Torquay United Fans Forum

Surprised Swindon didn't keep hold of him for league 2 given his scoring record for us in this league last season and having splashed out money on him in January. Am guessing Di Canio has his own players in mind though and needs to raise funds and clear wages in order to make room for them.

I personally think Benyon was unlucky at Swindon, with injuries and playing for a team that really struggled towards the end of the season, which must have mad get difficult to get going. Think he can do okay at Wycombe, and wish him all the best.

andygullagain wrote:Pace, pace, pace thats all i keep hearing. We all KNOW he has pace, he just doesn't know what to do with a togger at his feet. I long to see him burn off three players then dink inside and unleash an unstoppable drive bent into the bottom corner and him wheel away in celebration ( NOT BECAUSE HE DID IT BY ACCIDENT AND HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO) but because he is used to doing it. That ain't gonna happen. He does not have the foresight, talent or ability to do this on a regular basis ( more than once a season Danny). He has had 4 seasons to show us this but it hasn't materialised. Fair enough, Ling should be looking at the players at the club he doesn't know and he might well be able to improve Danny should he offer him a contract but on the face of it i cannot see it and it would be a huge mistake keeping the lad on.

I think that's a bit of an overstatement. I doubt stevens is on a huge wage at Torquay, and i doubt we'll be offering him much of an improvement, if any at all, on what he currently earns. For my mind keeping him on the books makes logical sense. We've had a lot of upheavel already, so trying to keep a bit of continuity is sensible. I imagine that's what ML is trying to do. He's already got a massive rebuilding job without having yet another player to replace. Stevens may not be the best player in the league, but he's definitely not the worst. He's a decent squad player, and we need a couple of those, and can do something, even if it is rarely, from the bench. It may also be that ML offers him a deal til Christmas so as to keep hold of him, and give him chance to judge his ability himself, without being stuck with him all season if he's not his cup of tea.

dannyrvtufc4life wrote:It's a bit off topic but it's a question that I've asked a couple of people (outside of the forum) and I've has no answer. There was this tune that was played after Robert Miles a good few years ago, I think it was played when Leroy came out TBH. I remember the tune just can't remember the song does anyone know which one I'm on about?

It's called Children, by Robert Miles. Brilliant piece of music. Whenever i hear the piece it reminds me of going to Torquay games when i was younger as this was the music they came out just after i started supporting them, in the late 90's. Love a bit of nostalgia!

I hope we can keep hold of Oastler, he's already fairly decent, is young and can improve still, plus he's got good versatility which is very useful at league 2 level. I don't think it's the worst news if we do lose him though, but would like to keep some continuity in the team.

There's no need to worry just yet. I know it's hard not to with no assistant and such a small squad, but I would rather Ling took his time identifying who he wanted as his number 2 and what players he wanted. He needs a no. 2 he can work with so is rightly making sure he makes the correct appointment. Similarly with players he's got to figure out what he's already got in the squad to know what players he needs to add to it. Am much happier he's taking his time making the correct additions than rushing out and signing a flurry of players who aren't worthy or paying over the odds on average squad members.

Happy with Burton at home first game, Rovers away second will be spicy to say the least. Quite annoyed at the league for sticking Us v Plymouth in november when the groud is still under construction. Cheers for that!

I think your being harsh on Horsell. He was young with no experience thrust into the team because we had nobody else. He showed decent potential, probably not at League level, but feels harsh saying worst ever. Completely agree about Evans though, was absolutely terrible for us.

Agree with CP, Zebs hasn't got the greatest first touch nor is he a natural finisher. He's a very good player at this level, one of the best in our squad, but for me his ability is simply because he's strong, quick and a hard worker like you say. My thoughts about him are that he's not got the greatest footballing brain, takes a second too long thinking about what he's going to do, which is why he hasn't made the grade at a higher level because he'll be found out too easily. His dribbling technique is also very much knocking it past the player then believing that he's quicker and stronger than the guys he's beating. That said however, at this level he's a very good player, and I hope the board do everything they can to keep hold of him as in the space of a few days we'd have lost our two best performers last season which would leave Ling with an even more difficult rebuilding job.

Whoever he signs up I feel they need to have a certain degree of experience given the youthful nature of our squad, particularly an experienced centre back and central midfielder to help guide the players we already have, and obviously a couple of keepers, one experienced and one developing i would hope. It remains to be seen how many players he'll sign up permanently and how many loan signings he brings in. I personally would rather he brought in a few players on permanent contract to the club and then topped up the squad with a few loan signings. We were fortunate last year that PB was able to take advantage of the loan market and unearthed a couple of real gems. Hears hoping ML is as good in the transfer market this summer.

All in all i think we've got a decent core, but its youthful for the most part, so they'll need some players to learn from and guide them. Going to be another interesting few weeks.

I think we overachieved given the size of our budget compared to those around us, and the fact that the season before we had finished in the bottom half of the league. I thought before the start of the season we'd be good for midtable but didn't believe we had enough strength in depth to challenge for the play-offs, so in that regard over-achieved slightly. There's no doubt though that we deserved to be in the play-offs come the end of the season. We played some great football and over 46 games the table does not lie. We were helped by certain teams not performing to their potential and dropping away towards the end, but that is the nature of football.

As for the coming season, I think we should be hopeful we can make play-offs again, but we should not state that as our aim. It puts too much pressure on our players unnecessarily. We need to be realistic unfortunately. Their are lots of big clubs now in league two, all of whom will be pushing for promotion and spending a lot more than we can. We have barely got a first XI at present, so this season really needs to be about consolidating and building the team back up, and then pushing on the season after. We should aim for top half and hope we can sneak into the contention for a play off place. I believe aiming for merely survival is wrong, but we need a realistic ambition which is midtable at least, hopefully top half, playoffs an outside chance.

Right, worst ever team. Been tough, quite a few contenders for a starting position

GK Jamie Attwell

RB Lee Andrews
LB Stephen Reed
CB Stevland Angus
CB Martin McNeil

RM Jimmy Benefield
LM Les Afful
CM Jules Mendy
CM Gary Brabin

ST Habib Sissoko
ST O'Neill Donaldson

Subs Olafur Gottskalksson, Matt Villis, Mo Camara, Liam Coleman, Carl Priso, Chris McPhee, Gary Neil

I never said it was a huge over-achievment, but it was an over-achievment. How many of us really expected to be in the play-offs at the beginning of the season? We had a decent squad, one which was well capable of achieving a good position, but it would never have been one I would have backed to achieve a play-off place. We had a solid defence, and a few young players who were capable of good things who showed their potential (Benyon, O'Kane, Kee as well at times), and managed to get some gem loanees in towards the latter part of the season, but not a squad on a par with some others in our league who finished below us. We had a good season, others didn't, and we took advantage of that. Over the course of the season we did deserve to be in the play-offs, i never said we didn't, but we were probably six places higher than I would have thought at the beginning of the season representing over-achievement, but in a league as competitive as ours, sometimes small margins are all that matter.

A few players that spring to mind include Olafur Gottskalsson, Habib Sissoko, Les Afful and Martin McNeil

A thoroughly honest piece from SB about why they chose Ling and did not go with the likes of Forster or Hughes. They clearly wanted someone with experience, which ruled out a few of the applicants, and someone with good contacts, which seems to have been why they did not go with Hughes. He would have struggled to convince several scottish players to relocate to Torquay, even temporarily on loan as it's a big distance to move. Glad he's come out and said that.

Let's be straight as well, last season was an over-achievment, given the size of our club relative to others and the fact that the season before we were very much a bottom half team. Even by the end of january we were only looking good for mid-table so what we did was exceptional. If Buckle had stayed and we'd kept the squad we had together then maybe the board would be looking at progressing from where we finished and challenging for play-offs or automatic, but given our situation i think consolidation is a realistic aim. We've got a new manager in charge who's going to have to find his feet and barely enough players to fill a starting eleven let alone compete for a season. We need to get new blood in, give them time to gel throughout this season, hopefully get a solid mid-table finish without too much drama, and then see if we can push on from there next season.

Anything like last season is a bonus, but given the relative strength of some of the teams in our league, and the money some of them have to throw at achieving promotion, I'll be very happy with mid-table mediocrity this coming season and then pushing on once we have a more settled management team and squad the season after.

Could not agree more with the OP. I understand many fans are disappointed, and I was too, and that this frustration has come from having had a very stressful last few weeks and also losing Branno earlier today, but some of the comments have been absurd. Martin Ling hasn't even been in the job 24 hours yet some fans are saying he's rubbish without any evidence of what he's going to do to the club. Yes he had a bad spell at Cambridge, but equally he had a good spell in charge of Orient, but we should not judge him by either. We need to wait and see what he can do for us, whether he can keepwhat we have and add quality to it. At these tough times we need everyone rallying together, not turning on the new guy in charge.

The board have obviously taken their time to make an appointment, and would not have chosen Ling without doing the necessary research. People keep saying he wasn't on the shortlist, but no-one other than the board know exactly who the shortlist was. It may be that he was cheaper option than others, and that others priced themselves out of the running, but equally he could simply have been the best candidate. Its all well and good us fans saying we'd have done this, we'd have done that, but we don't have the same information that those in charge do. It's in their interests to make the best appointment they can, so they would not have done anything they believe would put our league prospects in doubt.

We need to support the new man and the team. Let's give him a chance to prove himself, not jump on his back when he's done nothing wrong.