Torquay United Fans Forum

Gulliball wrote:Today was awful, there's no getting around that. We should have been 2-0 down before we scored, and the goal changed the half. It came from nothing, but it was a great bit of skill from Williams to pick up the ball in midfield, beat a few players and curl it in the corner from 25+ yards - you don't get many goals like that in a season. From the 25th minute till half time was our best spell of the game without managing to add a second.

1-0 up at half time, having not played too well, was a great position, but we threw it away with an appalling second half. What makes it so much worse is that Southport were low on quality as well, and it was there for the taking. Aldershot had 6 dangerous players last Saturday and attacked very well, Eastleigh had quality players on Tuesday night that made the difference for them - Southport had none of that. They fired aimless shots wide whenever in a good position and didn't have any players that stood out or played well, but we let him have so much of the ball that they managed to score twice. Aldershot would have scored double figures if we had played like this the week before. They were happy to slow play down in the first half and play for a 0-0, it was only us going ahead and then letting them control the game that made them go for the win, and they completely deserved to take all three points.

I've been down in Devon for a week and have been to the last 3 games, the only ones I've seen this season. Last Saturday was a disjointed attacking performance, but Blissett was missing and we defended well to get a good result. On Tuesday we played well against a better side and 0-3 was a false scoreline. Adding in the game today and the worry I have is that we don't look dangerous at all.

Last Saturday was disjointed, and today was even worse for it. We played 4-3-3 and had no width from the midfield or the full backs. This meant that when the midfield got the ball there was literally no one to pass it to. The front three swapped positions between them but didn't link up - we hit long balls to Blissett but no-one was running off him. We had three forwards out of the game because they didn't have any supply or didn't do anything with what they had, and three central midfielders on top of each other. Going forward we didn't have players in the right positions to launch attacks and Southport were able to control the game. It looked like they had twice as many players because no matter where the ball was on the pitch they had more players involved with the play.

Our sum of the last three games is one goal and one point - the goal out of nothing and the point due to Brendan Moore last week. We have individual players that can do things like this, but the overall style of play today was my biggest concern. We don't have pace, we don't have width and we don't have players feeding off Blissett. The consequence of this was that even when we had to chase the game and Southport would have been happy to defend their lead, we didn't have the tools to worry them and create chances. Sparkes looks to be a big miss and could have given us the width we've been desperate for.

Luke Young was the exception, and he drove forward trying to make something happen. But there was no-one wide in space or running in behind the defence for him to find when he was on the ball, which wasted all his efforts. I've been disappointed with Chaney in the last week - you can be small and lack strength, but you have to make up for it in other areas, and he doesn't have the pace to cause problems, nor has he shown any skills to unlock a defence. He's probably an example of the performances we've given in the last week in that there's no clear style of how we will cause problems or create attacks. It wasn't so much that he or any of the players put in bad individual performances (although LRT had a very poor game and looks a worse option than Nicholson), it was the lack of fluidity or any style of play that was going to cause problems for Southport and create chances.

Today was a golden chance to get a valuable and much needed three points thrown away, but ultimately still only one bad performance, and we can recover from it. There's work to do with the squad and we have 2 weeks now to get players back fit and linking up together. Guiseley are a team we can beat if we play well, and all it would take is a win or two to put us back safely into mid-table and on par for what we should expect. We are ahead of where we were 12 months ago, and I trust Kevin Nicholson to improve the players and get them playing together.

In any case, this is almost inconsequential. Our biggest problems and biggest battles are off the field, and this is the week we have to make a decision on how we will pay back these six figure debts.

uffculmegull wrote:I am not sure any of us, other than members of the board or the TUST now they have done there financial review know exactly what monies the club owes, however the TUST has stated that their are several debts due for payment in the New Year, these could be monies owed to GI or loans that Masters requires repaying, if he put any money into the club in the first place, or they could be innocent matters like the Income tax and VAT bill falling due for the year. I realise like most of us sceptics we fear the former but hope for the latter, either way there is no money in our pot.
The board has several options, one the least profitable for them it seems would be community ownership, the monies the TUST would hope to raise from a share issue would go to paying off any debts not to give anything back to the directors, so it will come down to a simple choice, do they directors like their bank balance more than their stated love for the club. Their decisions up to now have been perverse so I have no reason to believe their future decisions will be any different.
I never thought I would say this but if it comes to a straight choice between Masters and Administration, then I would take the latter and the TUST or other community group could make a compelling argument to the liquidators for ownership of the club, besides if Masters has loaned the club money then going into administration would cost him dearly and adversely effect him finding the money to buy the club on the cheap. it may be time to think about starting again, afresh, with all our debts cleared and people running the club who besides being fans actually know something about business. Masters can see there is no long term mileage or profit in Truro but Torquay is a different ball game with the prospect of a much bigger weekly crowd and maybe a new stadium.
Controversial I know but I have followed the progress of Hereford as they have wrecked havoc through the lower leagues on their way back from liquidation and there is no reason we could not do the same.

tomogull wrote:

And then there was the referee. Oh dear ...... The refs we have had in recent weeks have been okay - no complaints. I thought the ref for the Woking game was rather fussy but overall he didn't get much wrong. Yesterday, an example of stupidity and inconsistency - he made Brendan Moore move sideways by about six feet to take a free kick way back in his own half. Ten minutes later, he allowed an Aldershot player to take a free kick five yards (no exaggeration) forward from where the free kick was given to almost on the half way line. Luke Young's booking was ridiculous. The Aldershot player deliberately ran into him - Young didn't block him. I see the ref was one ADRIAN QUELCH - the same ref we had for the Dover match. He was appalling in that game as well. He is by far the worst ref he have had this season.

hector wrote: Exactly - it was contributors who first suggested about the debts. It wasn't DT who first alluded to debts anyway - that information was in Forum Land, long before it was ever mentioned in the Herald.

What use is DT being 'Access all Areas' anyway, if it just results in him colluding with the silence? This football club is possibly weeks away from closure but you wouldn't know it if you listen to the podcast or read anything he writes.

The fact that the Fans Forum has had its date changed to November 2nd. Is this anything to do with the meeting between club and TUST on 31st October where a decision is set to be made? You'd think DT would be onto it but no.

It's almost as if, if indeed he does know anything, he prefers to keep that knowledge to himself. I wonder if the Plymouth Herald would have given the club such an easy ride over the last 4 years?

uffculmegull wrote: ...we are not a rich, high earning area.

yellowblackwhite wrote: Why oh why do people speak about Nico as if he is some sort of football god. Yes he had a good career with TUFC and as a player I liked him but just because he may be seen as some type of TUFC legend doesn't make him a great manager. Yes we dodged relegation last season but it wasn't good football that saved us. Any other club of our stature with money at this level would SACK him - we just don't have the money...

dannyrvtufc4life wrote:
Bringing the drum with me every game, home and away, is never a chore...however, when the performances on the pitch falter, fans start to lose the motivation to create an atmosphere. There were a couple of homes games where I would take the drum, try and start a few chants, we concede and then everyone (quite rightly) just loses the enthusiasm. Because of that, I don't bother taking the drum with me, it's a waste of time. I didn't go on Saturday, I couldn't face going.

I'll be at Eastleigh and the drum will be with me, away games generate better atmosphere's anyway.

brooker wrote:Have we still got a drum/drummer? The atmosphere has been noticably flat over the last couple of games, and against Woking particularly it was like a graveyard. This is not a dig at Danny who does a great job and is obviously not obliged to drum at all, but have we not got someone else who'd step in if he's not there or fancies a break? It really does completely change the atmosphere, and can get the whole ground singing.