when I say that that style of coaching is more technical and may be to in depth at this level a bit of letting the lads play naturally may be what is needed.
HastingsLion, I have no background in coaching or playing for United, my son never played football for anyone and I dont know anyone remotely connected to United , but like Roy I have been going to see United since the late 60`s , I am not technically minded in football terms , but I like to see United play and win, I like to be entertained for my £10 , I would be if I went to the picture house, but that is not what I want , I want to see United, and I dont need them to win everytime, I can cope with losing (god knows over the years I seen enough of it), but I want to see them try, I want the manager to take credit and responsibility when it is due, the bit that really anoys me is that I have seen them 3 or 4 times this season play well, well enough to frighten anyone, so why oh why cant they do more often, please excuse me, but I do get a little passionate about it at times, and nothing meant personnally. maybe its my frustration. I dont like the thought of going down, but I am a realist, what gonna happen is whats gonna happen, but lets not talk about it yet please, its sound defeatist.
I have played at a Profesional level, managed in the old amateur league but not coached. All I am saying is we got rid of a coach who I am sure played his part in the amazing cup run and replaced him with a laptop! A decision was made to sack Abbott and yet the decision maker stays in place. Am I am deluded in thinking that at another club a change would have been made? I am not a "Johnny come lately" thats for sure, have had a season ticket for the last 8/9 years. My children buy it for me and this is the first year they have asked if I want to renew? Of course I will but I am just hoping its not in Ryman South. I support whoever wears the HUFC badge, I am sorry that my opinion is not welcomed, as the Fat Spanish Waiter would say, only stating fact!
I'm amazed that people can pretend the players are going to get us out of this mess. It's seems to be all false smiles and "keep the faith, we'll be okay". Now that is nonsense! I'm all for positive thinking but there's a limit. We've been asked as paying supporters to remain faithful and stick with the side week in week out. But there's been very little that I've seen that makes me think we're capable of getting out of this now. We're relying on other teams around us to lose just to stay up, as soon as its out of our hands were finished based on what I'm watching.
I'm a realist, and for the money I pay to get in I expect to see 11 players who want to win. Too many heads looking down, arguing amongst each other. Razor's flipping useless. I was in the stands and I could hear the chairman questioning the tactics (he wasn't being quiet about it). So there's obviously not a lot of faith in Razors ability even at the top.
The players have the quality but in m opinion they have already lost all confidence that they can stay up.
And as for Jamie Crellin tonight, I heard he's been mouthing off at the supporters about giving us the best night of our lives and therefore we should be praising them. Frankly I'm amazed at the cheek of it. I'm a big fan of Jamie but to come out and say that to hundreds of supporters that are still paying more than it costs to watch a German Champions League side each week is quite frankly shocking.
The FA Cup will mean sod all if the club go down this season. People are already forgetting about the cup. Just look at the attendances, Woeful.
Time for Sean 'we didn't play well enough' Ray to step aside. It can't be much worse.
Hope Pat is right about the ability of the players. Results show we haven't won many games over the last 3 seasons whoever has been manager. I think our current squad need to be playing at the very best of their ability to beat a lot of the sides in this league and any drop off in form or confidence will find us a bit short. At the moment the players are a bit out of form and probably lacking confidence. Hope they come out "buzzing" against Harrow and keep playing for 90 minutes to get a morale boosting 3 points.
Roy I too played for a professional club when I was younger but in those days it was a lot less technical than it is now and as Ive said I got confused at times listening to some of my lads sessions. That's my point let them play with a little more freedom rather than over complicate things.
Make you right Lion, the game has changed massively, pitches etc but at times like this surely its basics that need to be sorted, thats my only point. I DO NOT AGREE with Razor is useless. The guy is a Hastings legend, end of story, just dont think its his time right now and in his first job as manager, and playing he needs what I feel is a more experienced staff, thats all. Of course players will react to negative posts, they are human, they need to react in the right way, that's all.
What other club would have a manager who has won 4 league games all season, forget the fa cup, a lot of that was based on luck, we were mullered in the 1st 25 minutes at Staines and should have gone out then, it had nothing to do with our manager, BS could and probably should have beaten us, and even that Mickey Mouse side from Southampton missed a penalty at 0-0, it was our year in the cup and not due to tactics or skill. Hastings Lion and Pat - what has Sean done to justify being retained?
Big O - I do not have rose tinted specs believe me! - I have not been a supporter as long as you, but I have been to many home and away games over the last 8 years and I have seen the best and the worst we can do. My point is that we cannot keep sacking managers - we need to build on what we have got. What we have got in Sean and Mark is a massive potential - they are a good solid management team that need to be given time to grow. I will stick by what I say and Jez, Im sorry if it offends you but I think we do have the quality in the players to get us out of this situation, but some of them are under par and lack confidence. That cant be helped when we have idiots shouting "your'e rubbish" as they did at the last home game. Tim, I do hope also that I am right but think that the players are capable of doing this. What potential we showed in the cup can be transferred to the league. We showed in the cup that we could beat higher teams and that we could grind out results so we can do it in the league.
Jez, you have your opinion as much as I have mine. Jamie Crellin has a valid point - he was commenting on the abuse the players got on saturday. He's also right in that they gave us a great day out, although I accept the point that the FA Cup will mean nothing if we go down.As for saying that Sean should step down and that it cant get worse - believe me it can. We have had far worse over the last few years. Sean is respected by the players and he has got us playing decent football. We obviously need to start putting the ball in the back of the net and Im pretty sure that we are working on that.
Good having healthy debate though, thats what forums are all about. At Kick off, it has to be all as one behind the team. Lets hope that happens on Tuesday and that we are all cheering them on.
Chris B, do you honestly think sacking managers is the right thing to do?? We outplayed Staines and we matched BS. I'll have to beg to differ as you were probably at both games as well and we all see things differently. Do you think that if Blackfield scored the pen that we would have lost? Bit of a stretch isnt it? What about Histon away- you didnt mention that? What about Harrogate away? you didnt mention that either.
Sean has brought a lot of structure back to the club. We have the reserves and development centre working well and I'm sure that we will start seeing players come through next season ( you have to have a season to build). Sean has brought good links with local schools so we have a good feeder to our youth teams. Sean, with Mark have been loyal to Hastings United and spend a lot of there spare time trying to build the club. They need time to do this, and not people constantly calling for them to be sacked.
I think most of us would agree that come kick off time we should ALL support those representing the club, have never been one for booing or being negative. I would like to make very clear I dont want Razor out, just suggesting a job swap with Abbott! As far as potential not quite sure about that, see what happens in the summer. Looking back, good job we had back-to-back league wins in August!!
I think to generalise that Sean has the players respect may not be true in all cases, if they had respect there wouldn't be all these no shows at games, players would not leave disgruntled, and those comments Sean made a fortnight ago about players who came on as subs, were not those of a manager of players who were totally behind him.
Bought the reserves back and fell out with the manager - respect,
This youth thing is rubbish as it will not really benefit the club in the long run unless we can get promotion to conference south, as soon as these lads become good they will be off to a better club that pays more money and we will be left with the left overs.
Its pretty well known in football that players dont like being subbed or left out and I have never heard of a player agreeing with the manager when he is not playing, manager is easy target instead of looking honestly at your own game. Every club has players who snipe when they are not flavour of the month. Its a matter of personal pride when you play, playing for the manager is rubbish, if you have anything about you as a player you should have a will to win in training, warm up keep ball and match days. Players shouldnt need motivating to play, they do however need guidance!
Some good posts here both for and against the situation we find ourselves in.
The club has removed all past managers after less bad runs than this one so why not now? In my opinion Razor was the cheap option at the bargain basement and any new manager now would prove too costly.
Another point is that I am sure I heard the FA Cup money was going to help youth development. In an earlier post it was stated this is run seperate from the first team so has the cup money now been given to them? as we have not heard anything about it recently.
This defence of the management is embarrassing. Football is a results business and our results and the manor of them are awful. 4 wins from 29 games is shocking and changes must be made now. I can't believe we have supporters coming on here saying that it may not be a bad thing if we get relegated! We should be competing in the top half of the league above with the likes of Welling, Dover and Tonbridge not hoping that Wingate and Finchley fall apart so we don't get relegated back to what is a glorified county league. Sean looked lost on Saturday and his 2 coaches had nothing to offer either. Like many supporters at the game on Saturday I was angry at the way we rolled over. There was nothing coming from the dug out in either half, Sean says we were poor for the first hour then woke up. I disagree, Leiston looked like a team in mid table with nothing to play for who came down to the pilot field for a friendly game of 'you have it, we have it' football and we gave them exactly what they wanted. We improved only in the last 20 mins when they decided to drop off and defend what they had. We continued to play in same old way of rolling the ball across the back and taking an eternity to get it forward.
I said it over a month ago and I'll say it again.
Gary Wilson and Nick Greenwood please Mr Walters give them 12/13 games to get us safe this season and then back them in the summer to make us competitive and hard to beat next year in what is in my opinion an extremely average ryman premier division.
Big O has a point there. Players like to play and of course get disgruntled when they dont. Players should play for the badge but I guess not all do these days even at our level.
Chris B, once again I have to disagree as we need a good youth set up. All clubs have them and of course just like us they lose players to other clubs. We are no different to any club in that respect, but given our geographical ocation we need to promote a good youth and reserve set up. You didnt answer my questions though, I would love to hear your answer.
Pat just worked out your post, it was Hitchin and we just about deserved that, and Harrogate could have gone either way up North.
Yes I do believe sacking would help we need someone with new ideas to freshen things up, if the worse happens and we go down, will you be saying he is the best man to get us back up?
I don't know why you think we only just about deserved the Hitchin game, even their board of directors said we deserved to win more than they did. Don't get me wrong I'm totally baffled how we an perform so well in the cup and not in the league, I said he same thing on Saturday, its frustrating to ay the least. Gary Wilson is now scouting for Scotland why would he drop down to semi pro football when he's involved with a National squad.
They were reduced to 10 in the last minutes of the game, Razor had more than enough chances from corners to put us in front before we actually did go ahead and their goal came from a penalty so really wasn't a goal scored from open play was it?
Disagreed with John earlier on this thread but totally agree that relegation would probably be a disaster.
I remember thinking exactly ten years ago when we were relegated that we would storm back up a year later. Quite the opposite happened. All the good players left and the following season we were left with one of the worst Hastings teams I can ever remember. I think Chris Honey was the star...that's how bad it was !
Building a really good side is like winding up a ball of string. It is a slow process and can take a few years, the ball growing slowly bigger. Invariably, a relegation means the ball is dropped, it totally unravels and you're back to square one.
I'm a big fan of Razor but, let's face it, we're currently in a pretty hopeless run of form and devoid of just about any good ideas. At the risk of upsetting a few people, I suggest that if Gary Wilson is interested we give him a call tomorrow.....because as things stand we look a pretty good bet to go down.
I would definitely back Wilson if the opportunity is there. I honestly don't think Sean is ready for management. 4 wins in the season shows that. And he's not going to magically become a better manager next season.
Chris B - for some reason I keep saying Histon instead of Hitchin! Must go back to My Leeds Nightmares, so apologies for that. I dont think we just about deserved the rplay at Hitchin, and the fact that it could have gone either way at Harrogate says to me that we can compete with decent clubs ( at a higher level) In regards to the manager , I accept your point, but will never agree with it. Thanks for respoinding though
Hastings Lion you continued defence of Sean Ray is very strange. He is a good centre half at Ryman Premier level but Sean's management skills, player signings, coaching appointments are woeful and his naive, predictable and repetitious comments in the press are becoming stuff of legend.
The majority of our players are good enough to compete at this level but From what I have seen and heard over the last 2 months its obvious that Sean has lost the dressing room. We need to stop the rot now. We don't need someone to come in and restructure the whole club or someone to make wholesale squad changes. We need an experienced manager with some 'football personality' who can make an immediate impact and get the set of players that we have at the club now to play as a unit and grind some results out.
Hastings Lion One more point, Garry Wilson is currently assistant manager at Eastbourne Town.
Great post by Trevor. hinted in january a manager change was needed. Wilson would be great and think he might be at Eastbourne Town as assistant which think is a waste. Would be great to bring him in to work with Razor some proper experience, get rid of 'laptop' who might have all the qualifications but when it comes to it does not deliver. Someone posted it was the cheap option giving razor job, feel sorry for him to young to deal with it and not easy getting repect of a manager when still a player. Wilson or some successful experience manager should be brought in to take the pressure off. that can be done asap And what i heard on saturday the reserves are in a mess, manager quit because no communcating from club / razor, Saturdays game called off cos no players. so to suggest razor has worked well with development is not right Pat. shambles it looks like
I have been reading all the comments on this topic (all the criticism made me really angry) and sorry but I have to say that the club does NOT need people moaning about the management/players. I completely back Sean for the job and feel he has not been given enough time to get the squad how he wants. Certainly the previous 2 managers we had were pretty useless as I remember us being in a similar position towards the end of each season! Sean has only been manager for not much over a year, so its not fair to criticise him now, especially when HE was the one to give us all the FA cup glory. None of the other managers did that, did they?? It is no good shouting abuse at the players either, as they need us to back them (is it any wonder they are lacking in confidence??). I have read Jamie Crellin's comments and totally agree with him.
Maybe if all some can do is moan, then they shouldnt bother at all. In the meantime STOP THE CRITICISM AND GET BEHIND SEAN AND THE PLAYERS
What appears to be happening on this thread is the them and us scenario that has been talked about before, if you have involvement with the club support the manager, if not its manager out, hope if Sean does go before the end of the season, hastings lion and Pat stand by their comments and criticise the chairman for his actions.
Peter communication is a two way thing, and theres two sides to every story, I'll leave that nugget there. Becks is right stop the moaning and get behind the team shouting abuse and moaning at them is not the answer.
This thread is becoming like a playground squabble and I'm not going to comment on it anymore its getting ridiculous.
Becks1 non league football isn't like the premiership, you don't have players on contracts you live for the here and now, a high percentage of players will chase the money, so you don't build a team over years, and if you look at the players we have Sean has had the chance to replace them and some he has. Remember earlier in the season he said the squad was strong enough. So either he mis judged the players and their abilities or his tactics are woeful.
I'm getting rather fed up up of people telling me I don't have a voice in this club. Ive been attending games for over 9 years. I don't care if people take offence to what I say, football is all about opinions, that's up to them if they choose to be offended. I pay an entry fee every game I go to, I therefore have a right to say my piece if I think the players and staff aren't pulling their weight for the club I've invested a lot of time, love and money towards over the years. No fan, player or staff member has the right to tell me to stop saying what I think. If entry was free every week then fair enough. A club is nothing without its fans and the more and more those close to the club try and control what people can or can't say the more people will walk away from this club and the lower the attendances will be. The club has been criticised in the past for being too us vs them in the past and I don't like the way those who are unhappy about our current situation are being encouraged to shut up or sod off. It's not on. The chairman can complain about the team from his directors box each week? Why not me? He takes my money afterall.
Its good in my opinion to get the contrasting views out on here than at the ground in any case. This thread is certainly doing its job in that respect and its not a bad thing at all in itself. As long as people try to see both sides of the situation then it's what it's there for.
Everyone has a right to be heard on here whatever their view as long as its put without abuse, maliciousness and done with respect.
But at the ground we do need to get behind the team on the pitch and cheer them on like never before, negativity will feed back onto the pitch and not help anyone in this situation!
Yes we pay good money ( the German league / Borussia Dortmund comparison mentioned a couple of times on this board is not valid in our case however in my eyes for many reasons to do with culture, economies of scale, the financial realities of football at our level compared to the Bundersliga and you try finding an equivalent level of football in England for that cost.... ) but we do so knowingly and in my opinion shouldn't be in the expectation that our team will always be the best / most entertaining but to do with local town pride and belonging to a group of people with a shared desire and ambition.
We all want our team to do well but if it was all entirely about winning and playing good football then jump over to Brighton as they are having a particularly good patch in their history....
Yes we will have wildly different ideas of how to get there but the goal is the same and the is no gain in splitting ourselves in 2 factions so dramatically.
If it is on tonight which is obviously up in the air at the mo then please just support the 11 men that go out there with everything you've got!
I don't think it’s a “them and us” situation at all Chris. I am entitled to my opinion as you are yours - personally I think it’s healthy to debate on here. I have never criticized any club official or player on an open forum however, and I'm not going to start now. That’s not for any reason other than it is unprofessional in my book. I have made no bones about my support for Sean however as I do think there's great potential there. We simply have to agree to disagree on that one. If I do have a criticism to make I speak to the person direct, always have an always will.
Everyone has a voice and are entitled to use it, - I have never advocated any different. I do draw the line at venting it at players consistently during play as I personally think that doesn’t help motivate them at all. Everyone is prone to the odd outburst of exasperation myself included, but what I heard last weekend was constant throughout the game. Again, just my opinion. I am happy to accept others opinions – it would be a boring world if we all thought the same.
Agree Pat that Sean needs time to develop and lets get a balance on this....yes on league performance things need to improve but cup speaks for its self
P 16 W 11 D 2 L 3 F37 A 29 ( that would be 35 PTS in real money!!!)
Maybe the answer is next season go out of each cup competition first round??? doubt this would stop the whingers though!!!
As I said before I will settle for 19th place and third round in the FA cup would be undoubtedly a sucessful season and more importanly one to build on. If you dont like what you see take some responsibilty and dont come along...simples!!!
What puzzles me is how this group of players have done so well in cup competitions, but struggled so much in the league. I guess the adrenalin was pumping during the FA cup run, but we also played so well in the league cup and beat Whitehawk (the league leaders).
Dan, this is my point I've made in a different thread. You contradict yourself all the time. You say all the roght things a politician would say, "everyone has a Right to be heard, that people will have conflicting views", then You suggest people who want to see winning football sod off to Brighton. Not really advocating your first point very well.
I've decided I'm not going to come to any more games this season. I've been totally dismayed by the team and those close to the club who seem to think if your not wearing a smile and pretending everything will be okay when every single fact points to the fact this is not ok then your encouraged to shut up or go watch another team. This club will never grow all the time its treating paying supporters like this.
I'd like to think my walking away would ever change the culture on my local club and the people who try and run it, but I can't see it ever changing. It's all about making money from the fans and silencing them if they dont follow suit. when it should be about connecting with the local residents. Only then will it become the towns club. Right now its a closed group of 200 people with and them vs us mentality. Such a shame.
For a marketing expert i think you fail to express your point well in that post Jez, as how can you join the dots between the free speech paragraph and expectaions about what you get in return for your money. The second point is not directly related to the first in any way and is certainly not contradicting it!
You are stating you view clearly and other fans on here disagree with it strongly, and thats how a forum can and should be.
