Paul Hurst is back at Boston United with the aim of making an immediate impact

Big Interview: Paul Hurst on his Boston United return

By Matt Badcock

Paul Hurst was in Lanzarote when the call came from Boston United, and a long-awaited return to management was to become reality.

The 51-year-old – who has twice taken Grimsby Town into the Football League, most recently in 2022 – had enjoyed Christmas with family visiting from New Zealand before a bit of winter sun. But, also, he had been out of the dug-out since leaving Shrewsbury Town, his second spell at the helm, in November 2024.

He jokes his cooking improved and he was sure to go to the gym and walk the dogs every day to bring a sense of routine, while there were co-commentary duties for BBC Lincolnshire – ironically covering the Pilgrims.

But any extended period not doing what you love is tough. And it’s why, after Graham Coughlan was sacked, the chance to get back in at the club where his management career began was not before time.

Return

“For me, it was 14 months, it’s too long,” Hurst, who won promotion from the NPL Premier as Boston’s joint-boss alongside Rob Scott back in 2010, tells The NLP.

“It was two things. One, I want to work. But also the fact I’ve been here at Boston before.

“David (Newton – chairman), Neil (Kempster – vice chairman), Craig (Singleton – secretary) – they are three mainstays of the football club.

“Sadly, John Blackwell passed away, but it’s people that were all here from my first time.

“The club has moved on, obviously. It’s gone full-time, it’s got the new stadium. The club is moving in the right direction.

I said this on co-commentary, so I don’t think it’s anything out of turn. My views are it’s a club moving in a direction at a steady pace.

“Sometimes you see it where it looks like everything is going to take off and all of a sudden the club is in financial trouble.

“I don’t think there are any false promises here. What’s here is here. The new stand is going up. Things that are talked about will happen.

“Overall, in terms of my time off, not that I was at Shrewsbury for a hell of a long time, but it just felt I needed a bit of time to, I guess, get over that.”

LEADER: Paul Hurst on the touchline at Shrewsbury Town in 2024
PICTURES: Alamy

He added: “It was a disappointing one – it’s always going to be – on a personal level in terms of the relationship I had with the chairman there.

“Although we weren’t doing very well – and I can fully accept that – I felt there was a genuine understanding in the football club it was going to be a really difficult season. I was up for the fight of that.

“That was the message before the start of the season: This is going to be tough, are you up for it? ‘Yeah, we know it is, but of course’.

“So that took a bit of time, if I am honest, to wrap my head around because I felt like I’d worked for good people in the last couple of jobs.

“And yet they still end up in that disappointment of losing your role.”

Hurst says experience now tells him to wait a while before contacting manager colleagues in a similar position.

The initial flurry of well-wishes can naturally drift away as life continues on.

But Hurst, who has long-serving assistant Chris Doig alongside him again, was always going to be ready when the next chance presented itself.

The former Ipswich Town boss didn’t accept the offer to be a pundit on Boston games ever thinking he could be managing them again, but it did at least mean he was well-versed in what he was taking on.

Paul Hurst lifting the National League play-off final trophy with Grimsby Town

Efforts

“The strange thing doing the co-commentary, working for BBC Lincolnshire at least, is you came down and did the interviews with Graham,” Hurst says.

“We’re former team-mates and he was great in terms of there were no issues or anything like that.

“I never heard him be detrimental to the players and their attitudes, their honesty.

“That’s what I kept seeing – I did feel it’s a good group. If they came up short, they came up short. But it wasn’t through lack of effort or trying.

“That’s always a great start point. Since myself and Chris have been in, we’ve certainly seen that. They are willing to work, they’re willing to take things on board we’re asking of them.

“That’s why it’s nice not to have to wait too long for that first victory and see some instant rewards for the efforts they’re putting in.”

Instant is one way of putting it. Narrow defeat in their first game back at FC Halifax was followed by a 3-3 draw with Southend United and then four wins on the spin to move them into the top half of the National League table.

First, they beat Boreham Wood, then picked up maximum points against struggling Sutton and Gateshead before last week’s 6-3 barnstormer with Scunthorpe United that saw new signing Tom Cursons bag a hat-trick to take his tally to five in four games.

GOLDEN BOY: In-form Tom Cursons is leading Boston United’s revival under Paul Hurst, and inset below, his team-mates celebrating
PICTURES: Daniel Haswell

Experienced

His arrival has coincided with Lenell John-Lewis’ injury, while key players Frankie Maguire and Dylan Hill have missed games.

But Jamie Grimes has brought title-winning experience from Chesterfield to the defence along with Derby County loanee Jake Rooney.

Is he enjoying being back in the management firepit?

“I’m experienced enough now, but I defy anyone to be really good at, no matter how many games they’ve had, accepting a defeat and being comfortable with it,” Hurst, who has led more than 850 games in his management career, says.

“If you do get too comfortable with it, your time is up, realistically. 

“It was a bit of a whirlwind start. Chris had taken one session prior to me coming and there were signs they’d already started to take things on.

“That’s grown since, with the more time you spend with them.

“I am sure there will be times ahead, unfortunately, when you look out and think, ‘Have we done anything with them!?’ That’s the nature of the game.

“There hasn’t been too much thinking time. It was always a thought to bring some players into help the squad.

“I am not saying they are only my thoughts; Graham may well have been thinking the same.

“We’ve managed to bring in four players and they’ve all come in and done very well.

“Again, it’s not a huge amount of games, but it’s nice when you do bring people in and they settle quickly, impress and make a good first impression. Not only for ourselves but their teammates and the fans.

“There’s lots of positives at the moment. I guess the bit will be is if we have a blip and it’s how we react to that. And by we, I mean everybody collectively.”

Challenge

That’s the challenge Hurst is laying down to his players. Can they continue on this path to ensure a calm end to the campaign?

Hurst has enough knowledge of the National League to know things can change fast, and that’s why they must keep pushing on.

“Midweek, the results in general weren’t the ones we would have chosen,” Hurst says.

“But I guess we’re a prime example. People would have looked and probably thought results hadn’t been fantastic.

“For us to put 13 points out of the last 15 on the board, people would’ve said, ‘No chance’. But that’s what we did.”

Change

He concluded: “The closer you get towards the end of the season, there are often what people might say are strange results or not what’s expected.

“You’ve got to be what I always deem as real – some can say negative – and be aware of the situation and how quickly things can change.

“For us to win the last four games was unexpected; there’s no getting away from that. You can go the other way and lose four, then you’ve gone down the table.

“The positive side for me is we’ve put points on the board. I’d rather have points than games in hand.

“There are a lot of teams involved in that shake-up and, obviously, at some point, are going to have to play each other.

“As much as our win last week against Scunthorpe was fantastic, in a lot of ways, the wins against Gateshead and Sutton are probably bigger just because of the position of the teams.

“So it’s very much eyes fully open in terms of the situation and what I want us to achieve as quickly as possible.

“If we can do that, great. Then you can start making small targets after that.”