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They can't actually know that for certain. Accounts for 2016/17 won't be published for another few years and even then they're not cut and dry about what is spent on players. You can get a rough idea based on previous seasons, estimates, common sense etc but there's not a published list, especially not yet.

We have a higher budget than last season and have spent it better on a smaller squad but better quality. The money went on signing Williams, Sparkes, retaining Moore, Blissett, Young etc

The Conference has a mixture of 'bigger' teams down on their fortunes, good non-league sides and bankrolled 'smaller' sides. Overall we're well into the lower half in terms of pure budget alone but have a good manager and the crowds to help us punch above this and get into mid table. A late goal today is disappointing, but overall a record of WDL from three games is about right for where we are.

Last time we were down here we lost £700k and £600k in 2007/08 and 2008/09. Someone had to pay for that £1.3m (It starts with a B) and it allowed us to cherry pick Hargreaves, Sills, Nicholson, Green, Wroe etc from sides around us and form a promotion winning squad. Those are the figures it takes to guarantee even 3rd and 4th placed finishes. Today FGR and Eastleigh are doing this, there's bigger sides in the division and other sides being managed well. Most other sides have someone putting in money, the American guy at Barrow, the South African at Lincoln, Dale Vince at FGR... we don't and so are relying on our fanbase.

After the last few years we need some stability, and Nicholson is doing all he can in the community to help us grow off the pitch. Ultimately without someone willing to lose money to boost finances, we're doing pretty well right now with what we have.

Gulliball wrote:They can't actually know that for certain. Accounts for 2016/17 won't be published for another few years and even then they're not cut and dry about what is spent on players. You can get a rough idea based on previous seasons, estimates, common sense etc but there's not a published list, especially not yet.

We have a higher budget than last season and have spent it better on a smaller squad but better quality. The money went on signing Williams, Sparkes, retaining Moore, Blissett, Young etc

The Conference has a mixture of 'bigger' teams down on their fortunes, good non-league sides and bankrolled 'smaller' sides. Overall we're well into the lower half in terms of pure budget alone but have a good manager and the crowds to help us punch above this and get into mid table. A late goal today is disappointing, but overall a record of WDL from three games is about right for where we are.

Last time we were down here we lost £700k and £600k in 2007/08 and 2008/09. Someone had to pay for that £1.3m (It starts with a B) and it allowed us to cherry pick Hargreaves, Sills, Nicholson, Green, Wroe etc from sides around us and form a promotion winning squad. Those are the figures it takes to guarantee even 3rd and 4th placed finishes. Today FGR and Eastleigh are doing this, there's bigger sides in the division and other sides being managed well. Most other sides have someone putting in money, the American guy at Barrow, the South African at Lincoln, Dale Vince at FGR... we don't and so are relying on our fanbase.

After the last few years we need some stability, and Nicholson is doing all he can in the community to help us grow off the pitch. Ultimately without someone willing to lose money to boost finances, we're doing pretty well right now with what we have.

Before we all reach for razor blades its only three games in, with two winnable away games to come.
The back five were solid this afternoon , in the main the midfield worked hard but lacked any real quality, not sure whats up with young, but that,s two lazy and off games he,s had, certainly not up to his usual standards. I am the biggest critic of chaney but he was on fire this afternoon, just needs to find an end ball pass to his game.
What we need is two good experienced players who have the win at all costs mentality that this squad doesn,t possess, we still have space for a couple of loan signings, lets get them in now before the season gets away from us again and we have to go into survival mode.

I thought we played ok today. We are likely to be a mid-table team and our record so far, admittedly against fairly mediocre teams, is what you expect of a mid-table side. I certainly think Torquay deserved the win more than Barrow but I did get the feeling that Barrow would sneak an equaliser and just when I was beginning to hope the danger had past, then they equalised.

I remarked to my friend (on around 82mins, according to the screen) that it looked like Torquay's heads had dropped, even though they were still winning. I'm not sure the substitutions helped things and had the game lasted another 5 minutes, then I reckon Barrow might have gone on to win.

However, on the whole, I thought Torquay played some decent stuff - one or two sublime moments from Chaney - and Barrow looked fairly ordinary. Both teams will probably end up mid table.

I very doubt we are in bottom 4 for budget. Talk of us being useless 3 games is pathetic. Barrow today was a benchmark match as to how we can compete this season, well a draw is about right. After leaving moss road last week I would have taken 4 points from our next 2 matches. Put into context, Lincoln probably thought they where going to be champions after winning 6-1 on Tuesday , today they lose 3-1 to Sutton. We need to get behind the team not slag them off after 3 games.

brucie wrote:Same old story - useless.

Were you at the game, if not don't comment because you won't know.

I thought the first half display was better than Tuesday; I also attended that match. Gerring and McGinty looked much more assured, Richards brought his A game and Williams and Chaney brought some quality. Blissett and Young have yet to fire, so we have the potential to get better. Sparkes has been pretty good for 180 minutes. Their keeper kept them in it with a couple of short range saves in the second-half and, when you don't get the insurance policy of a second goals you are always a hostage to fortune, mis-fortune in this case

lucy6lucy wrote:I very doubt we are in bottom 4 for budget. Talk of us being useless 3 games is pathetic. Barrow today was a benchmark match as to how we can compete this season, well a draw is about right. After leaving moss road last week I would have taken 4 points from our next 2 matches. Put into context, Lincoln probably thought they where going to be champions after winning 6-1 on Tuesday , today they lose 3-1 to Sutton. We need to get behind the team not slag them off after 3 games.

I thought we let two points slip away today. But it's not the end of the world. The players will learn from that and the team will improve over the coming weeks. Once they click and start to play together with confidence like a well-oiled machine there'll be no stopping them. And the secret is simple: strength, stamina, fitness; energy, speed, agility. It's what I need to get out of bed in the morning..

brucie wrote:Same old story - useless.

Completely wrong. You obviously didn't go to the game. I could criticise the team for a few things, but overall we played reasonably well. Some excellent performances, notably Chaney, and a top class goal from Williams. Far from "useless".

I thought we started quite well and the first 20min we moved the ball around nicely, we certainly deserved to go in front with a very well taken goal.
Chaney was playing particularly well and was causing there left hand side difficulties.Our back four looked solid enough, not sure what's happened to our keepers handling??
We just didn't get going after the break and you could see the pressure building with corner after corner.I felt we then got back into the game and we missed a great chance. Young delivered a brilliant free kick which we really should have hit the target.Then in my eyes the turning point, Reid broke free and was clearly held near the corner flag, no foul and Barrow went down and scored a lucky goal. Barrow looked like a poor side to me. Their defence looked very vulnerable to pace. Big shame we couldn't hold out for the win today. Not a bad game though, plenty to be optimistic about.

I thought we started quite well and the first 20min we moved the ball around nicely, we certainly deserved to go in front with a very well taken goal.
Chaney was playing particularly well and was causing there left hand side difficulties.Our back four looked solid enough, not sure what's happened to our keepers handling??
We just didn't get going after the break and you could see the pressure building with corner after corner.I felt we then got back into the game and we missed a great chance. Young delivered a brilliant free kick which we really should have hit the target.Then in my eyes the turning point, Reid broke free and was clearly held near the corner flag, no foul and Barrow went down and scored a lucky goal. Barrow looked like a poor side to me. Their defence looked very vulnerable to pace. Big shame we couldn't hold out for the win today. Not a bad game though, plenty to be optimistic about.

SBP wrote:I thought we started quite well and the first 20min we moved the ball around nicely, we certainly deserved to go in front with a very well taken goal.
Chaney was playing particularly well and was causing there left hand side difficulties.Our back four looked solid enough, not sure what's happened to our keepers handling??
We just didn't get going after the break and you could see the pressure building with corner after corner.I felt we then got back into the game and we missed a great chance. Young delivered a brilliant free kick which we really should have hit the target.Then in my eyes the turning point, Reid broke free and was clearly held near the corner flag, no foul and Barrow went down and scored a lucky goal. Barrow looked like a poor side to me. Their defence looked very vulnerable to pace. Big shame we couldn't hold out for the win today. Not a bad game though, plenty to be optimistic about.

I agree with you. The foul on Reid was blatant, by the most irritating player I have seen for years. Diarra, a sneaky player, hands all over opposition players, always whinging. I'd have sent him off in the first five minutes, dirty bastard. The officials today were poor, the linesman on the pop side a complete disgrace.

Well said Lucy. Some of our "N Devon supporters" post such crap !!!

As Tuesday, a decent ok performance with out being outstanding, but that's to be expected, as a club can't afford to give out 2 year contracts any more, so as a consequence the squad will change season on season, and we'll see a new team bedding in.

Gerring once again, an absolute rock at the back, what's happened to this lad over the summer, so far so good, really stepped up the plate and taking his chance, fair play to the lad, another solid display from Mcginty as well, and Verma once again to me, is proving to be a far better right back than midfield player, the only real worry back there, and nothing personal is LRT, all over the place again today and a real weak link back there, second time I've seen Sparkes, like this player, a touch of quality about much of his work, though lacks a bit of pace.

Over all today, the thing that frustrated me, and yes taking into account that we are national league, was the lack of quality in our play, yes there was some good move (involving Young, Sparkes and the front two) , but few and far between, got into good positions and far to many over hit and misplaced passes.

Far to many times today, some individual player were far to keen to rid of the ball, when they had 20-30 yards of free space, carry the ball forward, look for options pick your pass, there's no need to just lump it forward all the time.

There's always a tendency with a slender lead late on, to drop back, and I think that's what led to the freak Barrow goal, the team seemed to be sitting deeper and deeper as the game went, would liked to have seen them compete for the ball further up the park.

Don't think Richards going off helped either, I am a fierce critic of his ability to pass a football, but never doubted his attitude and work rate, today credit where it's due , he was having and all round good game.

Expectation, said after the first game, many of our fans expectation was borderline delusional, and it still is, it's believed Nicho had somewhere in the region of £420k to spend, in terms of a promotion budget, that doesn't get you in the ball park, can we overachieve, of course, but we need a reality check.

Finally on to the kits, surely the club were sent a final prototype of the kit for approval, in boots and laces saw someone with a kit on, and said to mate, that Bristol street motors, and I'm going to call it this, sticker on the back, because that's what it is, will come off in no time. When the team came out made a further comment that the numbers won't stay on the back very long either.

Design very good, quality utter tat, reminds me of the £500 kits we used to buy in when I was working in local youth football.

Thought the game was ok until the substitutions we were coping with everything Barrow put at us. I just thought it was to early for the subs. Lathrope had to come on because of the injury.

Ben Gerring played well and becoming a leader.
McGinty was excellent as well.
Verma was excellent.
Young did well
Bliss had his hardist game of the season.
Williams played well at times.
Sparkes is a good team player, a good signing.
Chaney did ok but cannot have blank moments whilst defending he does not watch sometimes when a throw is being taken. Sam was nearly caught out when we had an a corner, only to be stood in front of the player he should have been marking and got caught out.
Sam needs to put this side of his game right as he is good enough to play a higher standard.

There was not a lot wrong with the performance up to the substitutions.I would have left it longer as I said.

I suspect the disappointing crowd (2207) was due to the fine sunny weather and all the other summer holiday attractions available at this time of year. In the cool of the evening a floodlit weekday game always seems to generate more of an exciting football atmosphere. Of course, in the middle of winter the reverse is true: colder evenings attract smaller crowds than weekend games. In contrast, cricket games on a sunny summer afternoon always seem to attract relatively smaller crowds. When the summer heat dissipates and the team settles into the new season, I'm sure that attendances, and team performances, will improve considerably.