Dan Butler

[Markh84]

http://m.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/TOR ... story.html

Signing number 3

[gullno4]

Young lad has signed after being released by Portsmouth, looks like a decent signing, was first choice LB for them last year I think. What does this say about Ives' future?

[Richinns]

Have to say the signings so far have been far better than I had even hoped let alone thought were realistic considering our current position financially. Another young lad (we currently we have a very young 12!) but again good experience for his age. Look forward to the video so I can find out a bit more about him and what he will offer.

[OllieGull]

Will be interesting to see how he turns out. Quite a few Pompey fans saying he was at fault for more goals than he should have been, and isn't too great at defending. There may be a special player in him though judging by various championship clubs tracking him in the past. http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... dan-butler

[Dave]

I think going into next season with Levi Ives as our no1 left back would have been a huge mistake anyway, Levi is a good young player, with some potential, but, talk about an over rated player and Ives is your man.

This seems to me to be another astute signing, 20 years old with 69 senior games under his belt already, 48 first team games for Portsmouth in the league above. Ok, this lad might not be the polished defender, but with the money we have and the league we're in, these are the players we're going attract, another young lad, think he's more likely to develop than Ives, and with his experience develop quicker as well, certainly beginning to look forward now, more than I could say just a few weeks ago.

[Gullscorer]

http://www.torquayunited.com/news/

[Bloggy]

Didn't I hear/read that both Ives and Ajala had been approached and the club were hoping to get something (money) for them both?
If this is the case then Dan will be No 1 left back this coming season.

[Southampton Gull]

Arcadia is signing Ives for Man City, he's far too good for inexperienced Conference managers

[OllieGull]

Interview with him:
Love the part where he says "I've played at a lot worse"! Haha, delighted to have him on board though.

[Bloggy]

Bless him. Let's hope he let's his football do the talking from now on...

[gulls1989]

A good friend of mine is a Pompey fan and he said that a lot of their fans will be disappointed to see him go.

Apparently he was waiting for an offer from higher up which, as he mentions in his interview, never came about. Paul Cook was supposedly not too fussed about keeping him on as he's just added Enda Stevens to their squad.

I think we've got ourselves a decent player - and certainly one of a higher calibre than I was expecting us to be signing this summer.

Things look to be shaping up quite nicely. What a difference a month makes!

[royalgull]

That last bit he says is crucial for me and is a mindset we need throughout the club. Not so much the club size bit but 'we shouldn't be aiming for anything less than challenging' and I agree, at this level finance or no finance there should be a standard set and expected that we are a good club and losing to the dross regularly isn't acceptable in any way shape or form.

I hope this is a theme with Cox and the new players.

Added in 7 minutes 43 seconds:
Also this signing looks the best of ours on paper thus far, 20 years old and played quite a few games in the football league. Not going to be the finished article, will make mistakes that's why he's here but this looks very promising.

[Colorado Gull]

Another great signing.