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It was almost 2 years ago now, one Saturday afternoon in October 2021 when I witnessed the worst Torquay United performance that i have ever seen. We played Bromley away and lost 2-0. It wasn't the defeat that angered me, no it was the manner of the defeat that made me decide that I would never watch my beloved Torquay United as long as Gary Johnson remained as manager.
In over 50 year's I've seen some awful performances from the Gulls, including the 8-1 slaughter by Scunthorpe at plainmoor. In that match the Gulls put in some effort, Scott Partridge scored our goal, the best goal of the match. At Bromley the effort was non existent. It was obvious that Gary Johnson could not motivate the players.

Two years have now passed and a lot has happened at TUFC. We have been relegated to regional football and already after just 2 games we find ourselves just outside the relegation places. Yes we've only played two games, one against a side that had not enough players to field a team a week before the season started.

Since the play off final, my beloved football team has been in rapid decline. We have an owner who seems to be pumping millions into a sinking ship but the holes are getting bigger. With Johnson at the helm, we have little chance of making the play offs let alone winning a league which contains mostly part time teams.

After 7 years of ownership, Clarke Osborne has failed miserably, remember the 5 year plan?. It is clear that the club needs a complete overall. It's only a matter of time before the club is placed into administration. I believe Osborne will cut his losses and run away, Johnson will resign due to not being paid and unless a saviour can be found, I believe that there will not be a club to play in whatever mickey mouse league it finds itself in next season.

Where are you Peter Masters?

Johnson was out of ideas for most of last season, and this season is more of the same, sadly. We have decent players in Collins, Stobbs, Jarvis, Ash and potentially De Silva....all attack minded players. Meanwhile a porous defence is criminally exposed by a midfield devoid of pace. Much as I love Hall, his legs have gone and should have been released, ditto Moxey. Lapslie will probably not give you a run of games and the bench, like most of last season, has been completely lacking any potential game changers. We are being outplayed and out thought by part time opposition and Johnson is already questioning whether some of the players are up to it..after two games, who the hell signed them?!
Johnson's first season with us was great, his second, probably should have gone up. Since then he has taken the team further and further down. He should have gone last season, at no other club would he still be here. He has to go, fresh ideas and impetus are required and quick.. His post match interview yesterday was more uninspiring stuff. We all agreed it was not good enough. No shit.

SWgull wrote: ↑13 Aug 2023, 17:47 Johnson was out of ideas for most of last season, and this season is more of the same, sadly. We have decent players in Collins, Stobbs, Jarvis, Ash and potentially De Silva....all attack minded players. Meanwhile a porous defence is criminally exposed by a midfield devoid of pace. Much as I love Hall, his legs have gone and should have been released, ditto Moxey. Lapslie will probably not give you a run of games and the bench, like most of last season, has been completely lacking any potential game changers. We are being outplayed and out thought by part time opposition and Johnson is already questioning whether some of the players are up to it..after two games, who the hell signed them?!
Johnson's first season with us was great, his second, probably should have gone up. Since then he has taken the team further and further down. He should have gone last season, at no other club would he still be here. He has to go, fresh ideas and impetus are required and quick.. His post match interview yesterday was more uninspiring stuff. We all agreed it was not good enough. No shit.

At no other club would he still be here……..

There’s no defence for Johnson any more. Call me what you like, but I won’t be bothering on Tuesday and probably for the foreseeable with Johnson at the helm. I’ve followed the club through thick and thin for decades but I can’t see him turning it around, he’s had his time. Nothing to get excited about anymore! The only buzz last season was the Derby game

Johnson should be gone, no question. But the timing is wrong. He should have gone at the end of last season not after the summer work into team development has been done and the budget spent.
He's obviously a cronie of Osborne but the bigger issue is if the 5 year plan man gets fed up and takes his toys with him. End of club time?

Johnson should be gone, no question. But the timing is wrong. He should have gone at the end of last season not after the summer work into team development has been done and the budget spent.
He's obviously a cronie of Osborne but the bigger issue is if the 5 year plan man gets fed up and takes his toys with him. End of club time?

I agree with all of the above, Johnson must go, but sadly I can’t see that he will. His pretence at “managing” this team is way beyond a joke.

The financial cost of getting rid of him would be the first nail in the coffin of the club and he won't resign . Osborne is astute and won't want to spend more than he has to do the way I see it is we have to hope things turn around on the field .After the last 18 months the prospects don't look good.

Must be fun in the Johnson household.....who is getting sacked first Lee or Gary?

Dawlishmatt, considering your long held feelings I am surprised you waited so long in starting a Johnson out thread, but you have not thought it through, especially your reference to Masters , who had to give Truro city away for a £1 because he was unable to pay the bills, as for Osborne and his five year plan, by his own admission he knows nothing about football,his designs on the ground are long dead in the water, so why waste a million plus a year of his own money. He got in Johnson who had been around the block several times to fill that void, there was lots of hot air around the club at that time about potential buyers and they were just that,He alone saved the club, buying out the previous chancers who somehow managed to pass the fit and proper persons test when they didnt have enough money to fund the club for three months, that they did shows had bad the sytem is.
Year after year and failed season after season he has still funded the club, could he have given more, yes, but in hindsight seeing Johnsons dire record of signing decent players I bet he is glad he didnt, has he been taken advantage of ,this savvy aware businessman , most definetely, but in a different way that Thea Bristow was. Each summer we expect him to pull the plug but oddly he comes back for another season and more abuse.
Johnson is the villain of the peace, but lets say we get rid, any young manager, in fact any manager even another fossil like GJ would do due dilligence, look at the whole set up and run a mile, as a club we are honestly a basket case and that started long before Osborne even dreamt about owning a football club.
We are where we are, I see no benefit either strategically or financially sacking Johnson, yes, the owner should come out and give a public expression of support to Johnson which is as we know is the kiss of death, he may then resign and we wouldnt have to pay him off.

culmstockgull wrote: ↑13 Aug 2023, 21:13 He alone saved the club, buying out the previous chancers who somehow managed to pass the fit and proper persons test when they didnt have enough money to fund the club for three months, that they did shows had bad the sytem is.

That is totally uncalled for. The 'Previous chancers' as you call them, in fact the Dave Phillips consortium kept the club in existence after Thea Bristow walked away, without them there would have been nothing for Clarke Osborne to take over.

This may sound a tad extreme, but the last "best" owner for me was Mike Bateson, I know that may p*ss a few people off, but on his watch we were solvent, pretty successful, playing league football, Wembley visits and all that, it wasn't all champagne and roses with him, but he always had the club's best interests at heart, sadly the biggest disaster for him was being conned by Chris Roberts, how Mike ever fell for his pack of lies I'll never know, since he sold TUFC, we've never truly recovered on and off the park, yes he was pretty dour and blunt, but I always liked the bloke, he was a realist, he knew the score on how to run a club,

I think Johnson is here to stay! If he was going to get sacked it should have happened mid-way through last season,
My concern after such a dreadful start is another relegation into footballs nowhere land.
All our hope has evaporated in 2 games. It is just so depressing!

dawlishmatt wrote: ↑13 Aug 2023, 16:31 It was almost 2 years ago now, one Saturday afternoon in October 2021 when I witnessed the worst Torquay United performance that i have ever seen. We played Bromley away and lost 2-0... that made me decide that I would never watch my beloved Torquay United as long as Gary Johnson remained as manager

I was at that match - it was poor - but if that is the worst match you have witnessed, you either have a short-term memory or have not been to many matches. In 2018, we got thrashed by Bromley at home four goals to nil - under Owers management - which left the club hopelessly adrift at the bottom of the table with just twenty points from thirty matches. Why did you not stop supporting Torquay after that match?

What I do agree with is if we act more like a football club rather than a vehicle for property development we might be able to breathe some life back into a club as it currently feels we are always preparing for the family dog to be put down. That said I am kind of grateful for Uncle Clarke for giving us another seven seasons of football - even in our current state - because at one point the end felt inevitable

Didnt look good really did it. I dont think that Stobbs, Collins, Ash, Dawson, Jarvis and re-engaging Lapslie, Hall and Moxey came particularly cheap so there must have been some money in the budget in the first place - by his own admisson Johnson went over budget because he said he didnt expect them all to stay.

Look where we are now though - 2 games in and it is chronic. I noted Johnsons demeanour in the after match Dover interview. He looked panic stricken and I think he knows that he has messed things up. This was confirmed by the diabolical perfomance against Worthing.

So we go to into Tuesdays game against Chippenham ( a side with 2 wins out of 2) in disarray. Dawson is on crutches (why on earth was he given a contract if he needed an operation in the summer) Moxey (who wasnt fit anyway) is now crocked. Lapslie is injured again. Craske has a hamstring injury. The Plymouth loanee doesnt appear to be up to this level. Our first choice centre half Tomlinson definately isnt. Ross Marshall and Dylan Crowe seem to have disappeared (could they actually do any worse)

So whilst we can field a pretty good forward line for this level the rest of the team is a complete car crash. We likely have Hanson, Macgavin and Hall in midfield- none of whom can run and the first two cant play football. We will likely have Donellan and Tomlinson in central defence and the more or less permanently injured Dan Martin in reserve.

lets be fair - the squad is actually atrocious - we would struggle to hold our own in the Southern League. It is a shit show of epic proportions.

It does seem particularly odd that Johnson has not strengthened the squad by way of loan signings (something he muted in an interview over a week ago) - With murmurings of a new manager already having been sounded out I do wonder whether the lack of any transfer activity gives this rumour any credence.