Best & Worst TUFC Managers

wivelgull · Post by **wivelgull** » 16 Jun 2013, 06:49

Best: Eric Webber, Frank O'Farrell, Leroy Rosenior.
Worst: Compton (!!*)[ famous quote when asked about tactics: 'It's just eleven men and a football'], Webb, May.

MF68 · Post by **MF68** » 16 Jun 2013, 17:19

I know Leroy got us up at Southend but surely it was Roy McFarland who laid the foundation for that side. Alex Russell, Jason Fowler Steve Woods et al. Surprised Roy Mac wasnt mentioned !!!!!!!

hector · Post by **hector** » 16 Jun 2013, 21:51

MF68 wrote:I know Leroy got us up at Southend but surely it was Roy McFarland who laid the foundation for that side. Alex Russell, Jason Fowler Steve Woods et al. Surprised Roy Mac wasnt mentioned !!!!!!!

You could argue it was Roy McFarland and Paul Sturrock as it was the Plymouth players (Gritton, Taylor, McGlinchey) that added the finishing touches to the squad

brucie · Post by **brucie** » 17 Jun 2013, 10:54

Rosenior was actually a terrible manager - he inherited a good team but basically was useless as regards signing players. After skulking out of Plainmoor with his hands in his pockets after yet another dismal defeat he then managed Brentford and failed spectacularly.
Reinvented himself as a football pundit - he had to because he couldn't manage a football team for shit.

Buckle is in my list of all time worst managers because he is an arrogant little twerp. Yes I know he got us up but he did it with the best budget in the Conference and basically took the best players from that league.
Had Histon not hit the bar in the second leg semi we would have gone out to a village team. He failed miserably at Bristol Rovers and failed to get Luton up again on a decent budget. Thank goodness he has now disappeared.

Fonda · Post by **Fonda** » 17 Jun 2013, 14:04

Yes, Rosenior was a terrible manager. Got us automatically promoted from a very competitive division with a side which was widely regarded as the most attractive in the division that season. He inherited some very good players, but got them playing with a style Roy Mac never did. He did it on his own too - no assistant managers or coaches then. Cyril's team was great, but no TUFC team in my lifetime provided the entertainment of Leroy's promotion winning side. Yeah, he was terrible.

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 17 Jun 2013, 14:22

Not quite true, Brucie. Leroy inherited some good players .... but an awful team. It was Leroy who got them playing attractive attacking football.

In my view, McFarland was one of the worst managers we've had at Plainmoor. Yes - he brought in some good players like Woods, Russell and Fowler but the ultra-defensive football he adopted was excrutiatingly mind numbing. David Graham was left on the bench more than he played ! Under McFarland, we finished next to bottom - saved by Halifax who were well adrift. I think we had less points than when we were relegated to the Conference and rather than re-building the team, they were playing worse towards the end of the season than earlier. I remember a home game against Halifax on a grey winter's day. The football was gloomier than the weather and Halifax beat us - I think their only away win all season. In over fifty years, there are just two periods when I've stopped going to Plainmoor - one, when Dave Webb was manager and the other after we were humiliated in a home game against Exeter in McFarland's season (Brabin was sent off after a horrific tackle - I think it was on Dean Edwards.

Best managers for me are Frank O'Farrell (by a mile), Leroy Rosenior, Kevin Hodges, Eric Webber and ..... I say it through gritted teeth - Buckle. And not forgetting the trouble-shooters who saved us - Ian Atkins and Neil Warnock.

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 17 Jun 2013, 14:29

Ah yes, Fonda - how could I forget Cyril Knowles? He MUST be up their among our best managers. I remember his first match (first game of the season) after yet another abysmal season the season before. We hammered someone (was it Swindon?) 6 - 1. We could scarcely believe what was happening !!!

Post by **oxgull** » 17 Jun 2013, 14:33

Best - Frank O'Farrell

Worst - The Cube!!! ol Lubos that is.

Plymouth Gull · Post by **Plymouth Gull** » 17 Jun 2013, 14:53

Can't actually believe I've just seen someone slating Leroy's 2003/04 team, even if it was Brucie!

chunkygull · Post by **chunkygull** » 17 Jun 2013, 15:26

tomogull wrote:Ah yes, Fonda - how could I forget Cyril Knowles? He MUST be up their among our best managers. I remember his first match (first game of the season) after yet another abysmal season the season before. We hammered someone (was it Swindon?) 6 - 1. We could scarcely believe what was happening !!!

it was wrexham. only my second league match. wrexham scored first after a few minutes and everyone was groaning, here we go again. i remember tom kelly trying to get back in the goal to clear the ball, literally ended up in the back of the net, legs in the air, boots tangled in the net. then we smacked in SIX.

i remember the pop singing nice one cyril, my dad explained to me about cyril and spurs etc.
the pop also sang our signature tune and my personal favorite "you are my torquay" a lot that day and indeed on a regular basis for many games back then.

i loved that team, i probably look at them with the rose tints on but they were my first.

they played the long ball a lot, but could knock it around when they wanted.there were some right double 'ard b@st@rds in that team, lloyd, impey, caldwell etc.

the back four were awesome. a lot of people say gibbs and gurney and nicholson more recently were good but tom kelly and jim mcnichol were good at getting forward and crossing decent balls in. in fact a definitive memory i have of when first watching torquay is tom kelly coming down the wing then with a sweet left foot putting in great crosses from just about anywhere in the attacking half.

hence why he is in my top 5 of favourite/best players.

Banging_Them_In · Post by **Banging_Them_In** » 17 Jun 2013, 15:49

Cyril Knowles is my personal favourite. He transformed a poor side that had almost been relegated from the League the previous season, taking them to the brink of play-offs in his first season and the final of the Sherpa Van Trophy the following year. On top of that he provided great little cup runs and developed the talent of Lee Sharpe. He didn't win anything in terms of silverware , but he delivered to the whole club a renewed belief in a short time.

I believe he did this with mostly players he inherited, although he did bring in Dave Caldwell I think. A great coach and motivator, but still (even he) could not get Kenny Allen to kick goal kicks straight, and not out of play all the time.

Nice one Cyril !

jonnyfive · Post by **jonnyfive** » 17 Jun 2013, 17:58

Brucie, you are right only in the sense that Leroy's signings weren't the best, but the football, oh the football! Glorious times.

Ferrarilover is quiet on these threads. Let me guess: Buckle worst ever, Ling best ever?

wivelgull · Post by **wivelgull** » 17 Jun 2013, 18:17

Mind you, Kenny Allen must be the second worst ever (after the wretched Mark Coombe, of course) goalkeeper to represent United. When he kicked a ball out of play from goal kicks (as he did regularly), the crowd would moan and groan. Kenny Allen would then lose his temper, swear at the crowd, stamp his feet with rage and wave his arms around in frustration - it was great!

chunkygull · Post by **chunkygull** » 17 Jun 2013, 19:55

tomogull wrote:Not quite true, Brucie. Leroy inherited some good players .... but an awful team. It was Leroy who got them playing attractive attacking football.

In my view, McFarland was one of the worst managers we've had at Plainmoor. Yes - he brought in some good players like Woods, Russell and Fowler but the ultra-defensive football he adopted was excrutiatingly mind numbing. David Graham was left on the bench more than he played ! Under McFarland, we finished next to bottom - saved by Halifax who were well adrift. I think we had less points than when we were relegated to the Conference and rather than re-building the team, they were playing worse towards the end of the season than earlier. I remember a home game against Halifax on a grey winter's day. The football was gloomier than the weather and Halifax beat us - I think their only away win all season. In over fifty years, there are just two periods when I've stopped going to Plainmoor - one, when Dave Webb was manager and the other after we were humiliated in a home game against Exeter in McFarland's season (Brabin was sent off after a horrific tackle - I think it was on Dean Edwards.
Best managers for me are Frank O'Farrell (by a mile), Leroy Rosenior, Kevin Hodges, Eric Webber and ..... I say it through gritted teeth - Buckle. And not forgetting the trouble-shooters who saved us - Ian Atkins and Neil Warnock.

mcfarlands team to watch was utterly dire, boring and negative. i agree with everything about him in the quote above.

i couldnt never take to him, he seemed to not really want to be here and had an arrogance about him.

he only stayed one season and left.

i remember a story on the old tufc site forum about a cabbie driving him home p!ssed up and he said something about us being country bumpkins and just being rather unpleasant and non-complimentary.

chippygull · Post by **chippygull** » 18 Jun 2013, 10:47

Cornforth's unpopularity had something to do, I seem to remember, with walking his dog?

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