Sounds like an 'SAS fitness instructor' type of supervisor. You will either have to respond to this positively and spring into productive action and work your backside off, or quit and find another project. If I were you I will try and rise to the challenge. Don't take his comments personally, he is just trying to be honest with you and speaking his mind. (Better that than be false and insincere?) He is trying to motivate you and push you forward (army style). Try and do lots of good work to please him and show him that he is wrong!!!

Are they just trying to give you a kick up the backside and saying you just need a different approach?
Do you have monthly meetings with your supervisor? It is university policy at my uni, and you have to give a copy of progress/targets to the department. I presume that would have highlighted their issues earlier.
You could try and work out (ask) what your supervisor thinks you should be doing and what he would like to see you do. You could ask a friendly academic or postdoc for advice so you get the benefit of advice from someone experienced but don't go straight to your supervisor. I think questions are OK if you have done some research on your own first e.g. tried others and journals first.

"I've been told that if i drop out or am kicked out it puts a black mark on the department which isnt looked upon very well by funding bodies. They lose the rest of my research funding"
If you drop out after a year it shouldn't as typically people register as MPhil and upgrade to PhD at the end of the 1st year. Dropping out after this point is not finishing and is bad.
To be honest I would think, tough, the responsibility is theirs to stick to targets etc.

it is true that im not officially registered as a phd student until after first year. but i was told by a lecturer at this univeristy that my department will lose funding if i go.

This is a tricky one. I remember that all the time whilst writing my first year report, 'But, I want to leave...' but I still did it. It was not great but they still allowed me to do another year...

Really at the end of year one it should be:

a) Are you good enough to stay?

b) Do you want to stay?

With no pressure on a 'no' to b).

Ill be honest I have had my doubts about this project for a long time. Even from the very beginning. I don’t believe in what im doing. I made a poor choice of project. I effectively choose the position on the basis of the reputation of the university. i knew that could potentially be a foolish decision at the time, but it was worth the risk. But I do believe I have what it takes. I worked very hard as an undergraduate and came second out of a class of over 50 students at the top university in my Country. Ive had given very careful consideration to pursuing a career in research. I undertook two undergraduate research placements, one of which I had a paper published in an internationally peer reviewed journal. I was offered 3 PhD studentships as well as the one I am on now.

I think ive learned a hell of a lot about research this year and I just hope im given an opportunity to prove my worth in future years. I understand now that the most important thing about a PhD is that a person has to have a passion for their subject. If they don’t, they are not likely to succeed..... I

One way or another ill pursue a career in research at this University or another

Hey RJ,
Keep up your spirits and always have a positive attitude . I am in my final year of PhD and I had changed my subject after spending one year in a project. I had an immoral supervisor and now the new supervisor is sort of ok, well am not happy but I just want to finish my PhD. From my experience these are the following critical pointers to keep in mind if you are determined to do PhD,
1) Be practical - are you funded? How many years you can afford to study?
2) Be dynamic - keep two or three PhD topics and be flexible, you will not get everything at once, some things will get compromised
3) Be focused - your primary goal is PhD, which is finish research and finish report and nothing else should come in your way, ignore everything.

Lastly a good advisor/supervisor matters a lot, your advisor seems to be a mean person, if you are not comfortable then leave him and go for other alternative. Don't think that you have wasted one year instead you have gained a lot of experience and now can identify and deal with problems.
Good luck

LU,
thanks a lot for you comments. its nice to know that some else has changed project and been successful :)

Just don't quit.

"I effectively choose the position on the basis of the reputation of the university. i knew that could potentially be a foolish decision at the time, but it was worth the risk. But I do believe I have what it takes."

You seem to have seriously considered an academic research career before embarking on it. Keep at it! It seems that your current PhD was considered a means to an end; remember your goal! I've found that the main challenge of doing a PhD is how you deal with problems and I think it's a very lucky PhD student who doesn't, at some point in time, think "Why am I doing this?", "I'm better off doing something else", and even "I want to give up". You may have had it harder than most, but don't give up. It's how you handle adversity that counts; and if your supervisors supervisory style is well known in the field, then you'll probably get kudos points in the future: it will show that you're made of sterner stuff.

I would say, at the very minimum, you should have monthly meetings with your supervisors. I think it is not unreasonable to pester your supervisors to set up meetings. But remember, you _own_ the project: it's your project; if you need help, ask for it! Your colleagues would be a good place to start if your supervisors are not forthcoming. Generally speaking, most will be happy to give you feedback, especially recent post-docs.

I would send a copy of your revised report to your supervisor today (even if it's not quite done yet) and set up a meeting for tomorrow. Make sure you set up regular progress meetings, if these are not on a weekly basis, then email your supervisor weekly updates to inform him of progress. If then you get no feedback apart from something scathing after a number of months, then the supervisor has to share in the responsibility of the criticism.

Once again thanks a lot for your comments. As it stands now i am pulling the plug on my phd career( for the moment ). Sometime next week, i am meeting with my department head to explain the circumstances of my departure. A lot of the postgraduate students in my department have told me that i have a good case against my supervisor. i will present my department head with some facts and emphasis my willingness to pursue a phd at this university. I dont expect anything to come of this meeting, but i suppose it is courtesy to let him know my one of his students is leaving. If, on one the small chance, he takes my side and i'm given the opportunity to do a phd at this univeristy i will take it, otherwise i will go else where.....

Good luck, keep us updated. Hope it works out for you.