Torquay United Fans Forum

Being situated at the arse end of the country and most away games being overnight stops or at the very least huge portions of the weekend spent travelling or recovering from travel. Danny has been doing that with us for 6 years now so understands the implications of that, I do think it takes some players some getting used to. You may say that these guys are professionals and it shouldn't be an issue but I think it can be sapping. In the conference particularly our schedule was ridiculous, players like Danny will know better than others how important it is not to return there. I think he was unfairly written off and binned last season, he has a point to prove.

No matter how far we have to travel, TUFC are well supported wherever we go, you only have to look at Morecambe's paltry 30 odd last week, or the 40 Andy remembers AC Northampton brought last season to realise Torquay's support is special, regardless of whether we're top, middle or bottom. Some managers and players don't appreciate or understand this, Danny does, I think in some small way this contributes to unity and togetherness. I think Danny has been around our club long enough to know we're perennial strugglers, who take massive triumph in small victories, who for finishing 22nd is a massive achievement. To that end, he cares about the future of the club, rather than seeing it as just another stop on a long journey, or just another paycheque.

Exeter fans do make me laugh, not just at their appearance, but to read their opinions too. Serious delusions of grandeur from a club whose stadium they could not afford to pay for, and can not be bothered to maintain, yet still can't be further than half way up the worst League Two division in living memory.

Exeter are a club in very slow decline, and always will be with St James a hepatitis hell-hole in its current state. When they are told to replace their two Skrill South standard stands they will surely be relegated. Exeter City and sensible financial planning just do not correlate.

They were awful when they came to Plainmoor. They were fortunate to capitalise us at our lowest ebb, a poor line up as dictated by injury problems and a team so lacking in direction and confidence that we gifted them their last 2 goals and turned down the opportunity to score 6 of our own in the process. If we were playing them on Saturday the story would be so different.

The sheer arrogance of that club never fails to amaze me, a plum tie against Man Utd is all that allows them to look down on us and laugh currently. Without that large slice of good fortune they would not have a club at all. I can't wait to finish above them this season.

Public Gilbert execution in the centre circle at half time, please.

No suggestions for Andy, can't expect anything more from our club since certain board members dug into their pockets to install Hodges and Greavsie at great cost. All these trivial suggestions pale into insignificance when you consider that the club answered the biggest concern we could ever have in the most positive manner.

Can't wait for Greavsie's first home match, should be a tremendous atmosphere. Be interesting to see if Chris sticks with the same personnel that worked so admirably at Kingsmeadow (caught us all by surprise) or if he brings back some natural width in the shape of Chapel and/or Bodin.

A lot will depend on the state of our pitch, the Morecambe match was surely touch and go and at the final whistle the match had really taken its toll on the turf. We should be grateful to the marvellous work of the groundstaff if the match is on at all, but if it is in an understandably poor state then Hawley, Benyon and Stockley up front might well be the order of the day again.

We have no excuses if we fail to beat the only team currently worse than us in the league. We have a chance to psychologically destroy Northampton on Saturday and I am sure Chris and Lee will have us prepared properly for this one.

Not the most exciting transfer news but Danny is far from the worst player we have ever seen. Extremely technically gifted, it's full credit to him that he had a couple of extremely good Football league campaigns with us despite being told that due to his physique he never would.

No-one should be expecting 10 goals and 10 assists by the end of the season, but if we could utilise him for 20 minutes here or there, against tired legs, he could be an asset. If it's a weekly contract then we really have nothing to lose. When match fit a better option that Cameron, Sullivan and possibly Thompson at this point in time, in this situation, and more likely to notch a goal than the ever prone to panicking Bodin.

Out of contract, with it all to prove, looking to resurrect his footballing career. As long as he has kept himself fit then I see no problems with this. Players with the unique TUFC mentality and are what we need.

Rangeroverlover wrote:. Nico can make 10 good tackles in a match, but only needs to get skinned by a kid he can't hope to chase down the once and we're in grave danger of conceding.



Matt.

A perfectly reasonable observation, but that is the nature of League two football, if these guys were perfect then they wouldn't be playing in League Two. Maybe we're blinkered and/or jealous because we are continually lumbered with wingers who are unable to beat their full back on a regular basis. Nico did a fine job on Saturday, yes he was targeted slightly but we did not concede, and once he was booked (unfairly) he couldn't be as forceful in his tackling as we might have wanted. You would expect an onslaught from the opposition at 0-2, and you would expect our midfield to double up in order to protect a lead- nothing unnatural there.

Our defence has been error prone all season, you could level the same mistakes per game statistic at Downes or Tonge quite easily, Nicho I feel is scapegoated because his lack of pace is so noticeable. Yet his footballing brain is still so good that positionally he won't get caught out a'la Cruise, for this reason alone I think we will concede less goals with Nico in the team. We looked far more solid against Morecambe, Nico's communicating and organising helping this be the case, and got a precious clean sheet against Wimbledon too with Poke not really having too much to do. Compare this against Knill's set up where we looked like we concede at every attack and they look like two completely different defences.

Nico isn't perfect and I fully agree its a position we need to address in the summer, but at the moment, in the midst of a relegation scrap, with experience, control and spot on set piece delivery needed in huge quantities, Nicho is the best option we have.

Stockley
Downes
O'Connor
Hawley
Nicholson

A wonderful day!

Not too much to add to the excellent reports already on show, thought every single player deserves credit, a solid team performance, no weak links. I would highlight the front 3 for special praise however, especially in lieu of some eyebrows being raised at the attacking formation.

Hawley and Benyon worked tirelessly down the flanks, and helped out defensively at key times too, dropping deep regularly to key the joints together. Both offered tremendous support to Stockley who, quite honestly, was immense. His hold up play, and in particular, his chest control was exemplary, he lead the line marvellously and his goal, scored at a crucial time, was well taken.

Some of our football was a joy to watch today, and when it wasn't so fluent it was equally pleasing to see such commitment and graft put in by every player. This performance was a world away from some of the dross served up in the first half of the season.

Chris Hargreaves probably could not have dreamt of a better start. His demeanour and behaviour on the touchline gave an impression of a man in total control of the situation, with complete confidence in his own ability at doing the job in hand, and with total respect from every man working for him. Lee Hodges' job should not be underestimated either, I am extremely proud and pleased in equal measure to have them both in charge of our team.

The scenes at the final whistle were the kind you wish you bottle and re-visit. After so much doom and gloom recently today really felt like the start of a completely new season. The management, players and supporters - the club- have become re-united after one solid 90 minute team performance.

Players who had been completely written off gave assured performances, a very leaky defence looked a much stronger unit, fans who had been subdued for much of the season reacted with great noise and renewed passion.

We must not get complacent, days like this occur regularly throughout each season. However if today is a signal of things to come then we can look forward to a very prosperous period under the stewardship of one of the most popular players to don our shirt in recent times. The man oozes inspiration.

Smiling all the way home. Chris Hargreaves Yellow Army!!

In the last 36 hours I have heard its 'definitely' going to be 3 different people, and the strong possibility it will be 2 others. I think we can safely say that no-one is any the wiser and lets just wait until the man is appointed and then get on with the show at that point.

On today's performance the new man will have a lot to work with. We do not look like a doomed side. Plenty of time to stamp his own footprints into the team. All we can do is get behind him, whoever he is.

Preferred Losing Touch and Tongue Tied myself Andy. Finelines was a superb album.

Geoff Harrop deserves all the praise going today.

As I said in the match-day thread I really hope Geoff is retained on the bench for the rest of the season irrespective of who comes in. He is an excellent person to have around, he said and did all the right things today and really understood the importance of acknowledging the fans and trying to create a positive atmosphere generally. He said that managing Torquay United is a 'honour' and for that comment alone he should have the support of the fanbase. I have no doubt that he understands completely the gravity of his situation, his actions today really made the fans feel like a part of the club again. I have a feeling the recalling of Lathrope et al, as well as the inclusion of Pearce and Nicholson once more may well have a positive effect on the rest of the season. I thought we were excellent today, the shape in particular looked completely unrecognisably better than what we have seen so far up to this point.

Massive well done to Geoff. Glad we could acknowledge him at the final whistle too.

Pearce
Lathrope
O'Connor
Labadie
Nicholson

That equaliser, top quality though it was, was an absolute sickener, but that is what can happen sometimes if you don't take your chances, and we were guilty of passing up on 3 or 4 very good opportunities today. Some of our football, in the first half especially, was excellent.

The result isn't the best given our situation, but I prefer to look at the performance which was excellent. Pearce was commanding at the back, Lathrope revelled in his tried and trusted midfield anchor role. Those two inclusions really made a mockery of some of the previous manager's decision making.

Labadie was impressive too, strong and direct and the decision to go with 2 front line strikers looked to have paid dividends, Hawley and Benyon linked up really well. Thought O'Connor had a comfortable game at right back, both he and Nicho pushed up high at every opportunity, as required by our more narrow midfield.

Though he didn't score, Bodin looked a constant threat, and at one point put in a perfectly timed sliding challenge in right in front of the pop-side. All in all, everything felt a lot more positive, Plainmoor seemed rejuvenated.

I don't think Harrop did a lot wrong today really, those who attended the match today will be left in no doubt that this squad is far too good to get relegated, and that the spirit in the camp looks to be good. I understand we will have a new man in place soon, but I really hope Geoff retains a place on the match-day staff, he seems to understand the relationships between fans and staff, he is a good man to have around the place.

Final word for Jak McCourt who came over to say 'goodbye' at full time, thank you for all your efforts and best of luck in the future. Bags of potential, a promising career ahead for sure.

I stand corrected.

TufcHills wrote:Paulo Di Canio

Well I've heard it all now!