why did PB never really get the...

[HRG]

Yes Dave. You lot can't allude to such stories and then not tell us. Spill!

[Regiment]

Firstly I really do not think any lack of popularity Paul Buckle had amongst fans had anything to do with his connections with Exeter, and those who take that view point are foolish in my opinion.

He came to our club as we all know at our lowest point; we had 5 players so Paul Buckle had to throw a squad together as a rookie a manager, up to the half way point of his first season results were good, our team was very much in the running for the conference title and had gone through a few rounds of the F.A trophy, however there was an issue there all along, the style of play, we were then an out and out hoof ball team not a style of play that us fans liked or were used to, I remember at the time this was pretty much forgiven because the team were winning and were just a point behind Aldershot with games in hand.

The rot started to set in around Christmas time of that season and issue s started to be highlighted .Rice was brought in for Rayner in goal, Rice I don t know maybe at that time was not ready however he clearly was not up to the job, buckle continued to play him (including that 4.3 away defeat to Exeter when we were witness to some pathetic keeping from Ricey) even sending Rayner off on loan only either brining Rayner back when it was to late, that same season early in January we played Burton this game stuck in my memory and I have picked it out as another reason why fans started to question Buckle s management, in game we hoofed long ball after long ball at the Burton defence to see them cope with ease, the game plan was clearly was not working and we lost, as we saw in many other games, his refusal to admit he got it wrong and change things did not help.

I have to be honest here; I completely lost patience with Buckle early in his second season and was vocal in public and on various forums pleading with the board to remove Buckle as our manager, the reason Chris Hargreaves being moved to centre back, don t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with any manager moving a mature midfielder to centre back, it has worked out for many clubs players and managers at all levels, however it did not work out for C/H ,not Greavsie s fault but he was the worst centre back in the history of football it stood out like a sore thumb, we were conceding awful goals because of it and losing match s because it and found ourselves in the bottom four of the conference because of it yet he would not change it, finaly whether someone pinned Bucks up against a wall and told him to change it, or he realised it could not go on, he did move Hargreaves back to midfield and we never looked back.

I do not want this to come across all negative, Paul Buckle did win me over, as he showed he could recognize when things were wrong and make a change before it festered, he started to show in match s that he was not scared to make a change early in tactics and personnel when things were not going to plan, I also saw Paul Buckle spend a lot of time coaching our centre of excellence up close and personal last season, where he demonstrated to me that he was a very passionate football man, clearly loves football, and not only loves coaching, but is a very good football coach.

The real shame for me is, despite all I would have liked to have given him a polite round of applause and thanks for efforts here with us, but now feel totally unable to that, due to way he left, don t get wrong I do not begrudge him the Bristol Rovers job, however there is aright way to move on to a new club and a wrong way, he chose the wrong way, that does leave a bitter taste ,so ram it as far as he is concerned.

enjoyed reading this post forevertufc, agree with 99% of it, but i must've missed the game where this happened ^^

[DavetheRave]

enjoyed reading this post forevertufc, agree with 99% of it, but i must've missed the game where this happened ^^

I can recall him hauling Billy Kee off after the half hour mark to make a change not even half hour into the game.....that was over the last couple of months...was a good call too

[Southampton Gull]

What is the story with him and RL...also with Bayes...why won't anyone let on???

The story goes that he had an affair with Mrs Bayes while they were at the same club together and left his wife when he started seeing Rebecca, to be honest it's not something I want to talk about in any more detail, his family deserve some consideration in all this. When we played Crawley first time around I had a big argument with some of our own fans who were really giving it to Bayes bigtime about it and to his credit he ignored it and applauded the Torquay fans afterwards, I'll never forget that and has my total respect. Buckle on the other hand deserves and has my full contempt.

[Dave_Pougher]

Wasn't there an issue with Sillsy's misses two?

Lock up your daughters Bristol Rovers?

[chippygull]

I'm getting a little weary of this. OK, he's not perfect (who is?) but if someone offered you twice the salary, twice the budget and twice the crowds, you'd bite their hand off. He's done a great job for us, albeit tripping on the last hurdle; taking the BRFC job was insurance against failure at Old Trafford, and his policy paid out. He's as shrewd in his job hunting as he was for us in the transfer market (anyone name any duff signings?) and on the field (most of the time). Let's move on.

[Plymouth Gull]

anyone name any duff signings?

Jody Banim
Tristan Plummer
Danny Mills
Ben Joyce
Martin Rice
Danny Senda
Mikkel Andersen

to name a few. The list could go on..

[royalgull]

Eric Djemba Djemba
Massimo Taibi
William Prunier
Kleberson
Diego Forlan
Mark Bosnich
Juan Veron
Bebe
Gabriel Obertan
Jesper Blomqvist
Jordi Cruyff
Karel Poborsky
Ricardo

What absolutely useless pillock signed those players?

[Fonda]

Eric Djemba Djemba
Massimo Taibi
William Prunier
Kleberson
Diego Forlan
Mark Bosnich
Juan Veron
Bebe
Gabriel Obertan
Jesper Blomqvist
Jordi Cruyff
Karel Poborsky
Ricardo

What absolutely useless pillock signed those players?

He's been there for 20 years.

Veron was considered the best midfielder in the world at the time - nobody could have predicted that he'd fail to take to the Prem.
Forlan has proven to be an excellent player since - again just couldn't deal with the Prem.
Klebersen was according to the Brazilian coach at the time 'the first name on the teamsheet'.
Blomqvist was decent too.

Hadly poor signings.

[tauntongull]

Buckle's tactics are really odd at the best of times. Half the time it didn't seem as though he had the first clue what he was doing. Ok he started off with sod all but really was given carte blanch to sign who the hell he wanted in his first season.
Given the circumstances we were entitled surely to have been challenging at the top of the league. We got beaten to the title by a team with a much smaller budget.
Buckle then completely blew the play off second leg against Exeter with his refusal to play Zebs,Phillips and Sills up front. His ridiculous ultra defensive tactics were just asking for trouble in the second half with Exeter attacking towards their own fans - we were defending so deep we were inviting the ref to give them decisons around our box and that lost us the game.
The following year he again signed just about everybody - biggest squad by a mile, but ultimately snuck into the play offs when Burton decided not to play for the last half hour of the game.
We just about snuck past the mighty Histon but did play well in the final.
The next year Buckle could well have got us relegated. His bizarre policy of freezing out the likes of Ellis,Carayol and Nico and playing a whole host of shite in their places.
He then bought them back and we went on an incredible run at the end of the season to save ourselves.
This year Buckle had an on fire forward in Benyon, he has got his critics but there wasn't anyone better in the league at the start of the season.
Buckle then played him up front by himself for some bizarre reason - a tactic which clearly lost us the Crawley game.
Then for no apparent reason he changed from ultra defensive to ulta attacking with four center forwards up front. His persistence in playing Billy Kee on the wing was totally bizarre.
We somehow got into the play offs as every other team around us conspired to lose on the last two weeks of the season.
A cynic might say that Buckle's gung ho approach in those games was due to him wanting to get the Bristol Rovers job on the last day of the season. Did he actually want to win?
In the play off final his daft formation and his daft substitutions lost us another big game but he looked the least worried bloke in the stadium - no doubt pleased that he wasn't seen to be defecting from a team a league higher than the one he could not wait to join.
All in all he has been a bloody lucky manager - for his sake he had better hope that his luck doesn't run out.

You can add Iyesden Christie to the list, as you say the list goes on.

I love this post from Brucie, it really says it all and I lost count of how many times I heard 'Buckle, sort it out!' last season when he seemed unaware there was even a problem - the clock is ticking at BRFC already!

[Plymouth Gull]

Not a clue! :~D

I think what I'm getting at is that for each good signing there has been a shocker, I personally don't agree with the fact that his record in the transfer/loan market has been spectacularly good.

The first batch of players (Nicho, Hargreaves, Sills, Benyon etc) weren't really down to him either - he knew that Tisdale wanted them and simply offered them more money.

Out of interest, who the hell is WIlliam Prunier?!

[royalgull]

He's been there for 20 years.

Veron was considered the best midfielder in the world at the time - nobody could have predicted that he'd fail to take to the Prem.
Forlan has proven to be an excellent player since - again just couldn't deal with the Prem.
Klebersen was according to the Brazilian coach at the time 'the first name on the teamsheet'.
Blomqvist was decent too.

Hadly poor signings.

Those listed as bad signings were Buckle all free transfers. Or all young loanees.

When you deal in that market you don't get EVERY one right. My point was even the best managers make bad signigns every now and then. Every signing is a gamble or risk, just often the more you spend lessons the gamble because it means their good players.

I've got to to be honest you lot sound like a bunch of kids chewing on the biggest pile of sour grapes going.

Go through the team that just contested the playoff final, apart from Mansell, all signed by Paul Buckle but of course the guy is clueless and only signs bad players.

I suppose it's the same posters that criticised him for signing a 'useless thug' in Branston, who all then voted the bloke player of the year.

[Fonda]

I'm personally not fussed about his signings, or his performance as manager - as i've said countless times, he turned into a better manager than i thought he would. I'd struggle to find a good word to say about him after this last fortnight though.

[Southampton Gull]

Robertson wasn't his signing either.

I actually think some good players were signed during his reign, I'm not sure he could take all the credit for them though and neither can he be blamed for some of the poor ones.

When he was free of the constraints of having to deal with our ex CEO I felt he started to improve greatly, his signings went up a notch too, so I'd share Shane's view that he was becoming a far better manager.

[royalgull]

He was here before and may well have been agreed but technically he was the manager when he signed on the dotted line I believe. Not really relevant, still the point stands for me the vast majority of his signings have been good and that's all you can ask. If you expect a 100% success rate then nobody on the planet is good enough because there won't be a manager ever that's had 100% success with signings, apart from maybe Leroy's second spell. 100% record in the market and didn't lose a game. Good work