Torquay United Fans Forum

Can anyone think of a more depressint thought than being hammered by Crawley at Plainmoor next season. Oh dear.

Sturrock has excellent contacts and is a proven manager at thie level - that should rule him oy straight away then.

Apparently from what I have heard the info about Zebroski is spot on and so is the fee. 75k is a joke. WHat the feck is up with Baker and co. Are we the Paul Buckle benevolent society or what?
Completely pissed off.

Its not looking like we have anybody lined up. Typical of our board to let Buckle do exactly what he damned well pleases.

Branston was outstanding when he was here but I cannot help feeling we have had the best season that anyone is going to get out of him. Not sour grapes at all but there is no guarantee that going to another club (assuming he is going) he is going to replicate the form he showed at Torquay. He is not getting any younger and is prone to the odd error. Like buckle he will need to start well - if the fans get on his back he is likely to see his arse very quickly.
If you gave me a choice I would prefer to keep Mark Ellis - it is hard to see another mnager keeping Ellis as bench fodder.
No doubt Buckle would like Zebroski and I wonder if we will stand in his way if they make an offer. Bigger clubs than Bristol Rovers will be interested in O'Kane so I cannot see him going there.
Could not care less if he signs Robinson or Tomlin.

Buckle's tactics are really odd at the best of times. Half the time it didn't seem as though he had the first clue what he was doing. Ok he started off with sod all but really was given carte blanch to sign who the hell he wanted in his first season.
Given the circumstances we were entitled surely to have been challenging at the top of the league. We got beaten to the title by a team with a much smaller budget.
Buckle then completely blew the play off second leg against Exeter with his refusal to play Zebs,Phillips and Sills up front. His ridiculous ultra defensive tactics were just asking for trouble in the second half with Exeter attacking towards their own fans - we were defending so deep we were inviting the ref to give them decisons around our box and that lost us the game.
The following year he again signed just about everybody - biggest squad by a mile, but ultimately snuck into the play offs when Burton decided not to play for the last half hour of the game.
We just about snuck past the mighty Histon but did play well in the final.
The next year Buckle could well have got us relegated. His bizarre policy of freezing out the likes of Ellis,Carayol and Nico and playing a whole host of shite in their places.
He then bought them back and we went on an incredible run at the end of the season to save ourselves.
This year Buckle had an on fire forward in Benyon, he has got his critics but there wasn't anyone better in the league at the start of the season.
Buckle then played him up front by himself for some bizarre reason - a tactic which clearly lost us the Crawley game.
Then for no apparent reason he changed from ultra defensive to ulta attacking with four center forwards up front. His persistence in playing Billy Kee on the wing was totally bizarre.
We somehow got into the play offs as every other team around us conspired to lose on the last two weeks of the season.
A cynic might say that Buckle's gung ho approach in those games was due to him wanting to get the Bristol Rovers job on the last day of the season. Did he actually want to win?
In the play off final his daft formation and his daft substitutions lost us another big game but he looked the least worried bloke in the stadium - no doubt pleased that he wasn't seen to be defecting from a team a league higher than the one he could not wait to join.
All in all he has been a bloody lucky manager - for his sake he had better hope that his luck doesn't run out.

Come on Robinson is nothing special at all - sounds like he is a legend in his own mind. he is decent enough but really only stands out for about five minutes of any ninety. Shall not be crying over this one.

How can we offer contracts to Branston,Stanley or anyone else. We have not got a manager?

Any money for Buckle is a good deal. That amount is taking the piss. Rovers have been seen off. Good business on our part.

simonb - what is it five managers in six years? - please don't be delluded into some bizarre fantasy that you have landed a world class manager. Buckle and North are hardly a dream team. There is no sour grapes - alot of Torquay supporters are realists and with that recognise the limitation s that the manager has and believe me there are quite a few.
I am more than happy with the reputed 25k we have got in compensation for Buckle. That is more than generous and decent business on our part I can tell you.
You are of course one of the biggest clubs in league 2 so really have every right to go well.
However as Bradford found out - big crowds fdoes not always equal success. God help you if Buckle starts off on one of his famous losing runs. You will soon notice how difficult it is to stop losing, and also be prepared to get outthought by half the managers in league 2.

Not so sure it is going to be as easy as you make out. Bristol Rovers are no certainties to walk league 2 at all. In a way he is on a hiding to nothing. Pressure is a funny thing. He can't come out with the "punching above our weight" bollocks every five seconds. Its play offs minimum or he is in deep shit. Needs a good start or he won't be quite so cocksure of himself.
I would like to wish him all the best but I can't - I hope the slimey little rodent falls flat on his arrogant arse.

Think you will actually find that North and especially Milton are not as good as you might think they are. Luckily O'Kane and Zebroski are contracted to us so someone is going to have to pay if they want them.
Tomlin will be a huge loss for us and Branston will go - but at 32 he is not going to get any better. Don't get me wrong he has been massive for us but he is not one to take much criticism especially if the Rovers fans start getting on his back. Robinson imo is no great loss.
Buckle has shown that if he gets into a run of losing games he finds it difficult to redress the balance. He has been under absolutely no pressure here whatsoever and trots out the "no money" line about seventeen times every week.
Its got the recipe to all go wrong very,very quickly.
If he doesn't get a good start next season he could find a very big firework going off right up his jacksy.

O'Kane won't be here anyway. Rosenior had success with a squad he inherited and basically that was it. His record of signimng players was awful. It isn't going to happen.

i can scarcely believe that anyone in their Right mind would want Rosenior (no chance) or Hargreaves (no managerial experience) over Rioch or Trollope. Its beyond belief.

i would be more than happy with that - Hope my info is incorrect though.