New Signings for the 2023-2024 Season

brucie · Post by **brucie** » 11 May 2023, 12:30

Dan Martin hasnt featured for a year - not sure why we would seek to retain him to be honest, perhaps a case of the manager filling his squad with players already here.

Nouble isnt coming so again its pointless mentioning him. I would hope that we could maybe ditch the likes of Marshall and Hanson - perhaps palm off the latter to Dover but I seriously doubt anybody would want them.

Is a centre back roster of Moxey, Marshall and Tomlinson good enough to win us the league? cant see it myself. There is a serious lack of pace in the 5 central midfield options.

Stobbs and Collins makes the squad look miles better but cant see either being at all viable - they are bound to get offers higher. Its more likely that we will end up with a Keelan O'Connell equivalent.

If Jarvis goes we have some huge gaps to fill.

yellowarmygull · Post by **yellowarmygull** » 11 May 2023, 12:37

Dan Martin if fit would be a good squad player if not starter when fully fit but it would need to be a monthly contract - Law on the other hand scored for Plymouth in the Fa Cup and when he got a run in the side was very solid as a full back or left wing back, you wont get much better than that in the NLS - Sign him up if hes keen !

One rumour is Ruairi Keating in discussions for a return if his contract at Cork can be cleared, another good squad option not on top money ?

Willowgull · Post by **Willowgull** » 11 May 2023, 12:42

Ruairi Keating, seriously. We need quality, not squad players.
I can't say I'm massively impressed with the business so far.
Halstead resigning was much needed.

Post by **happytorq** » 11 May 2023, 12:42

yellowarmygull wrote: 11 May 2023, 12:37 Dan Martin if fit would be a good squad player if not starter when fully fit but it would need to be a monthly contract - Law on the other hand scored for Plymouth in the Fa Cup and when he got a run in the side was very solid as a full back or left wing back, you wont get much better than that in the NLS - Sign him up if hes keen !

One rumour is Ruairi Keating in discussions for a return if his contract at Cork can be cleared, another good squad option not on top money ?

with Martin it's really a case of knowing if he's past the effects of long covid. If he is, he'd be perfect for us. If he's not, then sadly his career is probably over. the back end of 21/22, he was very good. Very unfortunate to get the long-term injury in pre-season last year, too.

We'll need to decide either way pretty soon, though. If Law is available and willing to come here then obviously we'd be foolish not to at least consider it.

Not sure how I feel about Keating. We released him once, believe him not to be good enough for NL and although we're back in the division below we should probably be targeting players we believe will do a job in the higher division. Given his previous with us, he might not want to come for only a year anyway. He does seem to love the club, though.

Willowgull · Post by **Willowgull** » 11 May 2023, 13:21

Keating worked hard but very little quality. No thanks, we need better!

brucie · Post by **brucie** » 11 May 2023, 13:31

Keating seriously?

Makes me laugh with the likes of Law and Sparkes keep getting mentioned. If either of these were coming then why would we be offering Martin a contract?

Post by **happytorq** » 11 May 2023, 14:32

brucie wrote: 11 May 2023, 13:31 Makes me laugh with the likes of Law and Sparkes keep getting mentioned. If either of these were coming then why would we be offering Martin a contract?

Sparkes isn't coming; he's voluntarily left a league 1 club and has said he's moving away so he'll be *at least* at a 'big' League 1 side next season. (or Wrexham in League 2 because they'll be building a side to win that division; this seems unlikely to me, however.) Would not be surprised to see him turn up in the Scottish Premiership.

From what we know, we haven't actually offered Martin a contract, yet. Discussions are "ongoing". Presumably 75% of those discussions are "Can you run for 90 minutes yet?"
Law is an option as we look to fill the currently entirely empty left side of defence. We always say how hard it is to get players (especially young players) to come this far south, so it'd be daft if we didn't at least take a look. He was already in the same squad as Martin too, so I don't think it'd necessarily be a case of either/or. Depending upon his wage demands it might be worth having them both in the squad - it would allow us to play a flat back if we wanted to with Law in LB and Martin LW. hat would be encouraging for a variety of reasons; tactical flexibility, cover in the event of injury, and of course, it'd suggest that the budget actually is pretty strong.

Mr Tea808 · Post by **Mr Tea808** » 11 May 2023, 14:44

I heard a wolves fan podcast/interview with Frank Nouble last night, it was recorded prior to the Wrexham game, he makes no secret that he's looking to get back to the football league/NL,but not NLS....the Interview is really good and Big Frank comes over really well, you can tell that he's a humble, down to earth guy, very easy going...he even mentioned Wrexham were interested in him before he signed for us, Good luck to him for his next move..On our current squad, I would deffo give a deal to Dan Martin, 100% he's a solid pro,I do think we need real pace and power, it'll a lot tougher next season than people think,

Mr Tea808 · Post by **Mr Tea808** » 11 May 2023, 14:47

Not sure about Rauri Keating??, Be a strange one, think we need to add better quality, not fill it with ex players or ex loanees just for the sake of it, we need to be a bit more original in our approach.

UnitedinDevon · Post by **UnitedinDevon** » 11 May 2023, 18:30

Keating, Jesus people are obsessed with our former players. Seen posts on here and Facebook recommending Jake Andrews, Danny Wright and Lucas Covolan this week

Move on!

Post by **Eirik** » 11 May 2023, 19:24

Jack Stobbs is back. https://torquayunited.com/breaking-news ... rees-deal/

Hopefully all these signings will tempt Aron Jarvis to stay at Torquay.

DevonBee · Post by **DevonBee** » 11 May 2023, 19:41

Stobbs on board is a great addition at this level for sure. Things seem to be going ok. Well done again to the club and the backing recieved to get this one over the line

Midlandgull · Post by **Midlandgull** » 11 May 2023, 21:31

Excellent news to have Stobbs back! Still plenty of work to do with the squad. I do wonder if one or two may leave as others have suggested, eg McGavin, or Hanson. They have points to prove if they stay!

GK Halstead
GK ?

RB Donnellan
RB Crowe

CB Tomlinson
CB Marshall
CB Moxey
CB ?

LB ?
LB ?

CM Hall
CM Lapslie
CM Dawson
CM Hanson
CM McGavin

RM/LM Stobbs
RM/LM ?
RM/LM ?

CF Jarvis
CF ?
CF ?

brucie · Post by **brucie** » 11 May 2023, 21:53

Yes agree that Stobbs is a terrific signing.

He's above NLS level and thats what is needed. Couldnt see it happening but well happy with that.

MellowYellow · Post by **MellowYellow** » 11 May 2023, 22:16

Stobbs at NLS level is a fantastic signing. Now we have to persuade Lewis Collins to sign as a second forward to Jarvis. This squad can hit the ground running next season from day one. Happy with the way this is panning out with 12 players currently signed up from last season. Maidstone on the other hand have officially confirmed that only three players as well as one new signing have agreed terms for next season. Never easy to start a fresh season with all new players as we found out to our cost last season.

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