Former boss Paul Hurst has talked at length about his time with the Blues for the first time and says he doesn’t think the squad at Town “as a whole bought into what we were trying to do”, adding that he found it difficult to have a relationship with owner Marcus Evans.

Speaking at length in an interview with Sky Sports, Hurst reflected on his 149 days in charge at Portman Road, which ended on October 25th when his assistant Chris Doig, fitness coach Nathan Winder and physio Chris Skitt also left the club.

"I wanted people to embrace the idea that you be the best that you can be - with no excuses," he said.

"That's something I'm a big believer in. But as it went on, maybe because we did not get those early victories, those excuses began to creep in there.

“It is easy to say that you want change but when it comes along are you prepared to put the hard work in or do you show some resistance?

"I don't think the group as a whole bought into what we were trying to do. I'd had a fantastic relationship with my players at every one of my other clubs. Even at Ipswich, I felt I had decent relationships and the door was always open for players to air their grievances.

"But what it showed to me was the importance of getting the right characters in the dressing room. Character is so important. All you can do is manage those characters the best that you can until you can get the squad how you want it."

Hurst, 44, says he always knew it was a tough job to make Town competitive in the Championship given the budget he was working with.

"I'd had some success at Shrewsbury with an unfancied team that were second favourites for relegation, so you are hoping you can do something similar," he reflected.

"The owner didn't want to embrace that underdog tag. He felt that given the club's history and having been in the Championship for a long time, he didn't want to go down that route. I was OK with that and so we decided to do something different.

"We certainly put more emphasis on sports science. We also wanted to recruit in a different way because there was this complaint about adding journeymen players to the squad. The aim was to bring in younger and hungrier players with a point to prove.

"That is going to take time. I was not naïve enough to think that all the new players would take to it like a duck to water and play really well because that doesn't happen. But the mindset was that one or two could do that and some of the others could do it with time.”

He says things were difficult from the start: "Pre-season was a struggle. I fought hard to get us a trip abroad just to change things up a bit. The owner, the players and the fans needed that culture change.

"They had been going to Ireland with Mick [McCarthy] but it had almost become a set routine. I thought going abroad instead was great but because we went without anything like the squad we ended up with, that bonding experience was not as effective as I would have liked it to be.

"A lot of the players that went on that trip were not going to be part of my plans to begin with and others moved on. We sold Adam Webster after a couple of days of pre-season and I couldn't replace him until the season had started. We went into the season with one senior centre-back and we were filling in around that.

"At the other end of the pitch, David McGoldrick had already left the football club and then we lost Martyn Waghorn and Joe Garner. Both wanted to leave and that left a huge void which had to be filled within the wage structure which was difficult.

“The lads that came in probably needed some time to gain confidence and would have benefited from an experienced player like Martyn or Joe.

"Most of the time changes take time to come together and we were starting the season nowhere near as far forward as I had hoped."

Regarding working with Evans, who has taken a more hands-on role since Paul Lambert took charge, he said: "Trying to have a relationship with the owner was difficult. We spoke on the phone but with him not being around to speak to in person, it meant that there was a little bit of a void."

Reflecting on the current positives for the club, he added: "There are a lot of good young players coming through. If they can continue to progress over the next year or two they might end up in a situation where that group can all be playing in the same team. That would be a real positive for the football club.

"Paul has also brought more new faces to the club, which I would have liked to do in the January window. They may have the positive impact which the team requires. I hope the club can retain their Championship status as I was, and still am, grateful for the opportunity they gave me."

Photo: TWTD

TimmyH added 16:45 - Jan 11 Some parts of this I find really confusing to take in 'Marcus Evans didn't want to embrace the under dog tag' - what!?! and there's certainly a gap between getting Journeymen in and getting in young and hungry players with a point to prove, look at what Mick did the season before getting in Waghorn and Garner, not journeymen nor young but some quality. The big mistake was going to over the top with the league 1 and 2 players all at once. I wonder if Hurst knew before he came that Garner and Waghorn would be leaving? One thing we all know now that Hurst talks a good game! It's all history now and not part of ITFC history I'd care to remember but sadly isn't going to go away if we get relegated.

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runningout added 16:47 - Jan 11 shame we still have a few on here that revert to cowardice posts
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Mullet added 16:48 - Jan 11 "No excuses" followed by a polished list of them. This delusional Stalinesque rehashing of the truth as someone has clearly need of a new a job and someone to pick up the slack now the payoff is coming to an end is an insult to us fans and the players he left behind. Disgusting shambles.
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happybeingblue added 16:50 - Jan 11 spoke with respect and dignity i still think he is a decent guy and hope it works out elsewhere, i still feel fans blame him for waghorn/garner mcgoldrick going at least he has put that to bed so lets get real on that one,bart and knudsen not being back from world cup didnt help his cause as 2 of the senior players who both have been in poor form this season,and players didnt want to embrace the change it seems as had the rigid mick way for a few seasons,lets not forget the dreadful last couple of years of football at portman rd yes we were higher in the lge but fans left in their thousands because they were bored stiff,so i wholely believe the downward spiral begun under micks reign...

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BoxerBlue added 16:56 - Jan 11 No sh1t
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BlueMachines added 17:09 - Jan 11 The oddest thing for me is that Waghorn was happy until Hurst arrived. He had moved his parents here etc. I realise money talks but was it more of a case of Waghorn not liking PH and bully boy Doig than being temped away by £££??
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BlueandTruesince82 added 17:10 - Jan 11 Hurst had to to accept his mistakes, after Blackburn we were all fairly happy with what we sore and had that contained we may have done ok but as the winless run continued, which was as said due to a mixture of terrible luck, bad decisions and individual errors Hurst abandoned his principles, the high press, high tempo and started making 3, 4, 5 changes again. He lost faiths in the philosophy that had guided him and confused himself to the point where he had no idea what his best team was and that was where he lost me. Donacian at LB, RB, LW etc... Its fine to say I didnt expect all the players to be up to speed at this level.... but then if you play them all you know you will have problems, had he indentified those and tweaked then fine but he didnt, he panicked grabbed made poor decisions (Graham) instead of finding the nouse we needed. Tilt aside we signed every player we were linked with including his faves Toto and Nolan so I don't think be can make to much of a defence there. Ultimately I think he underestimated how tough the champ can be and tried to chnage too much too soon and whilst I accept that a degree of that was forced on him, Wags et al... it didnt need wholesale change.... I had such high hopes

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BlueMachines added 17:11 - Jan 11 Shrewsbury chairman came out and said PH was a it of a dick. That's enough to tell me all I need to know.
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warktheline added 17:14 - Jan 11 Hurst lost the plot after Exeter defeat, by jumping into bed with the cozy gang and shafting players he'd introduced to Portman Rd! Half baked ideas and should have been shown door without doubt no later than the daylight robbery in the Valleys!
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aas1010 added 17:21 - Jan 11 Looser... didn't like you from day one . Ruined this club by signing lower league players , .. now with have lambert trying his best to clean hurst mess up . Coyb
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Monkey_Blue added 17:35 - Jan 11 I assume PH has someone else to blame for all his mistakes? I said all along that he was signing and over paying for average league one and two players. People say “Journeyman” and forget some of those got us to the play-offs and never once had us struggling in the bottom half. It's such a clique but be careful what you wish for had never been more appropriate than here except in the states where they have Trump in charge. Lambert is doing ok but he wouldn't be here if idiots hadn't forced Mick out. Evans biggest mistake has been listening to idiots who don't know football like some of the 🤡's on here

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BlueParadigm added 17:43 - Jan 11 Nice guy but out of his depth. It's no good saying that the “Group didn't buy into what we were trying to do”. As Manager you have the responsibility to show leadership skills in terms of setting the vision and then winning “hearts and minds” so that the “Group” will follow you through thick and thin. It appears that the culture PH developed was the old fashioned “command and control” which is light years away from the enlightened approach adopted by PL

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chopra777 added 17:52 - Jan 11 Walter Mitty I think. Got rid of experienced players and brought in lightweights. Long live PL.
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BlueSwede added 17:55 - Jan 11 Will nerver forgive Hurst for what he has done to the club. He spent almost six milion on players who are not even close to playing. Way out of his depth. Hopefully thais is the last we heard from him.
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Ipswichbusiness added 17:57 - Jan 11 Remember that we waited for him to arrive until after Shrewsbury had completed their playoffs. That may have been an honourable thing to do but I think that, with hindsight, it handicapped the new manager. Better would have been for him to come in immediately after MM left. That way he would have had more time to plan, plus he'd have had a few games at the end of the season to look at the players in action.

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dukey44 added 17:58 - Jan 11 Simple we are we are because of Hurst enough said about him.... 3 points tomorrow please 👍
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meach1978 added 18:08 - Jan 11 New to this but not really. Hurst took on a role that promised much...but....was only an experiment that was likely to succeed if we had a strong enough squad. ME gets bad press because of late we have little to shout about. We tried a leap when a step would have been enough. We sold our best replaced with potential. Now stupid, then brave and appropriate. We know this is a results oriented business and until we gamble a little bit more we are not going to get lucky. Easy to say because it's not my money but I cancelled my season ticket in anticipation and still pine for the day I renew it. COYB's

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kltractor added 18:16 - Jan 11 My main moan regarding Hurst was that after many weeks in charge he still had absolutely no idea what his best starting 11 was. Lambert immediately determined his best 11 and has made very few changes.
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Saxonblue74 added 18:33 - Jan 11 Is it also other peoples fault for the manner of his departure from Shrewsbury? They don't want him back either! His man management skills are clearly appalling. His long, drawn out waffle became so boring I gave up reading it and his list of excuses were laughable. I'm sure we'll always remember 2:0 up at half time being "dangerous"! As for people not buying into his strategy, what about the dross he signed from his former club? Surely they know his philosiphy? This was a manager so far out of his depth it's untrue. An arrogant attitude, he thought he could rip the team apart and make it his. Instead he set our club back a decade at least.

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runningout added 19:12 - Jan 11 Hurst and Doug not meant for us. Ross was obvious to me, but Hayho. Club seems in a better place with PL . Apart from being bottom of the blooming league of course.. don't care for his Ropey past at Norwich. Everything is not rosey but getting there slowly. He says wishing
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jas0999 added 19:19 - Jan 11 The one thing which I still find very troubling is the club went into the season with just one CB. They knew Carter Vickers would return to Spurs. The owner sold Webster (can't realky blame PH as he hadn't been there long). Yet no replacements. PH clearly had a list - he wanted Tilt - but Evans failed to do deals for him and the MK Dons lad. Poor.
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mrshallisfit added 19:21 - Jan 11 Oh another reason it didn't work is that Hurst was a useless little twonk who was a million miles out of his depth.
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Warkys_Tash added 19:26 - Jan 11 Blues and Trues, I was livid after the Blackburn game and got dogs abuse for stating it.. Saw it right from the start, big boot up from the back, no identity, weak up front, poor at the back... was worried from day one.
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Warkys_Tash added 19:29 - Jan 11 Also not sure what this statement really means... 'The owner didn't want to embrace that underdog tag. He felt that given the club's history and having been in the Championship for a long time, he didn't want to go down that route. I was OK with that and so we decided to do something different.' Why would we want to be underdogs? So them what did Hurst & Evans decide to do different? It does seem though that he had little choice in the selling of any of the players as he has stated Marcus was not around.. but then surely he chose the replacements? All very confusing and we are not getting the full picture... either way he is gone. Lambert is in and seems to be choosing his own targets.. move on and hopefully upwards!

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44_not_out added 19:33 - Jan 11 Re. Waghorn and Garner..... “both wanted to leave”..... I wonder why. Probably realised your ideas and personality were not worth hanging around for. Go crawl back under the stone you've been hiding under.
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