U’S HAVE THE CHRIS OF LIFE!
CHRIS AGUTTER says has hailed Hastings United’s transformation since returning to the U’s hotseat.
Agutter rejoined the southcoast club following the departure of previous boss Paul Barnes in October following a run of seven consecutive defeats.
At the time they were languishing just above the relegation zone but a ten-game unbeaten run has now left the U’s contending for a play-off place in Isthmian Premier having also reached the semi-final of the Sussex Senior Cup and quarter-final of the Velocity League Cup.
And Agutter, who initially left Hastings in November 2021 to take up a coaching role at Stevenage, believes his players’ ability to do the basics well has been the catalyst for the upturn in fortunes.
“The brief when I took over was to stay up, fortunately we’ve managed to do that in good time and then some,” Agutter told The NLP.
“We’ve focused on working hard, doing the basics, picking people up at set-pieces and making sure we’re competitive. It’s about getting the right mindset and we’re signing good characters who will give you a 6/10 on a bad day because they’re honest and hard-working.
Philosophy
“We play a possession-based attacking brand of football as we want to be the lead role in the film not the support act, we try to play on the front foot, control and dic-tate games and it seems to have gone right so far, which is great.”
In his three months in charge, Agutter has put his own individual stamp on the squad, employing his tried-andtested philosophy of promoting players from the academy and re-signing local players.
“The previous owner went for a model of recruiting players from London, which was the opposite of what I did in my first tenure,” he added.
“The squad now is a very different group to when I left but what we’ve done is promoted six players from the academy, recruited a couple of players back to the club and added a couple of new faces as well.
We’ve kept the best parts of the existing team and worked towards having a core of local players with affinity and connection to the club, which is what the new ownership wants.
“When the chips are down, we have a group of men that would stand up and fight for each other.
“There’s more of a focus on tactics than ever, the pretty bits and sometimes we can overlook how important good people in the changing room are.”
Agutter believes the best is still to come from his side and paid testament to the Hastings fans, who he believes are the best in the league.
“I’m very process-driven and if we improve, then results will come off the back of it,” he added. “Our performances are continuing to improve and we should’ve put six past Dulwich, so I’m confident the points will continue to add up.
“We had over 2,000 fans at home against Dulwich and our supporters are incredible home or away.”