New Hythe Town boss Andy Crush quietly attended fans’ forum before his appointment to get a feel for the situation at Reachfields

New Hythe Town manager Andy Crush has told how he got a feel for the club before his appointment.

Crush attended a fans’ forum at Reachfields to hear what supporters had to say following back-to-back relegations to Southern Counties East Division 1.

It gave Crush, who kept himself to himself, a chance to learn more about Hythe in the run-up to landing the job of reviving their fortunes after a tough couple of years.

“I went to the fans’ forum before I was announced and just listened in,” revealed Crush, who led Hawkinge to the Kent County League Premier Division title last season.

“There’s people in the club who care.

“You see some of the negative stuff on social media but when you get there and sit in a room with 100+ people, they’re all being positive and want the club to go in the right direction.

“I sat there, stayed out of the way and just listened to what people had to say.

“At that point, I hadn’t had any agreement to be the manager but I wanted to see what it was all about and show that I was interested in the club.

“I wanted to know what fans thought, without them saying something because they thought I was there, because a few of them wouldn’t have had a clue who I was anyway.

“It was good to see so many people there, on a random Thursday night, I think it was, and come matchday there’ll be even more people.

“You’ve got to get that buzz back because they haven’t had much cheer about for a little while.

“Some of the signings I’m looking to make will bring excitement back and people will think ‘blimey, we will go and start scoring goals and we will be a better team’.”

Crush came to chairman Andy Nanda’s attention with his work at Hawkinge, while he’d previously won back-to-back league titles with Deal Town