Torquay United Fans Forum

Completely agree HRG. Looking at the team that Saul played in at Derby it wasnt a weak team. Hopefuully games like this will improve his confidence and match experience/fitness.

Lets hope he is able to show hip potential next season.

As great as it is that a lad who has come up through the youth system is getting such attention I selfishly want him to stay here so that the club can benefit from what they have put into him.
Either that or slap a rediculous price tag on him and see who'll pay. :)

http://www.therams.co.uk/news/Halpin-catches-eye-Rams/article-3394818-detail/article.html

According to the OS QPR have been looking at him aswell...

I hope it is just for their development. They have potential and could be valuable to us in the future.

I have seen Halpin twice this season, Aldershot and Crawley i believe. In both games he struggled, his defensive positioning was a bit iffy and just didnt offer anything extra.

He is only young and in pre season he did make a few good runs and shows glimpses of his potential.

I would like to keep Saul for another year, look what happened to muzzy at TUFC he was a shambles when he arrived but at the end of last season was lethal.

LRT should be kept no doubt I was impressed with his games at left back. When he came in our set piece game had more options, Nico is by far the best long thrower and a decent free kick taker but when LRT was playing we changed it about and didnt just rely on a tactic that the opposition would know about.

[quote="wodger of awabia"]

Hi! R O T M,

Is N.C in the habit of inviting guest players to turn out for Derby Reserves? your site defines Saul Halpin & L.R.T as being "trialists"
Could it be that Clough & Buckle have struck up some sort of alliance, & Halpin & L.R.T have been invited up to further their "education". Perhaps Pringle had something to do with it. :scarf:[/quote]

Hi, looking at this article on your web site [url]http://www.torquayunited.com/page/News/0,,10445~2326602,00.html[/url] it seems Clough and Buckle have a 'excellent relationship'

Our squad has been massively stripped under Clough (had to do it, too many big wage earners), which has left the reserves a bit thread bare to say the least.
As an example, we've signed Michael Boulding [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Boulding[/url] specifically to play in the reserves and rumour has it that one of the medical team has had to play in at least one fixture this season!

That said, it was a very strong reserves side Halpin played in. Leacock, Anderson, Addison, Croft, Bailey and Robinson are all established Championship players (the first 3 with Prem experience) so that would of been a nice side to play in for Halpin & L.R.T (not taking anything away from them).

Talking of buying players and then sending them out on loan to League 1 &2 (although not to the same team granted); this guy [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaud_Mendy[/url] is pretty useful. Maybe as the Pringle deal didn't work out he could be next on your list?

Could it simply be that Derby reserves is a higher standard then our reserve league and closer to League 2 standard?

I saw Halpin at Aldershot and he looked out of his depth so if he's not ready for 1st team League 2 action then playing him in a higher quality reserve league makes sense regarding developing his potential.

I know for a fact that Saul is very highly rated indeed amongst the senior pros at the club......who, lets not forget see him in training every day.

The fact that we gave this lad a 3 yr contract speaks volumes - unprecedented for a youngster before his 1st team debut.

I wasn't that taken by Saul on my only view of him so far (at Aldershot), but that wasn't the greatest of scenarios to throw him into. What I did see was lightening pace, which is a start. And i guess he did more than I've ever seen Macklin do.

Bit of a strange one that him and LRT both went there on trial, but I guess it did Saul's reputation no harm in hitting a hat-trick. No doubt Forest will be sniffing round him as well.

Having not really seen him in anger, I guess its feasible he is one of those players who is built to play at a higher level rather than the rough-and-tumble of League 2. Either way, the fact that Derby are obviously looking at him (and that we've got him on a 3 year deal and he's from our youth setup) is all pointing to a bright future for him and a wedge of cash for us. Lets face it, if we had a triallist who scored a hat-trick and 2 assists, we'd be clamouring on here to sign him!

[quote="Run of the mill"]He's playing for our (Derby) reserves as I type. Is he any good? What type of player is he?[/quote]

Hi! R O T M,

Is N.C in the habit of inviting guest players to turn out for Derby Reserves? your site defines Saul Halpin & L.R.T as being "trialists"
Could it be that Clough & Buckle have struck up some sort of alliance, & Halpin & L.R.T have been invited up to further their "education". Perhaps Pringle had something to do with it. :scarf:

I think more than few fans questioned why he had be given a three contract, really can see why now,i think his potential was spotted by the club a long time ago and by fans.

Wonder whether Derby if they move to sign him,would be looking at a loan back deal,he clearly is one for the future and would have a far greater chance of regular first team football here.

Both on trial as it seems,

I expect saul to get more games with us first before any move. He has recently signed a new (3 year?) contract with us too.

Have to say that I hope Saul doesn't leave as he has a lot of potential, but I guess we'll wait and see...

Blimey!! :O