Talking Torquay

[ryan-ttpod]

Bit annoyed at the 'Conference South is a Tough league' quote. Really? come on Ryan, don't even start thinking along those lines. A club with our set up and fan base etc should not be worried about Conference South, that sort of attitude just feeds into the Owers/Harrop/Osborne excuse bucket

There are definitely some factors that are going to make it a tough season. We should be aiming to win the league, play-offs at the very least. However, we're going to be the 'big fish' in the league, which presents problems in itself. For a lot of teams in the lower half of the division, we'll be their cup final.

Plus the fact it is likely we're going to have a squad overhaul, there's that to contend with. Not to mention the possibility of a change in management? On paper, it is not an extremely difficult league, but I don't think it's going to be as a straightforward as you seem to suggest.

[Tired Old Gull]

However, we're going to be the 'big fish' in the league, which presents problems in itself. For a lot of teams in the lower half of the division, we'll be their cup final.

That is a very, very risky thing to say!
Too many people still seem to be under the impression that we are a 'big fish' in the current league - our position says different.

Sure, other teams might like to play an ex-Football League Club with a tidy ground and make it a good day out for themselves and their fans.. but that's where it stops.
So many non-league clubs are bigger fish than us now, both in our current league and many others, so the 'big fish' term needs to be used with extreme caution.

[merse btpir]

........and people continue to dis-respect the NLS; just as they did (and some still do) the National League.

Fools!

[ryan-ttpod]

If you look at the National League North, I'd tend to agree, that's a far more competitive league with some big teams in there, but I don't think it is quite so close with the South.

Being the first FL league club to play in the division will be a big thing, to begin with anyway! I'm sure the novelty will run out quite quickly though.

[desperado]

I don't disrespect the NS but every level/league you drop is obviously a lower standard. I think the
mental attitude is key to success especially in that
league, if we don't get that right we will struggle
I really don't think Truro's players have more ability
than ours and they can manage 4th place

[Forest gull]

Point I was trying to make was, every league is a tough league. Every team that goes up or down says the same, 'ooooo its a tough league to get out of.

[Teigngull]

I don't disrespect the NS but every level/league you drop is obviously a lower standard. I think the
mental attitude is key to success especially in that
league, if we don't get that right we will struggle
I really don't think Truro's players have more ability
than ours and they can manage 4th place

Only fools would disrespect the National leagues & it's varying standards of football.
That's why you'll always find myself & merse banging on about FIT FOR PURPOSE PLAYERS for the division you are currently playing in.
Every player no matter what position they play has a ceiling level to the standard they are capable of playing at . It just happens the current crop of ours , as a collective, are probably Sunday pub league standard.
For 5 years now through all of the different manager's we've employed have disregarded the fact we haven't employed players that know the league inside out. The last man to do that & be successful at it was Paul Buckle, ok he had the financial clout to get in the right players & round pegs for round holes etc etc.
How did he manage that with us being out on a limb down here in deepest darkest debn & of course that old chestnut of Torquay being geographically challenged to attract the best players ?
Well, the answer was, Bucks did his managerial apprenticeship in the conference, he knew the standards required to be successful & he knew how to sell TUFC to prospective players, he also knew when it was time to get rid of players when they'd served their purpose or just weren't doing the job required.
This basic horses for courses rule has been abandoned by the series of manager's since Bucks tenure & until we go back to that philosophy we'll always struggle.
Simple.

[merse btpir]

Bucks did his managerial apprenticeship in the conference, he knew the standards required to be successful & he knew how to sell TUFC to prospective players, he also knew when it was time to get rid of players when they'd served their purpose or just weren't doing the job required.
This basic horses for courses rule has been abandoned by the series of manager's since Bucks tenure & until we go back to that philosophy we'll always struggle. Simple.

Exactly; he'd done his apprenticeship whereas Hargreaves and Nicholson hadn't; and to be brutal here neither have they made any attempt to put that right since being dismissed at Torquay.

You don't need an unstainable budget to recruit horses for courses......look at Paul Doswell at Sutton ~ sitting on top of the league with a modest budget and part-time set of players.

When Sutton got a financial windfall last season they didn't spunk in on serial sicknotes like Clarke, Gowling, Pittman et al; they used that money for developing their club infrasructure, building their community links and multiplying their attendances so now their average home gate this season stands at 2,144 against our declining one of 1,792.

Building extra refreshment points which increase revenue streams, refurbishing the club house (another important revenue stream) new floodlights, dressing rooms for the community teams and other 'unsexy' propjects have benefitted their club far more than our sorry collection of lame donkeys who couldn't win a raffle/score in a brothel/or manage a piss-up in a brewery in comparison.

They only run on a squad of twenty players and have loaned the four surplus to that out to get them off the wage bill ~ what is the size of our squad?

[MellowYellow]

They only run on a squad of twenty players and have loaned the four surplus to that out to get them off the wage bill ~ what is the size of our squad?[/b]

When Owers signed his 22nd player enough to make two full teams - I lost count.

[Teigngull]

I forget how many players we've signed this season, wouldn't it have been nice if we could've used the money wasted on the useless inexperienced shite we've used on 16-18 fit for purpose pro's for this division.

[stevegull]

I forget how many players we've signed this season, wouldn't it have been nice if we could've used the money wasted on the useless inexperienced shite we've used on 16-18 fit for purpose pro's for this division.

[Plainmoor78]

I forget how many players we've signed this season, wouldn't it have been nice if we could've used the money wasted on the useless inexperienced shite we've used on 16-18 fit for purpose pro's for this division.

Which leads to question "is Owers the right person to take us forward?".

[Teigngull]

Which leads to question "is Owers the right person to take us forward?".

That question shouldn't really need to be asked should it ?
He has failed as much as the last few since Hargreaves , should of gone before xmas but as you are all aware there is a certain GM who cannot bare the fact he fecked up on his choice & is trying to save face by 'standing by his man' !
No other football club in this country would act in this manner, it's a feckin disgrace by any standards & we're putting up with it, that's the crux of it.

[MF68]

Merse and Teigngull are spot on. Buckle and higher up the ladder, Neil Warnock in particular, sign players to get them out of the league they are in and then re-evaluate and start again.

As merse quite rightly explains there are plenty of younger, promising players in a lower tier than ourselves that would jump at the chance of a "professional contract at a professional ?? Club"

Aside to this there may be a sell-on value to us which there certainly will not be with has-beens, journeymen and crocks holidaying at our expense

Torquay's problem has been signing harrad, fallon et al who never brought anything to the party.

Does David Hedges actually exist ??

[merse btpir]

Does David Hedges actually exist ??

What Dave Hedges the Head of Recruitment?

Oh he exists all right; he was at our game at Maidstone recently having a beer with Geoff Harrop and Thea Bristow's 'Grim Reaper' who drives her about and carries her handbag....dunno' what recruiting he thought he'd be doing there. He doesn't exactly carry himself 'incognito' either; adorned in a club bench coat with 'Torquay United' prominently emblazoned on it. If he goes scouting in that he's hardly going unrecognised is he.