Torquay United Fans Forum

Boom Boom wrote:Gutted: YES.

Pissed off: YES.

Will Bristol Rovers piss the league next season: YES?

Can't see how that works. We didn't with the same players!

Stanley is a good player but one player doesn't make a championship winning team and our young Eunan O'Kane is developing into a player equally as good and potentially better.

Bevan was a good servant of the club but he is not exactly Gordon Banks and as a big man he never dominated the area as he should, seeming most of the time to have some unnatural fascination with the goal line, and also as a big man he was very vulnerable to low shots whipped in near to his static legs. He was also prone to basic errors which as a goalie can be costly, and he nearly gifted Shrewsbury an equaliser in our home play-off which could have been the end of our Old Trafford dream there and then.

Branston I voted for as Player of the Season both seasons for the way he dragged us out of the relegation dogfight when he arrived and for his guts and determination at the heart of our defence throughout our attempt at promotion last season. On the down side though his ball control is highly suspect and his distribution gives the ball straight back to the opposition far more than a team with promotion aspirations can afford.

As for Paul Buckle this is his big test. I admired the way he dragged us out of the Conference and turned us into a promotion challenging League 2 team in 4 seasons on a shoestring budget. Less convincing though was that when we were under pressure and needed to change things in the big games (Exeter play-off, Crawley cup, Stevenage play-off) there never did seem to be a Plan B.

A big test as the expectations at the Memorial Ground will be automatic promotion. A test that could be easily failed.

I am pleased our board have not made a knee jerk appointment and are clearly determined to get the right man in as our next manager. Contacts are crucial in football (which PB is using in taking some of our players, always to be expected when a manager moves on) and a manager with the right contacts will quickly boost our already decent squad most of whom are under contract and with the right contacts will be able to call in loan players every bit as good or better than the ones who helped us to the play-offs last season.

A new manager (my preference would be Nicky Forster or Peter Reid!), a new team, and a new Grandstand as we charge towards League 1 in 2012!

Northumbergull wrote:Glad the fans will have a chance to match up with Argyle again. Just a few questions to get some conversations going:
1. When was the last time we were in the same division?
2. Do you have any soft spots for the Pilgrims? When they went up into the old Second Division in the 70s, I used to see them in the afternoons and us in the evenings, drawn by the bigger crowds and clubs dropping down from the First, like Chelsea and Wolves, plus draws against the likes of Everton in the FA Cup.
3. What are your fondest/worst memories of our meetings with the guys in green?
Cheers
Bruce

The connections between the clubs have been enormous over the years normally with Argyle being a division or two above us transferring players to us when they were coming to the end at that standard. Far too many to mention over the years but I knew things were going downhill for Argyle after we lost to Colchester 1-0 at Wembley and Argyle then stole our manager Kevin Hodges, our assistant manager, and several players (who weren't actually very good but that was beside the point!). It always used to be the other way round, but Argyle taking players from us how ridiculous!!

Our two clubs did spend several seasons playing each other in the old Division 3 (South) but I am not quite old enough to remember that so the first time I saw a derby was in October 1968. We were in our third season after promotion in Division 3 (now League 1) and Argyle had got relegated the previous season. A crowd of just under 21000 saw us win 2-1 at Home Park with Irish International Jimmy Dunne putting us ahead and after a fluke equaliser Alan Welsh going through one on one to clinch it!

Although we had narrowly missed out on promotion in the previous two seasons the arrogant Argyle manager Billy Bingham stated that Torquay would win the return game over his dead body. The scheduled game on Boxing Day was postponed but when it was held in February Torquay fans ran around the ground beforehand with a cardboard coffin (imagine the hysterical fits the stewards would have these days!). Sadly to no avail, Argyle won 1-0 at Plainmoor in front of a crowd of over 15,000 (just try to picture that now!).

The next season was a memorable season for me personally but also provided my worst ever memory of games against Argyle. I was lucky enough to be in our youth team at that time and we played Argyle in the FA Youth Cup, drawing 1-1 at Plainmoor, 1-1 after extra time at Home Park, and losing the 3rd game 3-1 at Home Park. Five of the Argyle team went on to play professionally including Peta Bal'ac who played for Tottenham and Mike Dowling who scored against Santos when they and Pele visited Home Park for a friendly, and three of our team Ian Twitchin, Phil Sandercock, and Robbie Robbins.

However despite my own memories of that season the first team experience was a nightmare! After losing 2-1at home in an early August fixture we then got stuffed 6-0 at Home Park on Boxing Day. Mike Bickle who was a milkman and playing for St Austell only 12 months before scored four! A decent player Norman Piper got the other two. Crowd 17000.

Definitely my worst experience against Argyle (although our 4-0 home defeat many years later which I think was Scottbrehaut's first game was also hard to take!)

The next season 1970/71 we did the double 2-1 home and away (the only time ever) but we slipped in the league to 10th having finished 7th, 4th, and 6th and just missing out on promotion in 3 of the previous 4 seasons. Mind you Argyle finished 15th so there was really only one team in Devon!

Unfortunately the following season resulted in our relegation finishing second from bottom but although we lost at Home Park we did at least beat Argyle at Plainmoor 2-1 getting towards the end of the season when we were scrapping for points but didn't get enough,

More recently of course we had to wait for Argyle to come down and join us in the bottom division and I can't remember a win although somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. Living where I do I got to know a number of Argyle players including Sean McCarthy (now coach at Ipswich but family still living locally) and Mick Heathcote. An awful memory was losing 4-3 at Home Park after being 3-2 up at half-time and being cheated out of the game by two offside goals. A 1-1 at Plainmoor sticks in the mind which was Paul Sturrock's first game and he watched from the Directors Box, later describing it as like the Alamo as we absolutely murdered them but could not get the winner. The 4-0 home defeat previously mentioned where Scottbrehaut made his debut ended with the ignomony of me giving 3 Argyle players a lift back to Ivybridge, but another 1-1 draw at Plainmoor where we had arranged to go out in the evening was memorable after Sean McCarthy broke his arm early on, scored a couple of minutes later, but then immediately had to go off. His fault, attempting a deliberate foul on our player whilst jumping for the ball, but he was still out with arm in plaster and a sling that evening. 0-0 at Home Park when Neville Southall was in goal for us also sticks in my mind largely because of confronting the Argyle manager Kevin Hodges in the Far Post Club after a couple of Trojan style large ones to demand he explain how he had the temerity to leave us after a play-off final (Paul Buckle please take note!) . A 3-1 reverse at Home Park a few games before our relegation showdown with Barnet was a dismal affair as a poor Argyle team beat an even poorer Torquay team, but our last meeting with Argyle on Boxing Day 2001 was a happier affair as having looked out of it at 2-0 down we came back to 2-2 with an outstandingly brilliant own goal and a last minute penalty!

Well all my Argyle supporting mates are insisting that Peter Reid has put in to be our manager and after the comment at half time in the international today when the chairman of the panel said it was difficult to work out whether we were watching England or Torquay, and with Reid being on the panel, I wouldn't be surprised.

Trojan 67 wrote:I might well be reading this thread wrong, but I hope there's a substantial police presence at any game where there's a presence of class "A" and class "B".

I'm unsure as to which class alcohol is in, but in the opinion of this professional drinker, it's in a class of its own. :~D

You've started early today Trojan!!!!

Will Crawley be the most hated team? A rhetorical question surely! A resounding YES! :B

Glostergull wrote:Your Wrong Paul.

....Something comes to mind in all this. The arroagance of one Julius Ceasear.
Beware the Ides of March Paul Buckle. Beware the Ides of MArch.

Can't see him lasting until March!

Bigman wrote:As was the general agreement in a previous thread following the Rotherham game, it's a disapointing result but the season as a whole has been a great success. My worry (which I expect others share) is that Buckle and a number of our better players will now leave based on this year's good performance, and thus not allow us to build on the success, so I can understand negativity in the form of trepidation in that sense, but when do we ever know what to expect from the Gulls?

The negativity I couldn't stand was from some fans during the game. Admittedly the first half wasn't great, but it didn't mean all of our players were immediately crap. A single piece of miscontrol does not mean we should ship a player out of the club immediately or make them the worst player you've ever seen. We've seen them all do great things this season, so cheer them on and encourage them to hit those heights again, don't berate them when they fall short. If we didn't believe why should the players?

Agree I think that what is often overlooked is that these are League 2 players ... the fault I suppose of gross over exposure to the Premiership!

I loved Awayday's edit of the referee's profile! =D

I don't think that worrying or getting worked up about the referee is necessary though. We have the players to play Stevenage off the park at Old Trafford and if we click I can't see the referee having any influence over the outcome. Mark Charles out of the game, man to man if necessary, and play our normal attacking style and hopefully by the time the prawn sandwiches get served up at half time it will be game over!

I think with a club of our size it is always likely that people will be saying we lack ambition particularly when we slip away from strong positions. This season which has been a good one we did actually slip away quite badly at the end in that we dropped a whole load of points towards the end and went from challenging for automatic promotion to almost missing out on the play-offs. If you look though at those games where we dropped points nobody could ever accuse the players of lack of effort or trying to lose.

Lack of ambition was as Trojan pointed out a regular accusation in the 1960's particularly as we managed to just miss out on promotion from League 1 a few times, and particularly 1967/68 when we led the division for most of the season only to slip up at the death and finish 4th. No doubt after leading Division 3 (South) in 1956/57 lack of ambition was mentioned when we failed to win on the final day so slipping to 2nd and missing out on promotion to Ipswich Town. If you look at the games though you would struggle to say we deliberately lost any of them.

Off the pitch though is a different matter and as we entered the 1970's the sale of most of our team to Bournemouth who were in the same division and who duly got promoted saw the dramatic drop in attendances which has never recovered to this day.

On the pitch though don't worry about it. Our players will not lose deliberately either the 2nd leg or the final if we get there. They are professionals and will want to win, and in what is a precarious choice of job they always have to keep themselves in the shop window in case they have to move on.

That said if Jake Robinson comes back to defend a corner make sure somebody is marking him!! =D

bixieupnorth wrote: she only works saturday mornings ffs!!

I am sure your comment is tongue in cheek Bixie as there is a lot more involved in presenting a 3 hour tv programme than just being in the studio for those 3 hours.

That aside though the programme is live on a Saturday morning so that in itself would prevent her from getting to many Saturday afternoon fixtures.

Never watch it myself as although I thought it was an interesting format when I first saw it many years ago my attention span is such that I now find it too much of the same old thing. Strange that during this exciting end to the season we are worrying about how many times individual supporters attend =D

bixieupnorth wrote:just watched the highlights and saw helen chamberlain at the end, now whens the last time anyone saw her at plainmoor or an away game??
huddersfield away (october 2003) was the last time i clapped eyes on her, admittedly i only get to 7 or 8 away games a season, but has anyone else seen her anywhere on their travels?
or is she too 'big time charlie' for either tufc or the terraces these days?

I'm sure she doesn't regard herself as a 'big time charlie' but like many people just cannot get to every game due to a busy work schedule. Worryingly I saw a picture in one of the papers after the game with the caption 'Face in the Crowd' and wondered how Joe Barlow had become a celebrity, until I spotted Helen Chamberlain next to him!

I think this further reduction in capacity by 300 to accommodate the scaffolding for the Sky tv cameras will after the previous Health & Safety reductions mean that our capacity on Saturday will be just under 5000. I haven't had chance to get up to Torquay to get a ticket so will be there early and missing the FA Cup final to make sure I get in, but I can see a problem for those without a ticket who can not arrive early. Let's just hope we don't have a repeat of the delayed kick off for the Crawley game as such things in professional sport are embarrassing for the club and even more so when highlighted on satellite tv.

I am looking forward to an entertaining game and even if we win well hopefully not another pitch invasion as it will only be half time and we still have to go away.

Jeff wrote: Amen to that!

If we got shrewsbury or Wycombe I'd fancy us to get to the final. Accrington not a chance! Maybe that point deduction might end up doing us a favour!

Looking forward to this, although have that slight nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Like in 2004/5, when you think "surely the one combination of results that sees us relegated won't happen......" Hopefully we have enough to get the job done. Rotherham could still be up for it, playing for contracts and all that so we have to be on our game. Hopefully a strong away following coupled with an uninterested home crowd will make a difference.

I think we will go for the win and get it which will mean Accrington Stanley at the semi-final stage. I too would prefer Shrewsbury or Wycombe at that stage but I am optimistic that we have got what it takes to get past Accrington and hopefully meet Shrewsbury or Wycombe in the final. If nerves don't get the better of either team that should be a hell of a game and certainly worthy of gracing Old trafford.

Accrington Stanley are a good well organised team. They gained a merited 0-0 draw at Plainmoor and then beat us 1-0 on that awful pitch that we would have to deal with again. It certainly wasn't a clearcut win for Accrington and we were down to ten men for the second half. They are the form team at the moment with a run of 17 games unbeaten but of course the longer an unbeaten run continues the nearer it gets to them losing.

The first leg would be at Plainmoor and I would be confident of winning, and although I would prefer more I think a one goal margin at home would be enough to see us through the tie.

Enough of that though I suppose as there is the small matter of tomorrow. Sounds as if we will have good support although it is apparently a strange stadium with only one side of the ground being used for spectators and the pitch being some way from the stands. Will make creating an atmosphere difficult but I am sure everybody will give it a good go.

I would certainly rather be playing Rotherham tomorrow than being away to a team scrapping to avoid relegation, and although I would agree with Dave (SG) that I would prefer a sequence of results that would see us finish 7th it is not something we have in our hands so I am sure with Paul Buckle's approach he will go for a win and equally confident that he will get it.

Hope everybody going has a safe journey and thoroughly enjoyable day ......

Thanks Tojan excellent detective work seems to have resolved the issue :~D

Trojan 67 wrote: When you played for TUFC stefano, was the "gulls motif" on the shirt at that time ? It certainly was when I wore the shirt for the TUFC Colts team for the '71-72 and '72-73 seasons, although the motif at that time was "upside down" (reversed as to how it is now).

I don't have a clue when the gulls name started, but I'll hazard a guess and say it was probably when the "upside down" motif first appeared.

I really can't remember whether the motif was on the shirt then or not. That was 1969/70 and 1970/71 seasons. Certainly the nickname appeared at the same time as the motif, and I also now after your post have a vague recollection of the motif being the other way up. It's definitely old age setting in so off to get my slippers and a cocoa and stick the fire on!

SuperNickyWroe wrote:lets get to the play offs first............ 8/

Don't worry about it! It's pessimists like you that just don't enjoy the odd occasion when we are around the top places