John Hill

[the phys]

Having read through various posts on here I wanted to take this opportunity to voice my opinion, whilst providing some facts to support my point of view.

I am the current Physio of the club but I am speaking on here as a fan of Halesowen Town, a club which is in my blood. I have been a member of staff at the club for a while now and I am starting my 9th season with the club this year. I've worked under around 10 managers during my time at the club and without a doubt I would rank John Hill in first place. His job previous to Halesowen lasted 10 years and I hope he can achieve the same length of service here as he did at Tipton Town. Colin Brookes has also echoed this comment stating he is the best Halesowen Manager in his time with the club.

Below I've listed his achievements to date along with the picture detailing his win/loss record compared to other mangers reaching 150 games for the club:

Season 1: 2012/13
Finished 7th, narrowly missing out on the play offs by goal difference. Previous season finished 14th.

Season 2: 2013/14
Won the league, winning last 9 games to clinch promotion and the championship trophy on the last day of the season at Belper.
Won the Peter Swailes Trophy
Best performance in FA Cup Qualifying for a number of years
Gates improved massively

Season 3: 2014/15
Finished 11th in Northern Premier League, first time back at this level since 2010/2011 season.
Finished above established Step 3 Club and local rivals Stourbr*dge, taking 4 points off them.
Good FA Cup run
Excellent FA Trophy campaign (best since I've been at club)
2 x gates over 1500
Bar built in the ground
Profile of the club raised hugely on and off the pitch

Season 4: 2015/16
Lost almost entire playing squad from last season and has rebuilt the squad, collecting more points to date than last season.
Watch this space......

I think the above achievements are excellent given the resources John has available, his network of contacts within non league football and his knowledge of players is second to none. He is also a work horse, he would go and watch a game every night of the week if he could to try and find the next big talent. He has great attention to detail and the pad he writes in before, during and after every game will be worth millions some day, I'm sure. You may think this is something that most managers would do, but it's the first time I've come across it in the many years I've been at Halesowen.

I have seen a few comments stating that an ex professional is required to improve the team, I've seen them come into Halesowen's dressing room and fail before. My experience with this level of football is you need someone with knowledge of local non league football to succeed. With John and Matt you get this in abundance, in my opinion it's much better to have this than 500 league games under your belt when it comes to managing at Step 3, 4, 5 etc.

I've also seen a handful of supporters suggesting Johns tenure comes to an end, obviously as a Halesowen Town fan I would say this is completely ludicrous. First of all, who could do a better/equivalent job on the resources that john has? Whilst I respect everyone's point of view, I would encourage everyone to back up their criticism with a solution.

The last thing I would like to address is the playing style which has been knocked a few times (even when we won the league). Up until Step 3, non league football is on the whole not filled with teams who employ a passing style. In part this is because the pitches and quality of the players will not allow this to happen. Every successful team I have seen at this level, including last seasons champions FC United play simple percentage football. I can't remember a single team who always play football and have managed to win the league or gain promotion. At times this will mean teams have to play direct and go from front to back very quickly, but anyone who has experience of working within a football team from steps 1-7 will tell you IT WORKS. The best evidence I can give of this is Darlington on Saturday, who came to Halesowen and had a set way of playing football, often directly and walked away 3-0 winners. If they can maintain that across the majority of the season they will definitely finish in the top 5, and they choose this style of play despite having larger resources than the majority of teams in the league. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to suggest that every team should hoof the ball at will but if the ball is delivered directly with quality into the right areas it will cause every team trouble at our level. Tuesday was a great example of this against Matlock, we played counter attacking percentage football and it payed off.

Hopefully all of you will make it along to the forum, I know that John and Matt are happy to answer all of your queries, questions and concerns.

See you Saturday #uptheyeltz

[wednesburystokie]

The silence is almost deafening.......

Well said Rob, nice to have an insight from the dressing room, I can understand certain peoples frustrations, but, by the same token cannot believe how quickly football fans lose patience.

Would be good to be at the forum tomorrow, but sadly I can't, but will be interested to hear some of the comments made by some, and indeed some of the answers given by the club.

I hope that the ones who have plenty to say on here will be in attendance.

x

[Yeltz27]

The silence is almost deafening.......

Well said Rob, nice to have an insight from the dressing room, I can understand certain peoples frustrations, but, by the same token cannot believe how quickly football fans lose patience.

Would be good to be at the forum tomorrow, but sadly I can't, but will be interested to hear some of the comments made by some, and indeed some of the answers given by the club.

I hope that the ones who have plenty to say on here will be in attendance.

x

Why is the silence deafening? Those are the petty remarks like gingeryeltz last week that really irritate and are totally unnecessary. You think just because one of the club staff come and post we will automatically change our minds?

Thanks Rob for posting. I disagree with certain things but like everybody else you are entitled to your opinion.

Obviously you are involved with the team so know more about the inner workings, but you don't have to pay to watch what is on offer. Maybe you would feel differently if you did. Anyway, thanks!

[piearce9]

Well this is a very welcome post, and I think it's encapsulated nicely here:

I've also seen a handful of supporters suggesting Johns tenure comes to an end, obviously as a Halesowen Town fan I would say this is completely ludicrous. First of all, who could do a better/equivalent job on the resources that john has? Whilst I respect everyone's point of view, I would encourage everyone to back up their criticism with a solution.

Nobody's happy when the team loses, and we all want to do well, but is a new manager really going to get more out of the current set of players that John would?

To balance this out with a bit of "constructive feedback", I do have to comment that the squad had too much upheaval in the summer, and that we've not replaced with the same level of quality. Fixing this is the biggest challenge currently faced, but I do have faith in the management team to fix that.

[wednesburystokie]

Mr. 27 or may I call you Yeltz, the silence is deafening remark is a little bit if an in joke and certainly nothing you need to worry yourself about , and I think you, I and indeed everyone else on here know that there have been far more petty remarks on here recently than that one.

When you say comments irritate are you referring to yourself or many?

Also I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know where I have expressed a wish for people to change their mind as a member of staff has posted?

People are open to their own opinion surely, and I don't think the likes of you and I have that power over people.

My main point is that tomorrow is an ideal place to get face to face answers to our concerns, surely better than speculation in text.

[Yeltz27]

Mr. 27 or may I call you Yeltz, the silence is deafening remark is a little bit if an in joke and certainly nothing you need to worry yourself about , and I think you, I and indeed everyone else on here know that there have been far more petty remarks on here recently than that one.

When you say comments irritate are you referring to yourself or many?

Also I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know where I have expressed a wish for people to change their mind as a member of staff has posted?

People are open to their own opinion surely, and I don't think the likes of you and I have that power over people.

My main point is that tomorrow is an ideal place to get face to face answers to our concerns, surely better than speculation in text.

Sorry, I am feeling pretty frustrated after gingeryeltz last week so over reacted. The silence is deafening could be interpreted many ways, normally used in a negative way, but i got it wrong. I apologise

[the phys]

Hi guys,
First and foremost, it wasn't my intention to change anyone's mind or influence any of the fans, I respect everyone's Comments and feedback. I simply wanted to give my point of view, a few facts and figures and see what everyone thought of it, ahead of a massive game and the forum on Saturday.
Previous to my work within the club I was a season ticket holder at West Brom for around 10 years, so I've done the "fan" part of football. However Once you become involved within a semi professional football club dressing room, particular for the time period that I have done, I think you analyse football completely differently. Therefore I hope your don't think I'm a "fence sitter" for dodging the question on whether or not I would pay £10 to watch a john hill team.
I'd like to bat away that question with one of my own, an open question to everyone...What does a non league supporter expect/want to see for their £8-£10 every fortnight?
I will pre empt one response:
Free flowing attacking football
I'm afraid due to the neglect of the mason regime and subsequent lack of funds our pitch does simply not support this method of football. Every team/player who has the pleasure of playing on our pitch would support this point of view. Ant and the supporters have done a great job on the pitch, it is a country mile better than it has been but its not quite conducive to "Ball not leaving the floor" football. We often travel away and see great playing surfaces but these clubs neither have had to deal with crippling administration in the past and/or work within our budget constraints.
The money you pay for entrance fees and in the James grove lounge fund JH's playing budget along with paying necessary overheads. Unfortunately The resources allowed to JH means we cannot go and pay money for 16 ex academy/pro players who are technically superior than the others in our league. Its not always spot on but our estimates are that if you have a league table of playing squad budgets, we are within the bottom 6 of this division. Often JH will approach players from 1/2 leagues below, only to find out they are being paid more currently than we can offer. Or the other side of the coin, JH approaches bench warmers in the league above to be told they would rather do nothing and earn more money, than play for our team.

The above doesn't mean I think the product we are producing both this season or the end of last season is perfect and you can throw your money away willy nilly. JH will be the first person to admit that, which is why there was such an overhaul In the summer. It has and will take time for this new team to gel together, there are a lot of youngsters who haven't had experience of playing at this level before. Kev Barry is working hard during training sessions in doing his utmost to get everyone up to speed on the JH way. When we string a couple of wins together it will increase the confidence levels of the youngsters and the team generally.

See you all Saturday!!

[gingeryeltz]

Mr. 27 or may I call you Yeltz, the silence is deafening remark is a little bit if an in joke and certainly nothing you need to worry yourself about , and I think you, I and indeed everyone else on here know that there have been far more petty remarks on here recently than that one.

When you say comments irritate are you referring to yourself or many?

Also I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know where I have expressed a wish for people to change their mind as a member of staff has posted?

People are open to their own opinion surely, and I don't think the likes of you and I have that power over people.

My main point is that tomorrow is an ideal place to get face to face answers to our concerns, surely better than speculation in text.

Sorry, I am feeling pretty frustrated after gingeryeltz last week so over reacted. The silence is deafening could be interpreted many ways, normally used in a negative way, but i got it wrong. I apologise

Yes you did get it wrong and you totally overreacted to a fairly harmless post - but I accept your apology.
As Dave said above there have been far more petty remarks/banter on here recently Matt ....................

[Yeltz27]

Mr. 27 or may I call you Yeltz, the silence is deafening remark is a little bit if an in joke and certainly nothing you need to worry yourself about , and I think you, I and indeed everyone else on here know that there have been far more petty remarks on here recently than that one.

When you say comments irritate are you referring to yourself or many?

Also I would be extremely grateful if you could let me know where I have expressed a wish for people to change their mind as a member of staff has posted?

People are open to their own opinion surely, and I don't think the likes of you and I have that power over people.

My main point is that tomorrow is an ideal place to get face to face answers to our concerns, surely better than speculation in text.

Sorry, I am feeling pretty frustrated after gingeryeltz last week so over reacted. The silence is deafening could be interpreted many ways, normally used in a negative way, but i got it wrong. I apologise

Yes you did get it wrong and you totally overreacted to a fairly harmless post - but I accept your apology.
As Dave said above there have been far more petty remarks/banter on here recently Matt ....................

Please don't get sarcastic with me. Nothing you have said to me could be taken as banter, and the petty comments have certainly been very one sided. I didn't notice any apology from you last week by the way.

As I said, I have never seen "the silence is deafening" used in a positive way. It is almost always used negatively, which is what I assumed here. In the context it was used it is easy to see why I thought that. Anyway, I've said I'm sorry as I got it wrong, it wasn't intended as I took it obviously

[RobYeltz]

It's interesting to read Rob's comments as someone who knows the players, John, Kev, Matt and Dan better than most.

I'm very much in the John Hill corner as most have probably realised, much for the reasons given above about his achievements. I know when I hear someone like Colin Brookes describe him as the best manager he's worked with you know that accolade isn't there unless it is meant.

The quality of football will always be a debate and I've spoken to a lot of fans about this. There isn't one team in this league that play total football on the floor, with great passing, movement with an open, expansive, brand of football. Even last season the better teams like Workington, FC United, and the kids who played in the full time at Ilkeston got the ball forward early more often than not.

I'm not suggesting however that John Hill is beyond any criticism like any manager if it is deserved or warranted. In recent seasons there have been a few players who John has signed and they've not stayed around too long. This may be for the finances of other clubs has tempted them away of course but I get the feeling that John has maybe realised that they're not as good as he'd thought or their attitude isn't what he expected and the ways have been parted. John has come out publicly and said that he is still looking to improve the squad and in my eyes deserves that opportunity to rectify it.

Whilst I welcome the fans forum tomorrow, I would also say to fans that John and his coaching staff (and most players) have always very approachable after games and I'm sure would answer your questions or comments and listen to your views or opinions. I see it that John took 'his team' as far as he could and decided new faces were needed to help us move forwards, losing players who he expected to stay has hurt us, but I'd rather have lads who want to wear our shirt than a red and white striped one, irrespective of how popular they were/are. We may have possibly took a step backwards in the interim, but I firmly believe that John deserves our patience in trying to allow us to take two steps forwards.

A win tomorrow will see a few quid go into the coffers, lets all get behind the boys and hopefully we can have a win at home.