Ready for a comeback

[supergulls]

Ok I'm up for a bit of criticism so here goes, I'm as straight as the day is long but I cannot believe the stick that Martin has recieved on here in the last few days. From comments about what he does in his free time to his honesty in his interviews he's is being subjected to a witch hunt. Martin is as honest as they come and although some away results and performances haven't been fantastic this season they have hardly been terrible with the tools he has to work with. When you sell your best players year after year he has limited tools to work with. I think some Torquay supporters have become deluded and expect success year after year. When the truth is they have been boxing above their weight and to finish in the top half and make a profit each year on transfers is a miracle. I agree he hasn't been the most positive at home but the critisism he has recieved on here in the last few weeks has been outrageous. I think everyone needs to look at the bigger picture to see where we are as a club compared to when Martin took over. I know for a fact the board said to him he's remit last year was just to keep us up, because with the sales of bobby etc they expected nothing more. I think we need to get behind Martin and the team and if just if we can pull a miracle out of the bag it will be so special and everyone will finally appreciate that we have a decent manager at the helm that when he leaves will have left a legacy behind him in the way of a better youth set up, a better training ground and bristows bench.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I can hold my hands up to that one, i have been a little abrasive shall we say in my criticism of Martin and, although my opinion of him hasn't changed just because we beat York i can certainly apologise for saying he had no balls. He went 4-4-2 today which i couldn't foresee him having the guts to do in a million years but he changed it around and we were a lot better. Not great, but more positive and it gave me more to be optimistic about. For this at least, Martin must be praised and i am so glad for him, the team and us that it paid off. I dpn't care who he goes out with, where he eats or what he drives, so long as he is doing his best for TUFC then i'll support the man. I didn't feel that he was doing his best these last few months and that perhaps he had run out of ideas and began taking th fans for granted. Obviously at home to Daggers next week he may well go back to 1 up top and we may be in the same boat again but for today at least a positive corner has been turned and Martin should take the credit for that just as he should take the criticism for bad footy. What i have learned from this is to take things a game at a time and judge each individual performance for what it is.

[supergulls]

I just think everyone has got a bit above their station and he doesn't have the biggest squad to work with, but he is a honest man and always gives his all and should be respected for that. I'd rather him than someone who feeds us bullshit. A few seasons ago we were in the conference so how all of a sudden have we in some people's opinions become world beaters. We are what we are and we need to get behind mr ling and the boys. One thing I have always loved about Torquay is the togertherness and I believe that instead of trying to criticise the management structure we should unite and be strong.

[SuperNickyWroe]

everyone is entitiled to their opinion - if they are paying punters and mr ling is in the business where its not going to be a bed of roses and as a consequence he also has to take the rough with the smooth.

however, what he does in his free time is up to him and people should mind their own business.

[supergulls]

I agree that everyone is entitled to there opinion but is the critisism warranted, seeing where we are in the league and with our budget should we really expect to be any higher.

[SuperNickyWroe]

I agree that everyone is entitled to there opinion but is the critisism warranted, seeing where we are in the league and with our budget should we really expect to be any higher.

it is when you consider todays result.

posters and paying punters have been asking for a change and it happened today, with the result speaking for itself.
so in my opinion - yes .

[brucie]

Must admit I couldn't see that result at all today but I stick to what I said that we would have drawn with Southend 1-1 last week if Rice had not been in goal. So obviously we had more chance today because Poke did not let in three sitters.

[Dutchgull]

Exactly what I posted previously Supergulls but Ferrailover tore me apart on my opinion. Thats why this "forum " is getting so frustrating.

One persons arrogant ego has to be fed ! After all how pretentious can you get when in a football fans chat site you quote Voltaire !!!
If you so much express an opinion then the school monitor comes along and tears apart your view and quotes you word for word what you have typed !

Why bother to have an opinion ?

:-| :-| :-|

[SuperNickyWroe]

Exactly what I posted previously Supergulls but Ferrailover tore me apart on my opinion. Thats why this "forum " is getting so frustrating.

One persons arrogant ego has to be fed ! After all how pretentious can you get when in a football fans chat site you quote Voltaire !!!
If you so much express an opinion then the school monitor comes along and tears apart your view and quotes you word for word what you have typed !

Why bother to have an opinion ?

:-| :-| :-|

if you are bothered about this then dont be. thats why its a forum. dont take it personally dutch. everyone can have an opinion and thats how it is.
it all boils down to interpritation, and if posters dont like what you have posted, its not personal.
im sure there are several posters on here that wouldnt post again if they thought it was a personal attack. dont take it to heart old boy!

[Dave]

Personaly I am behind Martin Ling as our manager, however as fan I reserve the right to critise the manager if I feel it is warranted.

Yes Martin Ling is honest I applaud his post match honesty, however there are times when he takes the whole honesty thing far, to far, a football manager needs to keep the whole honesty thing in check as there are things you just don't say, and while we are on the subject of honesty the thing that really gets right up my nose is we all clap the managers honesty but oh if one of us fans even dares to give an honest but negative opinion my god, out comes the we are little old Torquay tripe how dare you be so diss-loyal, Martin Ling has done a very good job as our manager agreed but why oh why should he or any player be placed above and beyond criticism.

"terrible tools" How in gods name do you work that out, just watched the football league show, Micheal Poke once again has proved he is one of the best keepers in this league, Aaron Downes has come in for Mark Ellis and added strenght to the centre back pairing and only player that is turning out to be loss and only a slight one is Eunan O'Kane, so please spare us the we are rebuilding nonsense in many ways this squad is either equal to or better than last years.

Last Saturday the team was set up with one striker up front on his own and two holding midfielders sat deeper than a tarts gash the one ball passing midfielder stuck out on the wing, and a real winger sat on the bench and of course no natural width we had 9 out field players who barely got over the half way line at home, yes home that was both shameful and embarrasing, did Martin Ling deserve abuse for that..no, did he as the manager deserve criticism for that, yes damn right he did.

Its not about expecting succsess year in and out, for Torquay its not about promotion to League 1, not allways about winning every match either, its about getting the best out of what you have got, and we have not been doing that no were near consistantly enough so far this season, and manager must take some responsibilty for that, we have not made the best use of our attacking options prefering to sit back and defend in numbers, todays line up showed more attacking intent, if you get players forward you create chances, which lead to shots on goal, which in turn lead to goals, we have not done that in enough games home or away, yes there has some where we have but not enough.

Our club is very well run and managed I thank the board and Martin Ling for that, it is not about spending money we have not got and none of us want our club to do that, however we do have real mentality problem at our club, this constant dripping about being a small club with no money and a poor location, is just both excuse making and playing the victim , yes it is fact and I understand that, however it has not stopped us from transfering in good players and attracting good players in on loan in the past, it has not stopped us from achieving succsess before and League 1 status in the past, it is not stopping clubs in a similiar position and some cases worse position in terms of lower gates achieve great things now.

Enough of my ramberlings now, agreed we do need to support the club and the majority do, I have found this season frustrating we could and should have done better that has been the only problem for me and most others, and no matter whether that continues or how the season ends I will still one the first in the que to renew my season ticket.

[supergulls]

Where in my post did I write terrible tools, if you read it correctly I said limited tools. What I mean by limited is yes we do have some real quality in certain areas of our team but this does not carry through to the rear end of our squad. so when we loose people like Poke, Downes or Rene etc results slip. Hence limited !

[jonnyfive]

Dutch, don't let the PLG get to you - he's a joke.

Loving the expression 'deeper than a tart's gash'!

[Lloyder5]

I haven't followed this debate much because its a bit depressing reading the abuse it generated. I do think our manager has set the side up in a way that invites opponants to attack and does not give us enough threat going forward; Easton, Mansell and Lathrope will not frighten anyone as a midfield attacking combination. So does he derserve criticism, yes. The bit I did read and what I didn't like was the frankly pathetic name-calling, Martin Ling is an arsehole because he's picked the wrong players a couple of times. What I also find annoying is that some poster seem to almost forget the contribution of the other team and the fact that they might actually be up for and really trying for a win.

I try to base my opinions on the time I spent playing in the SDL and when you've played a lot you realise there are sometimes when you just can't account for the result. You batter a side and end up losing, you hang on for 89 minutes and win. But you will get a clear indication of how go the team is at the end of the season. I don't buy the little Torquay arguement either. The important thing is each week to step over the white-wash believing you're going to win no matter who you're playing.

Ling's challenge now is to keep in touch and produce a really good run at the end of the season. I suppose us supporters, having let off steam need to get together and support the team.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I hold my hands up and admit to calling Martin an arsehole and a knob. No apologies, he was blatantly being stubborn and had started to annoy the fans. He went some way to rectifying this on saturday in what was a much braver team selection and for which i have congratulated him and praised him for this. Onwards and upwards, we move on.

[Dave]

Supergulls. It does appear that I did miss-read your post, please accept my humble apologies.