Is Hargreaves fit for purpose?

[Burnhamgull]

without being/sounding harsh - training counts for nothing.

as for the "skills" of CH - im still to be convinced.

Gloomygull has already made this comment but the fact Bowman looks good in training when playing against OUR defence doesn't mean he's a good finisher........

I'd fancy Thea's chances of bagging goals if she played against our defence in training.

[Dave]

the thing is dave, as we have discussed many times - the most important thing was our league status and the money we would lose if relegated.

im sure now that the board wish they'd have chosen someone with the relevant experience - and associated cost - to have kept us in the football league and avoid the situation - which will be long term - that we are in now.

Totally agree with you Chris, I spent the must part of last season posting the importance of retaining our football league status, sadly it appeared to fall on deaf ears of the people who needed to grasp the lesson. People use our location as an excuse, it's a pretty poor one really, we've had managers in the past who've brought both permanent and loan signings in from the north east and west, midlands and London, I look at the likes of Accrington, lets be fair their whole club from the ground the fact they have no training facilities, fan base, it isn't fit for purpose yet can remain in the football league season on season .

Then I look at us, from all our facilities, we have a League 1 infrastructure, if not the fan base however, but at the very least TUFC should be and regardless of our location a competitive League 2 club, and here we are knocking on the door of football oblivion (conference south) and I ask myself what are we doing wrong ? All of these clubs can not be living beyond their means.

That said Chris, the point I'm making on the forum and have been since the start of the season, the time to cry over spilt milk has gone, as I've said times now, it's to late. We as a club can not look back, we have deal with the situation we face in the now, and the bit of my post left above points towards where the club is today.

I, of course do not know this for sure, but suspect our club as far as finances are concerned has been placed in survival mode, the point is our club may be in a situation where by it has no other choice but to keep Chris Hargreaves, to sack CH would mean the club would once again have to find money it doesn't have to pay him off, so any manager coming in would find what ever meagre budget CH has being even further reduced, so who'd take the job, Adam Castle from Buckland, John Parkin from Galmpton maybe Jon Yeates from Liverton might have a go, that's the point, no experience relatively big name manager at this level is going to touch us with a barge pole.

[hector]

Totally agree with you Chris, I spent the must part of last season posting the importance of retaining our football league status, sadly it appeared to fall on deaf ears of the people who needed to grasp the lesson. People use our location as an excuse, it's a pretty poor one really, we've had managers in the past who've brought both permanent and loan signings in from the north east and west, midlands and London, I look at the likes of Accrington, lets be fair their whole club from the ground the fact they have no training facilities, fan base, it isn't fit for purpose yet can remain in the football league season on season .

Then I look at us, from all our facilities, we have a League 1 infrastructure, if not the fan base however, but at the very least TUFC should be and regardless of our location a competitive League 2 club, and here we are knocking on the door of football oblivion (conference south) and I ask myself what are we doing wrong ? All of these clubs can not be living beyond their means.

That said Chris, the point I'm making on the forum and have been since the start of the season, the time to cry over spilt milk has gone, as I've said times now, it's to late. We as a club can not look back, we have deal with the situation we face in the now, and the bit of my post left above points towards where the club is today.

I, of course do not know this for sure, but suspect our club as far as finances are concerned has been placed in survival mode, the point is our club may be in a situation where by it has no other choice but to keep Chris Hargreaves, to sack CH would mean the club would once again have to find money it doesn't have to pay him off, so any manager coming in would find what ever meagre budget CH has being even further reduced, so who'd take the job, Adam Castle from Buckland, John Parkin from Galmpton maybe Jon Yeates from Liverton might have a go, that's the point, no experience relatively big name manager at this level is going to touch us with a barge pole.

If Hargreaves was to go - which is not what I would be advocating or even remotely imagining would happen - I would worry that those with a fondness for clamouring for ex-Torquay players as manager, would be shouting for someone like Sean Joyce of Bideford to get the job, in the same way, 20 years earlier, people used to go on about Martyn Rogers. Saying that, I was looking at the job Dave Challinor has done at AFC Fylde (admittedly with some money behind him) and he has done a decent job.

I think TUFC would attract one of the rank-and-file Conference managers. We are still (for the time being, at least) a bigger club at this level and someone like Steve Burr or Dave Hockaday, I think would be tempted by a position at Plainmoor, if they were available.

[Dave]

Don't think there's any doubt our club still has the status to attract some decent managerial candidates, thing is, when the reality of any financial package the club could offer in personal terms and player budgets come to the fore, think most would run a mile, that's the problem we face now.

[lucy6lucy]

What ever happens this season Hargreaves will not lose his job. He will be assessed next season, when we lose our high earners and he can build his own squad of players. I would be surprised if he has the budget for an assistant manager next season. Not many expected an instant return this season, so a mid table finish is more realistic, despite the fact Torquay don't do mid table.

[royalgull]

Stick with Hargreaves, he's still effectively managing half of Knill's useless team and can't shift them. Quell surprise? Who would take Tonge, Downes, Benyon, Harding and the like? You'd have to be mental, that's why they are all still here 6 months after being put up for free transers. I like Greavsie and Hodges and don't see them as the problem, I'm hopeful Berry will prove to be a good signing and if we can get a left back our defence on paper will be ok. I'm convinced Bowman will score goals at this level, we're just shot to bits confidence wise as a side, in a way tonights game is the best thing for us, it's the first game we're playing this season with no pressure. No one really expects us to win.

[hector]

Well done CH for the team selection and tactics. He got everything pitch perfect tonight! He outwitted a far more experienced manager, with much greater resources at his disposal.

[Gullscorer]

Well done CH for the team selection and tactics. He got everything pitch perfect tonight! He outwitted a far more experienced manager, with much greater resources at his disposal.

Agreed. Could somebody please now kill this thread..?? Or at least change the title..??

[chunkygull]

At this moment he is fit for purpose. At least until 10 to 5 on Saturday anyway. :~D

[Dave]

Why ? Never kill debate. Said it my self a few replies above it was to early to say Chris Hargreaves would not get a positive response from the team, and to be fair he did get a positive performance from the team tonight, that said it's one game, it got to be backed up Saturday with another, otherwise tonight becomes meaningless.

[brucie]

Think tonight showed that our team should really be in the top six. Didn't think it was a fluke win - I actually thought 2-3 flattered them.
Clearly we should not have been losing to the likes of Telford,Aldershot.Kidderminster etc etc. i am not sure that Barnet had greater resources than us though - They have a small squad as well.
On that showing Barnet will not run away with the league. I still don't think there is a really decent team in the league though and we were seriously underachieving in twelth position.
Niall Thompson showed just what a major weapon he can be as his pace really exposed their defence at the end.

[Modgull]

Good performance by everyone tonight including the management. CH got it just right. Thought we should have gone 451 but he stayed with his formation and players and they performed for him.

[arcadia]

Is he fit for purpose Yes

[Scott Brehaut]

In answer to the question, it all depends on the expectation of the person asking the question - though I would hope that they would bear in mind the following when managing that expectation:

He is a rookie manager
He has players in the squad that are on big wages and that he can't get rid of
He has little to no money to bring in new players.

That in mind, I would expect him to make the odd mistake and to, essentially, learn on the job.

We can't compare him to other rookie managers we have had, like Bucks for example, simply because Buckle had an almost infinite amount of money to bring in anybody he wanted.
That said, I would expect Chris to know what he wants out of the team and to be able to drop players that aren't performing. During the "blip" he didn't seem to act quick enough at times to help "stop the rot", but that said it is a learning experience for him.

We are one of the "better" teams in the division on paper - not as much clout financially, but we have some good players. A successful season for me, under Chris, would be in or near the play offs at the end of the season.

[Gullscorer]