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roverstilidie wrote:The deal has been signed! Worst kept secret in football.

You'd think the Torquay chairman might know something about it, then - he didn't seem to during his interview.

Of course. He's not going to say we've let Buckle leave during the playoffs. Contract starts 1st June.

happytorq wrote: You'd think the Torquay chairman might know something about it, then - he didn't seem to during his interview.

He is probably the only one who doesn't.

I wonder if he knows anything about O'Kane and Doncaster.

Still can't quite understand this move (if we get promoted that is).

Gets us promoted into League One, and gets the opportunity to manage us in that league but instead goes back down to League Two to manage a recently relegated team. Surely managing a League One club (again, if we get there) would look better on an ambitious managers CV??

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the contract has been signed. I can understand the comments about managing at a higher division etc, but is it really going to help move his career on if he spends a season in League 1 with a team struggling near the bottom of the table? Pessimistic maybe, but with our attendances and therefore budgets it's not going to be great. I'd loved to be proved wrong.

Ultimately I believe any move ... apart from the money factor ... is about leaving a team that you've taken as far as you can, and picking up the pieces at another club with a potential to play higher and be more succesful.

I think if we go up he will stay. His stock is quite high, but if he can keep us up then it will be higher and more than likely get better job offers than Bristol Rovers (no offence, I think top League 1 sides/Lower Champ may start looking at him). Of course if we go down, it will be no more than expected as we will have the lowest budget and no expectations.

Buckle is ambitious and is likely to play the long game and just hang on for better than a league 2 team, even if it has potential.

If Eunan is on his way to Donny / Bristol whatever lets just hope we get a decent amount of money for him as I am getting pi**ed of with being ripped off by all and sundry.
"Its only little Torquay so it doesn't matter at all about them" seems to be the attitude going around.

If players/managers are only given 12 month contracts there's always the risk they'll be poached for very little.

Can't see Eunan going to Bristol, dutch, don't worry.

He has a fantastic career ahead of him, and the only way I see him going when he leaves us is up. I'd imagine we would get a fair whack for him. Anything under £300k and I'd be disappointed.

I don't mind players like O'kane moving on so much if we get decent fees for them, but I'm sceptical after the amount we got for Benyon.

The blame for poor fees would lie firmly at the feet of the board - we can only be ripped off if we let ourselves be ripped off.

Cutting / low playing budget etc is understandable - but I become a lot less sympathetic if we sell our best assets for a lot less than we should.

O'Kane is not the kind of player we'd sign, and we don't have money to spend even though will be bringing in nearly a million from sales of Hoskins, Lines and Saints promotion (lambert deal). We've offered Pell a new contract, and already have Campbell and Wayne Brown who will play a much bigger part.

Much more likely to sign Branston, and poss Robinson and or Tomlin (if Kuffour goes).

http://www.bristolrovers.vitalfootball. ... p?a=242485" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Rovers fan just posted this link on thefootballforum.net . It looks a pretty tinpot website but it's the first article I've seen actually confirming him as the new manager although there is no more than that at this stage. I will watch with interest to see if it is confirmed anywhere else. If he is appointed before our final whilst the timing is abysmal I don't think anyone here will be surprised. I'd just hoped with the faith the board have shown him in the past he would have at least waited for us to finish the playoff campaign. I suppose in an ideal world PB would have wanted perhaps one more season on a decent budget before being given the chance at a much bigger team but given what's going on at the club he feels his decision has been made and he now wants to chance it at a club with a bigger infrastructure and potential but who will be at our level worse case next season. If this all comes out over the next few days it will leave a very sour taste in the mouth and will no doubt overshadow all the good work PB has done during his time here - not to mention spoil the day for all those planning on traveling next weekend including myself.

It could only happen at Torquay!

Vital gas are always reliable. Would be surprised if confirmed officially until after the playoffs but think Higgs is losing patience now as is getting alot of stick from the fans.

roverstilidie wrote:If players/managers are only given 12 month contracts there's always the risk they'll be poached for very little.

Not sure who you're referring to, but only Branston was on a 12 month deal as far as I'm aware and Bevan is the only other key player who's contract runs out this summer.

Tbh, of the 3 you mention only losing Branston would particularly bother me. While Robinson and Tomlin both have better technical ability, they are ultimately only loan signings and have only been part of the squad for just under 5 months - so I've never considered them permanent and thus don't consider them part of the squads main backbone. However, Branston brings a lot more than technical ability to the table and would be a huge loss.

I'm just hoping that Branston perhaps feels too settled here and wouldn't want to uproot yet again if he didn't need to because he has struggled to settle anywhere in the past.

I have to say though, I think Buckle's approach to Branston's future has been very underhand if speculation is correct, as I suspect Branston would have been offered a new contract before the end of season if Buckle hadn't been wanting to take him elsewhere.

basil75 wrote: Not sure who you're referring to, but only Branston was on a 12 month deal as far as I'm aware and Bevan is the only other key player who's contract runs out this summer.

Tbh, of the 3 you mention only losing Branston would particularly bother me. While Robinson and Tomlin both have better technical ability, they are ultimately only loan signings and have only been part of the squad for just under 5 months - so I've never considered them permanent and thus don't consider them part of the squads main backbone. However, Branston brings a lot more than technical ability to the table and would be a huge loss.

I'm just hoping that Branston perhaps feels too settled here and wouldn't want to uproot yet again if he didn't need to because he has struggled to settle anywhere in the past.

I have to say though, I think Buckle's approach to Branston's future has been very underhand if speculation is correct, as I suspect Branston would have been offered a new contract before the end of season if Buckle hadn't been wanting to take him elsewhere.

More a case of waiting to see which division we are in I suspect...