Torquay United Fans Forum

knightmaregull wrote: ↑26 Jan 2024, 09:15 I'm a gambling man and my personal bet is that this ends in tears, with CO etc exiting with boosted bank accounts.

Only time will tell and hopefully I'm wrong but sadly we are now in the hands of a property developer and Torbay Council.

I doubt it to be honest - I think there is a good chance Osborne will pull the plug at the end of this season or next and the club will fold taking his investment with it. I think the future of the club relies on Osborne and the council reaching a deal and I don't think that is very likely, recent articles look like Osborne is starting to ratchet up pressure on the council with veiled threats to walk away.

About sums it up.

Brewers boy wrote: ↑09 Jan 2024, 17:24

There must surely be a large enough pool of talent whithin a couple of hours of Torbay to create a team capable of winning this league.

I really, really doubt that. I think you vastly overestimate the number of players who would have the quality to go full-time but stay part-time because they have a well paid professional career and throw in the restriction of being within a couple of hours of Torquay, I'd imagine it is minimal. Even part-time players still need to dedicate substantial time to staying fit, there is still regular travel on weekends and training a couple of times a week.

Scorpion wrote: ↑09 Jan 2024, 12:55
I can't berate Clark Osborn for not being willing to plough a fortune in to the club as I don't see anyone else prepared to do it either. He is reportedly investing sufficient money to keep the team professional, and IF he is doing that without saddling the club with debt, then he has my gratitude.

He is saddling the club with debt, but as far as I see they are interest free loans and there are no assets in the club that actually provide any security so the prospect of retrieving any money without the club being successful is next to nothing.

Like most others I'm absolutely sure Osborne is primarily interested in the land around Plainmoor to develop for housing as opposed to any great love fo Torquay United, however I recognise that without him its highly likely there would still be a club, certainly not one that is capable as remaining full-time in National League South and he is continuing to put in a lot of money without any real prospect of anything.

Dave wrote: ↑07 Jan 2024, 09:00
There is huge potential at TUFC, however we'd be lucky to find someone willing to part with significant amounts of money on potential alone.

Is there huge potential in TUFC? Historically its been a difficult place to attract players to and the area is struggling economically.

I don't see much prospect of Torquay ever becoming a self-supporting club to compete at league level, rather it needs a generous benefactor and potentially a lucky cup run, or the odd player sale could mean it some years it could break even.

happytorq wrote: ↑19 Dec 2023, 14:55 I didn't read it that way. He was free to sign a pre-contract agreement from November, meaning that upon the expiry of his Torquay contract, he'd go straight there, for no fee. If we've agreed to let him go early, for me there's an implication that one of the reasons for that is that we'll receive some sort of payment. I don't think we'll ever actually be told, but it's not unreasonable to expect us to ask for some form of compensation for a player leaving before his contract ends.

(Of course, it's also possible that we couldn't wait to get rid of him and can't believe our luck that he's going, )

I don't think its that we can't wait to get rid of him, but if a player is not committed to the long term and has a move pre-arranged so immediate commitment to cause is not guaranteed then moving him on might be the right thing to do to free up some wage budget (hopefully to reinvest). Releases from both clubs seem to indicate its an agreed early release.

Wubble U wrote: ↑19 Dec 2023, 13:46 Firstly, no idea why Livingston are so keen on Donnellan.
Personally didn't think he was good enough this year in the NLS, let alone last year at National League level.
No brainer to release him asap in my opinion.

Secondly, I wonder whether we have let him go now rather than at the end of the season, because we have a replacement lined up and need to free up the wage bill? If so, it would be nice to see a genuine right back brought in, or at least a proper fit-for-purpose centre back to shore up the defence.

I'd have thought a new midfielder was on the cards if anything.

culmstockgull wrote: ↑19 Dec 2023, 13:23 I see that we have finally announced on the official club web site something we have suspected for weeks and confirmed by livingstone that he will be off 1st January on a 2 and half year contract, however reading the statements on livingstone's site indicate that we have let him go early so more than likely we wont see any money.

I agree, both the statements on the Torquay site and Livingston site are worded in a way that seems we have agreed to release him and not that it is a transfer.

I rather think this is wages off the books than any financial compensation - hopefully at the very least to free up some space to bring someone else in.

portugull wrote: ↑19 Nov 2023, 16:30 Dave in 95/96 Newastle led Liverpool by 12 points and Liverpool won the Premier League Title.

Fairly sure you mean Manchester United, not Liverpool

Southampton Gull wrote: ↑28 Oct 2023, 18:16 Dawson was a gamble most people were happy with until it became a weapon to beat GJ

Did anyone whatsoever know he needed surgery and would miss at least the first three months of the season? He played well at the end of last season, but had we known he needed a surgery I doubt anyone would have thought it a good gamble.

Wubble U wrote: ↑15 Aug 2023, 21:45 Not sure about anyone else but the streaming service was pretty much unwatchable for me. Cuts out every 10 seconds despite having a fast download speed (~50mbps)

It was garbage and cut out for the second goal.

Thanks for that CP, really appreciate you taking the time to do that.

On this comment

"One attendee, rather unfairly in my opinion, questioned GJs success rate with young loanees he has brought in during his tenure and suggested his “success” rate was about 50/50. GJ rebuffed that, and suggested he might draw up a list of the good ‘uns in his programme notes. To be fair, I reckon we have had far more better ones than duff ones since he has been here."

I think 50/50 success rate on loanees would be incredible and I'm sure it is nowhere near that, I'm sure we call name a lot more duffs than successes. However overall I think GJ is pretty successful with loanees, but the important thing is that loanees are addition to squad that has a certain experienced spine.

I actually think his comment about 50/50 was quite telling - my opinion is that GJ let hubris get the better of him last year, believing he could pick a team of diamonds from the rough and took too much of a gamble on inexperienced players with potential and there wasn't enough experience necessary to allow the young players and loanees to bed in properly and give them a chance.

Personally I think it would be insanity to pass on the opportunity to sign a player that has just scored 24 goals for a struggling team in the same division you are going to playing in.

I was very much in favour of Johnson going to try and turn around our form in the National League and avoid relegation. However, I do acknowledge that Johnson has a very good track record and these levels and this season may have been the exception as opposed to the rule. He tried to build a team of talented youngsters, but it just wasn't feasible - I'd be confident if he went back to a less ambitious formula he would be very capable of signing players and building a team to get out of National League South. Therefore, I'm not sat fully in the Johnson out camp, especially as finding a credible replacement is not guaranteed.

However at the same time Johnson will turn 68 this summer and ultimately failed in his task - we're back where we started under Johnson, so searching for a replacement to try and win promotion and build for the future does for me seem to be the best move.

CP Gull wrote: ↑18 Apr 2023, 20:47 McCallum have all caused us problems

And in this instance for us as well - remember seeing him loop one in at Accrington many years ago