Torquay United Fans Forum

Southampton Gull wrote: ↑20 Mar 2024, 13:41 I know plenty about him as I did my own due diligence when he was interested in buying the club previously. I'm also close friends with someone who knows him personally. If you went purely on what fans say you'd come to the conclusion Mike Bateson was a charlatan when in fact he was the last person who had this club running sustainably at a much higher level than we find ourselves now. Angels don't make personal fortunes. People with questionable scruples do in abundance so we're not looking for an Angel, we're looking for someone with an interest in football and enough money to get us back to where we all think we should be. He's just the sort who could do that. He won't be everyone's cup of tea but I hate tea anyway

Interested to hear about your "due diligence" and the findings you found out?, what have you garnered from that?, being serious, I'd like to know...I did a bit of background research myself, and he sounds a nightmare, banning people,BS'ing his way whilst running PV, and accusing Vale fans of being racist....he sounds a complete numpty to be honest with you

Southampton Gull wrote: ↑20 Mar 2024, 10:20 There's a world of difference. Ask any Reading speedway fan..................

Fully understand that, totally get where you're coming from, but do some research on Smurthwaite please, ask PV fans their opinion of him, look into him and do some background work, I'm sure you'll see sense, Smurthwaite is dodgy, I wouldn't touch him with a barge poll..

If Smurthwaite is the best we can come up with, we need devine intervention... There's no difference to him and Clarke Osborne.

I thought when you're in administration 9/10 all loanees go back to their clubs?., i.e. why have we got a full back/midfielder on loan when we already have players in those positions on the books?esp if they are costing us monies?

Gulls 1-3 H & R ...around 2000 in attendance, 70 odd away fans.

I also do think we need to go 5-4-1 for ALL games from this point on, set up not to be beaten, I remember Ian Atkins when he was in charge of us, was it dour?, to right it was, horses for courses football, A blanket defense is required, I'd stick with Jarvis upfront though, what I've seen of Duane so far hasn't really installed any confidence or he's our answer..

gullsgullsgulls wrote: ↑17 Mar 2024, 08:36 Our luck ran out/teams stopped giving us undue respect.

A combination of picking up points in earlier games where we were totally outplayed, and a very close league gave us a false sense of security.

Absolutely spot on,in the 1st 10-12 games of the season, how many of those was Halstead our MOTM?, I remember Braintree at home,we won but it wasn't convincing in the slightest, any fan who thinks deep down that we were good in those games is either deluded, in denial or they need to call somebody, Yeovil at home was the real clincher, they looked streets ahead of us that night..This decline has played out right before our eyes, the break up of a really good team that so nearly got us back to the EFL, and GJ filled it with inferior quality,piss poor management, loanees who 9/10 don't work out, combined with CO and his cronies behind the scenes, what a shambles...I feel sorry for Dean Moxey, still very wholehearted when he plays, a real pro, to end his career this way, it doesn't seem right.

TA 2-1 Gulls.

Smurthwaite or Masters?, bloody hell, we need to pray for devine intervention, you've got Clarke Osborne mark II with those two ...it's a shame Mike Bateson isn't 20years younger and up for it.... surely someone out there has got to be interested, who hasn't got "baggage" if you know what I'm saying.

Okay, it is what it is, there's no getting away from things, I was on this forum under a different guise earlier this season, and before a ball was kicked, I called it, no big "I told you so" but I said that we'd be upper mid table, pretty much where we are now, that's our standard, with these players, this is as good as it gets, we are a pretty average NLS team, to many players from the old regime of last year are currently on the books, out of all the current players probably 3 or 4 are good enough, the rest need shipping out, they won't get us promoted in a million years, they aren't bad players, and I'm not going to be synical or personal, but they aren't going to get us promoted, Downes is a lovely fellow, and ex player and all that, but so many fans earlier in the season were calling HIM out due to our defence being so bad, and what was he actually doing on the training pitch ..I understand it's all hands on deck right now, but we need to stay in this league, and it's a full rebuild, on the pitch, in the dug out, behind the scenes, the full works needs doing, let's not sugar coat or tap-dance around the subject, it needs major surgery, I just hope we've got enough to stay up, esp with docked points on the horizon.

Gulls 2-1 Taunton....2300 in attendance, 150 from Taunton.

Am I missing something, what exactly would Neil Warnock bring to the table?, as our manager for this season?, and next?, as an investor?, ..I doubt we'll make the playoffs even if Pep was in charge, you can only work with what you have, and our squad is an upper mid table squad, that's to far off the playoffs, we need all our focus on trying to get a buyer, by a week on Friday, not entering talks with Neil Warnock, who has been fantastic for many many years, but he needs to be on a sun lounger now in Gran Canaria, not in the dug out at Plainmoor..

Gulls 1-2 Dartford, sorry folks..

I've got to agree with the past few fans who've posted on here, CO isn't a hero nor is he some sort of saviour, I won't believe it, I'm not in denial, he's probably done this gesture simply because he was never going to realistically see this money again, for tax reasons, or something else, it wouldn't be for his love for TUFC, no way, look at all the broken promises everywhere he's been in the past, don't be lulled into thinking any different.

Weymouth 1-2 Gulls.