Robertson next for transfer list

[Richinns]

If Zebroski has one year left on his deal, the former manager knows all the cards you are holding and the player has made it adament he is going. You are left knackered. There is no official confirmation that was the fee either.

Not about having a backbone it's about having money, we don't have any.

And never will if we undervalue our key players in this fashion

[royalgull]

Or we don't sell him, have a player unhappy who doesn't perform and drains the club as he's the highest earner.

Again there is no official confirmation of the fee/future fee. Just a snippet in a newspaper. If we took that as gospel everytime i think Man Utd would have a squad of 500 players.

[Richinns]

Or we don't sell him, have a player unhappy who doesn't perform and drains the club as he's the highest earner.

Again there is no official confirmation of the fee/future fee. Just a snippet in a newspaper. If we took that as gospel everytime i think Man Utd would have a squad of 500 players.

Its pretty much confirmed in todays Herald I am afraid.
http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/looki ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tommyg]

Does Robertson want to leave or does he want to join Bristol? Because they are two major differences. If it's the latter than surely, like Zebroski, he's been tapped up. Not many professional clubs would allow to be trampled over this much. Our board are happy to bend over backwards whenever Buckle undoes his zip. I know we can't keep a player who wants to leave, but we should circulate his name around and accept the best offer that doesn't include Bristol's. If we only got £35k up front for Zebroski then Buckle is probably only offering a pack of Fruit Pastills to lure in Robertson.

[monkeyboy]

Royalgull, we're banging our heads against a brick wall with this one, Richinns doesn't understand the situation. Zebs has to go and how can the club get any more for him if there is only one bidder?! The club would be daft to keep a player, particularly the highest earner, if he doesn't want to be here. We have more time to get somebody half decent by not stalling the transfer of Zebs, plus we have to consider not only the transfer fee but the wages that have been freed up to get that new player in. I think some fans have overvalued Zebs based on a decent season he has had for us, but as I said a month or so ago he has his pitfalls, in particular his temperament and link-up play. I'll put my head on the block, you can come back to me and call me a cretin in a few months time if I'm wrong - "ZEBROSKI WILL BE A FLOP AT BRISTOL ROVERS".

[CP Gull]

"ZEBROSKI WILL BE A FLOP AT BRISTOL ROVERS".

Really? I'd be genuinely interested to know why you think that.

If he was signing for a Manager who didn't know exactly what he was getting I could understand that, if he was going to play for a team at a higher level I could understand that also ... but he is not.

Buckle knows him inside out, faults and all. As far as I am concerned he will play him whenever he is fit and available and I fully expect him to play as many games as he did here and probably score a similar amount of goals too (might be slightly less as I expect him to be used more on the wing than he was with us). But I cannot see why he is suddenly going to flop at BRFC when he is playing at the same level, for the same Manager ... the only difference being is that he is probably going to be surrounded by better players which is hardly going to hinder him. The only thing which could happen as I see it is that the BRFC fans may be a little less forgiving and a little less patient when they see Zebs technical deficiencies, given what they have been used to with some of the quality strikers that have turned out for them over the years, but that won't meant that Buckle will drop him 'cos as we know he (Buckle) isd as stubborn as a mule!

[Richinns]

Royalgull, we're banging our heads against a brick wall with this one, Richinns doesn't understand the situation. Zebs has to go and how can the club get any more for him if there is only one bidder?! The club would be daft to keep a player, particularly the highest earner, if he doesn't want to be here. We have more time to get somebody half decent by not stalling the transfer of Zebs, plus we have to consider not only the transfer fee but the wages that have been freed up to get that new player in. I think some fans have overvalued Zebs based on a decent season he has had for us, but as I said a month or so ago he has his pitfalls, in particular his temperament and link-up play. I'll put my head on the block, you can come back to me and call me a cretin in a few months time if I'm wrong - "ZEBROSKI WILL BE A FLOP AT BRISTOL ROVERS".

I understand the situation fully monkeyboy - I see it from a very diffrent angle than you. It does not make me right or you wrong and viceversa.

I want whats best for Torquay and in my opinion all that is happening right now is what is best for Buckle and we are doing very little to stop it.

I agree Zebs had to go but letting him go for so little can only serve as bad business for our club. If we have to give every indication we would let him rot than accept such a p1sstaking amount for him (to force Rovers or other clubs hands to offer what he is worth) then so be it. Same applies for Robertson. This is where we need to dig our heels in and grow a backbone.

[CP Gull]

Whilst in nearly every example the player usually gets his own way, we shouldn't run away with the idea that clubs simply CANNOT say NO, they can and do.

Otherwise, using probably the most high profile example, Cesc Fabregas would have been pulling on a Barca shirt years ago. A little closer to our world perhaps, but Barry Hearn at Leyton Oriemt refused Russell Slade (his Manager) the opportunity to speak to Barnsley (Championship side) in the summer when they came knocking at his door and so Slade remains in charge at the Os.

I'm not saying it happens very often but if players and managers are under contract clubs are perfectly at liberty to refuse transfer requests.

[monkeyboy]

How is a club going to survive if they let their highest earner rot - absolute stupidity, any potential buyer knows we wouldn't do that. If the club could have got more I'm sure they would've done. Zebs wasn't sought after, that tells me a great deal.

[monkeyboy]

CP, it's speculative granted, but I have seen enough of Zebs to know he ain't that great, particularly under pressure, of which there will be masses of at BR, so that is why I think he'll be a flop. What would have happened if we refused Zebs transfer request - we have an unhappy player who doesn't perform and we can't afford to get in a replacement.

[Richinns]

How is a club going to survive if they let their highest earner rot - absolute stupidity, any potential buyer knows we wouldn't do that. If the club could have got more I'm sure they would've done. Zebs wasn't sought after, that tells me a great deal.

A very weak mentality I am afraid which both you and the Torquay board seem to hold.

[royalgull]

That or we just don't keep someone that doesn't want to be here, i'd guess the latter. They offered him a new deal he said no I want to go. Now what...in the real world you have one choice, he goes. Like i mentioned we are in the unfortunate position where the person buying these players knows exactly what our finances are like and probably knows just the amount we can't say no to. When you consider the other improvements being made and we are probably after some cash to supplement that, it's not helped our situation. May have got a bit more from another club but the fact is there wasn't another club.

When Zebroski has been REALLY needed I think he's flattered to decieve that may be a little harsh but we look at the two biggest games of last season Crawley and Stevenage and in both he had absolute shockers. That's when you need your top scorer, big game players to perform and as a team we didn't but individually certain players were well off form. I've never thought he was a particualrly good footballer but he works hard, is efective at this level and he'll do ok for them. He has absolutely zero footballing brain and he's skill set is limited. My only issue with the shole thing is i'm concerned slightly about the standard of replacement, but we've lost far far better players than Zebroski in the past and coped, i see no reason why we can't do ok next season. If by ok realism kicks in and no one is eexpecting top 7. We can definitely stay in this league and be competitive.

[Richinns]

I don't think we need to go to the path that Zeb was not really that good when we all know that this is untrue. It is easy to take that stance once a player has departed in circumstances like this but I think we need more honest than that. He was a very good player at this level and it will be extremely hard for Ling to replace him - I don't think there could be any argument about that.

[Chris B]

monkeyboy - The idea of the Zebroski transfer representing our fight for survival is laughable. I'm not saying the £35k fee suggested is true, but indications are that it is fairly accurate. That amount equates to just 85 adult supporters coming to all 23 home league game this coming season. Given the post-play-off disappointment, popular players such as Branston and Zebroski leaving and a very difficult set of August fixtures, I think we could see attendances fall by 500+, never mind 85.

The issue here is not whether we sold Zebroski, but for how much. I remember posting on here after Carayol left that it had to be our warning to make the highest feasible financial gain we could out of out saleable assets. With Benyon I think we got it right, with Zebroski the board seems to have got it wrong.

By selling members of their BSP side for hundreds of thousands, Exeter have used incoming transfer fees as their way of progressing on and off the pitch. Why aren't we doing the same?

[royalgull]

I am not a bitter person towards players or ex managers i am fully in the camp of people move on so must we but it's my honest opinion of the player and always has been. I think he's effective more than a real stand out matchwinner player. Always been my view which you and probably many others will disagree with. I see him run at players, i don't really see him beat them with skill or trickery, more brute force and a bit of pace. Almost found him to be more lucky than good which isn't neccesarily a bad thing. He works very hard for the team cause, can score goals at League 2 level but some of the fees I saw touted around that we should demand I thought were more ridiculous than the fee we got (which in my opinion if is £35k is a tad too low). Again it's only personal preference but I've always preferred the more skillful thoughtful players. It's why i enjoy watching Eunan O Kane and I liked Gavin Tomlin more than the 'work horses' such as Kee and Zebroski. Every team needs them but If I had to put one person on a chance where there is time to think about it, or rely on someone to make the right pass or cross at the right time, I would back messrs O Kane and Tomlin to provide the answer a lot more than i would Zeb too. I would imagine him to thrash wildly at the chance or crossing opportunity and it to end up in the stand almost as often as it did in the net.