TorquayFans.com | Torquay United Fans Forum

forevertufc wrote: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.

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

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

chippygull wrote: anyone name any duff signings?

royalgull wrote: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?

brucie wrote: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.

Fonda wrote: 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.