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Scott Brehaut wrote: 15 Feb 2017, 18:46 Are we really, with the budgets set and the club pretty much in administration before the buyout, actually underachieving though? I'd argue that for a club with next to no money for much of the season and a manager preforming every role in the club for much of it too, that we are achieving pretty much as expected.

It's not where I WANT us to me, but I think we are dreaming if we thought we would be anywhere else than where we are currently, based on the above.

I agree with Scott. And I'm getting a bit fed up with all these criticisms of Nicho. We are a football outpost; we have half the choices of players that clubs up country have, and given the restrictions and near zero funding the manager has had to cope with, no other manager in the land could have done any better. To change managers now would not only be pointless, it would be a retrograde step. If Paul Tisdale, one of the longest serving managers in the game, had been manager of the Gulls, he would have been sacked a dozen times over by our fickle supporters. As for GI, I've no doubt that they would rather be owning a club playing in a League One play-off spot than a National League club fighting relegation. And if we were to make it into the Championship, think of all those lovely profits! But Rome wasn't built in a day..

Merse your points you make I admire and your experience I value...is there a difference with a with a experienced manager working with a low budget and being paid a decent salary and one on peanuts doing same job with more passion
...I'm assuming we can't afford a manager that can do it on low salary and paid good money. ...though I dont k ow what nicho gets???

Say steve tully comes in...what's difference

westyorkshiregull wrote: 15 Feb 2017, 23:15 Merse your points you make I admire and your experience I value...is there a difference with a with a experienced manager working with a low budget and being paid a decent salary and one on peanuts doing same job with more passion
...I'm assuming we can't afford a manager that can do it on low salary and paid good money. ...though I dont k ow what nicho gets???
Say steve tully comes in...what's difference

It could (and needs to be) as simple as being able to set a team up, drill it and achieve clean sheets. Achieve a pattern of play that can deliver the ball intelligently to the striker(s) in the manner that best suites them and (I would say) get this goalkeeper to go back to distributing the ball as he did when he first came here....that he has changed his style cannot be simply down to him but a management insistence surely. It would help too of he commanded his box and stopped parrying instead of catching but let's not ask too much of the Popside's favourite American.

It's experience of working with low budget in a level of football that we exist in that is needed. There are managers doing it; there are managers doing it better than Nicho and there are managers who would come in and do it. 'Passion' doesn't come into it; where is his passion getting us?

I appreciate there is a huge swell of support for Nicholson and how revered he is but look at the league table, look at the downward trajectory and look at the increasingly possible consequences. Very soon the club will have no choice but to sit back and accept relegation if this continues.

Excellent points merse. ...yes passion your so right ...where does it get you. Sediment does not achieve success...
Looking back on my points we are still a big club in the world of non league. No doubt. Some non league clubs would love a 1000 turn up. So in the pool of non league managers looking too upscale it's hard not to think we can't attract. Easier to get one managar to westcountry than a load of players

westyorkshiregull wrote: 16 Feb 2017, 09:42 Excellent points merse. ...

But STILL no acknowledgement of Nicholson's achievement last season when he put together a team playing good football which kept us in the National League !

Yes he did ~ at the cost of accepting loans from GI that have ended up in what?

Something a lot of people are unsure and unhappy about; yes he kept us in the National League and yes that was an achievement borne of a terrible start under him and a seriously underfunded budget and only then being given the scope to bring in players that he wanted........but repeatedly avoiding relegation by the skin of our teeth; is that what we're at?

You can't justify keeping a manager who is (again) fighting relegation just because he avoided relegation last season can you?

I don't dislike the guy ~ liking or not liking is irrelevant ~ and in my heart I fear it has all been left to late to effect a defining change, but it's looking horribly ominous and the consequences don't bear thinking about.

Merse if we relegated what do you fear the consequences will be. Sounds obvious but in my opinion getting players on conference south money will be even harder with our location. Getting players on league 1 money I guess is easier. Guess that's where location comes into it. You couldn't afford to live on 300 quid a week in the south west but on 500 plus you could live a reasonable life in a great location. I live in Leeds now and I can't afford to live in the south west. Houses prices and rent up here are so much cheaper.
Does gi have any ambition I've not seen it yet ..are they only about the land...if so then we are doomed. I read there statement when they took over and felt just maybe a bit of promise but since then it's been abject and the non talking speeks volumes.
I know I'm repeating the general feel on the other threads.
I can't see anyway out ...when we talked about the possible money from a mcdonald fee I just feel it's clutching at straws and I'm sure the money would be 90 in gi pocket and token gesture towards the squad.
Is our only hope the council keep the ground , we stay up and gi piss off. But saying that who would take us over ...apart from tust what other options are there...there are people with money within the bay but I'm assuming not much interest.

I d be interested to see how Geoff Harrop is getting on with his 5 year plan. I mean what does he actually do, i keep hearing of all these behind the scene changes, what are they??
What have i missed?? Whats changed or being rectified?
I didn't notice any changes on Saturday, i was hoping for lap dancers in the bar to cheer me up i was so cold.

Geoff Harrop: http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/s ... story.html

I read that article, but what has he done up to now?? Where are the changes??

merse btpir wrote: 16 Feb 2017, 11:30 Something a lot of people are unsure and unhappy about; yes he kept us in the National League and yes that was an achievement borne of a terrible start under him and a seriously underfunded budget and only then being given the scope to bring in players that he wanted........

Yes ...... a seriously under-funded budget. So what is the difference between then and now ? Nicholson seems to have been given some leeway, presumably from the Nathan Blissett transfer money - and has brought in two or three useful players. The injury to Racine was a cruel stroke of bad luck (for the club and the player) because he looked to be exactly the type of organiser we need.

On another thread, you post that the club (quote) 'has absolutely no footballing structure to offer any young aspiring player'. I agree. Off the field the club is a complete shambles, and although I've got my fingers crossed, I hope GI's five-year plan and proposals to bring in local people on the Board lifts the club out of the depths it is in at present. No experienced manager nor aspiring manager of any worth would want to come to the club in its present state. You will also know that managers keep in contact with each other and they will be well aware of the shabby way Paul Cox was treated.

merse btpir wrote: 16 Feb 2017, 11:30 Yes he did ~ at the cost of accepting loans from GI that have ended up in what?

Something a lot of people are unsure and unhappy about; yes he kept us in the National League and yes that was an achievement borne of a terrible start under him and a seriously underfunded budget and only then being given the scope to bring in players that he wanted........but repeatedly avoiding relegation by the skin of our teeth; is that what we're at?

You can't justify keeping a manager who is (again) fighting relegation just because he avoided relegation last season can you?

I don't dislike the guy ~ liking or not liking is irrelevant ~ and in my heart I fear it has all been left to late to effect a defining change, but it's looking horribly ominous and the consequences don't bear thinking about.

westyorkshiregull wrote: 16 Feb 2017, 12:53 Merse if we relegated what do you fear the consequences will be.

The consequences will be gate of three figures, less exposure in the media for the club, less commercial potential and another step down on the slippery ladder of status.

westyorkshiregull wrote: 16 Feb 2017, 12:53 Sounds obvious but in my opinion getting players on conference south money will be even harder with our location. Getting players on league 1 money I guess is easier. Guess that's where location comes into it.

I'm not so sure about that but without wishing to promote National South as in any way an acceptable level for this club; there should be a wealth of decent enough players for that league living within the Bristol down to Southampton and south west of that line........Truro doit; Weston-Sup-Mare do it; why not Torquay United?

I don't concur with this criticism of Geoff Harrop and the expectancy for him to produce anything within two working weeks of having moved in. His remit is all-encompassing ~ he is General Manager NOT Director of Football ~ there is the season ticket fiasco to sort out; the bringing back in house of franchising, improved facilities for corporate sponsors and guests to see to off the field and on the field the need to put in footballing infrastructure including scouting, coaching and facility procurement.

There's a lot to do ~ do you know there is no points/win bonus in place at the club ever since the last board had to scrap it after being left to deal with the legacy of Hargreaves' abuse of that system? ~ how stupid is that, and indicative of the pathetic non productivity of the players and management we see now; and as he says the club almost closed just before Christmas

tomogull wrote: 16 Feb 2017, 20:39 Yes ...... a seriously under-funded budget. So what is the difference between then and now ?

I'm not saying there is a difference; I'm saying that the club needs to look elsewhere for someone with proof on their CV that they HAVE coped with this shackle of low budget and geographical isolation that so many seemed so worked up about. That's always been there and always will be. Barrow deal with it; Dover deal with it and Truro (just) deal with it. It's a national league and we want to be part of it. I've illustrated how Barrow and Dover deal with their particular isolation and Yeovil in the past. That is a possibility that could and should be explored.

I don't anticipate for one minute of their being any bigger budget next season and indeed it could well be less given the drop in attendances and it certainly will be if relegation happens so the club needs someone who can and will work within these constraints and get more out of a squad of players than Nicholson and Herrera get........it's Hobson's choice!