Reading Between The Lines

We are 8 months in, and I think you can make the case that Noel Hunt ‘the manager’ is still somewhat of an unknown quantity. Drafted into the role in December, after Rueben Selles had reached his breaking point with the former ownership and left for the league above, he steered us to a 7^th placed finish. While we’ve seen half a season of him take charge of this team, and some background as academy manager, anything we think we have learnt about Noel Hunt the football manager can potentially be explained away as not certainty due to the various circumstances that have led him here.  

He’s widely regarded as having done an excellent job of keeping results and, importantly, morale up over the second half of the season. Taking over from the popular and successful Selles, the tactical approach was largely as you were with the shape and system remaining fairly consistent. Our creative threat tailed off under Hunt, the loss of James Oliver-Pearce being felt there I’m sure, and while there’s a case to be made for us being more resilient away from home, a far easier away schedule in the back half of the season certainly contributed.  

The other elephant in the room is that there simply were not the resources or personnel to make particularly drastic changes to how we set up. The window saw Chem Campbell retained on loan and saw Bindon sold but return on loan so much like the Selles, the brief was clear, make it work with what you have. 

Off the back of a system that was working, limited resources and a first XI which largely picks itself (barring injury), Hunt chose to stick rather than twist. That should in no way take away from what he did in his time last season, it is not a simple thing to even maintain a working setup. The opposition still needs analysis, the setup needs tweaked game by game to maximise our strengths and isolate opponent weakness. Like Selles, he was dealt difficult selection conundrums with injuries to plenty of players and had to rely on young squad players to fill gaps.  

Another element that adds to the uncertainty is this is his first real crack at senior management. There are no other clubs to go back and watch highlights off to see what his approach was. Naturally his time as U23 boss can give us glimpses but so much of academy football is about preparing those players to progress to the first team and tailoring the team to how the first team plays. If his last 18months as U21 boss were all geared towards getting them playing in a manner suited to Selles’ first team, then it is not necessarily a reflection of how he himself wants his teams to play.  

I have seen Hunt’s academy teams play in a variety of ways from high possession to low block and any number of back 5 and back 4 formations. That may speak to his tactical flexibility, and it’s certainly a compliment he got us winning in those various styles. It doesn’t, however, tell us a tonne about how his team is likely to play next year.  

He’s answered aspects of this in the past. We know he wants his team to work hard, be competitive, and play for the badge on the front rather than the name on the back. That’s all great but, all due respect, fairly standard manager speak. I don’t expect him to come out and say “I love a 442 and I need a 6’3 lump up front to make it work” but again the point remains, there’s much we still have to learn about what this team will look like under Noel given a proper pre-season and some recruitment.  

Recruitment might give us some clues but then again just because a player has played a certain way or in a certain setup in the past doesn’t mean we’re going to see that next season. It’s too early to glean much from the business so far, but possibly trends will appear as the squad building continues.  

The truth for me is that we won’t know much about how Noel Hunt, the football manager, wants his team to play until the squad is complete and we’re 5-10 games into next season.  

All this is to say, Hunt goes into this new season with a complete clean slate tactically as far as I am concerned. I’m going in with no preconceived notions of how we will setup because, for good and bad, I think there was very little to learn from last season about how we will play next season.  

The truth for me is that we won’t know much about how Noel Hunt, the football manager, wants his team to play until the squad is complete and we’re 5-10 games into next season. To me, that’s fun. It’s the excitement of getting a new manager and learning about how they want to play but with the familiarity of a guy that’s been around the club for years.  

JC