Message to Clarke Osborne

[merse btpir]

Quite right Jerry, as a matter of interest who was the guy in the cap to the right of the dugout, standing up, clappinga lot and encouraging , was that Hedges ?

the tractor tyre fitter ~ Simon Jeffreys

[desperado]

Oh.... thanks for that , I am even more depressed now

[Burnhamgull]

Head of recruitment, recruitment of footballers? OR business people for the new 5 year plan and new development, know which one I think. Bout time some on here start waking up!!

He'll be recruiting architects, builders, plumbers, eletricians........we've already got a sparke (poor I know, forgive me)

[Neal]

He'll be recruiting architects, builders, plumbers, eletricians........we've already got a sparke (poor I know, forgive me)

Accurate I would say

[portugull]

Well it looks like serious efforts are being made to bring in a striker very shortly which is very good news.

If ever we needed an impact player it is now.

Lincoln got in a striker last night from Peterborough and he scored a hat trick!

[brucie]

Or its serious bullshit, as we have been wanting one since Blissett left.

Personally I would have thought that if we had any intention of avoiding relegation Nicholson would have gone by now. Come Friday we will no doubt get 101 excuses as to why we couldn't get anybody.

The we will go to Southport who will get three men sent off and we will lose again.

We are going down, that's the only outcome.

[DevonYellow]

Or its serious bullshit, as we have been wanting one since Blissett left.

Personally I would have thought that if we had any intention of avoiding relegation Nicholson would have gone by now. Come Friday we will no doubt get 101 excuses as to why we couldn't get anybody.

The we will go to Southport who will get three men sent off and we will lose again.

We are going down, that's the only outcome.

Bang on. It's too little too late.

[Southampton Gull]

Perhaps they realised just how much it would cost to get a targetted manager in once they took in his requirements to bolster the squad?

Argyle want to keep Blissett so he isn't an option, but I hope people don't expect anything other than looking at players from lower levels. There's no budget for the seasoned pros that are really needed.

Fat Harrop is running the show now so perhaps he should be the one the fans share their frustrations with................

[Richinns]

Perhaps they realised just how much it would cost to get a targetted manager in once they took in his requirements to bolster the squad?

Argyle want to keep Blissett so he isn't an option, but I hope people don't expect anything other than looking at players from lower levels. There's no budget for the seasoned pros that are really needed.

Fat Harrop is running the show now so perhaps he should be the one the fans share their frustrations with................

David! How dare you!

Most of Mr Harrop's time is being taken up by pointing the finger solely at the manager and 'his' squad and protecting himself and his beloved GI!

5th January - Blissett is sold to Argyle (Torquay in 17th and six points clear of relegation)
24th January - Kieffer Moore bought by Ipswich (Torquay in 17th and three points clear of relegation)
8th March (42 days later!) - Harrop - "The search is on for an impact player" (Torquay in 21st and two points off safety)

All of this under GI's stewardship (although not officially confirmed by the league).

I think we can all guarantee Nicho was busting a gut a to a get to get in a replacement for a player that he undoubtedly did not want to sell.
In fairness it looked like GI would provide that in Moore and some extraordinary circumstances put pay to that but after this disappointment it is almost like they have just assumed all would be ok this year when the fans (and no doubt manager) were screaming at them that this was not the case.

It takes a great deal of work to get the right type of player in the door and todays announcement indicates we are at the very start of the process and now go into the biggest game of our season completely toothless again.

All probably too f**king late now! and a further nail likely to hit on Saturday - all whilst Harrop (do we trust his eye for a senior player?) and Hedges (unknown to us so reserve judgement) partake in the most reactive scouting missions in football history!

[Jerry]

Dave Thomas is fairly critical of the behaviour of previous regimes when it comes to scouting and player recruitment.

"it's always tough to replace players like that, but United did not even come close.
And as the purse-strings tightened, so things became progressively harder.
That's when United should have been able to fall back on those contacts, those scouts and those many friends they had in the game.
But in too many cases they ignored the contacts, dispensed with the scouts and failed to listen to the friends who were, and still are, out there."


http://www.devonlive.com/united-matters ... story.html

[SenorDingDong]

Dave Thomas is fairly critical of the behaviour of previous regimes when it comes to scouting and player recruitment.

"it's always tough to replace players like that, but United did not even come close.
And as the purse-strings tightened, so things became progressively harder.
That's when United should have been able to fall back on those contacts, those scouts and those many friends they had in the game.
But in too many cases they ignored the contacts, dispensed with the scouts and failed to listen to the friends who were, and still are, out there."


http://www.devonlive.com/united-matters ... story.html

Christ, did they forget to stock his favourite biscuits or something? Print it out and frame it. After 4/5 years of fire downwards spiralling DT has seen it fit to be critical of the board.

[MellowYellow]

Dave Thomas wrote: the late Tony Boyce, chairman for nearly 20 years used to say: "A Torquay United manager needs to have three things going for him – contacts, contacts and more contacts"

And boy did we have contacts. In 1966 we brought in John Bond and Ken Brown from the Hammers only a season after they picked up their European Cup Winners' Medals and their FA Cup medals the season before. Then they bring in their former team mate Tony Scott who was by then playing in Aston Villa first team and with him came another Villa first team player Tommy Mitchinson. And the quality players just keep coming to the club and so did the fans with gates of up to 11,000. The outcome? they helped Torquay to promotion at the end of their first season. Yes, I know it was yester-year but the model format does not change - contacts, contacts and more contacts.

Players have different reasons for going to different locations. Torquay to our Brothers in the North and the Cockneys in the South is like paradise and I tire of hearing how the world ends at Bristol. The same applies to Managers and potential owners, Warnock and Smurthwaite for example - both I am sure if courted right would have come to Torquay at some stage - why? because they love the place. And why wouldn't they!

[kevgull]

Dave Thomas journalistic skills have been part of the problem and not the solution.
His critical analysis of our recent history has been shocking.
A true arse licker IMO

[merse btpir]

I know it was yester-year but the model format does not change - contacts, contacts and more contacts.

This is a very different time with the differential between earning capacity in the top tier and the one United now operate at......it was never like that in the nineteen sixties. And Torquay too is now a run down dump in comparison to the lively place it was then; no wonder the club get problems with young players being homesick. Fancy being incarcerated down there during the winter, it's got more in common with Craggy Island than Pleasure Island.

[Mattpuma]

Yes I can see how Torquay might seem a little boring in comparison to this;

http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/18/interacti ... n-5825538/