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Some of the decisions that AK has done from the beginning of the season have been absolutely ridiculous...and the one today (to bring another very young and inexperienced loanee and throw him in first team action) just sums them all. The boy may have a talent, but then again, just like some other people already mentioned, he does no even know where Torquay is on the map, let alone to know the names of his teammates or the way AK works and what is demanded of him.
When I say ridiculous decisions, I refer to team selection and signings. This has been mentioned a lot of times, but I would just like to summarize. Benners and Yeoman are both signed to full time conracts and are not used at all. What is the point of signing them and not using them afterwards...no wonder we don't have any money. It is complete nonsence..sign somebody for a year...in that way commit to pay his salary for the given period..not make use of the player...spend even more money to bring young/inexperienced school boys. No one can convince me that the youngster from West Ham is more suitable under the circumstances to get the nod in front of Benners/Sullivan (or Ash if he hadn't been loaned to an amateur team) tonight. AK mentioned on the OS today that the team is lacking height up front and that is why he is signing the lad. I keep thinking that there are a lot of teams who don't necessarily rely on a tall centre forward. That is definitely not a must...and even if it is..it would probably be more useful if Paul McCallum had spent more time with the team.
Jak McCourt? He didn't even had an article in wikipedia...had not played a single minute of professional football and bumps out of the team Damon Lathrope and is chosen in front of Nathan Craig, who used to be an international? It sounds ridiculous right? And the guy does not prove me wrong..I have read just one comment which rates him above Damon, who has been with us for 3 and a half years now. Damon was not even on the bench today, so that Mozika (who has not played a competitive match since...I don't actually know since when...) be on the bench.
I may well be wrong...And don't jump on my back...I am not "in the know" but I get the impression that some players are playing every single time, no matter whether they are performing good or bad...as long as they are fit..some players are just never dropped out of the team...for one reason or another..even though there might be better solutions on the bench...if given a chance of course...could that be a clause on their contracts?
Take Hawley and Ball for example...between them they scored 4 goals..one of them was a mis-kick (Ball's second) and another was a keeper's mistake (Hawley's second). And even though these people are underperforming...they keep getting the nod in front of others who might turn out to be better (Benners is a proven goalscorer who I bet would have had at least 4 goals so far this season if he had played as much as Hawley).
I would also bring something else here..I read somewhere that Pearce was signed under the promise that he would always play if fit...I personally find that ridiculous. The guy has been brilliant for us so far, but my comment has nothing to do with him. Put yourself in the position of McKenzie and Hutchings. What would be your motivation to actually train hard, perform well and give your best to improve...if that would not make any difference regarding team selection. Wouldn't be better to actually sign a weaker Centre half but having competition for first team spots? The way it is now...it would definitely build complacency among some players (not just in Torquay United FC, but in any football team).
Hutchings is said to be the most talented guy from out academy since Lee Sharpe. Although this may be an exaggeration...why isn't he playing anywhere? No first team action....no youth team action...a reserve game once per month would not do him any good (especially with the results we are having in these games). This is another point which I find ridiculous.
We all heard about the redundancies...you have to be crazy if you don't find this worrying...could this have anything to do with the loan signings and unpredicted money spent there?
I am also very worried about the comments made by some people regarding a potential bad atmosphere in the dressing room. I would not be surprised at all. In fact I would be shocked if the atmosphere is good...based on the decisions regarding team selection which I mentioned above...without a doubt...there would be pissed off people in there. And who can blame them? However if true..if the atmosphere is really bad..then this is even a bigger issue than our points tally at the moment. If the team is not pulling in the right direction..then there is no difference who do we sign..we are just continually going to lose and lose.
There is not point of talking about Ling nowadays...he is in the past. There is no difference whether you wanted him to get sacked or not. It is already done. However...is AK doing any better? Do we need and can we afford another one...
And lastly...after the first game of the season in the PL, I listened to a Steve Bruce interview regarding team selection. He said that he felt he needed to be loyal to the guys who brought the team out of the Championship and give them a chance to play. It is extremely rare to hear somebody say somthing like that in the cruel world of football. Shouldn't have we employed a similar strategy based on the players who saved us from relegation with some crucial goals? Ash with his brilliant goal against the Shrimps and Benners with his goal against Barnet (he also scored a few more important goals at the end of last year's campaign).

Next 5 are massive no doubt and November will be key for us and Knill,

Pomey - er ... i'm gonna pray for a point

Bury - must win - simple

Chesterfield - oh f*** off, just what we need

Accy - lets hope their resurgence has stalled - again must win

Plymouth - always want to beat em but this one is massive

If we are staring down the barrel after these - Knill may have to walk some sort of plank and i'll be going for a walk in the woods ...

AK did his best work when he was not being paid a salary...what does that tell us?
The day is always darkest before the dawn, just hope that isn't at the end of March...squeaky bum is kicking early this season - would never have guessed that in the euphoria of the off season.

Robiberto22 wrote:Next 5 are massive no doubt and November will be key for us and Knill,

Pomey - er ... i'm gonna pray for a point

Bury - must win - simple

Chesterfield - oh f*** off, just what we need

Accy - lets hope their resurgence has stalled - again must win

Plymouth - always want to beat em but this one is massive

If we are staring down the barrel after these - Knill may have to walk some sort of plank and i'll be going for a walk in the woods ...

And tucked away amongst that lot, Robiberto, is the first round of the F.A. Cup. Oh please, please Football Gods, don't give us another 'Harrogate'. =Z

Bliddy 'ell - MH21 - that was a rant and a half !! I reckon most of your posting could be summarised in AustrianAndy's report about last night's match -

(quote) There was nothing. No ingenuity, no cohesion, no creativity, no passion, no energy, no ideas, no leaders, no gameplan, no interest, no chances, no sense. It wouldn't ordinarily worry me but I've seen the same thing in a few other games this season too and it looks like we'll be seeing more of it in future.

You and Andy, and many others on this Forum, are spot on .... and. quite honestly, it's been like it since the first game of the season when we scored a late goal for a draw against Wimbledon.

Perhaps we could draft a nice letter to Uncle Paul...??

Is that true AustrianAndy? Would you agree with me?

"We need to shut up shop in this division. At the minute we've got a whole new group there. I have to hold my hand up and say we didn't keep the spirit that got us up. We changed too much too quickly.

"Someone new coming in now with a tad more experience at this level will have 30 games left."

Sadly, not Alan Knill - but Ian Holloway who could feel unfortunate to be out of a job this evening.

Wonder if IH could provide some direction pro bono ?

In the event that AK does get his P45 where do we go next? - a L2 experienced and credible man eg Allen; a former higher level man but out of work eg Warnock, Megson; a promising Conference manager eg?; a first team coach looking for their first management position eg Hargreaves;
Some we would expect to be more expensive to hire and have expensive ideas as well. Who could take our current squad and get them working into an effective team? Its a lot easier to say 'get a new manager' than actually making the best decision.

MH91 wrote:Is that true AustrianAndy? Would you agree with me?

Yes I agree but I doubt my opinion holds much weight MH91.

From my point of view i'm not saying I think many people could do a much better job than Knill, i'm saying that at the moment Knill is being paid to achieve at least a minimum standard of football and to get results within a reasonable framework for a club of our size and finances. He isn't doing this and worse still he is making a complete pigs ear of it, alienating players and fans and has singlehandedly destroyed the summer feel good factor already. I think that is why we should be questioning his tenure here and not because we don't like the guy personally.

On that basis he doesn't deserve to be in full time paid employment here because his record shows he is failing. As he is not the boss of a large company or a banker that usually means you get the sack unfortunately. He does have an option, get us to play better and not look like a team of complete strangers. Then i'm sure he will be ok.

Alan Knill said it needed ten games for him to be able to properly assess his squad. Those ten games have come and gone, and we should expect to see his subsequent actions produce changes for the better between now and the end of the year. We should give him a chance to achieve this and should fully support him and the team while they do so. There have been a few previous seasons at Plainmoor when the first few months were disastrous, but which were turned around to produce exciting ends to the season. I don't think I'm being unduly optimistic when I believe such a season is still possible this time. We shall see..

I think we're all hoping for that GS. What a relief it would be to get a few quick wins on the board now and give us some breathing space early so Knill doesn't feel so under pressure (largely of his own doing I may add). We'll see what he's got in the tank these next 10 games.

Dockers Pal wrote:In the event that AK does get his P45 where do we go next? - a L2 experienced and credible man eg Allen; a former higher level man but out of work eg Warnock, Megson; a promising Conference manager eg?; a first team coach looking for their first management position eg Hargreaves;
Some we would expect to be more expensive to hire and have expensive ideas as well. Who could take our current squad and get them working into an effective team? Its a lot easier to say 'get a new manager' than actually making the best decision.

The Conference. For all the old bollocks peddled by Hector and his merry band of the clinically insane, sacking Knill WILL relegate us. That's the real world position. Quite what Football Management on the PlayBox says is another matter.

Matt.

Can someone edit that to make it right, please.

Matt.