Why We Should Absolutely Adore Buckle...

[Southampton Gull]

i suppose hes doing ok.

remember though when leroy got us promoted he got f**k all financial backing to keep us in league 1 and nearly did it.

oh, and one more thing......



BUCKLE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So he didn't splash out anything on Constantine then?

He cost more than this whole squad put together.

He got rid of some lightweight from Barnsley (not all are as fat as you I'm guessing) and replaced him with Stanley who could well end up being player of the year

[Fletch]

Beat me to it Dave. That he's still our record signing (when we paid was it something like 18k for Zebs) shows how absurd transfer fees can be at times

[SuperNickyWroe]

Beat me to it Dave. That he's still our record signing (when we paid was it something like 18k for Zebs) shows how absurd transfer fees can be at times

yeah and he turned out to be bl**dy useless!

[Southampton Gull]

yeah and he turned out to be bl**dy useless!

Like Wroe was for the most part this season.

If you think he was useless then it just negates your argument re Rosenior, he was the one who signed him

[SuperNickyWroe]

Like Wroe was for the most part this season.

If you think he was useless then it just negates your argument re Rosenior, he was the one who signed him

lets face it dave, leroy was in a no win situation as soon as we got promoted.

as for mr wroe, im sure you were/are aware of his "situation."

[Southampton Gull]

Yes I was, but I don't let my private life interfere with my work performance.

As for Leroy, I was a great fan of his but he was far from in a no-win situation, he had probably the best squad of players for 30 years and was able to sign someone for whom we paid our record fee, as Fletch correctly pointed out.

Bucks has made mistakes but he's learning fast.

[ferrarilover]

Oh yeah...

Is she black, a man, used to be a man, a midget. No, she's blind, that's what it is, it answers SO many questions.

Seriously though, when is your next match and will your good lady be coming with?

Matt.

[Southampton Gull]

Not sure yet and I doubt it, she hates football. We'll meet up in the summer sometime though, I think it's time we had a good drink

[ferrarilover]

Damn right. If you know any law firms or chambers in Southampton looking for a decent 1st year work experience boy to come in over the summer, I'll be there in a shot.

Matt.

[Fonda]

I thought Constantine was widely considered to have been thrust upon Leroy (in a Torres to Chelsea manner) by the owner? I'm not sure LR was the instigator of that particular piece of business. And his signing hardly compensated for the players that had left. Regardless of whether we were taken to the cleaners (not for the first or last time) with the Constantine deal, there was noweher near enough investment made to give Leroy a realistic chance of keeping us up.

[Fletch]

I thought Constantine was widely considered to have been thrust upon Leroy (in a Torres to Chelsea manner) by the owner? I'm not sure LR was the instigator of that particular piece of business. And his signing hardly compensated for the players that had left. Regardless of whether we were taken to the cleaners (not for the first or last time) with the Constantine deal, there was noweher near enough investment made to give Leroy a realistic chance of keeping us up.

Thrust upon? Knowing MB's liking for deep pockets/short arms, do you really think he would have spashed out that much cash without a lot of persuading?

Heres a couple of teams for you. Last Div 3 game and 1st Div 2 game.

Van Heusden
Hazell/Woods/C. Taylor/McGlinchey
Rosenior (Bedeau, 88)/Hockley/Russell/Hill,
Graham (Woozley, 89)/Kuffour (Gritton, 84)
Subs not used: Canoville, Fowler

Bossu
Canoville/Woods/Taylor/McGlinchey
Fowler (Owen 83)/Hockley(Phillips 62)/Russell/Hill(Gritton, 70)
Kuffour/Akinfenwa
Subs not used: Villis, Van Heusden

So apart from a change at RB with Canoville coming in, a change in midfield with Rosenior having ended his loan and Akinfenwa in for Graham, does that team look like it needed strengthing much?

Leroys big failing (according to a couple of players from that time) was that whilst he was excellent on tactics and training routines for the strikers and attacking midfielders, he was very naïve when it came to the defence side of things.

[Fonda]

Any team With Matt Hockley in it's midfield would struggle in League 1. But regardless of that, it's a squad game. Whilst the first 11 looked reasonable (with that obvious exception), was there ever really enough depth to compete at that level? That promotion was never taken seriously. It was never embraced and seen as an opportunity - we were only ever day-trippers, up to the big league to see some sights then back to where we belong. And i take your point about Leroy's defensive weakness - it's why he concentrated on producing such an entertaining, attacking team.

[Fletch]

Any team With Matt Hockley in it's midfield would struggle in League 1. But regardless of that, it's a squad game. Whilst the first 11 looked reasonable (with that obvious exception), was there ever really enough depth to compete at that level? That promotion was never taken seriously. It was never embraced and seen as an opportunity - we were only ever day-trippers, up to the big league to see some sights then back to where we belong. And i take your point about Leroy's defensive weakness - it's why he concentrated on producing such an entertaining, attacking team.

If you look back for various utterings from MB, it was fairly clear (in my opinion) that had attendances improved with playing at a higher level, more money would have been invested. I remember him being quite bitter about the lack of interest from the bay public on our promotion. Without bothering to dig up the exact figures i think it was an increase of about 50 in the average crowd from Div 3 to Div 2? Hence the comments that Torquay didnt deserve a Div 2 team (I suspect).
Thats hardly going to support a stronger/deeper squad on Div 2 wages is it? Whilst MB received a lot of flak at certain times, sometimes quite fairly, a lot of the time he is pillaried unjustly. There was never an infinite pot of gold to support the club and the books had to be balanced somehow (seemingly unlike premiership teams nowadays).

[wiggy_10]

I thought Constantine was widely considered to have been thrust upon Leroy (in a Torres to Chelsea manner) by the owner? I'm not sure LR was the instigator of that particular piece of business. And his signing hardly compensated for the players that had left. Regardless of whether we were taken to the cleaners (not for the first or last time) with the Constantine deal, there was noweher near enough investment made to give Leroy a realistic chance of keeping us up.

Surely the fact we only went down on goal difference shows that we did have a rather realistic chance of staying up?

[yellowforever]

I honestly think that the team we have now is considerably better than the one in league one, bar the obvious (russell, akinfenwa, fowler when fit and mcglinchey).

Am i the only one who thought that Constantine looked good when we first got him on loan?