ferrarilover wrote:I'm not saying that. Perhaps I should be more clear...
We've listed the players we've listed, not because we don't want them, but because we can't afford them. It's a bit like selling your V8 and buying a diesel. It's not because you don't want your present car, it's just that you can't afford to fuel it up with £400 of unleaded every month.
Matt.
That's not what Chris said in the Herald Express:
TORQUAY United manager Chris Hargreaves has placed six players on the transfer list.
The six transfer-listed players are Dale Tonge, Jordan Chapell, Aaron Downes, Nathan Craig, Karl Hawley and Shaun Cooper.
“I feel that these lads are not in my plans going forward and I don’t want to stand in their way, so the easiest way to gauge interest is by putting them on the transfer list," said Hargreaves.
“We will see what happens and if nobody comes in for them and they start back here for pre-season, then no problem, but there has to be changes.
brucie wrote:I actually wouldn't be suprised to see a loan signing or two perhaps from Bournemouth. I don't see Hawley doing bugger all but the likes of Tonge,Benyon and Downes should be good enough at this level.
Why do we need to be sniffing around Salisburys players - they havn't got anybody who is better than what we have already.
Briscoe and Young are infinitely better players than anything that they could offer us.-
Falling over the time doesn't get you goals, whatever the level.
PhilGull wrote:
I wouldn't say no to Kevin Amankwaah for a bit of experience at the back and Angus MacDonald may be worth another look no he's a little older and wiser. Also, Ricky Wellard could well do a job if the price was right.
I think he could be quite decent at conference level, as could Amankwaah - although getting on a bit now!
Liked MacDonald before. Would be very pleased if we picked him up from the soon to be out of business, Salisbury. Had a reasonably full season this one just gone. He'll only have got better at his age. http://www.footballexclusives.co.uk/app ... w/42441709
According to the Herald Express at least three of the seven under-contract players who remain on our transfer-list are believed to be in talks with other clubs and could leave in the near future. Finally some more positive news on that front.
Fonda wrote:I'd forgotten Yeoman earlier. Stick him in the group of 'solid enough performers at this level'. Cruise too ought to be capable - he just needs to find some consistency, which will only come with regular games.
Yeoman might well be one of our first choice strikers next season. Which when you consider Eastleigh start the season with Constable and Midson, shows where we are currently.
In the enviable position of having a youth team?
Gary Johnson's Yellow Army! Yellow Army! Yellow Army!
Fonda wrote:When it starts producing players, other clubs will get envious.
When it starts producing players capable of playing in our first team and show signs of making decent money for the club, other clubs will get envious!!
Come on Shane, the Eastleigh comparison is grotesquely unfair. That's a bit like saying, "when you consider that the Queen lives in Buckingham Palace, it kind of shows you where we are on the housing ladder." Well, no, it doesn't, because living in a less grand place that Buck house could be anything from a dirty flat in Hele to Blenheim palace.
I think that the fact that we're recruiting from FL clubs while everyone else seems to be picking over the scraps of what used to be Salisbury City is probably a better indicator of where we are.
As unfamiliar a position as it is for us, we are a big draw in the conference. Players will see it as a decent opportunity to play a lot of games, win a lot of matches, score a lot of goals, keep a lot of clean sheets etc. Torquay are always going to be a means to an end. No one wants to play for us, they want to come here and do well so they can go on to bigger and better things. 30 goals in the conference gets you a move to Middleborough, 6 goals in L2 gets you released.
We are a division below where we should be. We're good value, in betting terms. Priced a bit too long. That's what we sold last time and it's what we're selling this time.
You make a valid point about Eastleigh Matt. I don't know if there are any other bank-rolled clubs in the division this year, but if there are, we'll naturally struggle to compete with them (which was the crux of my point).
Not sure I agree with the rest of your post though. There are a lot of ex-League clubs in this division - all of whom are as much of a draw to players as we are. You're right, Torquay are seen as a means to an end - just like every other club in this League. No player dreams of playing for Lincoln. Even those born in Lincoln. To the mayor of Lincoln. Ultimately, the most important element to a contract signed in this league is the bottom line. It's a job and like any job, length of contract and remuneration are tantamount. Which is why I remain fearful, because there are plenty of clubs with more money to spend than us. Hopefully the Bowman deal indicates we are competitive in that respect.
I think the bookies are right not to fancy us (for the reasons given above). I get the impression most on the board anticipate a Play-Off finish. At this point I'd be happy with top-half. Last time we had every advantage known to man. The odds were stacked heavily in our favour. I don't see a similar situation this time.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something."
It is going to be interesting to see how Eastleigh do. For all their spending, it doesn't guarantee they'll put together a team that will knit together right away, although it helps, obviously.
Re these new players, let's not get carried away until we've seen them play, Matt. We've signed a player from Mansfield who we, and particularly you, thought were one of the worst teams in the division last season, a player from York who was on a two year contract but was given a free transfer .... why ?? Luke Young looks a good signing .... There are talks with Jamie Cureton who was a cracking player ten years ago but when we played at Cheltenham, he looked distinctly ordinary and was substituted. I'm not being pessimistic - I'm just saying let's keep our feet on the ground. Remember this time last year? We were positively salivating that we had signed a Div 1 player from Rotherham (Tonge), a player who played in Northampton's play off team (Harding), two players from Div 1 Sheffield Utd (Chappell and Pearce). What happened? The only one who was any good was Krystian Pearce. Jordan Chappell we knew was a decent player but he somehow lost his way ...... that confidence thing again. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm not getting myself fired up this season until I've seen a couple of games ..... but I'm quietly hopeful we will be in a play off position or thereabouts.
We are offering free transfers to players like Jordan Chapell, who only last November we were terrified we were going to lose to bigger clubs in January. Downes, Craig, Benyon and others have ability too, we just want them off the wage bill to bring in different players. It doesn't mean that they aren't talented, but they are available.
Briscoe and Bowman have been good players at this level in the past, and look very good signings on paper. That's no guarantee of success, but it's reason enough for us to be positive.
Fonda wrote:I assume Mr Hargreaves is aware that all out of contract players are free to sign for clubs now? It isn’t just ours that can go elsewhere – the doors do actually function in both directions. Or at least I assume they do. Perhaps that’s another area in which we’re cutting back. I mention it because seemingly whilst all around are increasing their bulging numbers, our depleted squad continues to be neglected.
Yet again, we’ll be the last to burst into action. Whilst our place in the League is gone, our role of picking up the left-over’s clearly isn’t. Don’t fret though – we’ll act quickly enough to offer some of the dross nobody else wanted, £20 a week more than they’d get stacking shelves in their local Tesco’s. If the club wanted to dispel any concerns that last season’s debacle was terminal, with this plan of total inactivity they’re going about it all wrong.
Don’t get me wrong though, this was always going to be a very different experience to our previous sabbatical in this division. As a club, we don’t have sufficient money, intent or belief to make our second stay a short one. Whilst we have a small squad again – that is where the similarities end. Last time we had a (relatively) large budget, a manager that knew the division intimately and a feel-good factor from the boardroom to the terraces. This season we have...none of those things.
We evidently don’t have a competitive budget. I don’t consider the manager a complete fool, I’m sure he’d like to be doing some business. But it looks increasingly like he can’t afford to compete for signings – even at this level. He’ll have to wait until the players he tries to sign have two options - sign for us or sign on. So the quality we’ll be getting is obvious.
The manager himself has done the square root of f-all to convince me he’s the man for the job. I certainly don’t advocate making changes until a manager has had sufficient time to prove one way or the other if he’s good enough. Hargreaves certainly hasn’t had that yet, but I didn’t see anything from him last season to convince me he’s got the tools. Hopefully he’s grown into the job over the summer. Time will tell on that.
As for a ‘feel-good factor’, I’ve personally never looked forward to a season less. It’ll take all my energy to get there for our first home game (But I will, because that’s what we do isn’t it?) But I won’t enjoy it. Of that I’m absolutely convinced. There isn’t the slightest buzz about a ‘new challenge’. We’re in a division which contains ex-league clubs with bigger support and better prospects than us, and ‘new money’ clubs that have no history, little support but bucket loads of cash. I console myself with the thought that there must be at least 4 or 5 clubs that don’t fit into either of those categories, and we’ll finish above them. Ultimately though, my guess is we’ll be closer to the bottom of the division next season than the top. And if we exit the ‘Skrill’ any time in the next 5 years, it’s much more likely to be down than up.
I’ll probably leave it there. Too much positivity makes me giddy. See you again in September for more happy thoughts. Up the Gulls!
The penny pinching board went for the false profit.
Fonda is the false prophet not.
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