The recent events on and off the pitch must be very hard to take by a lot of you on this forum and for those who visit the Pilot Field for many, many years and also visit a lot of away games.
How it is possible that this has come so far ? Mismanagement, bad decisions, wrong players , how many other things we can mention why we all seem to know how it come so far?
Last year NEC relegated from the Eredivisie. This year we released 18 players, a lot of so called very good football players from all over Europe. But first of all they weren't that good, they earned a lot of money ( that’s why we got in financial trouble ) and they hadn't any bond with the club or supporters. This year we have brought in 16 new players, some very young, almost everyone speaks or understand Dutch and look where we are now???
Back to Hastings, for me I can’t understand how a town as big as Hastings, has a football club playing at this level. The club has a great history, a great stadium and a great pitch and if we play a little bit of decent football and get some results ( look at the FA cup run ) we get a full house of more then 4000 spectators.
Somehow it doesn't work the last years at the club that is why I will suggest a complete makeover is necessary.
First of all we need a complete change in the management team; Terry is a club man through and through, worked very hard but it didn't work out how we all had hoped it would. Terry is for me a man who must protect the long term vision of the club ( in cooperation with the board ) as he is Hastings legend.
We need some fresh faces in the dugout ; age for me is not important but proven skills as a Manager, leadership capacities and an enthusiasm to bring this club forward.
Bring some new players into the squad; promising young players and maybe more from the Neighborhood from Hastings.
Also that kind of players who are very, very eager; not alone to play for our beautiful club but also to put a lot of effort in developing themselves ( such as Sam Cruttwell ) and bring it all to a higher level.
And at this very moment; if any players in the current squad who can’t give 100% then we must say goodbye to them. That is for me the first step in everything : 100% commitment, 100 % effort and proud of playing for Hastings United.
So what route does the club take ? I really think the current way is the wrong way. I hope Terry’s exit has proven this and that we must choose another route. This needs time and I am prepared to give the club that time ! Hope you all feel the same way!
Bert think you need to read about Hastings Town, Hastings United,and Stamco to understand what has happened in Hastings and its football, to make matters worse chaos was at its highest when all the leagues were being re configured, and it did football in Hastings no good at all.
Bert think you need to read about Hastings Town, Hastings United,and Stamco to understand what has happened in Hastings and its football, to make matters worse chaos was at its highest when all the leagues were being re configured, and it did football in Hastings no good at all.
Chris, i read about Hastings Town , have a lot of books of the history of the club, but of course - what i stated in the first lines - it must be harsh for you all the current situation . But the club has to move on and you stated several times that a change - you can always discuss which changes and when - is needed.
My only point in starting this topic is how to move on and what do you - supporters of HUFC - think of it and what choices you would make. And only that to bring the club forward.
The club has been through many ups and downs, and I can remember sitting on old theatre/cinema seats in the main stand watching a poor team lose badly. For me, we missed a huge opportunity that presented itself post FA Cup run, a chance that will not come around again. Look what's happened since. I agree with Bert about crossroads and root/branch review - my concern is who is going to carry out that review? As Lenny quite rightly points out, DW owns the club, it is his club to do as he pleases. The board has presided over the post FA Cup decline and has done what it has believed to be in the best interests of the club at every stage. However, I believe that new ideas are needed, and the club needs to engage others with fresh ideas to get the club out of its' current position. Do we really want to be the richest club with the best facilities in the County League, or are we serious about Conference football at some point in the future? If so, do we know what to do to move forward. I sincerely hope we do.
IMO the club has quite a few disadvantages mainly in terms of location. ( similar to a few other seaside towns more in Kent than Sussex ) Clubs like Eastbourne Boro, Whitehawk, Lewes, Bognor, Worthing etc have a much better chance if picking up players from the large Brighton population or released Brighton & HA youth players before we get a chance ( unless the player is Hastings based anyway ) and clubs further up the A21 and on the M25 corridor will always be more attractive to players based in London due to the incredibly poor transport situation. ( and high associated cost which is increasing every year )
Anyone who follows Jahmahl King on Twitter will know that it takes him several hours to get home after game and that just cannot be easy, I like others on here do the commute to London for work on trains and we know how hard it is, to do it late at night after a hard game must be horrendous and I have massive respect for him doing it.
Also to encourage players down here we have to pay proportionately more compared to clubs more local to them which obviously drains our budget quicker but due to the reasons I've already mentioned above the pool of local players not immediately from Hastings ( which is not large enough on it's own to sustain the club IMO ) is small compared to our rivals in the area.
Any alternative ownership structure would also have to deal with what I think is a really major problem ( one which is getting worse due to both the transport & social changes ) and I can't see what else can be done aside from hope that the U18s and U21s develop well enough to form the vast majority of the squad.
Just think it's going to get tougher every year compared to a lot ( not all as some are in similar situations ) of our rivals regardless of what league we are in, who's in charge or who owns the club.
It's very possible that with the right conditions all round we can still have success but I think due to non football reasons we will be swimming against the tide.
I don't know for sure but reckon that there are less kids playing football nowadays ( due to other forms of entertainment prevailing ) than in the past which means that the pool of players who become non league players will shrink as well. This affects all clubs of course but some more than others.
Clubs are having to race to get to a league where reputation attracts a good crowd and exposure ( Conference South or higher ) which leads to the wages 'arms race' we are seeing even at Ryman level.
Just my opinion but think it's the way things are heading.
-- Edited by Dan on Wednesday 1st of October 2014 09:54:22 AM
Dan: regarding Hastings' disadvantage through location; I agree with much of what you say. The club is plainly at a disadvantage in attracting and retaining players when their journeys by car or public transport are so time consuming and demanding. The problem is a general one for seaside towns, but Hastings is particularly beset because of the truly woeful state of the A21 and A259 and the slow rail access. (The Kent clubs and Sussex clubs nearer to Brighton are much better placed than we are for motorway and High Speed Rail access.) Politicians promise improvement - I just hope to see it in my lifetime.
There is, however, another side to the coin which should at least in theory provide some compensation. When I lived in West London, I supported Kingstonian for many years. An often expressed complaint by supporters was that their club was at a disadvantage because there were so many clubs at all levels in close proximity; some of whom were well financed and could afford 'London wages'. Hence, so ran the argument, a useful non contract player might easily be tempted to another club; there was little point beyond altruism in having a 'youth policy'; and so on. Also (and there was certainly merit in this in my view) there was little identity between the local community and the club. It was assumed that clubs in more isolated towns would have a stronger community base and identity and that local businesses would have a much greater involvement in the commercial activity of the club.
The cup run of a couple of years ago showed the great potential interest in the town. I've no doubt at all that the town is capable of supporting a successful club at Conference South / Conference level. What is need is greater involvement of town and club.
I know the club makes efforts to involve the business community, tries constantly to develop youth, etc, but those efforts need to be redoubled. I know there have been issues with the Council in the past. Those (without blaming anyone) need to be worked through. If the club is to go forward it has to do so in partnership with others who want to see our town as a prosperous desirable place to live.
Some very good points there as well Geoff but additionally with the recent changes to compensation paid to Non League clubs from professional ones for picking up the better youth players I think all youth development is pretty much altruism even for ourselves, if SC had gone to Hull I believe we would have received no compensation at all and how often does a player of his potential come through? Another change to help the 'big' clubs and screw the rest.
Also still think it's better to have a larger pool of less 'loyal' ( not really the right word but can't think of another ) than a smaller pool of players who may be there a few seasons. Due to it's non contract nature and also due to the fact that the football wages don't tend to be someone's main income and therefore people leave the game or specific clubs for various reasons I tend to think that rapid player turnover is a unavoidable fact of life compared to higher up the pyramid and so the difference between is comparatively less pronounced anyway
On the face of it Lewes have a well respected manager and are considered by many to be very well run with a good budget, & incredible community links but have either not attracted good players or are showing that the first two factors can still lead to terrible seasons.
Don't think there is always a right way of doing things in football which actually makes the sport what it is, if the best players, management and owners always won then it would be a very different game... There's a huge amount of random luck, chance & fate as well.
Another example would be Atletico Madrid, one of the most unstable clubs in the world, huge debts, mad Chairman, Rookie manager & good but not spectacular players from all round the world win the Spanish League ahead of two of the richest clubs in the world with the best players and come within a whisker of winning the Champions League! Sometimes you just can't account for these things happening.
-- Edited by Dan on Wednesday 1st of October 2014 10:36:29 AM
Agree Barry 75% of us who read this board know what the real reason for our decline is, probably another 20% know but wont admit to it. The others haven't a clue.
some very tru things you say dan. i have someone i work with that goes and watches lewes and a lot of there fans unhappy as they have bigger budget this season. we moan together at moment with football lol and they have very experience manager and they are near bottom but they do have easy transport with trains and roads better than here. if you have things more perfect dont mean you will be success and win all games. think hastings is very different club with it in isolated place in country and think club will only be success if we have most local players and good youth under 18 and 21 team and coaches and acadmey. it will take long time maybe 10 years to develop player but at moment dont see it happen. it dont help to with lack of facility as such system of coaching would need somewhere to do it
Cheers Peter, of course according to ChrisB i obviously haven't a clue because i think amongst others feel there may be a quite a few reasons why we struggle nowadays as i have mentioned rather than 100% of everything wrong being down to one or two particular people at the top who dont directly affect what happens on the pitch during the 90 mins just because its the easy option to call for regime change and that replacing them with a made up unknown alternative would be a magic bullet and everything will suddenly turn around, we'll be in the Conference Prem with 4000 crowds and we'll have world peace. Naive is a word that springs to mind.
I opened this topic for obvious reasons; we are in trouble and let's find a way out on a positive way for all concerned.
Hastings has an estimated population of almost 87.000, which makes it the 66th largest settlement in the United Kingdom.
Do we have no players or can't we get any players with that population ? First of all you have to bond young players ! Every young guy want to play in the first team of his hometown !
Most if the better ones go to Brighton ( who have a very well established scouting scheme here ) or London due to the lure of league clubs, obviously some return to non league and we get our share of those.
Totally agree young players need to be bought through the youth and Under21 systems but all to often we miss a trick here by not naming some of them as substitutes when the 1st team are thin on the ground. This would give match day experience. Also a chance to blood a number of them comes via the league cup competition but again they won't get the chance as we have NOT entered it.
Because of all this a good number of young players leave the club for pastures new and low and behold a year or two later they play against us in somebody's 1st team.
I repeat again a properly run club with a quality manager will always attract the better players regardless of location.
I watch many non league games around the area and have been to Lewes a few times this season. Not sure if any of you have been there recently but the standard of football they play is much faster and more organised that I have witnessed at United for the past few seasons.
As some of you know I am heavily involved in youth football and I can tell you there are some amazing players locally but the big problem is that Hastings United are not in at any of the local schools. We have Jim Coulsden, who runs SAFA Select and Terry Avann who runs Style Soccer, and along with Brighton they seem to be in all the local schools or pick up all the best players locally from very young age. As well as Brighton these football academies also have connections with Charlton and Crystal Palace so its no wonder we do not see any real quality come through from the u21s or 18s, as most of them are elsewhere. Hastings Utd do run many teams at different age groups, Sean Ray even manages one, but if we are not in the schools in Hastings and spotting these kids early what chance do we have? Its also a great way to raise funds as these invite only academies charge an awful lot of money. Just think we are missing a real trick with local youth soccer.
I think John makes a very important point. Hastings United is the club of Hastings and all youth should want to play for us. First step should be contacting again those schools and try to set up a programme.
John, like you said you are heavily involved in youth football, maybe with a few others to start with bonding them to our club. Of course you need facilities, the club has to make efforts
