Torquay United Fans Forum

A fantastic post Taunton Gull! A very good read.

That is a great post. It shows that we have drifted from month to month, with a several loanees playing tiny roles, but having no long term impact or culpability. There has been no real marked improvement in form, just one or two results that have kept us not from the trapdoor, but from being cut adrift by a mediocre league.

I'm fearful of the next few months, mainly due to the fact that Alan Knill could go to the papers, tell them he bets on us to lose and still not lose his job.

We're dooooooooooooooooommmmmmeeeeeeedddddd

Well said taunton-gull

Enjoyed reading that, and a lot to think about.

I alluded to how the management at the club at boardroom level might be contributing to where we find ourselves now as a club on a thread I started a little while ago. Sadly I still believe to be the case, there are some deeply uncomfortable but necessary questions for those at the top to answer. From what I can gather (most) of those on the board seem genuine people who care greatly for TUFC and have invested hugely emotionally and financially to do the best thing by the club. Unfortunately, there is a very real possibility history will judge their legacy as on a par with their predecessors.

For me, the problem started when we lost Colin Lee who was responsible for being heavily involved with the appointment of the first manager under the consortium in the conference. There's no doubt it was the right decision for him to leave given what happened, however I think not replacing him with someone who had a similar amount of experience managing a football club from the top down was a huge mistake. As far as I'm aware this role was taken on by Bill Phillips which to me has always seemed completely bizarre. In my opinion I feel that instead of having a clear strategy as to where the club wanted to go, it was simply a case of getting back into the league and considering the job done. The first sign of collective folly took place during the playoff campaign when the Bristol Rovers/Buckle fiasco completely derailed our shot to become a league one team and the top side in Devon. At the same time, the plans for Bristow's Bench were under way and there were questions about whether the club really wanted to reach the third tier.

The initial chairman stepped down (for reasons I'm still not aware of) to be replaced by another board member, this chairman then took the lead in appointing Buckle's replacement, but then coincidentally when things went sour he stepped aside to be replaced by the chief benefactor whose first task was to the inform the manager they were no longer in a job. The Ling affair was a difficult time for all involved but the way it was handled was beyond amateur. The head of the board (despite apparently having the full support of the rest of the team with a background in business) has no business or football experience but was fortunate to come into a large amount of money by chance. I recognise this is not unique where football club ownership is concerned but if I was lucky enough to win the lottery and take over my team I would want the expertise of someone who knew how to run a business and a football club. The management side of football affairs hasn't been up to the standard required for some time as far as I'm concerned. This is linked into the appointment of the man who led the team to fall over the line and narrowly avoid relegation. At this stage I will hold my hands up, I was happy for Knill to be given the job. But this is the point - if I was the chairman rather than just going ahead and appointing Knill I would have been grateful for someone to stop me and say - hang on, will this be in the best interests of the club? Why don't we take our time to consider the best candidate for the job rather than taking the easy option? Knill was an out of work manager desperate to get back in by any means possible, will this bode well for TUFC given that he can't seem to get a job anywhere else?

Colin Lee was made Chief Executive as by the admission of the board he was the only one with any experience of working at a club at boardroom level before. Following his departure I'm not quite sure how the management was restructured, but we have ended up with a Chief Exec (who is a great link with the fans being one himself) yet once again is someone with no experience in football. It seems this role has shifted from strictly running club affairs to liaising with supporters. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing but is it the role of a Chief Executive? I suppose overall I feel that having initially had a clear direction about where the club was going, the consortium lost its way post promotion. Even though money is tighter than ever resources seem to have been misused, most recently on bad players by the current manager. Musical chairs where the role of chairman is concerned hasn't helped matters. Two poor management appointments have led to the situation we now find ourselves in. I can't see any way of getting out of the current predicament unless there is a last minute miracle. When relegation knocks at the door once again, I just hope someone will be able to keep us afloat in the conference but I'm not holding my breath. I'm very sorry to say I no longer have any faith in the current board. To borrow a phrase from Dave Thomas, it seems to be the second 'masterclass in mismanagement.'

He has to go now if we are to have the slightest chance of survival. I cannot see any convincing arguement for allowing him to stay on.

Completely agree Dave.

as opposed to Knill AKA the 'undertaker manager'.

Good post Dave.

forevertufc wrote:Like so many others I've done the through think and thin and even thinner, never claimed ever to be a better fan than the next person, I've renewed my season ticket good times and bad, but the through thick and thin is wearing, well, a little bit thin now.

who's making the decisions ? who's in charge ? Someone has got to step and show some leadership here, the club seems to be trance, sleepwalking it's way to the next disaster. Lets not kid ourselves here there are bigger clubs in the conference now struggling, Stockport are the conference north, can we re-build again, not a chance with out new investment, probably going to get slammed for this, but given a few seasons I can see us dropping through the conference.

I will never give up the club, however will I renew my season ticket if we go down, no chance, I will to games of my choosing, I am going suffer standing on the popside in 1500 crowds playing count the away fan, and being out sung by 5 dads and their 6-8 year old sons from Welling, especially knowing that this time we will be stuck there.

We have to stay in the league, the only way we can re-build is from a position of strength, in the league, over to you board, what kind of football club do you want.

Dave, I just saw your profile bio reads 'Caretaker Manager', to be honest, I'd even take that right now!

Get rid of him NOW.

Like so many others I've done the through think and thin and even thinner, never claimed ever to be a better fan than the next person, I've renewed my season ticket good times and bad, but the through thick and thin is wearing, well, a little bit thin now.

who's making the decisions ? who's in charge ? Someone has got to step and show some leadership here, the club seems to be trance, sleepwalking it's way to the next disaster. Lets not kid ourselves here there are bigger clubs in the conference now struggling, Stockport are the conference north, can we re-build again, not a chance with out new investment, probably going to get slammed for this, but given a few seasons I can see us dropping through the conference.

I will never give up the club, however will I renew my season ticket if we go down, no chance, I will to games of my choosing, I am going suffer standing on the popside in 1500 crowds playing count the away fan, and being out sung by 5 dads and their 6-8 year old sons from Welling, especially knowing that this time we will be stuck there.

We have to stay in the league, the only way we can re-build is from a position of strength, in the league, over to you board, what kind of football club do you want.

Ippop wrote:clearly conference football suits the totally inept board... inept relating to the complete lack of football knowledge, we could have 10 million and gates of 6000 but with a board that clearly can not appoint a manager with the right people skills let alone football skills, perhaps conference is a better place!! cheers for killing TUFC.

clearly conference football suits the totally inept board... inept relating to the complete lack of football knowledge, we could have 10 million and gates of 6000 but with a board that clearly can not appoint a manager with the right people skills let alone football skills, perhaps conference is a better place!! cheers for killing TUFC.

FIND THE CASH OR ACCEPT SKRILL.

It may not be possible but in that case we're down.

Knill out
Knill out
Knill out
Knill out
Knill out
Knill out
Knill out
Knill out
Knill out