Torquay United Fans Forum

Paul has done a brilliant job. Also is a good guy polite and respectful to fans. Something Gary Johnson lacked.

Has done a great job with the tools and budget available to him. Next years tools and budget will be bigger though.

Well we're all entitled to our opinions, I'll stick with mine which is that he has done an amazing job, second place from zero players just before the season began.

Also, talk about him being irritating, how? Gary Johnson was by far the most irritating manager we have had in my time supporting Torquay, not the worst but just loathsome in his arrogance and disdain for us supporters.

Southampton Gull wrote: Yesterday, 09:09 I still stand by everything I've said on this thread previously. I see automatic promotion as a missed opportunity BUT securing second spot was crucial in my view. I still find him irritating but he can irritate me all he likes if he takes us back to where we should be.

I'm just happy the club has been galvanised and become a much better environment for all concerned, it's long overdue.

I sort of knew this thread would reappear today, so it would be remiss of me to ignore it. But SG has summed up my feelings here, so has saved me trying to put my thoughts into words

I still stand by everything I've said on this thread previously. I see automatic promotion as a missed opportunity BUT securing second spot was crucial in my view. I still find him irritating but he can irritate me all he likes if he takes us back to where we should be.

I'm just happy the club has been galvanised and become a much better environment for all concerned, it's long overdue.

What the manager has done with what he had at his disposal is impressive. so to suggest the contrary is laughable, I said back in february that I believed outright promotion was a step too far, not through any shortcomings of wotton's but because the squad was just not strong enough or good enough,,we have lost the least matches in the league which speaks volumes about our defence, but drawn stupid amount of games, over a quarter of all fixtures, many we should have won and our final third play has let us down far too many times, last week against weymouth I would suggest any other top six team would have put a cricket score past them, yesterday at hemel I saw a very similar scenario especially second half, so if you like we were the author's of our own downfall in not getting automatic promotion.
Criticism, there will always be that, and that's not such a bad thing, one of the few departments that has been together all season is the midfield, and this is the one area that has malfunctioned the most, even up to the last few games I thought Wotton was just a tinkerman in that respect, no matter what he did or what permutation he used he cannot get it to function as he would want and the one area that requires a complete rebuild in the summer regardless of what league we are in.for too many games we have persisted with midfielders that declined or resisted doing what their job description says on the tin and more inportantly what they are paid for.
So on to saturday, I hope dorking and borehamwood knock lumps of each other tuesday night and struggle to field a strong eleven for our game, because they are both very well orgainsied and dangerous teams, in fact borehamwood ran us ragged when they came down last.

Wotton knows the limitations of the squad and has had us playing to the best of its abilities, it’s been functional rather than stylish, but the process of improving the squad is ongoing and yesterday showed a glimpse of the team we may end up with.

He and the squad have performed way above expectations, he said the Play Offs were the original aim for this season and we were a couple of goals away from surpassing that.

If we go up, he will have the difficult process of trying to improve the team within budget and without upsetting the balance we have found the last ten or so games, but knowing we will have to improve. If we stay in NLS, this team with additions should be a real threat next season.

I don’t understand anyone who’s doubted him, it was incredulous when some were openly calling for him to go earlier in the season, someone even posted a few days ago that he should go if we don’t get promoted this season, crazy. You can’t build a squad that will play exciting free flowing football that walks over everyone in one season, he has built a team that will win games, maybe not pretty, but in time I believe he will put together an exciting side that will do very well in NL and hopefully above.

As for his character, he’s a winner, he says it as it is, but doesn’t single out individuals when we play poorly, he doesn’t hide our injuries and he’s as honest as any football manager can be.

As the above poster said, these are highest attendances I have regularly seen at Plainmoor since I first started watching Torquay in the late 80s, will they stay consistently high with or without the freebies, who knows?

If we get promotion this season then hopefully the attendances will remain high, but Wotton will need time and we must be patient. If we don’t win promotion and they start poorly next season then the knives will be out again from some, we stuck with Johnson too long, but hopefully we would stick with Wotton.

We also have the downside of the Play Offs, less time to prepare for next season.

However I already have the nerves and excitement for next Saturday, I hope it is a fantastic day with a capacity crowd followed by another soon after.

I feel this thread deserves a bump to the top because some still believe Wotton hasn’t done enough, that’s fine to think that and different opinions on such things make this all a bit more interesting.

However my personal opinion and I know it’s shared by many is that Wotton has done a magnificent job, to have finished the 46 game season where we have is beyond any expectation I had pre season. I like a lot of our players and without trying to be negative I really think the squad of players we have, we have massively overachieved.

We have given ourselves a great chance to get promoted with the home advantage. Attendances are better than they’ve ever been in my lifetime, everyone’s behind the club.

But other than maybe young Dreyer and of course Matt jay, we have a squad of non league south players, for the most of them this is their level, the point I guess I’m trying to make is Wotton has taken a squad of relatively average players within a couple goals of winning the league.

I’m very proud of this team, and some of these players have done more in 40 games than most of the dross we’ve had over the last 5 years, but I really believe that we have finished where we are because of a manager that really makes a difference. Some may disagree, that’s perfectly fine, but other than maybe 3 players we are very much a national south level squad and to be where we are right now is not only a huge achievement but something to seriously build on. Some will still have their reservations over Wotton, that’s fine, but for me he shows passion, belief and will take us into the national league whether it’s this year or next.

Was certainly the quietest he’d been all season during the match, he’s normally shouting at individuals, continually getting the defence to push up or the whole team to move the ball quicker. Saturday there was a lot of head shaking, a few rants at the 4th official over time wasting and then mostly calling to Young to move into space.

I think watching the match back he will have harsher views, of the second half especially.

He has said there will be twists and turns, including us. I think he’s trying to keep a more level head at this vital part of the season, rather than rants at a ‘poor ‘ display, maybe the defeat for Worthing and Dorking drawing has just made it clear, we must win away at Truro.

Hopefully he saw the Jay needs playing in a better position as both him and Young are our most creative players and without them we offer little.

Dave_Pougher wrote: 07 Apr 2025, 08:17 Was surprised at his post match interview after Chesham, it was almost as if the manner of our defeat was expected, seemed to devoid of taking any responsibility.

I would imagine the manager has a lot on his mind at the moment, what with Truro looking 'andsom at the top of the table, and him almost expecting a defeat against Chesham!

Was surprised at his post match interview after Chesham, it was almost as if the manner of our defeat was expected, seemed to devoid of taking any responsibility.

My post wasn't a nibble, it was a light hearted piss take of AI, there are some things you can't remove the human element from, whilst AI has many benefits, an over reliance of it, isn't a good thing.

Not sure if machine learning is that advanced, it understands footie banter

Whist on the subject of GJ, he had his failures like Peterborough and Northampton, when monies dried up he's hit brick walls, he didn't leave Bristol City for another job, he left by mutual consent, sacked at Yeovil and Cheltenham.

We all saw what happened here at TUFC when the endless supply of high quality loans dried up, last season lost 20 matchs of the back of £1 million in the NLS, GJ has proven to only be a good manager when the going is good, something AI can't see.

Back to the subject of the thread, PW may not be everyone's cup of tea, but could still win the league off less than £1 million, with a squad thrown together as he inherited 1 player, lost just 6 games in the process, however next will be a true test of PW, regardless of whether we're in the NLS or NLP this will his first summer at TUFC with a base of a squad built.

Taelee73 wrote: 04 Apr 2025, 16:12 His first two seasons were a joy........... With plenty of money to spend.
However we all saw how well GJ did with a reduced budget...............

And after Lee lost his job..!

His first two seasons were a joy........... With plenty of money to spend.
However we all saw how well GJ did with a reduced budget...............

MellowYellow wrote: 02 Apr 2025, 15:04 If we are successful in winning promotion and Paul Wotton moved on to bigger and better things who would replace him? What better way to find out then using AI technology which according to experts drives better decisions and stronger outcomes,

This is the answer according to AI tool: ChatGPT

"Gary Johnson: If not already in charge, his knowledge of the National League could help Torquay consolidate their position in the league after promotion"

This alone tells you all you need to know about 'Artificial Intelligence'

I'm with AI on this one! AI has now done some sort of test devised by Alan Turing and has beat the crap out of it, unlike 100% of humans who attempted it and failed.

Under different circumstances (owners etc) Gary Johnson would have done far better, although in his first two seasons we were promoted and then reached the playoffs!

All of us will remember an incident which happened on London Bridge a few years back, involving a football fan who followed a certain team.

This alone tells you all you need to know about 'Human Intelligence.'