Torquay United Fans Forum

tbh I don't see this runaway champions team that Crawley have supposedly got.

They don't look much improved on the side that won the BSP and they only won it with the same amount of points Aldershot did (who hardly set L2 alight when they came up). In the FA Cup they reminded me more of Morecambe or Macclesfield (who we also struggled against) than Bury or Chesterfield.

I guess there's still time for them to improve the squad - but time is getting on.

Is L2 this season really that much stronger than L2 last season? Last year was only weak because the big players (Northampton, Gillingham, Bradford, Port Vale and Rotherham) failed to perform - they all had strong sides on paper before the season began.

3 Strong promotion candidates to replace the 4 that went up - Swindon, Bristol Rovers and Crawley.

Plymouth - more likely to do a Stockport than a Southend. Far worse state than what Stockport were in - people are being disillusioned by the fact they're a big club to realise just how bad their situation is.

Wimbledon and Dagenham could go either way. I can see strong parallels though with our relegation from L1 and promotion from BSP with those sides though - and I don't remember our following L2 seasons being too pleasant.

Northampton, Gillingham, Bradford, Port Vale and Rotherham will all have promotion winning sides on paper - but did last year as well - so nothings changed this season in that respect. People were impressed by Lincoln's squad on paper and were widely tipped as dark horses- and look where they ended up.

This season L2 being stronger is reliant on all teams performing as well on the pitch as people expect. They won't because this is L2 - a strong squad on paper is often meaningless. The players that show quality in this division are here because they are inconsistent - players can go from being amazing at one club to a despised donkey at the next (and visa versa)- and this is what we see year in, year out. I see next season as being no different.

Oastler the replacement for Stanley?

Maybe I imagined it all, but I'm sure Oastler was here last season - so really Oastler is simply replacing himself.

Plus I'm much more optimistic about Saah than what I was about Branston when he signed for us.

Out of interest, I'm sure it was stated sometime a go that Buckle himself would get a share of the profit from O'kane (i think?) when sold on if I remember correctly.

Was such an agreement also put in for other players i.e. Zebroski?

If so, it would be in Buckle's interest to pay as much as he can get away with at Rovers given he would profit personally from a high transfer fee.

This is speculation on my part of course, but I would have thought if such an agreement exists with O'Kane, I'd have thought Buckle would have done it with Zebroski as well - especially given how much he rates him.

Wikipedia is not a source in any shape or form - I don't know why people continue to believe it is.

Wikipedia also states that Craig Easton is now our player. He's not - he may be in the future, who knows, but currently he is not and therefore wiki is wrong - same with zebs.

To be fair, I'd be rather depressed and surprised if we couldn't afford the wages of someone from Southend.

Say what you want about our finances, but I'm almost certain they're better than Southend's currently are - particularly as they signed him when they were in a similar situation as Plymouth are currently in.

Boom Boom wrote:Tell me you didn't get that from http://www.footballrumours.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or something under the lines of that?

Looking at that website it is - and considering that is probably the least reliable source for anything - I would take this news with a pinch of salt at best and forget about it, until we hear anything from a more credible resource.

footballrumours.co.uk is about as reliable as wikipedia for football transfer rumours - Branston off to LA to live with Beckham anyone?

Sugar daddy can buy a pen from the club shop for £1million. Problem Solved.

This is why salary cap based on turnover is a bad idea - easy to manipulate and doesn't represent the financial health of clubs by any means.

While Bevan is the only official Torquay player, others have Torquay connections.

Considering he's gone to a "bigger club with a lot more resources", you'd think he'd want to assemble something more than a glorified Torquay squad that was, as Buckle likes to point out, put together on a shoestring budget.

But so far, Stanley, Bevan and Carayol all have Torquay connections. Branston rejected you, Buckle's after Zebroski and possibly Oastler and Lathorpe as well. No doubt he'd want O'kane if he could afford him also.

Does Buckle not know of anyone half decent outside of Torquay - it's getting ridiculous now.

Can't see any firm agreeing a fixed price contract, particularly at the moment - and those that might, would add a huge premium to the bill for doing so.

6 months is a long time and the cost of building materials could go sky rocket in the near future - particularly if Greece completely implodes, which is looking increasingly probable.

Get it done while we can.

Not too damaging.

It's going weekly because newspapers are a dying media - so few buy them compared to what they used to. They therefore don't spread the word anywhere near as much as hey used to either, particularly amongst the younger crowd.

Buckle doesn't have the UEFA pro licence does he?

Any manager with ambition should surely have this, clearly Buckle was never ambitious at all. The lying scoundrel.

He doesn't play when it's raining.
He doesn't play when there's a wind
He doesn't play when the temperatures anything below 15C
He doesn't play on average-bad pitches
He doesn't play when you are losing or looking like you may not win
He doesn't play unless he needs a new contract in the near future and needs to promote himself

And in the 6 games in a two year contract where he will be willing to play to his abilities - he'll most probably be injured.

Other than that, he's brilliant......

5 years a go they were saying they'd be in the Premiership in 5 years. hmmmm...

In 10 years time, will their 5 year aim be league 2