Aaron Fox Will make Sheffield Steelers EIHL champions again...

[Jayboy]

Aaron Fox WILL make Sheffield Steelers EIHL champions again

Article in today's star By Bob Westerdale


Sheffield Steelers insist they have complete confidence that Aaron Fox is the right man to lead them to future titles.

Owner Tony Smith said that while some disgruntled fans had recently been calling for changes in the coaching staff, Fox and his number two Carter Beston-Will present the best chance of lifting the EIHL championship in 2024.

When any much-fancied sports side fails to deliver, it's not uncommon for supporters to call for new blood.But that makes no sense at Steelers, according to Smith.The owner said that he and Fox had a full debrief soon after the 2022-23 season ended.

The club proprietor mused that The Star would "want to be a fly on that wall" when they had their post-season catch-up.

But he stressed: "Fans have a pop occasionally about making changes at the top.

"And the reality is we didn't win anything, so we accept fair criticism from people. "Could the style of hockey have been better? Yes, possibly it could.

"Should we change it up for next year and take a slightly different style?" asked Smith.
"We (management) have a record of making changes when we think it's necessary and I genuinely don't think it is necessary.

"I think Aaron is the right guy to do the job.
"If you make a change at the top it can take a year or two to settle everything down and we are settled down now.

"Aaron is the right guy. I like his recruitment methods and his style of management.

"We knew he wasn't the seasoned coach when he came in but we seemed to do ok with a brand of hockey that is ok.

"Every year we go out to recruit winners, and I think we need hunger back in the team.

"We are the biggest club in the country so our expectations are greater than anybody else's."

The owner added that some fans had claimed there had been no 'Plan B' in games.

"I don't agree with that. Aaron is a clever hockey guy and knows his stuff. I 100 percent believe Aaron will get us there next year, I wouldn't be putting my faith in him if I didn't think he could do it

"Trophies are the target. They are always the target but next year is more important than most because we have had a few quiet years.

"We have not come close, third is not good enough. Semi-final in the Cup is not good enough and semi-final in Play Off isn't good enough."

While web forums and social media contained no shortage of attacks on the club after they limped out of the Challenge Cup and lost to Cardiff Devils in the Play-Off semi-finals, Smith said: "It is easy to ask for change.

"But I set my stall out with Aaron and his team to build a better club in Sheffield; that goes right back to day one when I expressed to Aaron that I wanted a winning, exciting team on the ice that would put bums on seats.

"We have seen the boom-to-bust years, where the club spent a fortune on players to win a trophy knowing the club wouldn't survive.

"That era is in the past, we have to be prudent under the wage cap and work smart.

"To those people who want change, take a good look at how far we have come. Fans go home happy every night so we are doing something right."

As for the owner's own responsibility in helping bring success on Sheffield Arena ice Smith pointed out: "Nothing is too far for us, if a coach wants something in Sheffield the answer is always yes, whether it is an extra car, player, house, dog basket... the answer is always yes, we have never said no to a coach.

"We have never canned an injured player, we look after our guys.

"We always give coaches every chance to win.

"There is never any pushback to say: 'What if I'd had this guy? What if I could have signed a Calle Ackered or a Marco Vallerand...we did both."


https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/ice-hoc ... in-4131419

[OneMadOrangeBoi]

Personally, Fox is a recruiter, NOT a coach. I'd keep him as GM and hire a proper coach. His recruitment is on point and each team has looked fantastic on paper.

I won't say Fox out, but adjust his role at the club. I'll take your burns now...

[Morpheous]

Personally, Fox is a recruiter, NOT a coach. I'd keep him as GM and hire a proper coach. His recruitment is on point and each team has looked fantastic on paper.

I won't say Fox out, but adjust his role at the club. I'll take your burns now...

I agree with you he’s more of a recruiter. He’s got very good contacts in Europe. But we lack the physicality and grit of the teams that have better North American contacts (Belfast/Cardiff). That and he also Tends to go for players who are getting on at the back end of their career and on the decline, rather than players who come to get better.

[smbmetal]

Apart from Greenfield I’m not sure I’d agree that Fox is a good recruiter if I’m honest. No one from this season was even in the top 10 of point scorers for example.

Bet Gerad Adams wished he had that type of backing from our owner after wining the League Championship. He appears to be rewarding failure with Fox IMO.

I’m afraid with Fox in charge it’s very much same again for me with average non contact hockey, lots of positive noises and words with no end product. Belfast will still be miles in front.

To quote “fans go home happy every night” I’m afraid I don’t and I know many others of the same mindset. Off ice is very good I’m sure if singing Sweet Caroline and dancing on a jumbotron is the main priority of going to the game (absolutely nothing wrong with that). I go for the product on the ice which hasn’t been anywhere near good enough for 2 plus seasons.

No positivity from me I’m afraid

[greeny]

Still seems to me that tony smith is happy with bums on seats etc and it seems he thinks everyone goes home happy after games, { Dont think so - he aint asked me ] So that article in the star to me comes across that trophies is not the main thing but bums on seats is. Also he says changing coach can take time to settle down afterwards . Not always, if the right person is fetched in then things can change straight away. Nothing in that article gives me much confidence anything will change. Im not too excited or hopeful for new season

[mark]

Hmmmm

The calls for a change are not the result of a couple of bad results, they are the result of watching three years of under achievement and not seeing anything which suggests that the next step is something we can make under Fox, could that change ? , well possibly and I'd be happy for the guy as I think he's a decent honest person but I've not seen any evidence he can close the gap to the Giants, with the backing he's had there can be no excuses for another season of disappointment.

Anyway, decision made and we have to go with it, the fact that it smacks of a Panthers/Neil Black attitude of screw the trophies just look at the attendances just doesn't come across as very Steelers like.

Perhaps we need another trophy , the "Best Team in the League that's not from Belfast" trophy, we'd probably come second in that mind.....

[Doom]

For me the issue is that last season felt very much like the season before, therefore lessons hadn't been learned.

We start the season well, but seem to run out of steam in the new year. The Challenge Cup loss to Fife felt very much like the playoff loss to Dundee the season before.

There is also the issue of the powerplay which was very poor. I thought we had the right personnel for a good powerplay, so for me the failings were tactical.

I really hope I'm wrong, but I'm expecting more of the same next year. The big worry though is if we don't start well next season, because that would really hit the coffers.

At least the last couple of seasons with us starting well there has been a genuine title challenge up until February/March, it would be a disaster for Tony if we did a Nottingham and were out of the title race in November.

I'll be there in August/September to see how Fox mk3 looks, but probably with less enthusiasm than the last couple of seasons. Hopefully the performances will win me over.

Regards

Doom

[Brian]

Oh my ! There are so many phrases in that interview that will be quoted if we go pear shaped again next season. From , “I 100% believe that Aaron will get us there next year “ , to ,” Fans go home happy every night “. (!)
The phrase I picked up on most is that, “We seemed to do ok with a brand of hockey that is ok. “. I think this just about sums us up. For the past few seasons we have been ok. We put bums on seats ,make money and are financially stable. Some fans are happy with that. Many on here though would like more than just ok.
Something will need to change from the last two years approaches or if not we will get the same result. Top 3 placing, near misses in the competitions and the league. In other words OK.
I like Aaron as a person , but I would also like him to go for younger, faster and more North American style players. I wish him good luck .

[jas]

Well, I certainly didn't go home happy every night! Often I was underwhelmed and frustrated. Sadly, I am expecting more of the same next season, although I would be more than happy to be proved wrong.

[Doom]

Interesting article in The Star yesterday with Tony Smith suggesting one of the advantages Belfast Giants hold over us is their lure of overseas players with education packages.

I did read a while back that Belfast offered a lot of Uni places, which was one of the attractions for players looking to their life after hockey.

I've always been a big advocate of the Uni places, especially when you have a wage agreement in place. Coventry used it to good effect with the likes of Neal Martin and they dominated the sport for a few years until other clubs cottoned on.

It looks like Belfast have now taken this to a new level, along with very good North American contacts.

Of course using the Uni courses as a carrot is only as good as the coaches recruitment and if we sign up more layers like Oskar Ostlund, it can actually become a burden.

I'm personally in favour of offering more Uni contracts and it sounds like Tony is going to be meeting up with Sheffield Hallam to see if there's any mileage in setting up something with them as well as the University of Sheffield.....The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned.

If Fox is offered the opportunity to use the Uni carrot to attract players.......more Steve Munn than Oskar Ostlund please.

Regards

Doom