Face from the past

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lucy6lucy
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Post by lucy6lucy »

He may have kept the finances tight. But he recruited some big managers and many players that have gone on to better pastures. Top bloke. Come back Bateson, even as an advisor.
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Post by westyorkshiregull »

Good times.

Since not so good with exception of 2009
Jerry
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Post by Jerry »

Always surprises me how everyone seems to go on about shoestring budgets and relegation fights under Mr. Batseon. I also remember record transfer fees paid (Saunders, Williams and Constantine) and exciting promotion battles. Promoted twice to League One, something all the Bristow money couldn't achieve. The Leroy and Kevin Hodges seasons made it a joy to be a Gull.
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Post by Parkys People »

And Don O'Riordan's 93/94 team. The Blackpool play off final too (not sure if he was our owner then?)
westyorkshiregull
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Post by westyorkshiregull »

Yes indwed he was....sherpa van trophy too...
Do belive he was a director around 87/88 season

Anyone remember him on the mod Dec adverts on tv in the 1980s ...
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Post by brucie »

Or Rodney Jack and Greg Goodridge - I think the fee for Saunders was 60k. Yes I remember Mike on the Adverts.
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Post by wivelgull »

Eifion: £70000 (successful).
Wes: £60000 (successful).
Constantine: £75000 (unsuccessful).
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Post by Tired Old Gull »

Play-Off final 1991 .. hugging Gareth Howells!

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hector
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Post by hector »

It's funny how a bit of revisionism can rewrite history.

All Mike Bateson did was balance the books. That's not rocket science. No strategic acumen or ambition landed us with the likes of Impey, Saunders (twice), Compton, May, Cornforth as manager. No strategic acumen or ambition saw us perennially battle relegation such as 92, 93, 96, 97, 99, 01, 02, 05, 06, 07.

Mike Bateson actually oversaw two relegations out of the league and two from league 1 and only 1996 was only prevented because of Stevenage's ground.

There wasn't an ounce of ambition. Virtually every manager had to run the club on their own without the benefit of an assistant, unless they were willing to have the chairman's son-in-law in tow, the club didn't have a training ground worthy of the name, the youth system was cut, meaning we missed out on some decent local players such as Dan Gosling. A lack of ambition saw us recruiting players of park level, in open trials to play in League 1 and yet had we stayed up, we would have been playing the likes of Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday etc, yet two years later we were in the Conference.

The only season that money was really thrown at the club was 91. O'Riordan's team of 94, Hodges of 98 and Rosenior of 04, were assembled on shoestrings, and were successful despite the owner, not because of him.

There was a constant talking down of expectations.

We reached the play-offs 5 times either side of the Bateson regime, so whilst things are bad now, I think they are not a lot worse than they would have been, had the Bateson's not sold the club in 2007. What we are going through now is likely what we had gone through then, had the Boyce/Bristol consortium not taken on the club.

There were so many players sold for big money, and plenty, like Matt Elliott and Darren Moore, who were sold cheaply, yet never was it used to invest in the infrastructure of the club. I do not see a great deal of difference between the club Mike Bateson left behind and the club we currently have. He left a club that was broke, in the Conference with just 4 players and nothing else. Heady days indeed.
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Post by westyorkshiregull »

Left them in conference ...only after had to come back after the roberts affair ...yes made mistake there. ..I'm not defending this statement but he said once a spell in conference would do the club good....Im sure he would have stuck with club in the 90s if that happened and maybe come back stronger....

Made some good decisions remember driving back from my gfs from Exeter uni in 2001 when Saunders got the sack when colin lee got temporarily the position. I think that saved us...got a couple of good players in...Ryan green for one I remember
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Post by PhilGull »

Don't forget that were it not for Stevenage Bateson would have had us in the Conference years before Roberts took us down. And there were many other seasons too when we were to close to it for comfort.
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Post by westyorkshiregull »

Well yes bit we didn't ...not saying nearly is good though.
Tough one for me but I dont see regime as a bad part of our history. Goodness I'd have to back now if I could
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Post by KeithMalone »

hector wrote: 31 Jan 2017, 15:58 It's funny how a bit of revisionism can rewrite history.

All Mike Bateson did was balance the books. That's not rocket science.
And yet now despite having a Financial Controller on board we are unable to do so

Mike Bateson actually oversaw two relegations out of the league and two from league 1 and only 1996 was only prevented because of Stevenage's ground.
Bateson had the nous to force the FA's hand when Stevenage said their ground could be ready in time, he wheeled out the rulebook and pointed out they had missed the deadline, go to Stevenage and you'll find his name is mud because of it!
There wasn't an ounce of ambition.
What actually happened was Bateson put the running of the business first. The Leroy team came about because Bateson refused to spend the ITV Digital money. He said the business model didn't work (whether this was because he was so tight-fisted or had actually looked at it remains to be proved). When every team around Torquay grew reliant on it and it went pop, the club were perfectly positioned to acquire the likes of Fowler who no-one else could afford. If you want to blame someone for the relegation blame Adebayo Akinfatwat who made it pretty well known he was off despite the fans voting him player of the season.
I do not see a great deal of difference between the club Mike Bateson left behind and the club we currently have. He left a club that was broke, in the Conference with just 4 players and nothing else. Heady days indeed.
The club had a balance sheet that stood up to scrutiny and there was never any danger of going out of business as the bills were met before the team put out on the pitch. Maybe he didn't make enough hay when the sun shone RE the ITV digital debacle but I still maintain I'd have him here over the current bunch as we'd have a club to support for many years to come.

You're entitled to your opinion but when you look and see you are in the minority you may wish to reconsider how valid that opinion is. Time heals wounds and as I said before you don't know what you've got till it's gone. The Bateson era will go down as more successful than the Thea one despite not pumping the money in, that is how you should judge a chairman/woman IMO
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Post by hector »

The Bristow/Boyce regime saw 4 play-off seasons in 5 years and two Wembley appearances plus a few cup runs.

It went wrong when she made a Batesonesque managerial appointment.

The club under the Batesons was only saved at the last minute from going out of the league by Ian Atkins. The year later it did go out. How you can suggest that him wheeling out a rule book saved us in 1996, when it was his policy of not giving his manager the resources he needed that put us there in the first place is ridiculous. We started that 95/96 season with Byng and Laight up front. The squad was so short of players that the team photo had the already departed Gregory Goodridge and physio Damien Davey, dressed in kit, just to pad the numbers out.

I'm not convinced those who did not fawn over the Batesons are in a minority. The takeover in 2007 breathed a vibrant new life into the club. People were generally pleased to see the back of the sullen, negative regime that brought endless relegation battles.

Of course it looks better than what we have now but we were a mess when they left anyway and destined for the sort of standards we are seeing now. The Bateson regime was no better than what followed and had Martin Ling not become ill, I suspect we would still be in the Football League and this misplaced nostalgia would be irrelevant.
Last edited by hector on 31 Jan 2017, 21:56, edited 1 time in total.
westyorkshiregull
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Post by westyorkshiregull »

On this nostalgia side of things....is lew pope still alive...I know he was a few years ago or so....I was supporting back in the webb years but lew seemed a quiet bloke and more of a fan....any memories anyone or anything to do with lew pope I'd be interested
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