Leaderboard

I don’t know where to begin with this. Jimmy has put his heart and soul into this football club for a long time and it’s going to be very weird not seeing him in the dugout or hearing ‘man on’ coming from that direction. We’ve had our ups and downs as a club but I can’t begin to imagine the problems and issues behind the scenes of being a football manager especially at Hornchurch where one thing you can guarantee it’s never been boring. To me there’s been more ups then downs , the promotions and the ESL cup wins culminating in a promotion as champions in a difficult league to get out of and we all know the real reason why we got relegated from the conference south. Jimmy has throughout acted with dignity and honesty and has always tried to do the best for this club and I think there’s a lot of fans who are going to miss him. Good luck to Jimmy with whatever he’s does next - it will be good for him not to have to shoulder the burden of responsibility of football management and to be able to relax a bit more!

https://www.afchornchurch.com/2018/11/25/a-message-from-the-chairman/

Completely agree. I've questioned for some time whether the views on this forum are representative of the supporter base and don't think they are. Like TJF says, too quick to criticise, too slow to praise. I don't get to many games but saw 2 last time I was home. The first was the drab 0-0 against Brightlingsea which certainly didn't set the world alight (though we should have nicked a win right at the end). The second was the away win at Tonbridge which was one of the best games I have seen for a long time. We played extremely well and looked every inch a play-off contender, if not better. That was only a month ago and now the knives are out!!!! Give me a break. It's essentially the same team!! Us supporters are a fickle lot. I agree with people saying we are not playing to Bricknell's strengths when he is up front on his own. I prefer to see 2 up front (home and away). But it looks to me like the manager has tried 2 up front the last 2 games and we still lost. And he still gets criticised!! 😅 I think it's simpler. We had the run of the ball in the first couple of months. First game of the season we could easily have lost. The 2-2 draw at Lewes which kept momentum going and confidence high - could easily have lost that one too. Haringey at home - Kirby hit the bar for them in the last minute so could have lost that one as well. The Hayes & Yeading defeat didn't disappoint me - we put out a young team. But since the Trophy loss at Basingstoke, we've not had the run of the ball. 9 times out of 10 Johnson's back pass would have gone to our right back. It didn't, their forward took his chance and we've been like a deflated balloon ever since. Confidence has evaporated. But the playing squad is pretty much unchanged. Brandon Adams going to Ware is disappointing but don't blame the manager. The club received a 7 day approach and the player decided to go to get regular playing time. Why is that the manager's fault? The player chose to drop a league. The manager didn't show him the door. Quite the opposite, I suspect, but it was the player's choice. I enjoy reading the posts. Quite often I completely disagree with people's opinions but's that's the whole point of a forum. Air your opinion. We have a good squad, they just need a win to get some self-belief back. We've got a tough looking December but the players need to look at how they played at Tonbridge to remind themselves they are good. We'll get out of this slump.

A very sad day indeed. Jimmy has been paramount in all the success that this wonderful club have achieved over the years. There have of course been some downs ( not as many as Mourinho is experiencing ). Thanks Jimmy and I hope you don’t become a stranger as you will always be part of the Hornchurch family.

4WF, I think anything on this forum by that particular contributor needs to be read carefully as there was some very personal comments made by him about the manager on one topic that is now locked. As for the manager, he still has my backing and I believe he will get it right. I find it very frustrating that some of you can't wait to get on his back when things start to go wrong and very slow to post comments when things were going better earlier in the season. Some of you haven't liked him from the start and even if had won every game this season you'd still find something to criticise him about. There are plenty of younger players still at the club, didn't the manager bring back an u23 side this season (anyone know how they're doing?) and other youngsters are out on loan at other clubs. Last point, there is a meeting coming up where members can attend and make their point direct to the manager. Got to be better than posting on a form surely (not directed at you 4WF, but to all contributors)

The greatest manager this club has ever had and without him (and Colin) we may well be languasing in the the bottom half of the ESL or lower. Thanks for the memories Jim both good and bad, enjoy your rest...you deserve it.

Despite early promise, I personally didn’t think he was of the standard required for this level of football so if his departure opens up a spot for someone else to come in, I’d see it as a positive move. The only other argument that I’d suggest is that it’s the defense that requires addressing currently as an urgent priority. Good luck to Brandon for the future.

I accept what you say Djw. Having been a supporter, excluding my own playing career and Nat Service, for 70 years I feel a little affronted at times when my posts are deemed by some as disloyal. I certainly don't attend games with the object to find fault. I also agree that it demeans the forum to entered into personal bickering. I also think like you that we have probably the most talented squad since the ETFC was founded (No offence to players of the past.) and I too enjoy watching them. But rightly or wrongly I still believe they could be even better if encouraged to play to their full potential. But as I said a few days ago if we get into the play offs and hopefully beyond then I will be the first to admit I got it wrong and will be happy to do so. Lets all hope we can pull it off tomorrow I am sure we have the capability do do so.

Sorry 4WF I wasn't suggesting your comments were personal against the manager, only that using that particular contributor as an impartial outsider was not the best example as we have seen him making personal comments about the manager. i appreciate your difficulties in attending games etc and I hope you are able to attend when you can because at the end of the day we all love football. Perhaps some of the other vocal critics of the manager are able to take the opinions forward. i wish you well.

The one thing I forgot to add (to my shame, thanks Kimble) - easily the greatest manager we’ve ever had

I agree with the previous comments. Although I have been grumpy about style of play etc you cannot fault the dedication of Jim, Colin and others who have out their heart and soul into the club and if it had been for Jim and his team we probably wouldn’t have survived the troubles we encountered in the past. My best wishes to Jim. Put your feet up and relax and come back and enjoy the matches from the sideline when all you need to worry about is whether you have enough ketchup on your chips! Well done and good luck for the future.

We tried under 23s away to Hayes and that didn't go well sadly.

No complaints about todays performance against a very good footballing side but all the best chances fell.to.the Urchins as early as the first minute probably will rue the chances missed which would.have put the game to bed side picked itself so credit.to those who donned the red shirts stand out performance even though he played out of position was Alex,mention to the Worthing away support excellent best at the Bridge so far added to the atmosphere good result predicted before the game.shoots of recovery are there to be seen

The team as a whole did very well and deserved the 3 points having dominated much of the attacking play so it hurts to see it being 1-1. The whole squad are playing well together and i hope they take some positives away from the result as they now know they can compete and be better than a lot of other teams in this league. All the hard work they are putting into this season will come good in results if they keep going and if the fans keep cheering them on to succeed. COME ON YOU URCHINS

Langford 6 wins, 0 draws, 1 defeat Winslow 7 wins, 0 draws, 0 defeats

A discounted family of four tickets? I speak to away fans on how they attract people to their clubs as they stop to chat while I'm stewarding. One that stood out was Dulwich, who really pushed the free tickets to local school kids, a different school for a different game. Our football club is in a huge area with plenty of schools (Cranham, Upminster, Hornchurch, Elm Park) it would be worth a try. It's not just families who I feel we should attract. What about local unemployed people? How about a discounted rate for them (on proof of benefit at the turnstile). If it means someone being able to get out for a couple of hours rather than being stuck indoors looking for work day after day, it could make a whole difference to them.

Dummy team is lethal - and embarrassing for me as I lost to it. Turkey 1 v 3 Sweden Albania 0 v 1 Scotland Italy 2 v 1 Portugal Falkirk 0 v 1 Partick Thistle Hornchurch 1 v 1 Worthing Att : 241

Exactly. How about Fergus Moore? Nearer 50 than 40 but still doing it for Edgware. (Note: this is not an entirely serious post!)

Thanks Barney - got through two cups of coffee while reading your post!! Thought I'd stumbled into an echo chamber last night, so here's my two penn'orth aimed at widening the discussion a bit. Firstly, a few points: Worthing are a very good side, possibly the best I've seen all season Worthing play the same formation as us! For Bricknell, Youngs, Parcell and Taaffe read Newton, Meekums, Ajiboye and Starkey. Last night they played it better than us. We lost the game not because we played only one up front, but because a lot of bad things happened in quick succession - Youngs' injury, Hatton's red card, Parcell's injury, Sutton's injury. That's a lot to cope with, especially when up against a side like Worthing Here are a few points that have not yet been raised: Do we have a problem with fitness? This would explain the tailing off towards the end of games and the silly errors that happened on Saturday. Regarding the defence - we have good defenders, but not a good defence, if that makes sense. I think that we need a Darren Purse-type in the back line to organise things on the field. Joe Wright seems to be far more exposed this season, and he can only do so much Up front, Billy was getting adequate support last night until things got disrupted. Parcell, Taaffe and Youngs were all joining the attack regularly. Selecting a second striker would necessitate a change of system and sacrificing one of our midfield - and I for one would not want to say which one! See - there is far more to it than simply picking an extra striker! Although annoyed at getting knocked out of the cups, I am still not too disheartened by our current position; we are at the right end of the table, and at the moment no other team seems inclined to break away at the top. Andy's most difficult task now will be to restore confidence after three straight losses. Right - get stuck into that lot!

Having slept on it, here's my take on the game: I actually think we were a lot closer to Worthing than the scoreline suggests, another game of fine margins and frustratingly (I seem to use that word a lot), we didn't take our chances when were well on top towards the end of the first half - Worthing looked really vulnerable at this point. Half time came at a bad time for us, it was only a matter of time before we equalized, and how Chaney didn't get on the end of that ball across the goal, I don't know. That said, we absolutely must cut out the individual errors, their first goal was a bit of a lucky break leading up to it from memory, but they cut though us far too easily. They're clearly a dangerous side, with pace in wide areas and looked to pass the ball in every position, which was nice to see, but I do wonder how they'll go doing this on heavy winter pitches. We started the second half asleep, and this was the most disappointing thing for me, we switched off badly leading up to the penalty, and Hatton was in a no win situation: 2-0 or 10 men. With hindsight he probably made the wrong choice, especially with so many of our full backs now injured, but it's a split second thing, and I don't blame him, especially when Wright saved the pen (how many times have we seen that now?). After this and when they scored their second, we were right up against it, a side moving the ball well, being patient with the ball, switching play and stretching us in all areas, and for me it was only a matter of time before we saw another goal. It was a pleasant surprise that it was us that scored it, and for 5 minutes or so, we actually looked like we had a sniff of getting something, especially from set pieces. Sadly the inevitable happened, Worthing worked the ball really well down the left, and scored a nice 3rd putting the game to bed... after this it was damage limitation, and Wright made a couple of smart saves towards the end to keep the score slightly more respectable (insofar as 1-4 can be respectable). I know that some of Andy's substitutions have been a little formulaic at times, but I don't think he can be accused of that in this game. We had 2 genuine injuries, and his hand was forced. As for Rumens for Parcell, Mickey was playing right back / right wing back at this point, and we were still (just) in the game, so bringing on a forward wouldn't have been the right choice for me. I suspect the thinking was "try to contain them as much as possible, and then maybe nick something from a set piece" - I don't have a problem with that. Bringing on Hope rather than Adams I don't think matters particularly either, they both bring different things - once we were effectively down to 9 with Sutton injured we could have brought on Lionel Messi and still lost the game. Some positives: - The first half performance, especially the last part of the half, where we clearly rattled a good side, and probably should have been level if not ahead at the break on chances. - Bricknell looks sharper than when I saw him last, won and dispatched a pen, and will be a real asset all season. - Chaney looked good when he came on, and hopefully will have a big part to play. - We didn't give up at any point, and judging by some of the tackles made in the second half, you could see that the players cared. - Joe Wright (don't need to say anymore on that point) Some negatives: - We don't take nearly enough of the chances we make. - We keep making silly mistakes / switching off, which is costing us so many points. Whether this is tactical, or individual errors, I'm not sure, but it's SO frustrating. - We now have 3 full backs either injured or suspended. Although disappointing, I'm not nearly as downbeat as I was after the Mertsham and especially Brightlingsea games - those were games that we could and should have won, this was a game against a side who I expect to be either top, or right up there at the end of the season - we weren't far off matching them, and were better than them in the first half (in my view). I'm not sure I buy into all the questioning of Andy's tactics either, he's clearly got a decent track record with a system that works, and whilst we're competing at the right end of the table he's justified in what he's doing. We also have a lot of good midfielders in the squad, and probably just one stand out forward in Bricknell, I think this is why we end up playing Youngs just off Bricknell, rather than two up front. If you look at our bench we had Chaney and Greene, plus 5 very capable starting midfielders, I don't see that strength in depth in forwards, so actually don't think it would improve us playing a second out and out striker. That said (and I know I always say this) football is all about opinions, and this is mine... I'm not begrudging anyone else their views if they're constructive. What I do note at times from reading this forum is that there seems to be a disproportionately strong reaction to losing games compared to praise when things are going well. I get that people are down/annoyed/frustrated when we lose, but we aren't going to win every game. Yes we could be higher in the league had we turned a few draws into wins, but on the flip side, we're still right up there in the mix, aren't (in my view) playing badly and hopefully have plenty more to give, especially as we're only a third of the way through the season. Glass half full, keep believing, keep supporting 💪

"Greatest ever player". Hm perhaps. I need to be reminded of a better player. I have thought of Lee Smith and Rudi Hall but they couldn't match Kirby. We have had some fine goalkeepers including Wright but also Andy Hall. Obviously Hope would be in there and I like to think that there would be, in the future, Bricknell and Blackman.

Pot, kettle ... hehe

I went to one game as a kid when I had a free Saturday....but don't think that should count against me as a supporter. Since giving up refereeing I've started to see more of the Town. I really don't understand all the bickering. Very sad. Yes we want the best for the team. Andy and assistants have assembled a great team. That is not in doubt. Yes we can debate formations and he should play....he shouldn't. Games have been very entertaining this year..however there have also been disappointing results and cup performances to boot. Could we be in a better position.....undoubtedly. if you were asked at the start of the season would we take this league position YES. My other team....who shall remain nameless.....very simple. Support the team through thick and thin and get behind them. Can we all get right behind the team and agree on that?

Yellow cards all round. Keep it civil please!

New member, greeting from Washington D.C