royalgull wrote:Threads gone the way I didn't really want it to go, wanted to more highlight the excellent work Ling is doing in terms of getting the absolute maximum out of the individuals he's got in the squad, even the ones that were maybe considered squad or fringe players. The area where I feel Buckle really had his main weakness during his time here.
Rather than the merits and faults of Buckle's time here. I think Buckle was given a budget for us to compete, with the size of club we are, the lack of resources we make for ourselves and the size of the task at hand inheriting a squad of 4 and on the back of one of the most shambolic seasons and off seasons in Football League history, he was given (and had to be given) a budget that was decent for the division. He and Colin Lee assembled a squad of proven BSP players which went very close the first season, then he made the neccesary changes to take us to the next step. There have been clubs before and since with bigger budgets than us, and the likes of Luton won't be paying peanuts 3 seasons on in that league that haven't done what we've done.
I can understand the Buckle resentment, I dont' know him personally but no smoke without fire in terms of some of the stories about him, I too am enjoying a laugh at Rovers and his expense but I find it a bit sad/pathetic that everything he's done good for our club suddenly now has an excuse 'massive budget' 'his fault we're not in League 1' and all that sort of stuff. He took over we were a laughing stock in BSP, we're now a solid League 2 side. We're moving forwards (slowly but steadily) under Ling again, going to have a really nice little ground in 6 months time and a lot of that is down to the last 4 years of Buckle/Lee (for a bit)/Bristow and the board.
Rewind 4 years and the moment Rosenior was sacked after 10mins, would any of you seriously have said if you were offered 'Well the manager is going to be a bit of a dick but you will be a top 10 side in League 2, have 2 runs to the FA Cup 4th round, play at Wembley twice and Old Trafford once' Fancy that?
100% in agreement with that - the way he cast us aside after we gave him his big shot is the thing that still annoys me but you cannot forget (regardless of resources) the achievements he made in his time here.
I hear your points royal but I'm not convinced of his style never was to be honest. You have your poinst and mine is many managers could have done the same.
Not sure how we were the laughing stock of the BSP either, we hadn't played a game when he took over. But time to move on we're happy as we are.
I just hope that we never get a thread suggesting we should have him back in the future but sure as eggs is eggs we will.
Regardless of feelings towards Buckle – this behaviour is nothing sort of deplorable and those involved should hang their heads in shame. They do not represent the best interests of their club and is now just a witch hunt and public bullying.
royalgull wrote:
would any of you seriously have said if you were offered 'Well the manager is going to be a bit of a dick but you will be a top 10 side in League 2, have 2 runs to the FA Cup 4th round, play at Wembley twice and Old Trafford once' Fancy that?
Some people can't see past this and use it to claim that Buckle is a good manager.
Others will point to his many shortcomings and be labelled pathetic etc......................
Dave_Pougher wrote:
I LIKE THAT ! WHAT WAS I THINKING
I'm off to sign that one right away get us another three points in March !
dont have time to register of the BRFC forums and post it. I'm sure there are few people on here who are registered there - feel free to annoy them :~D
happytorq wrote:
dont have time to register of the BRFC forums and post it. I'm sure there are few people on here who are registered there - feel free to annoy them :~D
The natives over at the BRFC forums are getting rather restless and shirty now...........
Southampton Gull wrote:
Some people can't see past this and use it to claim that Buckle is a good manager.
Others will point to his many shortcomings and be labelled pathetic etc......................
Because whether he was good, bad, lucky, a tosser or whatever the ends justified the means while he was here.
The above are the facts and the matter of how they were achieved is a matter of opinion. To say Buckle didn't do a good job here is mental, what he does in the future I couldn't give a rats if he gets every team he manages relegated, but here a job well done.
First season - Abject failure. Bottled a play-off and was shown to be tactically inept
Second Season - Lucky to recover from early season stubborness but scraped through via play-offs - Success
Third Season - Struggled all season, rifts with players/club officials - late run moved us away from relegation. Failure
Final Season - Finished in play-offs utilising one of the best budgets ever afforded a manager of TUFC. Blew promotion however you look at it. Success/Failure depends on how you want to view it.
To call anyone mental for not buying into Buckle being a God for getting us promoted is a bit childish. He did an ok job overall, he got us promoted, what happened at other ex-league clubs is besides the point and only needs mentioning by those trying to convince others how wonderful Buckle was. Martin Ling is doing a far better job on much more limited resources while the Club count the cost of doing things the Buckle way. Debts at the Club spiralled during his reign and when told he was going to have to reduce his demands for the following season he jumped ship BEFORE the play-offs. I prefer to look at the BIGGER picture to decide on what is a good job or a bad job, not cream my pants over a tosser just because he won one promotion in 4 years.
Never said Buckle is a God, I'm more than happy with the way things have turned out, Ling is doing wonders and while I was sorry to see Buckle go at the time things have ended well for us. Ling on a much smaller budget is getting the absolute maximum out of the squad this season, we're 10th in the league and for us this season that's superb.
Buckle tainted his tenure here by the manner in which he left and I remain convinced he didn't sign players up to longer deals with the hope he'd take a few of them to his new club with him. That was poor and a complete lack of respect to the football club which gave him a break as a first team manager.
Never met him personally, and even if I had and he called me a pr!ck, if the team won on a saturday I couldn't care less. To call the first season an abject failure is so ridiculously harsh it's untrue, playoffs and Trophy final. No one has a divine right to win anything and playoffs are a lottery at the best of times. We'd lost a lot of our momentum towards the back of that season and lost that's football. We put it right the next season, hopefully learnt from our mistakes and saw the job through this time. He made a lot of mistakes that first season especially towards the back end, not about that because every manager will do so, he learnt from them and we didn't chop and change so much second time around.
Halfway through the next season in the football League he cleared a lot of the favourites out, changed the way we play completely got some younger blood in and we were a different side. We went from fodder to mid table and anything more than staying up in the first season was a bonus.
Last season isn't even for debate whether it was success or failure. We finished 7th and got to the final. Was a great achievement for the club.
We're Torquay not Man Utd, we don't have a divine right to beat anybody in this league, we have gates that a lot of Conference sides would look down on at times we've had a decent 4 years of winning more than we lose. Which is rare for Torquay United.
Things move on, he chose to leave fair enough and just like Branston, Robinson and others are finding out the grass isn't always greener.
royalgull wrote: Ling on a much smaller budget is getting the absolute maximum out of the squad this season, we're 10th in the league and for us this season that's superb.
Absolutely agree with this ^^^.
I never fell for the claptrap called "over achieving".
A successful manager gets his squad to perform to its maximum potential. Good job Dinger is doing this otherwise we'd be in a relegation dogfight.
Friend of TorquayFans.com Member of the Month November 2020 Southampton Gull: "Well deserved"
