Torquay United Fans Forum

BayGull wrote:People seem very keen to throw the names of ex-players into the managerial mix - Chris Hargreaves, Alex Russell, Kevin Hill & Sean Joyce.

So please don't leave out Matt Hockley or Steve Tully! :~D

I for one would love to see how many red cards a team put together by Hockley would pick up each month!

Hargreaves would be a good choice at the end of the season. Right now we need somebody who's been there done it and is happy to accept a 5 month contract then leave. We can't make the same mistake we did with Knill and give the firefighter a full time deal. I do think that Hargreaves would be a good idea going forward, but if he comes in with us in the Skrill Premier he's going to be under immediate pressure for an instant return which would be a very difficult thing to do. I don't envy the board in making the next decision that's for sure!

We have enough good players, realistically if you look at our squad most of our regular players would be taken on by other league 2 teams in a heartbeat. Poke is a solid keeper at this level, Tonge admittedly wouldn't look out of place at Buckland or a team at that level, Downes has to be happy to not have had his knee fall apart this season yet but although his performance at Argyle was in no way his finest he's still a proven performer at this level. Criticism of Cruise is in my opinion a bit harsh, his positional ability is hampered by the fact he spends half his time trying to cover for us not having a left midfielder so he's attacking, defending, pressing, marking, which all sounds reasonable for a professional but let's be honest, there are players in the premier league who can't stick to a position to save their lives also. Mansell would be taken on in a flash by teams in our league even if only for his passion. Mozika has the ability to play some nice football but lacks fitness which doesn't help. Chappell and Bodin are both in the same bracket in that they both possess undeniable ability but for whatever reason aren't displaying it regularly, perhaps a game plan based around not conceding doesn't help their attacking instincts flourish, who knows. Both however are players that when they leave us, as they undoubtedly will, will have strong careers at a bigger and better club and we will all sit and bemoan the fact that they didn't deliver for us. In reality they are confidence players as are so many attackers, and their confidence level is at rock bottom. Hawley would have been a great signing 8 years ago, but unfortunately although he holds up the ball and has a good touch he isn't in a team set up to play to his strengths. So he isn't cutting it with us. All 3 of the attackers listed would easily be signed up once released. I'm not going to mention loanees, because it's obvious that both O'Connor and McCourt will have good careers at a higher level than league 2. Honourable mention also goes to Nathan Craig who, as pointed out earlier, can strike a ball as well as anyone, but the reason his overall game hasn't improved is that he doesn't get any game time! It's like the Dan Sullivan situation. We all get wound up that we never bring through our own players, even Exeter have 5 or 6 youth graduates playing in their squad. We will undoubtedly do to Sullivan what we did to Halpin, and to a degree, Yeoman. These are lads who at 16/17 showed great potential, so we do the right thing and give them a deal. Great, good move. This is what the other clubs do. Then we fall down, because we don't play them! Halpin looked decent at 17, I remember him coming on and skinning a full back numerous times in his cameo, but then never got a chance again. We need to have faith to change the team and play attacking football instead of focusing on not conceding. Get these decent players happy and we will start to turn it around. Sorry for such a long post, needed to get it out.

It doesn't matter whether we sign anyone this week or next, what matters is that when we do sign people they are the players that Knill wants. I'd much rather sit and wait in the hope that the reason for silence is that he's waiting for specifically targeted players rather than just signing anybody ASAP just to keep the fans happy. If he'd rushed out and signed a handful of poor players 3 days after the season ended would we feel any better? No, we would've chastised him for being too rash. Give it time, and like others have pointed out, this time of year in previous seasons we have been worrying about much more than we are now!

DTUFC wrote: Would that be the Lichaj who played 17 games in the Premier League last season? I know we haven't had much news lately but come on...

Yeah that'd be the one. Like I said, unlikely but you'd be chuffed to bits if it happened.

The list of players released from the PL has been published, obviously doesn't include the youth players who didn't do enough to earn a deal but there are some decent players on there that I'd love us to be linked with. John Bostock anyone? Conor Henderson of Arsenal? Villa's Lichaj to fill the full back slot?

I'm aware its massively unlikely but it is that time of year so...


Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22817793

I think that even if it doesn't happen, being linked with somebody fresh out of Arsenal's youth academy is a good thing. Indeed, any PL or championship academy is bound to have some good players, and I think its about time we started looking at these players. Look at Maghoma for Burton, OK location plays a part, but he was released by Spurs and has been their best player for a few years now. Equally I thought Mark Randall at Chesterfield (ex-Arsenal) looked a tidy player when he came on v us.

I am aware however that Randall is apparently a tool, but was the first example I thought of.

Pretty much everything that's been said is correct, the full backs were nowhere near the level they played at last season. I for one hope Cruise gets more starts than Nicho this year, as he is a much better footballer. Also agree with the Nathan Craig point, potentially a decent player but will never have the pace to be an out-and-out winger as he seemed to be trying to be, on managers orders of course.

We conceded 62 league goals all season (if the BBC is accurate) and that's not terrible, but obviously not desirable! Its a given that next season we'll need to improve on that, unless Knill convinces a terrific striker to join and our goal difference goes from -7 to a Bayern Munich-esque +80. I just don't think that Saah is necessarily a vital player to make that turnaround happen.

I find it hilarious that as soon as a player decides to leave, no not even that, begins to consider leaving us, everyone seems to react in an extreme way. Sure, Brian Saah has been quite good this season but he's obviously not that good otherwise we would've had a much more solid defence, resulting in less goals conceded, less matches lost. Now I accept that we could have a 28 year old Paulo Maldini in our ranks and still have a healthy 'goals against' tally, but it damn sure wouldn't be as obese as it has been this year. Saah will be missed, but as plenty of others have pointed out, easily replaced. At League 2 level nobody is irreplaceable.

Bring on Knill's 'contacts' he's got until we kick off the season to make us a decent side again, and anyone that whinges this early about no signings is a moron. How many of the big clubs, with the exception of Neymar to Barca, have made first team signings this early on? The suns only just bloody come out, how can you expect the summer transfer window to be busy already?! It isn't football manager.

By all accounts isn't Mohsni a diva? I'd prefer somebody who will want to play for us rather than decide halfway through a season that he should be playing in the championship and just go AWOL to try and further his career...

Amankwaah would be a great signing though.

I find it hard to believe that people are so apathetic to Howe leaving. Yes, he has a poor disciplinary record, but realistically which strikers that we've had in the past few years are of the same level technically?

Also, if he were to leave, and by some miracle our new manager (whoever he may be) possesses some unprecedented powers of persuasion and convinces a top striker to join us, that striker is going to need bedding in time. All it would take would be for said quality striker to pick up a niggle in pre-season and get to the big kick off lacking both fitness and cohesion. I am aware Howe misses the first 2 games of next season anyway but I don't see why we aren't aiming to keep him AND bring somebody else (other than Benyon) in.

Howe is a good player and, disciplinary issues aside, most teams in this league would take him if offered, so why would we give him away. At the very least, think of how many penalties we would miss if he left...