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Post by hantslondoner on Apr 15, 2024 7:33:50 GMT
We stayed up with three boring 1-0 away wins, and winding up the opposition with our tactics.
Sounds like what RH was doing when we were successful.
10-15 points more this season and we'd have been in the playoffs.
As I said all season, there were glaring deficiencies in recruitment, particularly a ball winner and quarter back in central midfield. We struggled all season (and RH changed to five at the back, successful for a while) because of it. Recent games have seen us too slow in the buildup and a reliance on central defenders to play the final ball. Maguire's form went right off for 2-3 months after the new year, that affected us a lot too. He was great before Christmas and is starting to play well again now. He, Quigley, and of course McCallum were one of the best front threes in the league when on form.
I think we need quite a few changes. Not just the players, a change of tactics (hopefully one may help the other). Not sure about KD, he seemed to be learning as he went along, unsurprisingly. I think Garrard would suit our style (not necessarily meant as a compliment).
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Post by blackie on Apr 15, 2024 9:15:49 GMT
Its a relief to have safety confirmed. I never seriously thought we'd come close to going down, but when it gets to April you just need to get mathematically safe, didn't need any far fetched last day scenarios with 6 results going against us meaning disaster happens. Overall its been a disappointing season in the league. IMO this group of players can do better than our records suggests, I reckon we are 10-15 points light on where we should be. So hopefully the squad can be improved a bit and we can be up in the top 7 next season. I don't think it necessarily needs a massive overhaul. Sorry, but this team needs a massive overhaul, i'd ditch 2/3 of this team. I'd only keep McDonnell, Francilette, Langston, McCallum, Quigley, Reeves, Rutherford and Vokins if we can sign him. Possibly Camp if he can fully get over his injury as we badly missed him at RB, Maguire if we can get players to do his running and Atangana as cover. All the rest we can recruit better and we desperately need players that have some pace, energy and desire. We're woefully short of a leader in midfield and we must have been one of the worst teams in the division for transitioning the ball forward due to having no pace in the team. Let's hope that our recruitment this summer is balanced and focussed and thankfully we are now secure for another season in the NL.
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Post by usspitfire on Apr 15, 2024 17:41:53 GMT
What is crucial is we sort out the manager position immediately. Personally, I don't KD is the man for the job, but if the club do think he is, they need to announce that soon so we can get behind him and he he can start clearing out the dead wood & bringing in his own choice. Especially as there is no DOF now to fall back/blame if the recruitment goes tits up again.
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Post by unknownquantity on Apr 17, 2024 18:52:30 GMT
I think the following points are worth noting
1) Kelvin Davis has won more points than he has lost and any continuation of this is likely to make us playoff contenders at least. 2) When Richard Hill was last manager in 2017/18 the players he helped recruit played better the following season after he was no longer manager than when he was there, 3) Three Eastleigh manager have performed better with a smaller budget than a larger one and not all of our managers have worked with both small and large budgets. 4) I think think at times we have lacked natural left sided players, but I think signing Jake Vokins may have rectified this to so me extent.
With these factors in mind I do bot necessarily agree we need the wholesale changes some people are demanding.
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Will
Youth Team
Posts: 38
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Post by Will on Apr 17, 2024 19:08:49 GMT
4) I think think at times we have lacked natural left sided players, but I think signing Jake Vokins may have rectified this to so me extent. Vokins only on loan though so presumably won't be around next season unless we can negotiate an extension with Southampton
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Post by usspitfire on Apr 17, 2024 21:58:37 GMT
I'm delighted KD kept us up and preserved our proud record of never being relegated, and for that he deserves a thank you. I think he has shown glimpses of potential, but his lack of experience has also been abundantly obvious, and overall it wasn't really inspiring. After an early new manager bounce winning 2 games in his first 5 days, we only picked up 2 points from 15 before eeking out 1-0 wins against teams in the relegation battle or already relegated to keep ourselves up. I highly doubt that sort of form will get us anywhere near the play-offs next season. But a lot will depend on the recruitment over the summer.
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Post by sattsy on Apr 18, 2024 11:44:26 GMT
KD is also dull as dishwater in his post match interviews. The interviews all start (annoying!) by the interviewer calling him gaffer! A manager is only gaffer to his players, not the press or social media reporters! Stop this please! I always noted that Bradders was interviewed with a Gaffer greeting, but Hilly never was, it was always "so Hilly".... KD then generally starts with a big sigh and then in a completely monotone quiet voice tells us what he thought, which is never upbeat nor inspiring.
Lets get a proper manager in who can inspire both players and fans.
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Post by callumefc on Apr 18, 2024 20:55:20 GMT
Will there be any fans to play infront of next season, judging by this forum, no. That's the biggest problem for the club, oh and 15 new players, a permanent coaching staff, director of football.... easiest season in 5 years to win the league next year we need to go for it
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Post by spiritofeastleigh on Apr 19, 2024 8:43:53 GMT
Might look easiest season for years in 2024/25 but Southend will be the team to beat if the new owners roll in.
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Post by sattsy on Apr 19, 2024 9:30:16 GMT
If it wasn't for Southend's points deduction, they may well have gone up this season via the play offs, infact, they still could.
Agree with Callum, it could be a very difficult season next season. regarding the fanbase being totally disillusioned, something i never thought i'd say or hear whilst SD is at the helm. I'm not questioning his ability nor his enthusiasm for getting this right, but i can challenge his (and the boards) choices & decision making, which have been poor, on and off the pitch. Something SD was always excellent at was getting the fans onside & gauging fans opinions and taking on board the comments and concerns of the regular fanbase. Sadly, alot of the regulars from when SD first came in have moved away from the club over recent years. This is fine as we have been replaced by new fans who have the passion for the club, but now it would appear these folks are also walking away in numbers. Something is going very wrong at the football club & they really need to rejuvinate the fanbase and get people fired up and onboard again, and they need to do that BEFORE next season starts. Otherwise i fear we will just have another "drifting" season that is uninspiring. Inspiration needs to start at the top, work through the manager and come down through the players into the fans. That has all been sadly lacking this season (looking from afar).
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Post by hantslondoner on Apr 19, 2024 9:56:39 GMT
All of the things you say I agree with, but I think lack of communication is a major factor this season. If we know what the aims, budget, progress, etc. are then we buy into it more.
Not seen/heard much from SD at all, would have been nice to have heard something around the RH era particularly.
I feel more 'distanced' this season, especially with the growing amount of corporate stuff, too.
I think there has been good coverage of the actual matches, etc. and I'm impressed with the ways they are looking to diversify their income with beer, motor fests, etc. which don't interfere with the football - just giving my impressions of the football side.
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Post by bomber on Apr 19, 2024 21:42:28 GMT
All of the things you say I agree with, but I think lack of communication is a major factor this season. If we know what the aims, budget, progress, etc. are then we buy into it more. Not seen/heard much from SD at all, would have been nice to have heard something around the RH era particularly. I feel more 'distanced' this season, especially with the growing amount of corporate stuff, too. In my opinion SD doesn't seem very interested.
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Post by spiritofeastleigh on Apr 20, 2024 8:35:46 GMT
I think Stewart is still very interested, after all its his money that props the club up. Possibly though his enthusiasm has drifted and I would personally put that down to having been an owner of a massive football club with a very big fanbase and its quite a drop to come back to non league football where it is an entirely different world. But I do believe in Stewart 100%, he feels this club can get into the football league, he believes in the project. His first full season back has not gone well, he knows that as much as the fans do. However his first priority was to get the football club debt free again and this I believe has been achieved. Now presumably he can move to the next steps which is the ground improvements even further and setting a decent budget for building a promotion team squad. If Barnet win the play off promotion spot, I think Southend will probably start favourites but the other 23 clubs will all think they've a chance next season as the big teams have all gone up lately. And maybe that's the opportunity Stewart has been waiting for to raise the playing budget, now is the time when he might reap the rewards for doing so. It's all about timing and being in the right place ready to move forward, and I think Stewart will have Eastleigh primed and ready come August.
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Post by nkc on Apr 20, 2024 9:40:59 GMT
Perhaps his interest is slightly dented because of what he puts in and is rewarded with so many whinging fans.
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Post by cure4type1 on Apr 20, 2024 10:55:13 GMT
All of the things you say I agree with, but I think lack of communication is a major factor this season. If we know what the aims, budget, progress, etc. are then we buy into it more. Not seen/heard much from SD at all, would have been nice to have heard something around the RH era particularly. I feel more 'distanced' this season, especially with the growing amount of corporate stuff, too. I think there has been good coverage of the actual matches, etc. and I'm impressed with the ways they are looking to diversify their income with beer, motor fests, etc. which don't interfere with the football - just giving my impressions of the football side. Absolutely spot on, I could not have expressed my feelings more accurately than you have here. I too feel that distanced that I have not renewed our season tickets and will follow the team from afar. I do think SD is capable of reinvigorating the club as he did so well in his first spell but as for the remainder of the management, they have not learnt that communication with the support is key and without it, the fan base become distanced. Hopefully SD takes a more active roll next season and the club returns to the vibrant club it was before he left for Sunderland.
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