Torquay United Fans Forum

Fair dos then Gulli.

I am not a Bateson groupie, but I do think that some people are completely unappreciative of what he did.

He was, after all, all that we had!

No one else was prepared to step in at that time. He wanted to sell, but had no offers until that shyster Roberts turned up. He oversaw our survival as a league club for many years and in 2004 delivered automatic promotion. That was my best moment as a Gull and I think it disingenuous of those that criticise MB not to give him some credit too (however fleeting).

Be careful what you wish for is the lesson from the sale to Roberts.

I do not dispute that the new board are probably as good as it gets . But this is TUFC and in the words of a certain moptop Liverpudlian the road ahead is a long a winding one.

[quote="yellow"]I can see where you are coming from Troj, but I think that a season of struggle would set back both momentum and morale.

We have been there, done that, and got the T shirt.

Automatic promotion in 2004 was a great moment in the club s history but the subsequent (albeit unfortunate) relegation of 2005 was followed by the unlikely great escape of 2006, and then the trap door finally opening in 2007.

I would like to think that, if and when we go up, we are prepared and able to consolidate.[/quote]


Things as they stand are different now. With or without promotion we will have to live within our means, which means development of young players. The "youth policy" of the manager is doing just fine and if the current crop of first team "youngsters" can develop further, together with youngsters brought in on loan from higher Division clubs, then the future looks promising. :clap:

All could go tits up if the side is broken up and/or the manager departs. :(

[quote="yellow"]
[b]If we made a club record signing how does that reflect the contention that no money was spent?[/b]

I find myself defending Mike Bateson who is vilified by some for running the club on a budget. He was responsible for major improvements at Plainmoor and for our first automatic promotion for 37 years. He also without doubt made mistakes.

There is talk of reduced budgets now, due to the debacle with Colin Lee, and the possibility of selling off some of our better young players. [b][color=#FF0000]Please tell me how that equates to a better situation than we had in 2004/05?[/color][/b] We have a less attractive offering and that is manifested in the Plainmoor crowds, recession or no.
[/quote]

It's not really hindsight. When we were operating without a single assistant, coach, scout and everything else we were all calling for the club to be run as it is now. The current set-up isn't in the same age as we were back then.

For the bold bit - well just to pluck random figures out of the air, having an £850k budget isn't the same as having a £700k budget and spending £150k on Leon Constantine. If Leroy had been given the money in July then he could have spent it a lot more wisely.

I'm not a Bateson knocker, and he was a good chairman on the whole, but you can't deny that we did things for as cheap as possible. Seemingly every year we'd struggle at the bottom of the table, then pull out the chequebook in March and pull off a last minute escape. Only to go back to exactly where we were before and struggle along until March comes along again. We were going along year on year just surviving, which is the difference between us back then and us now, and the answer to your question in red. We have the foundations now, so that every year is actually building something. When we lost Graham, Russell and Bayo they decimated the squad, but if we lose Benyon next month we'll replace him and carry on. Sure, the loss will hit us, but there's a system in place to take the blow and recover. I think the respective attitudes to the youth team says a lot in that regard.

[quote="ferrarilover"]
A tautology, surely?

Matt.[/quote]

Ohhhh, he's got an 'ology'......<smiles in Maureen Lipman stylee smilie>

MB also the only chairperson I know of that publicly declares, in print, in the matchday programme, just a few fixtures into the LG1 season, "whats the point of being in this league".

I have no doubt MB's heart was in the job once upon a long time ago and we could argue endlessly about what he achieved and what he didn't, but I feel it was best for all concerened when he did through in the towel after statements like "supporters can't expect TUFC to be a full time club in the conference." ....................(other than family members that is!)

It seems to me that your argument is tainted with hindsight and new board bias. If we had performed at Colchester we would have stayed up. Fact.

If we made a club record signing how does that reflect the contention that no money was spent?

I find myself defending Mike Bateson who is vilified by some for running the club on a budget. He was responsible for major improvements at Plainmoor and for our first automatic promotion for 37 years. He also without doubt made mistakes.

When the new board have achieved the same they will deserve the credit that some are prepared to give them already. They have achieved promotion from Non-league (for which we are all grateful) but only through the play-offs and whilst operating at a substantial loss bankrolled by lottery money.

There is talk of reduced budgets now, due to the debacle with Colin Lee, and the possibility of selling off some of our better young players. Please tell me how that equates to a better situation than we had in 2004/05? We have a less attractive offering and that is manifested in the Plainmoor crowds, recession or no.

P.S. I don t disagree that the Conference set up was more professional than we had seen for some time. That is what happens when money is spent.

That season was a disaster. We didn't sign a Goalkeeper until March, and if we somehow had managed to stay up I can only assume it would have been accidental as we made no attempt to stay in the division.

Leon Constantine was brought in for huge money, but that was desperation by the Chairman and a waste of money. If we'd have budgeted it and planned how to spend it, then it might have done us some good.

Akinfenwa was a cheap replacement for Graham, who had done absolutely nothing in his career before, and it was down to a lot of work from Leroy that he grew into a good player in the second half of the season. Ashley Keane, Stuart Boardley, Stuart Wardley, Oswaldo Lopez, Jamie Gosling, Zema Abbey, Owen Story, Bruno Meirelles, Paul Jarvie and Gottskalksson were the other signings we made that year.

One manager, one physio. That was the set-up we had, and epitomised the doing-things-on-the-cheap nature that we were run under.

Our set-up in the Conference was a million times more professional than it was in L1, and if the current board had taken us over in 2004 rather than 2007 we'd be about 10 years ahead of where we are now.

[quote="scottbrehaut"]I think the relegation out of League 1 last time was as a result of the manager not having any financial backing of any decent description, and an owner that had the mentality from the start that we were out of our depth.
I think IF we went up that the club would be a lot more prepared this time around. It all depends on how many players we keep this season first however.[/quote]

Strange then, that relegation was only confirmed on the last day of the season after a disappointing performance at Colchester and results conspiring elsewhere.

I also thought that was the season of Akinfatwa s wages and the purchase of Leon Constantine for a club record fee.

Funny how recollections of the same thing can differ so....

That wasn t a bad side, although perhaps if we could have kept David Graham it would have been even better. It was certainly a side that was much better than the current one IMHO.

[quote="RussianGull"]As long as we finish above Lincoln and in the top half of the table, I'd count this season as a success.[/quote]

A tautology, surely?

Matt.

I think the relegation out of League 1 last time was as a result of the manager not having any financial backing of any decent description, and an owner that had the mentality from the start that we were out of our depth.
I think IF we went up that the club would be a lot more prepared this time around. It all depends on how many players we keep this season first however.

I can see where you are coming from Troj, but I think that a season of struggle would set back both momentum and morale.

We have been there, done that, and got the T shirt.

Automatic promotion in 2004 was a great moment in the club s history but the subsequent (albeit unfortunate) relegation of 2005 was followed by the unlikely great escape of 2006, and then the trap door finally opening in 2007.

I would like to think that, if and when we go up, we are prepared and able to consolidate.

Out of the current playoff positions, but not out of the final reckoning.

I'll take a 7th place final position and a squeaky bum Wembley win right now, even if it means a season of struggle in the Division above.

My reasoning is take every opportunity as it presents itself whether ready or not, because the necessary adjustments are made as the situation of the opportunity develops.

On the brightside of a season of struggle in the Division above, we'll be at least two seasons away from the Conference.

As long as we finish above Lincoln and in the top half of the table, I'd count this season as a success.

Mid table anonymity would do for me as well.

We are not ready for promotion yet. Neither the squad, the crowds, the management or the infrastructure is in place to last for long in Division 1.

Consolidation and steady growth is the order of the day...

100% agree there Royalgull. No stress about relegation please anything more is a bonus !!