New manager for next season

[blueandwhite]

No disrespect to hilly, he has done ok and steadied the ship, given us a good cup run. Just think now is time the time to look forwards and plan for next season. Maybe give hill to the end of the season and then get the new manager in then to be involved with the new player signings

[eastleighnumber9]

Jan 27, 2024 17:32:12 GMT blueandwhite said:

No disrespect to hilly, he has done ok and steadied the ship, given us a good cup run. Just think now is time the time to look forwards and plan for next season. Maybe give hill to the end of the season and then get the new manager in then to be involved with the new player signings

Problem will be getting in someone happy to work under him as director of football

[spiritofeastleigh]

I suspect Richard knows he's taken this team as far as he can and that in all likelihood he's already told Stewart he will step down come the end of the season, I wonder then if the players know it and they're not responding to him anymore as he's been quite critical of them lately for unacceptable attitude. Always difficult when a team hits a bad run of form and its hard to get out of that rut. A change of manager now might stem the tide in that respect but getting a top class manager now is never easy if he is being successful elsewhere at the moment so it would be wise to wait until early May to go after the man wanted and try to entice him to EFC. The problem, as mentioned above by 'eastleighnumber9' is Richard being Director of Football due to rumours of interference in how the manager runs the team selections, and this possibly explains why the club can't get a top quality manager. Be in no doubt Richard loves EFC, he only wants the best for it and that may explain why he gets involved when he should'nt in his role as DoF with the manager, it can be very hard to step back when you feel you might be helping the manager out, and that's the real problem, his love for the club. Aside that issue, the real problem has been trying to get the best players coming to Eastleigh, our geographical location makes it much harder to get them, we've seen many move on over the years to be nearer the family home after a year or two of long distance travel, I've never understood why they don't move locally when signing, its part of a professional footballers life to do it, the amount of energy wasted travelling on the road between matches for training will eventually take its toll and then the club suffers for it on the pitch. You might say that's a nonsense and it should be, but they are only humans, and tiredness rears it head, recent results seem to back this up. To get the best players, we firstly need a top manager to entice them and if we give them 2-3 year deals they have to want to move into the area and believe in the project that the club will achieve promotion within that time span, bringing everyone together, Stewart, Richard, Directors, Manager, Team, Club, and of course the Supporters all pulling in one direction. Some might say I'm a dreamer, but I believe it will happen, I think we all do if truth be told, it is a dream we all share.

[hantslondoner]

Jan 28, 2024 8:23:04 GMT spiritofeastleigh said:

I've never understood why they don't move locally when signing, its part of a professional footballers life to do it, the amount of energy wasted travelling on the road between matches for training will eventually take its toll and then the club suffers for it on the pitch. 




Outside London, the South/South East is one of the most expensive areas of the country to buy/rent/live.
A lot of players are only here for a year - does the club arrange accommodation?
Because I agree that a lot of commuting is counterproductive.

I expected a new manager when LB left; obviously RH felt in the situation we were in he had to take control again to stablilise the ship, which he did. Maybe there weren't any suitable applicants at the time.

I agree with most of your other comments - I also suspect he can't take the current squad any further than he has and someone else needs to come in and take the next step. The performances recently, his criticism of the players, his reaction to the results (he looked very 'down' yesterday in his interview) does seem to indicate this.
 
Despite what some people say on here,  I also suspect he had a big say in the players we have here (the makeup of the squad was typical RH) and a new manager must be given more latitude to mould their own team, which may not fit will with the current incumbent.

Hopefully there is some long term planning for the season ahead (which has alreafy started) as there certainly didn't seem to be last season - as has been said many times. LB should have been let go at the end of last season after that terrible run from Easter and not been allowed to build (co-build?) a new squad if he was in danger of the sack.

[rocky]

Hopefully we are looking round now & will select someone at the end if the season. Changing manager in September again is no good

[unknownquantity]

At the start of the 2017/18 season Richard Hill appointed Andy Hessenthaler whom he had worked with previously as his Assistant with the idea of reversing the roles before the end of the season which subsequently happened and I thought that when Lee Bradbury was relieved of his managerial duties I thought a similar arrangement might be possible.

With respect to Andy Hessenthaler it is perhaps worth mentioning that he was instrumental in bringing Paul McCallum to the club in the first instance having worked with him at Leyton Orient. Also in the one season he started the season as manager, although he left before the end of that campaign the club reached the playoffs, the last the club did so.

I would agree that Richard Hill has his limitations, but it is also true to say that in Stewart's time at the club the only times we have qualified for at least a playoff position, has been either under Richard Hill or someone introduced to the management team by himself, whereas managers such as Ronnie Moore or Martin Allen who joined the club because of their track record elsewhere have only stayed with the club a short while.

It is perhaps also worth note that Ian Baird, Chris Todd and Lee Bradbury have all started a season with an increased budget and then leave the club early in the season after results with the increased budget are if anything worse than the previous season. In the first two instances the season finished with Richard Hill as manager and it could well be the case this time around.

If a potential manager is a good one they are likely to have other offers before the end of the season.

[sattsy]

I really dont get all the noise about wanting Hilly gone.
We are 11th in the table and just 6 points off the play off spots.
Yes we are on a poor run of league form, but that can easily turn around.
Yes we have conceded more goals than any side in the division, but there are also only 6 teams who have scored more than us.
When you consider that Hilly's brief was to play an exciting brand of football and to try and win games 4-3 instead of 1-0, then to do that you have to take risks and that is what we are seeing in the recent results.
For me, there is absolutely no need to make a decision on the manager until the end of the season and if we finish top 10 that will be decent enough.
If Hilly then thinks he has done all he can, he will step aside as he has done in the past, but i think he's doing ok and a strong finish to the season will make it all look much better. No need to panic.

[blueandwhite]

We aren’t coming top 10, doubt we will even be near tbh. We are not entertaining, we just have 3 decent experienced attacking players, credit to hill for recruiting them but we are very unbalanced & can’t defend. It’s clear as day hill is not right so just change it at the end of the season.

Don’t need to waste another season. Let’s get it right this time

[davep]

Jan 28, 2024 18:46:09 GMT blueandwhite said:

We aren’t coming top 10, doubt we will even be near tbh. We are not entertaining, we just have 3 decent experienced attacking players, credit to hill for recruiting them but we are very unbalanced & can’t defend. It’s clear as day hill is not right so just change it at the end of the season.

Don’t need to waste another season. Let’s get it right this time

I agree. He's done better than I expected and its been far more entertaining than last season. We're still not going to make the play offs though, having, I guess, spent more than last season. Problem is, the squad needs an overhaul, too many over 30s and not enough pace. Get someone in now, so he can have a good look at the squad and identify targets for next season.