Torquay United Fans Forum

The TUST is the future of TUFC and MUST be allowed to grow and function in it's own right. Whether those who took over the club want to collaborate with the TUST or not as the case may be here, it doesn't matter at this moment in time. What matters is that in 3,4,5 or even 10 years time when ownership of TUFC once again goes tits up and the current owners for whatever reason decide they can no longer keep the club going, the TUST is the ready made rescue package waiting in the wings with the finances and healthy, dedicated, robust membership in place to step in.

Why again put yourselves through the trauma of what happened over the summer when you can build the foundations for the future security of the football club by building and growing the trust regardless of what is happening now? Just think of the TUST as being a 'rainy day fund' whereby you all keep adding to it until the day that super tornado hits again and then you have a back up plan for an event that you have always known was to come and now you are prepared for.

Just my thoughts anyway and hope you can compound the misery for the Harriers tonight and get a much needed 3 points.

CH all suited and booted at half time giving tactical advice to the BT Sport viewers on the Cheltenham v Wrexham live game!! YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP!!! HAHA!! What a total bellend!! Oh, and parasite too!

I'm not bitter...................... :Oops: :}

Saw Krystian Pearce play for Mansfield today. Up against a similarly sized opponent in Vadaine Oliver who is good aerially. Pearce had him in his pocket the whole game and won pretty much all of the headers. Looked comfortable and solid all afternoon although was fortunate to escape the concession of a penalty for a handball.

Karl Hawley scoring tonight for Ilkeston Town against Stourbridge. God he must be REALLY that bad!!

Dazza wrote:You do have a thing about Bodin, Andy. You surely must have seen worse by now !

I was simply stating that Meikle is a similar player to Billy with the same output of tricks and flicks and pace which always results in nothing but Lindon is a bit more diminutive a player.

I cannot recall having seen a worse player in his position and at our level within the past 5 years.

Reports are that Meikle may favour a move back to Nottinghamshire but it's not clear whether he has something lined up or not. Cox likes the old Stags boys so you never know. Just get the impression the way it's all happened signifies he has somewhere lined up at a more manageable lower level (no disrespect) , without a fee for the signing club to pay and a pay cut probable. Could be you guys, could not be. Great performance at Grimsby by the way.

Anyone down there heard any rumours about winger Lindon Meikle coming down to be re-united with Cox? He's just left York by mutual consent which is a bit odd as he has a year to run on his contract so is effectively unemployed. Rumours that he could be heading down there with no fee now payable? He's like a smaller Billy Bodin so i'd say it would be a duff signing for you but in the conference he could make a little bit of an impact against poorer defences. We'll have to wait and see.

On the eve of the new season I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone at TUFC the best of luck in what promises to be a challenging yet intriguing campaign. The wasters like Tonge, Hawley, Harding et al have all gone now and it's a fresh slate. It looks like you finally have a team of players eager to prove themselves and although many are an unknown quantity, i'd rather that than the parasites Torquay have had playing for them the past few years, that includes CH.

You've got a no nonsense manager who has seen it and done it and wet behind the ears Hargreaves has now gone for good to check his finely tailored wardrobe ready for another stint on the telly. You have a new direction instead of the charade of being led to believe you have a new direction which was the case when CH came in. You have in effect been reborn as a club and although I don't know how many of the old regime are still in situ at Plainmoor, it can't be that many. In any case, there are now people who won't be taken for idiots so it won't matter now.

Out with the old and in with the new. Old players, old managers who used to be old players, old backroom staff who have been linked to a succession of failures, just old stuff. I genuinely believe that Torquay are about to start evolving into the functional, united, inclusive and cohesive community football club they always purported to be.

Good luck all!

COYY!!!

brucie wrote:Personally I would rather donate to a player fund than anything else - so I am thinking about it as well. If we get anywhere near the target I will donate a tenner a month but if we only get about thirty pounds or so then it will be a waste of time. Hopefully the club will update how this is going. Perhaps the club could be slighty more imaginative and set the donation at a regular tenner a month with the prize of an autographed shirt or something each month when the target is reached

As long as he can do the job and behave with integrity which I'm sure he can then who gives a **** what he looks like?!!

There's been too many suit wearing charlatans behind closed doors at TQ1 in recent years and look how that's panned out. Being clean shaven and wearing a suit makes me instantly suspicious.

If you were going into heart bypass surgery next month under the capable hands of the UK's leading heart surgeon would you give it a swerve on the basis that he looked like Chewbacca?

HE SHAVES WHEN HE WANTS!! HE SHAVES WHEN HE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANTS!! STEVE BREEDY - HE SHAVES WHEN HE WANTS!!

Well no, not really. They are just returning a favour effectively are they not?

If it was completely out of the blue with no prior history of altruism then I'd wholeheartedly agree.

I'm just amazed they remembered. :~D

Just read this thread and latterly about Harding. It's actually nothing short of a miracle how Alan Knill has found alternative employment.

Apart from Krystian Pearce (who had his problems with illness AND being oddly rotated by Knill in the relegation season), all of Knill's signings have ended up not only at a club subjectively worse than TUFC but for the most part, a club much much lower in the football pyramid.

Chappell has ended up at Chester, arguably the only club in a better position than TUFC but considering the high regard he was held before he joined I think having ended up at Chester is a backward step. Great work by Mr Knill.

Tonge again, another with FL experience at a higher level, comes to Torquay, turns into a mess and now finds himself having to try and impress the likes of Chester in trials.

Hawley joined a club who survive on gates lower than what's in my bank account (i'm skint by the way) and who were relegated from the conference last season. You can't get much lower. Having said that, he still scored about 10 goals which was more than treble than Knill could squeeze out of him.

Courtney Cameron. Another bright prospect who could quite easily have been replaced in the squad by a solid oak wardrobe and it not look out of place.

Damien Mozika. What was all THAT about?!!

When you add these to Bodin who was one of the few massive failures Ling was responsible for, Nathan Craig being the other. When you add these to what CH tried (don't wince) Enoch Showunmi, Conor Wilkinson, Jayden Stockley, Danny Stevens again et al then it really does indicate that Knill gave the club little option but to flirt with relegation and CH just finished the job.

Oh, Harding. Not mentioned him. From table toppers Northampton Town to Gosport Borough in two years. It's actually quite unbelievable the depths the Knill signings have plumbed since leaving.

I'm not wishing to rake up old ground here but it just struck me looking at all the players Knill signed who have left for much worse things, that's all really. That's the point I wanted to make and nothing to do with any digging up of old ground.

They need to build an actual sustainable league club before thinking about ridiculous pie in the sky things like this that haven't a hope in hell of ever coming to fruition.

BBC report Bowman's goal return for York as 12 goals in 37 appearances. Effectively 1 in 3. A bit poor actually.

tomogull wrote: It may well be that Bowman wanted to return north - we will probably never know all the reasons for this unexpected move. But his attitude problem is not 'only a perceived one'. It was rumoured that he'd fallen out with Ajala and you could see him mouthing off at team-mates in many games last season. I suspect his problem is that he thinks he is a better player than he really is. Anyone who has played football even at South Devon league six level will know that if you get a player who is mouthing off all the time, it affects the whole morale of the team. It's not only football of course. Look at cricket's Kevin Pietersen - great player, awful ego attitude.

Before he came to us, he was on a two-year contract at York and knocked in a few goals in his first season in a struggling side. I have always wondered why they were willing to let him go for free after only one year of his contract. He may do well at Gateshead but it will be interesting to see if they want to sign him at the end of his loan period (presumably it will be for the season).

Very few of the York fans I've spoken to were disappointed when he left. Pretty similar comments really and whilst he can get goals here and there no doubt, overall they thought they were better off without him. Given what happened at York last season I dare say there were points in the season where they would have loved to have him back! The general consensus of those 0.001% of York fans I've spoken to is that Bowman wasn't the 'right fit'. Again, I can't speak for all York fans obviously but there you go.

Gullscorer wrote: Hey Andy, I was originally going to tip York City for promotion, but then I realised they were already up! Anyway, what sort of a season d'you think they'll have?

Hi Mick, no offence but as this is a Torquay forum and I have been regularly berated for posting non TUFC related content and generally a load of rubbish in general so i'll refuse to answer your question if it's all the same. Thanks for asking.

I've seen that Torquay are 28/1 to win the league which is about right i'd say. I certainly think that Cox will get players competitive, it might not be spectacular but he'll have you battling and trying to win games of football at all costs, AND he knows what he's trying to achieve. All the polar opposite of CH. I'm actually quietly confident you'll have a decent season and a play off spot would certainly be no surprise. As for the main protagonists thought, Grimsby have a SUPERB squad and it's their turn this season.

I think Cheltenham will be up there too and Eastleigh but I fancy Tranmere to be the ones to suffer the indignity of remaining in the conference for years to come.

Added in 1 minute 36 seconds:
Wrexham too I think will be certain play offs

Grimsby have added quality to an already talented and experienced squad. They will be out of sight by March, but probably earlier.