Torquay United Fans Forum

brucie wrote:Why are you so keen on Oastler - if Buckle was so keen on him perhaps he will sign for Bristol rovers. Probably no such luck though. I would be suprised if the new man would be interested in him.

I would imagine the board would be able to let the new manager know he was available though. Despite what you think of him from reading previous posts of yours, he's a talented young player, who wouldn't command an enormous wage packet, knows the club, and can provide defensive cover. Other than that he's rubbish obviously. 8/

Mine (based on players I've seen since I started watching in 1997):

GK: Neville Southall (watched a game away at Northampton were we had 3 players sent off - Herrera, Lee Russell and Brian Healy? - and lost 3-0, but Big Nev was absolutely incredible)

RB: Andy Gurney (Solid, dependable, great set-piece man I think)

CB: Steve Woods (Legend. Solid as a rock and popped up with a few goals now and again)

CB: Craig Taylor (As above, minus the goals and the pace of Woods, but few got past him)

LB: Brian McGlinchey (Awesome. Absolute icon of that promotion team. Wicked left peg and hardly put a foot wrong)

RM: Jo Kuffour (Tore people apart and set up so many goals in his time, and scored a fair few as well)

CM: Jason Fowler (controversial I know, but I reckon he was better than Aggy on his day. Calm, composed and sprayed passes around like no tommorow. Still remember that goal he placed in the bottom corner on the opening day of the 2003/4 season at Northampton)

CM: Alex Russell (Words not needed. Total legend and one of the most gifted footballers to play here)

LM: Steve McCall (Awesome player. No legs at all but quality. Not strictly a left-midfielder but I'm sure he could play there! Scored a great lob against Scarborough in the playoffs the year we got to Wembley if I remember rightly)

F: David Graham (He was just the man. Another hero of mine. On his day he was incredible. Shame that he's playing where he is now)

F: Rodney Jack (Another legend. Wicked pace, an eye for goal, and quality hair)

Subs: Andy Marriott, Kevin Nicholson, Jon Gittens, Kevin Hill, Chris Hargreaves, Martin Phillips, Tim Sills

Others who were up for consideration include Robbie Herrera, Eifion Williams (bit of a hero of mine it must be said), Kevin Hill, Paul Gibbs, Reuben Hazell, Wayne Thomas and many more.

Absolutely Royal. I didn't really get across what I was trying to say. In fact, reading it back, it was total carp. I was more trying to get across that we can be a comfortable League 2/occasional League 1 team, but still be ambitious. I wasn't trying to infer that we should attempt an all-out bid for Premiership status (not that I'd ever actually want us to be a Premiership side!), more that to hold our own in this league, we have to show a certain level of ambition to get more fans through the turnstyles, and a willing to maximise our transfer earnings by not making ourselves such a 'soft touch'. Look at Bournemouth - a similarly 'sleepy' town club, but one that's doing a very good job of consolidating it's position in League 1.

Great post Fonda, and agree with everyone elses opinion on this thread too.

You don't need lots of money to be an ambitious club (it helps but it's not crucial). Plenty of clubs no bigger or richer than our own manage to be ambitious, so why can't we? Small things like a steady increase in marketing and promotion would improve things ten-fold. Couple that with a more brave and aggressive stance in negotiation, maximising any transfer income for saleable assets like Eunan and Zebs, would mean that all that money could then be ploughed back into making more improvements and increasing our ambition even more.

The question is, and I have total respect for what this board have done for the club thus far, do we have a chairman/board who are forward thinking and progressive enough to give it a go?

Chris B wrote: McPartland's ungracious reaction after our televised draw with his Notts County side would make those two particularly disappointing appointments in my eyes.

Me too. I remember watching his interview after I'd got back from that brilliant game, and thinking he was one of the biggest morons I'd ever heard. Incredibly bitter and sounded like he'd been watching a totally different game.

HRG wrote: Guilty!
In my defence it was a quick reaction to a frustrating piece of news in what what has not been a good week and a half. I know he is only doing his job but it's having a big impact on us at the moment. Let us hope that when the new manager comes in that he does his job, and does it better.

Sorry wasn't meaning to call anyone out in particular over it! I totally understand, it's been a rubbish week for us, and it was my initial reaction to the news too. All I was trying to say is that, thinking about it, I reckon this is less Buckle's fault, and perhaps more of our own for not moving at speed once we knew he was off to Bristol.

tufcbrett wrote:
I seriously do hope that we get someone like forster or throllope as they will have their own targets and players they know. If forster comes in i could see a few brentford players here or old rovers players if it was trollope.

But seriously at the moment the damange is not so bad, i know we need two keepers, maybe a centre back if branno goes, then few players to fill stanley, robinson and tomlin. but the last three were loans anyways. Im still confident enough if we can keep the rest of the squad then were be fine.

I'd agree with all of this. My hope is, a new manager with plenty of contacts comes in (Forster I hope - right level of experience/ambition and contacts) and can start replacing players who've left very quickly. But, like you say, we shouldn't need to add too many new faces. After all, we managed very well on a squad of 18/19 last season (mainly down to our lack of injuries, for which Mr Davey deserves a medal). It just depends whether there's anyone worth bringing in by the time we appoint a manager!

regiment wrote:i don't think anyone is saying he HAS done anything wrong, but it's just one almighty kick in the bo**ox after another at the moment. trying to stay positive, but the continued silence from our own club while all this is going on, makes it very difficult.

I understand it's massively disheartening, and I'm feeling very gloomy about the whole situation at the moment, but there are people saying that Buckle has f***ed us over, when in reality all he's done is sign two out of contract players who happened to play for us last season. I'm afraid if it was me in his shoes, I'd certainly be looking to sign players I knew. What I wouldn't have been doing is working on this while still in charge at Torquay...

NickGull wrote:MK Gull, he was. His contract was done prior to the playoffs. He has been working for BRFC for a good 3 weeks before it became official, I think. Who released the 17 players from BRFC? Who sold Hoskins for half a million?

The man who should have been trying to guide us to League One was.

Hmm it certainly seems as though he was doesn't it! Although I guess we'll never know for sure. I know it's an argument that's been made on here already, but, if his contract was indeed sorted before the playoffs, then our board would certainly have been aware, and Buckle could've had no complaints had they started to actively search for his replacement.

Just been listening to Buckle's press conference on BBC Bristol and he essentially said exactly what Fonda and Royal have said, in that he's perfectly allowed to sign out of contract players. Got asked whether any more Torquay players would be joining him, and he certainly didn't rule it out...

It's extremely disheartening, but Buckle certainly hasn't done anything wrong here. I'll be far more dissapointed if it turns out he's been preparing this whilst he was still contracted to us.

Would have to agree here. Bristol Rovers haven't done anything illegal or underhand - they are perfectly allowed to talk to Bevan, as he's out of contract here, and they seem to have gone through the correct channels to get Buckle (albeit at an inconvenient time for us with our playoff campaign). It's incredibly annoying what's happening, but this is the rough side of football. What worries me is the way in which we, as USA Gull excellently put it, appear to be so slow, so far behind, and so naive. The board have somehow been suprised with all the comings and goings over the past week or so, despite most of us seeing it coming a mile off. I read in another post the opinion that this club needs a real football man on the board. I couldn't agree more. With another week until a new managerial appointment, there is a very real possibility that we'll lose both Branston and Bevan, and miss out on goodness knows how many other potential targets. A new manager needs to be appointed as soon as possible to get some direction back.

I could only make the second leg of the game, but distinctly remember us being better than the highlights made out. Morike Sako came close with an absolute piledriver, and Martin Taylor feigned injury when Connell was through on goal, and Connell put the ball out of play for him to get treatment. Never have forgiven Martin Taylor after his 'performance' over both legs, and Keith Stroud (the ref) didn't exactly endear himself either!

Thought I'd post this here but feel free to move it...

I found a load of old tapes of Torquay highlights in my house the other day, and have just got round to posting them on YouTube.

Birmingham in the FA Cup - " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ian Atkins' great escape (i/c highlights from games with Wrexham, Stockport and Carlisle) - " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Promotion at Southend - " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just something to keep everyone entertained while we're waiting for the new manager!

clemy1989 wrote:hmmm seems an odd one, i spoke to zebroski on saturday night as he was out in manchester with kee stevens ellis and possibly robbo altho my drunken memory cant quite picture the 5th player. Zebs told me that he felt at home at torquay and wasn't leaving and was of the opinion nobody would leave other than potter.

Now money changes heads and i cant see branston stayin now he hasn't been offered anything by the club (disgrace by the way). Doubt robinson stanners or tomlin have been offered anything either seems the club are going all out to find a new manager and forgetting about retaining these players who im sure any manager would want on board. I think with players leaving it will give stevens a repreive and another 2 year deal will be on offer so we have some form of winger singed up

That's very interesting...a friend of mine was out in Manchester on Saturday night, and also met Zebroski who said the exact same thing to him as well. I'm willing to be proved wrong, and call me naive, but I honestly reckon that he is going nowhere.

A very real possibility I'd imagine Fonda. Another post on this site today made it look very clearly like Bucks is attempting to bring Brano to Bristol, and I'd imagine he'll go. Would Bucks need another centre-half/centre-mid in the shape of Oastler, considering who they have there already? Not sure. I wouldn't be too dissapointed to lose Brano if we got Oastler in though.

As for Stevens, I'd agree. His 'cameo' on Saturday proved that he doesn't really even cut it as an impact sub anymore. It's a real shame because I was a massive fan of his during the conference days, and to see that goal at Burton away, in the flesh, is an awesome memory (as seen in the first 20 seconds of this wonderful video: " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;-). I feel he's run his course though.