mlw wrote:You would have to go a long way to find a bigger load of garbage than has been posted on this site today. Some of you are so detatched from reality it is mind blowing. All of you seem to think that you could do a better job than the current board, but when it comes down to it you would be even worse. The club would be bankrupt in a matter of months because none of you have the slightest idea about finance or budgeting - you only have to read some of drivel written today to realise this.
When I read this kind of indictment I find it hard to believe you.
If factions within the Board can't agree on what direction should be taken then it's hardly surprising that fans vent their concerns is it?
Fully accept what you intended MLW (really tough to shorten that), but you might want to rethink being someplace for a day or two and starting a thread in this manner, with this title and opening post.
I certainly don't think it was the best idea at a time when the future of the club is largely in the balance.
I wouldn't rock up at a new place of work and start critiquing methods and practices on my second day.
Hang around for a while, get to know the general feel of the place and the basis of opinion of the regulars (some more regular than others), you'll find that you'll appreciate what is said in a much more balanced light. I know this because, I too was once the new boy. I did, at one point, absent myself from the site for 4 months because I became disenchanted with all the negativity. I came back once the season was over and we had avoided relegation and it was a lovely place (then Trojan turned up and it all went downhill again).
I would have paid good money to come over and watch the fight between you and Dave but, given that it would be over quicker than an Audley Harrison fight, my money would be better spent elsewhere methinks.
Dunno what happened to my account, used to be a semi-regular here.. anyway, I kind of agree with the OP and kind of agree with some of the replies.
But as much as everyone loves to speculate and comment on what should or shouldn't be happening, i do wish everyone would take into consideration that they do NOT in fact know everything, there is probably more to the situation than what you read in the paper, so why anyone would proclaim that something should have happened/a manager been appointed by now without knowing the full facts, is beyond me. I run my own business, it's not nearly as complicated as running TUFC must be, but the percentage of unhappy customers i have that are very quickly corrected from an assumption of bad service in unbelievable, once they are 'filled in' with the truth. TUFC aren't about to address every single concern we may have. If they did that, they would only be criticised by others for wasting time! I think some people just love to believe that a bad situation is somebody's fault, based purely on the facts they know, which i am sure any reasonable person would agree, is not 100% of the situation. Sometimes you need to take a set back to take two steps forwards, and getting the right manager is most likely more down to personal details only apparent from stringent interviews, rather than 'who did what' at previous clubs. They are looking out for our club, and their investment, obviously they are going to make every decision they can to help us - and they (being successful business) are probably in a better position to make such decisions than armchair pundits who literally think they know better. Ludicrous.
At the very least, let's just see what happens before we start accusing people of not doing their jobs properly? By all means express concern, but there's a difference between that, and actually poking the finger at the board for not doing what they aught to, which is, like it or not, what SOME people are doing.
I think i'm somewhere in the middle, with Torquay United I have accepted sh*tty times to be the norm, I don't go and watch expecting them to win every week, win leagues, promotions and any of that, so when we get a season like last year I genuinely enjoyed it. Wasn't nervous in the playoffs, was just nice to be there and it meant we'd won more than we'd lost. That equals success at this club for me.
Always been a fan of Buckle, and I remain convinced he'll go onto good things in management, he's made of the right stuff and isn't afraid to upset people. Something that manager's need to have just as much as they need to be the players father figure as well. Gets the big decisions right which is partly why we've just had the season we've had. I knew he'd leave sooner rather than later, i'd accepted he'd go this summer, I think the way it's been handled hasn't been great and it's probably rightly left some ill feeling. It was also obvious he'd come back to TUFC for a few 'belongings'. North, Bevan, Branston, Stanley maybe Zebroski. Certain people that he clearly has got the best out of and enjoy working for him. It still rankles though, from his and their point of view professionally it's easy to see why they'd go there, but I dunno it leaves a sour taste them coming back and basically gutting us of our better players. Having said that, i half blame the board for one or two of them because Branston and Bevan probably if not certainly should have been given new deals back in January. In Branston's case i'm certain he'd have signed it, all he's wanted is to stay here and no we face the prospect of losing our best centre back.
Eventually we will get a new manager, like i said somewhere else it's imperative they get this right. With the budget constraints and also already loss of players, the new manager has to get the majority of his signings bang on, because if he doesn't we could quite easily be staring at a relegation battle again for our football league status, and unlike certain clubs we couldn't spend our way out of trouble.
The next month will be interesting and very important for TUFC, I just hope they get the right man in ideally as soon as possible because players are already on the move and the new man has a lot of work to do in an ever decreasing short time frame.
Personally, I don't support Torquay because I expect us to win every week or challenge up the top end of the table in front of huge crowds. I expect most of us on here support Torquay because it's our local team and after going to Plainmoor we fell in love with the club and have kept the passion for year upon year (probably for life).
But that doesn't mean that we can't feel frustration for opportunites we are missing out on, and expressing concern over things the club is doing wrong. This is a forum for Torquay fans to express their views, be they positive, negative or indifferent.
Since losing in Manchester, and losing our manager, there's been no communication with the fans over appointing a new manager or who at the club is being kept. Zero. If it wasn't for this forum and the Herald Express then the fans wouldn't have a clue which names were being linked, and on what timescale the appointment is being made. Communication has always been a problem for TUFC, but under the current board it's somehow managing to get even worse.
We've lost our goalkeeper and number one transfer target to Bristol Rovers in the last 24 hours, and the club seemingly didn't know anything about them. It's also been announced that £200 000 was paid to Colin Lee to get him out of the club. If these three things aren't issues where fans are meant to express concerns over then I don't know what qualifies under your criteria? But for me, these are all issues which are going to draw deserved criticism.
Hopefully we get some good news soon, but you can hardly bame fans for being pessimistic at the moment. We have a very good, young talented squad that looks to be torn apart, without any news of replacements.
I'm sorry but I really do have to say something here. All I've seen you do, mlw, is whinge and moan about us whinging and moaning. I haven't really seen you actually contribute to a thread, perhaps this is because most of your posts are whinging about us, or because you literally have no interesting to write whatsoever.
As Torquay fans, we have put up with our fair share of sh*t over the course of time, but we are now at a time where we are realistically looking at having a distinctly average team next season, partly due to lack of budget, partly due to already being 3 weeks behind every other team. We are also looking at losing most of the fan's favourites. For this reason, everyone is feeling quite negative right now. I have no doubt the board are working hard in getting the right candidate, but there have been so many things during this process which could've and should've been done so much better and quicker.
Now, I'd love to be the type that always looks at the glass as being half full, but I'm afraid I'm not seeing many positives in this situation, we'll probably be fending off relegation next season, once again.
I agree that the board have done and continue to do a good job of balancing the books and keeping the club afloat, and accept that they have an important decision to make in the appointment of a new manager, and that should not be rushed. The trouble is we've just had a good season and were hoping to build on it next season, only to have our manager, coach, goalkeeper, and no.1 transfer target in Stanley taken away from us, so we swing quickly from optimism to uncertainty, which is particularly rife when it comes to the future of our player of the year.
While I'm sure there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes from our board and other staff it's slightly disappointing when teams like Bristol Rovers are making announcements about their new signings to get fans excited for next season, while our official website latest stories are "Skittles tournie" and "We didn't have a clue Bevs was going".
Some reassurances that the manager hunt is going well, or that contracts are being discussed (or even a statement that they won't be discussed until a new manager is in place) would tell us something and probably calm a few concerns, but the absence of information gives the impression nothing is being done and leaves us to draw our own conclusions, and based on recent proceedings the tendency is for pessimism.
cambgull wrote:I'm sorry but I really do have to say something here. All I've seen you do, mlw, is whinge and moan about us whinging and moaning. I haven't really seen you actually contribute to a thread, perhaps this is because most of your posts are whinging about us, or because you literally have no interesting to write whatsoever.
As Torquay fans, we have put up with our fair share of sh*t over the course of time, but we are now at a time where we are realistically looking at having a distinctly average team next season, partly due to lack of budget, partly due to already being 3 weeks behind every other team. We are also looking at losing most of the fan's favourites. For this reason, everyone is feeling quite negative right now. I have no doubt the board are working hard in getting the right candidate, but there have been so many things during this process which could've and should've been done so much better and quicker.
Now, I'd love to be the type that always looks at the glass as being half full, but I'm afraid I'm not seeing many positives in this situation, we'll probably be fending off relegation next season, once again.
Fist class post and accurate assessment of my feelings that's for sure.
I've made my feelings known on the Craig Stanley thread, the Board have things under control.
I'm that pissed off now I don't even want to express myself properly, so mlw, if I was you I'd expect a whole lot more negativity to come over the next week or two. I can't see any of us opening a bottle of bubbly soon to celebrate anything worthwhile.
