Torquay United Fans Forum

Richinns wrote:Parasite? Try looking in the mirror mate! What a f**king prick you are!

I see you are taken in by Nicholson as easily as the rest of the flock are. A simple question, if he is so dedicated to the job and developing his players as 'athletes', why did he let them go on a Christmas drinking session ahead of a hectic set of fixtures?

So the man who promised not to offer any excuses decides to do exactly that. His social media meltdowns highlight exactly why he should never have been given the job in the first place. There are deep rooted problems at the club which go beyond the dugout but he is just accelerating our slide towards the conference south it seems.

He fails to address why he is the first name on the team sheet each week and offers no apology to the fans who have paid out a fortune following these pathetic losers up and down the country each week. Unbelievably he still seems to have a loyal bunch of sheep who worship the ground he walks on. He is so arrogant he probably thinks he deserves to remain as manager indefinitely. There are countless teams who have faced similar problems but because of proper leadership have managed to fight their way out. The only things you hear about Nicholson is him arranging fitness sessions at the gym the day before a game and not bothering to properly assess opponents for upcoming matches. He can do one as far as I'm concerned - the sooner the better. The club does not owe him or any other parasite a living.

Although he left under a cloud I think there is a lot of truth in what he says. I've always felt following his departure someone had to come in at boardroom level with proper knowledge of football operations but sadly for us this was never the case.

It all seemed to start to go wrong when managerial appointments were put into the hands of Baker et al. Would we have taken a chief exec/DOF getting paid 100k a year to still be in League 2 or maybe even 1 - compared to the losses, payouts and relegations we've had otherwise? I appreciate it's not clear-cut but I'm convinced that this kind of experience which has been badly missing over the last five years or so could have made all the difference.

I see what you're saying Dave, but wasn't it this board who chose to stump up an obsence amount to pay off Hargreaves only to bring in a new manager to great fanfare but without a contract. We then bring in Nicholson who unbelievably has less coaching experience than Hargreaves i.e. none and is appointed purely on the basis of his reputation as a player.

I know he isn't being paid a fortune but he is being paid. Remember how many people applied for the job including someone now at relegation rivals whose form has picked up. There are a number of people including myself who are aware of the dire circumstances we are in but cannot accept the same unprofessional mistakes being made time and time again by boards past and present which have led to where we are now.

You need to have another read Lucy. What I thought was rubbish was the fact that you seem to think the current board and management bear absolutely no responsibility for our current position.

PhilGull wrote: But who are you picking instead? I keep hearing that he should drop himself but he has been far from our worst player this season and no-one has suggested who on the fringes deserves a start ahead of him.

Err - play Butler there? The fact that he hasn't been our worst player shows just how bad we have been. It's besides the point anyway, the bloke seems desperate to keep his dying playing career going ahead of managing which is what he was brought in to do.

I'm sorry Lucy but that's just rubbish. Whilst decisions taken previously have contributed to the position the club finds itself now, to absolve the current board and Nicholson from blame is ludicrous. He's not passionate - he's arrogant. Continuing to pick himself rather than managing the team should tell you that. This isn't someone who is putting the club first. He has to go, now.

The truth is Nicholson should never have been 'in'. There's no chance of him walking, instead he will talk up the 'positives' of the result. I haven't been for a while now as it had started to feel like I was literally throwing money down a drain.

I've been encouraged to hear there might be changes ahead, however Nicholson has to be replaced completely rather than assisted before I will return.

Would there? Certainly not from me. I would have felt far more comfortable that the board had taken an objective decision instead of going down the lazy 'club legend' messy route - again.

Dazza wrote:I do think the Board are getting undeserved stick. They are being accused by some of not moving aside- for who, for what.? Norman S is a current owner and no he can't even if he wants to. In the future well maybe, I think he may be hinting, but at the moment it's not an option. He having a slug but it's easy when you have options open and money is more available.

Okay this Board appointed Nicholson but we all really know why- they have no damn money. They simply appointed and hoped.

I am not sure the Boards PR is brilliant but that aside they seem to being berated for trying to do their best. So for the those like Brucie saying it's not good enough etc etc that shout is easy. It's a shout of frustration and we are all frustrated. Let's be honest - we are probably the club in this league with the least money so let's have the guts to live through this.

It is thought on the other forum that Dino Maamria - the new Southport manager, applied for the role at Plainmoor but wasn't interviewed. Whilst we all - Brucie included I think, accept these are financially very difficult times it's these kind of things which don't give me any confidence that this board is any more competent than the last. The appointment of Nicholson was the final straw for me - having come so soon after the Hargreaves fiasco I just could not believe it.

^This. It has reached the point where the club is no longer a going concern in the hands of the current owners however well meaning they are. Any serious investor must be considered regardless of geographical connections or motive. The club to me is pretty much dead anyway (in its current form) so I don't see we have anything to lose. I just hope the current incumbents aren't too stubborn to consider a serious takeover which I fear they may be.

frenchgull wrote:I have never known so many players sent off in a season,there is commitment and stupidity,unfortunately our players fall into the latter.I posted two years ago that the true position of Torquay United was conference/national league south and was where we would end up and it's all coming true.I think we have missed the boat this season and our future is dire.If you have a business in trouble you do not appoint a manager with No Experience.With no money and worst no players with not much experience we will struggle.What a sad end to sixty years supporting Torquay.

That's what angered me so much about the appointment of Nicholson because I could see what was coming. I couldn't believe this board would make the same mistake as the previous lot did with Hargreaves. Both have led to disaster, this after the current incumbents were so keen to get rid of Hargreaves and bring Cox in. It defies all logic.

I've been out for some time as it's clear the writing has been on the wall. I simply cannot justify the wasted time and expense anymore. I never thought I would feel like this.

What angers me more than anything is that although Phillips, Breed and co took the club on with the best intentions and no money - they have made some awful decisions and somehow the situation much worse than ever. If they couldn't afford to appoint a proper manager on a proper contract why bring someone in and allow them to appoint an assistant, sign players on contracts only for them to walk away? We would have been in a better position just running Hargreaves' contract down before sorting out a proper replacement.

I pretty much gave up as soon as Nicholson was appointed - the decision was lunacy. What made matters worse was that at a previous fans forum the idea of appointing him had correctly been dismissed. Had he not played for us he never would have got through the door for interview. A lot of people applied for the job, I'm certain there were better candidates out there who would have been willing to work within the current remit - Martin Ling to name one. So although it's debatable whether the club would have survived long term in any case, in my opinion a string of bad decisions by the custodians of the club past and present have led us here much quicker. RIP TUFC.

I've missed the last two home games following the departure of Paul Cox and I will be one more off the gate for the rest of the season. The board have clearly given up, I cannot see any other rationale behind this decision. This completely mirrors the appointment of Hargreaves when we were fighting to retain our league status - and yet it was Steve Breed and co. who wanted him out immediately. Now we are close to dropping out of the conference and the same (terrible) decision has been made again. A good manager was appointed in Cox but without a contract, but he signed players on contracts who the new manager will somehow have to fit into his own team (I'm sure KN won't play 5-3-2). We seem to have manufactured a worse situation than if Hargreaves had been retained for the rest of his deal and then removed in the summer.

I had more faith in the likes of Steve Breed and Dave Phillips but this appointment may as well have been made by Bill Phillips and Simon Baker. Nicholson was one of the worst culprits of the gravy train culture we have seen at Plainmoor over the last few years which has been at the detriment of the club. I don't think parasite is too strong a word - especially when you consider he has come back as 'player-manager'. Yes he is local and yes he won't be earning big money, but I would have liked to have seen the other names on the list and the conditions they were prepared to work under. Let's be honest here - if Nicholson had never played for us he wouldn't have got through the door for interview - the same as Hargreaves. The final nail in the coffin has been talked about a lot this year, as far as my attendance goes - that's it, I'm done.

Different person I believe.