Torquay United Fans Forum

About as treacherous as you would expect from the world's most morally bankrupt club.

They know that Pompey could fill the entire ground out so ££ signs are spinning in their eyes. £30 for league two football is obscene, man on the street with his 3 kids may as well forget a day out at the football.

Let's be honest, would anyone really care if they closed ECFC down? A death trap stadium that they have no intention of improving, attendances nosediving by the match and now ridiculous pricing structures which will alienate fans further. I can't wait for the inevitable relegation back to where they belong and where they would surely be without a plum FA cup payday.

I agree Dave, undoubtedly some of the fringe players will be sent out on loan or contracts settled up, but if Greavsie can maintain a squad of 18-20 players all scrapping (not literally) to get into the X1 then we should be in a strong position and allow for rotation on a horses for courses basis. We all remember well that we knackered ourselves out at the back end of Ling's first season, I really can not see that happening this year. Still a long way to go but things are already looking so much more positive than a month ago.

Pearce
O'Connor
Labadie
Tonge
Lathrope

A fantastic day yesterday and a really gutsy result. It was nice to see bodies being thrown in the way of the ball and everyone gave their all. A superb effort when you consider the rigmarole of the hotel farce. That sort of thing breeds team spirit and at the final whistle you could see it there in spades.

Creativity and lack of goals is clearly an issue however our biggest concern earlier in the season was that we were shipping goals all over the place. Greavsie has come in and we have conceded 1 goal in 3 tough away matches, he has tightened us up at the back straightaway and that is an excellent platform to build on.

He seems to have overloaded us with midfielders and strikers now, that should give him plenty of options and combinations in order to find the magic formula that will see us more of a threat in front of goal. I actually think he got his tactics spot on yesterday and it was never going to be easy in the second half with the wind behind us- we all know how strong it was blowing into our faces- the ball just flew straight through to their keeper.

It wasn't pretty yesterday, but it was a great result, the sort of match that inspires confidence, the sort of result that was our forte under Ling and we all know what momentum that created at times.

There is serious competition for places now and that can only be a good thing. I have no doubt that the squad is way too big and Hargreaves will soon be separating the wheat from the chaff, but if having a biggish squad allows us to pick up 3 or 4 wins out of February then that is a financial risk worth gambling on in my opinion. The league is so tight (and devoid of quality) that a little run will take us to mid table.

Was a great atmosphere yesterday and 741 is an outrageous away figure considering we are second bottom. It was a really good day out and one which will live long in the memory. Bury, Accrington and Northampton all to come in the next 3 weeks, its time to sort our home form out.

Yes they can, unquestionably. The division is a poor one, so many average teams that we can look to take points off of- although clearly that needs to be done sooner rather than later.

I don't think this is the worst predicament we have ever found ourselves in either. Certainly no worse than last year. We need to utilise our large squad better, find the formula and get on with picking up some points.

Disappointing yesterday. The biggest positive being that at 1-0 down after 10 minute, we didn't capitulate into a shellacking, although we have two outstanding bits of defending - one from Poke, O'Connor the other, to thank for that.

We battled and fought our way back into the match, and actually controlled long periods of the second half, but there was desperately little in the way of creativity and we didn't really look like scoring apart from a couple of shots from distance, which their keeper looked nervous trying to handle.

Benyon and Hawley, excellent on the narrow pitch at Kingsmeadow, were much less effective yesterday and it was galling to see genuine width in Bodin and Chappel sat on the bench for so long. There seems to be an unwritten rule in football that you can't make an early substitution. Sometimes the bravest substitutions are the ones made earliest. It was obvious that team selection was wrong - I think you have to go horses for courses- and it took too long for changes to come about. I can't fault the effort of any player however. We dug in and fought until the end, I always felt we could nick something from the game as Nicho's last minute free-kick nearly proved.

We have a large squad, we have to start giving some of these players a chance or else we have to ship them out.

Oxford are a strong team, not particularly laden with quality, but resolute and professional, we struggled to find a way round them. We just can't afford to gift good teams head starts like we did yesterday, we simply gave ourselves too much to do.

We are fortunate that the division this season is a poor one. There are so many average teams that we have to target taking points from. 4 points from the next two is the minimum and the games will continue to come thick and fast thereon. Hargreaves has an enormous job on his hands, we can't dwell on yesterday's defeat, we have to target 3 points on Tuesday.

The worst thing about Ward was that Roberts (the conniving c__t) sold him for an extremely paltry amount with about an hour left of the transfer window- making it impossible to replace him. I think I knew for certain at that point that Roberts was taking us down. Sad times.

Macklin was a strange one. For the first 2 years I thought he was useless and a waste of space. When he got sent off at Oxford I thought we should rip up his contract and forget about the whole thing. Yet, in both pre seasons under Ling he showed he had the ability and I think he was awarded a lot more popularity and support from the fans than he really actually deserved because he never followed it through. An injury didn't really help, right at the time where he was starting to turn the screw' but ultimately I don't think he ever put in the effort to get where he needed to be.

Ling's damning assessment in putting him on the transfer list is likely to be on his footballing gravestone, it's a shame because he had far more potential than at least a couple of players currently in our squad, but ultimately Lloyd only has himself to blame for where he is and for what he hasn't achieved.

My abiding memory of Murray, sadly, is of him heading against the bar against Wycombe from about 3 yards out. The match finished 0-0 and started the stall of a possible automatic promotion. I think he went back soon after but we kept hold of Tomlin who was excellent in the play-offs.

Good to see he is playing at a decent level of football though. The quality of loans Bucks managed to get in during that season were very good indeed.

Hi Tim,

Boots & Laces welcomes anyone and it is a minute away from the Thatchers Pop-Side terrace. It will show the early ko off on a big screen and does traditional match-day grub such as pies, chips and hotdogs etc.

Alternatively, if you wanted something a bit different, you might be able to book a table in our no.10's restaurant where you could have a match-day carvery- still leaving you time for a pint or 3.

Hope you guys have a great day out and hope the good guys win. Hope it persuades you to come back for more.

All the best.

Let's not forget, regardless of how much we like certain players individually, that our defensive record this season is comfortably amongst the worst in the league. Hargreaves is addressing this in ways he deems fit and if it makes us tighter at the back, I am all for it.

I would not expect us to hold onto Labadie for longer than a month so perhaps Cooper is being lined up for a midfield role?

Irrespective of all our speculating its is pretty clear that CH is not only aiming to stabilise us in the short term but starting to sew the seeds for his long term ambitions too. Our squad is on the large side, so now he has to start trimming down on numbers. If today's trialist, and offering Danny Stevens a trial too, is anything to go by it's pretty obvious where he is looking to start.

We just have to trust Greavsie completely and let him get on with his trading in the best way he sees appropriate.

Agree, an outstanding goalkeeper. Lets hope someone else agrees with us - we have a nice juicy sell on clause should he be sold. (Thank you Martin Ling)

Have kept a keen eye on Eunan since his departure, he was such a prodigious talent. I always pay close attention to Bournemouth's highlights on the FLS. Yesterday, Bournemouth were awarded 2 penalties and Eunan had a contributing hand in winning both with his fleet-footed marauding past midfielders in the centre of the pitch which we had become so accustomed to. Needless to say he has taken to Championship football easily and with a mouth-watering FA cup tie against Liverpool on the horizon, there is further opportunity to show a bigger audience what he can do.

I see no reason why he shouldn't be in contention for the ROI first team, he is talented enough and if he is continually developing I see no limit to how high he can hope to achieve. Really hope he continues his fine form, really hope he shines against Liverpool, one of the most naturally talented players I have had the privilege of seeing in a Yellow shirt, and a bloody nice lad to boot.

Match OFF

Inevitable really, the amount of rain that has fallen has been ridiculous, near on unprecedented really.
Perhaps the decision could have been made earlier but they had to give themselves every opportunity to get the game on.
Its the sensible decision though and whilst we might not have a game for 2 weeks (3 if Oxford progress in the cup) and the good feeling and momentum generated by Hargreaves might be in jeopardy, we have to appreciate that the pitch would have been destroyed today.

Perhaps if Oxford do progress we could play Northampton next Saturday?

I do love it when Brucie pops in for a chat. Nial Thompson failed to command a first team place towards the end of his stint at Worcester City, not sure this makes him any more deserving of a place on the bench than Danny Stevens. Courtney Cameron gave a better performance against Exeter but was still ineffective. I don't think he has been managed right at all and I certainly don't want to write him off or abuse a youngster in his formative years trying to make his way in the game but I have seen little to suggest he is going to make a massive difference in our second half of the season relegation scrap. Danny has made 200 more appearances, scored more goals and got more assists than both of those 2 put together. If used right he has shown himself to be useful.

I am not doubting that he fails in comparison to Bodin and Chappell, but think some people are far too harsh with their criticism of Stevens because he is so slight. He possesses superb technical ability, the lack of match action and being 'unemployed' for the last 8 months is a concern (though no different to recovering from long term injury) but what have his suitors actually given us in that time by way of end product?

I agree its a risk, but given our finances and the fact that it's likely to be a weekly contract or less, I think its a gamble worth taking. He should be chomping at the bit to impress and give himself a second chance. Given his 250 appearances for the club (more than half in the league) I think he's a better option than Cameron, Thompson, Sullivan, Chaney and anyone else currently above him in the pecking order.

He had a decent first season under Ling, and was useful in the first half of Ling's second season. His complete decline, perhaps tellingly, coincided with Ling's disappearance. Regardless, he has still scored as many goals this season as 75% of our squad.

If he turns out to be rubbish then we haven't really lost anything as none of those aforementioned have made a difference this year either.