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I DO agree with Brucie. The fact speaks for itself. Speculation is fun, but the reality is (as yet, anyway) there are no signings.

To be fair people around Bury say he left them in fix ail difficulties.

He left them 2nd in the table in league two, that team then finished 10th in league one whilst he wasn't there! Where has he left them in a mess?

Also I was told that team that went up over 50% of them have been sold for £££, or
Progressed back at there parent club.

Joe Skarz
Tom lees
Schumacher
MiKe Jones
David Worrall
Elliot Bennett
Kyle Bennett
Ryan Lowe

That's 8 from one team, I say let him spend what he wants!!

At the moment, I genuinely cannot work out whether Alan Knill is playing a very clever, cagey, waiting game in order to get the best value for the club out of the (relatively) meagre budget he has to play with or whether in fact he really is quite simply struggling to attract players to the club let alone convince them to sign!

It could be a complete masterstroke or it could be a complete disaster. I have no doubt that over time he will bring in the requisite numbers to make up a squad of 20 or so players BUT will these players be of sufficient quality and will they be Knill's first choices or will he have missed the boat on them, perhaps even already.

Unfortunately, given that this is his first close season with us, we really don't know how he operates, all we do know is that he did struggle to add loan players in sufficient numbers at the back end of last season although those that he did bring in (Labadie, Chapell) were undoubtedly impressive in terms of quality.

With the likes of Bury and Southend breaking their "ducks" today in terms of signing their first players this summer,by my reckoning the ONLY teams now left not to have signed a single player during the close season in League 2 are just Dagenham, Exeter (both pleading poverty!) and ourselves! That despite the fact that we have had one of the biggest clearouts in the division with half of our squad departing.

What the ‘Buckle years’ did do is prove that if you have the budget – players will come to the Bay. We hoovered up what were considered at the time the best players in that division in his first summer with us. Unfortunately, no other TUFC manager before that or since has enjoyed such a relatively competitive budget.

Fonda wrote:What the ‘Buckle years’ did do is prove that if you have the budget – players will come to the Bay. We hoovered up what were considered at the time the best players in that division in his first summer with us. Unfortunately, no other TUFC manager before that or since has enjoyed such a relatively competitive budget.

Ah, those were glorious times! I think I remember us signing 5 club captains from other BSP sides in the space of about a week?

good old buckle, i always liked him, whatever happened to that man!!??

PhilGull wrote: Ah, those were glorious times! I think I remember us signing 5 club captains from other BSP sides in the space of about a week?

With hindsight though, those players (Michael Brough from FGR and Tyrone Thompson from Halifax) who joined in May played a relatively small part in our promotion.

As CP Gull as already highlighted, holding out for the right players is a gamble. My biggest concern is that we haven't signed anyone, if ALL players are haggling over the money then it would suggest that the problem is at our end, either financial or the whole process. Pre-season is starting in about 18 hours and we will have half a squad. If we bring in good players over the next 2 weeks, then it will have paid off. If not, then we will be starting at a disadvantage come August.

Blimey Michael Brough and Tyrone Thompson - two of the stars of the conference Bloody hell Brough was useless. I had forgotten about him. Buckle signed some good players but he signed some dross as well - Brough,Thompson,Adams,Dsane, Hodges,Banim,Christie - absolutely useless - the lot of them.

brucie wrote:Blimey Michael Brough and Tyrone Thompson - two of the stars of the conference Bloody hell Brough was useless. I had forgotten about him. Buckle signed some good players but he signed some dross as well - Brough,Thompson,Adams,Dsane, Hodges,Banim,Christie - absolutely useless - the lot of them.

Ahahaha, what a motley crew that lot are. You're right though, Tezza, 7 absolute rotters there. Jody Banim the fattest man on Earth, with the exception of Eyesdown Christie. Hodges was at least 140 years old when he arrived. Roscoe D'Sane was a man so ironically named, it beggars belief. Adams "The Ghoul", excellent taste in cars (I bought a Focus off him, via a third party, it was a brilliant motor) but hopeless player. Michael Brough brought about an amusing song, but nothing more and Tommo, well, Tommo, Jesus Christ.
Still, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, so I'll forgive the spineless little weasel, but only just.

Matt.