Torquay United Fans Forum

merse btpir wrote: 28 Feb 2017, 12:01 They have one now; can't be announced publicly yet due to 'contractual issues'; but there is one in place and the salary has been approved by the ownership

From reading on here recently I thought we had one already in Southampton Gull?

tomogull wrote: 01 Mar 2017, 12:07 Yes - I agree that debate is good, and there have been some very good and reasoned debates on here from time to time. But when you get someone who is sooo unfairly biased - i.e. not taking into account the full picture of the sad state the club is in - and includes innuendos, myths and rumours from 'reliable sources', then the debate is spoiled. Anyway, you will be pleased to know that, for the sake of my blood pressure, I am going to ignore Merse's contributions from now on.

Ha ha. Probably best if it's damaging your health! Just think it would be a shame if the forum went quiet again.

Yes - I agree that debate is good, and there have been some very good and reasoned debates on here from time to time. But when you get someone who is sooo unfairly biased - i.e. not taking into account the full picture of the sad state the club is in - and includes innuendos, myths and rumours from 'reliable sources', then the debate is spoiled. Anyway, you will be pleased to know that, for the sake of my blood pressure, I am going to ignore Merse's contributions from now on.

tomogull wrote: 28 Feb 2017, 15:46 Oh dear - poor Shaun has taken a pay cut. Two days ago we were being told from an, er, 'reliable source' that Harrad was being paid £850 per week. I suspect that this is the same 'reliable source' that told us weeks ago that Steve Tully was about to take over as manager. The same 'reliable source' that said that Lathrope was being paid twice as much as what Aldershot were paying him and then had to retract what was said when Hector, always a fair and measured poster, pointed out that it was more than what Aldershot OFFERED. A big difference. Keep your cr*p on your btpir site which I gave up reading months and months ago because that is what it mostly is.

Bore off! Merse returning to this forum has been a breath of fresh air. We've seen more debate on here since he came back than we had in ages.

merse btpir wrote: 28 Feb 2017, 10:15 This is the problem when you set your budget up to pay one guy a reputed £825 a week and others nothing at all as their parent clubs cover the wages........and if they are paying that to Harrad, are they getting value for money? Not in my opinion they aren't!

Oh dear - poor Shaun has taken a pay cut. Two days ago we were being told from an, er, 'reliable source' that Harrad was being paid £850 per week. I suspect that this is the same 'reliable source' that told us weeks ago that Steve Tully was about to take over as manager. The same 'reliable source' that said that Lathrope was being paid twice as much as what Aldershot were paying him and then had to retract what was said when Hector, always a fair and measured poster, pointed out that it was more than what Aldershot OFFERED. A big difference. Keep your cr*p on your btpir site which I gave up reading months and months ago because that is what it mostly is.

Agreed. The idea's got merit with more plusses than minuses.

Apparently when Barry Hayles was at Truro, he used to train on his own in London during the week and only meet up with his teammates on match days.

Actually I like that idea above. Its a shame it comes to this but you have to do what the current environment is.

Go part-time
Re-locate training to near London, Basingstoke ideal!! AND VERY BEAUTIFUL
when you think of it there is no real reason to train near the ground, most of the players would be nearer away matches
And you could probably rent or part rent a training ground with another club

Is it you Merse?

They have one now; can't be announced publicly yet due to 'contractual issues'; but there is one in place and the salary has been approved by the ownership

This is why we need a scout! Even one part time just paid expenses. Someone to go and take a look at players before they are signed!

CP Gull wrote: 28 Feb 2017, 09:49 We have also brought in young players on loan, given them a big build up ...... and then never given them a chance .... which is little short of disgraceful and will not have pleased any of the clubs who provided those players to us , presumably in the hope that they would get some valuable game time and we failed them. Unfortunately word gets around and we may have given ourselves and unwanted reputation for being a club that borrows players but never plays them.

Word coming out of the club is that too many of these loanees are weak physically and mentally; occasionally the manager gets lucky as with Ward, Moore and Fitzpatrick but generally he appears to be getting 'worked over' by people he trusts who are selling him pups unfit (in his opinion) for purpose.

The manager doesn't really know what he is getting until those players walk onto his training ground, train under his direction and if they are very lucky get a few minutes on the pitch during a game before going back to where they came no wiser, having learned little and contributed even less to the club they have been loaned to.

This is the problem when you set your budget up to pay one guy a reputed £825 a week and others nothing at all as their parent clubs cover the wages........and if they are paying that to Harrad, are they getting value for money? Not in my opinion they aren't!

As I said before with the sort of total budget being made available to the management, it would be prudent to consider going part-time, moving the training operation to a major population centre like Bristol, Birmingham or London and working with a better class of player more suited to this league than the bargain basement dross that is taking the club down unless they are now very lucky indeed.

This will entail employing a management team experienced in working with part-time pro's with a track record of success whilst doing so...people who know this league properly from a management point of view.

It's too late now of course but I would be very disappointed (but not surprised) if this isn't being considered for next season whatever league we kick-off in.

There are problems all over the pitch and whilst as you say there were undoubtedly players who improved under Nicho last year, I am struggling to make a case for too many of those this year - McGinty and LRT perhaps have got better as the season has progressed but only marginally maybe. But to counter that I would also suggest that some seem to have regressed ... Brendan Moore, Jamie Reid, Sam Chaney perhaps whilst Blissett and Harrad too have not been as effective playing without each other as they were playing together last year.

I think our major problem is the lack of goals throughout the squad. I would say that only Williams (and Nicho woefully underused him in the first half of the season) Sparkes and Young carry any sort of threat from open play, while McGinty and Verma can nick the odd goal from set pieces but that is pretty much it, not just in the team but the whole squad!

I think we are in serious trouble now, but if we could only have secured the services of Kieffer Moore ( what took us so long??) and persuaded Fitzpatrick to see out the rest of the season then we would probably have been OK, losing Racine was also potentially a massive blow - not sure yet how effective a replacement Anderson will be.

Within the squad, we have far too many forward players (I.e anyone who isn't a defender!) who do not carry any sort of goal threat .... Richards, Lathrope, Verma, Chaney, Reid, Harrad and even Blissett up to the end of last year ...How many games have this lot played this season and how many goals have they scored? I haven't worked it out, but I do know it would be an abysmal return !!!!! What I do know is that Kieffer Moore scored FIVE goals in just FOUR games and I can't imagine that those SEVEN players I have listed have scored too many more than that between them ALL SEASON and a fair few of them have barely missed a game!!!!! Simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!

I don't care that Richards is a good battler or that Lathrope is a good screen for the defence or that Verma is decent in the air or that Chaney can be quite creative or that Reid is hard working or that Harrad holds the ball up well or that Blissett is a decent target man etc, etc, etc .... what is the bleddy point of any of that if as FORWARDS they are totally unable to find the back of the net on anything like a regular basis, after all that is what the game is surely all about ... scoring more goals than the opposition!!!!

We have also brought in young players on loan, given them a big build up ...... and then never given them a chance .... which is little short of disgraceful and will not have pleased any of the clubs who provided those players to us , presumably in the hope that they would get some valuable game time and we failed them. Unfortunately word gets around and we may have given ourselves and unwanted reputation for being a club that borrows players but never plays them.

Of course, for all we know, Ruairi Keating and Gianni Critchlow could be the answer to all our prayers .... but perhaps more likely they will go the way of all the others we have "tried" this season, they came and they went .... Chamberlain, Robba, Scrivens, Ambalu, Palfrey, McCoulsky, Lee ...

Successful football teams are built around developing individual players and balanced squads.
I thought that Nicho was starting to make some headway last season particularly in defence where Brendan Moore was generally playing well in goal despite the occasional error, Aman Verma was a thoughtful and competent right back, Gus MacDonald controlled his temper and focused on his own game, Nathan Smith improved with each game and Dan Butler played consistently well at left back. We had Raachi in midfield and Blissett up front and a reasonably well balanced squad.
Fast forward twelve months and we have completely lost the plot. I felt really embarrassed to be a fan on Saturday, I can accept defeat if we have put in a decent performance and been beaten by a better side or if we haven't had the rub of the green. Saturday's performance was indefensible.
Obviously we lost three of our back four in the summer but the signings of McGinty and Sparkes offered some hope that our coaching could improve their game. Former players Lathrope and LRT seemed to be pragmatic signings given their local connections but at best they are only National League standard. Brett Williams appeared to be an experienced goal scorer. There was also a chance that some of our existing squad like Luke Young, Courtney Richards and Sam Chaney would develop further because they are still relatively young.
My assessment of some of our longer serving players are;
Moore has lost some of his confidence and he doesn't throw the ball out as often or as effectively as he did last season - that may be because our outfield players don't get into position quickly enough to receive it.
Verma played his best football for us at right back - he might prefer to play in midfield but he is not particularly effective there..
LRT made a shaky start but seems to be playing fairly consistently at the moment.
McGinty is good defensively but wastes most of his forward passes when he doesn't need to hoof the ball to clear his lines quickly.
Young generally puts in a shift but doesn't seem to be making the sort of long distance defence splitting passes that he used to and doesn't get enough shots in on goal.
Richards also puts in a lot of effort but doesn't hurt the opposition enough with his final pass and loses the ball far too often.
Chaney is skilful but lacks the strength and tenacity to put opponents under real pressure.
Sparkes works hard but doesn't get into shooting positions often enough.
The jury is still out on Williams and Lathrope.

Our off field problems don't make for good forward planning on the pitch but like a lot of other posters I think the current squad could play a lot more effectively if there was more focus on improving our attacking play and putting in more shots. I also don't get why we sign young players and don't use them. The exuberance of youth in the attacking half during the last twenty minutes of a game might unsettle opposing defenders and provide scoring opportunities

At the moment I can't see any of our present squad breaking into the football league and I find some of our team selections confusing because I struggle to understand the role of some of our midfield and forward players. Perhaps that's because they don't play as or where the management intended! The Sutton squad seemed to play to a system which their manager changed as the game went on and as players were replaced. Our use of substitutes doesn't always seem logical. Surely we should be doing better on the pitch than we are despite everything that is going on behind the scenes?