Torquay United Fans Forum

Yes, enough said indeed.

And just while we're about it, this "right" that people have apparently to air their views (shout abuse at the manager/players), it's all very odd that often, it is those who are banging on about their rights to say and do what they like who take offence at the things that some users of this forum say. You can't have it both ways, I'm afraid. Besides, having the right to do something doesn't necessarily make it the right thing to do. I'm pretty sure that pregnant women have the right to piss in a coppers hat (they don't, but let's pretend that the fallacy is true), but would you do it, just because you can?
Equally, rights are tempered with responsibilities. The right to moan when we're rubbish is tempered by the responsibility to cheer when we're brilliant, which is where a certain number of our membership fall down, because they only make an appearance to exercise their right to whinge without "suffering" the responsibility of contributing during happier times. For topical reference, this is precisely why prisoners should not be allowed to vote, nor to challenge their exclusion from voting under "human rights", they forfeited [some of] those rights when they delined to accept the responsibility to uphold the social contract and behave within the law.

Anyway, I fear I am veering off into unnecessary territory.

Matt The n00b.


IN RESPONSE TO THIS INTERESTING POST, AND AS WE HAVE DIGRESSED, I THINK YOU NEED TO EXAMINE THE WORD SOCIAL AND ALSO THE FACT THAT NONE OF US SIGNED A CONTRACT TO BE PART OF SOCIETY, WITH RESPECT TO PRISONERS HAVING THE RIGHT TO VOTE, I DISAGREE AND HAVE A GREAT ARGUMENT FOR THIS THAT WOULD BE PRESENTED BETTER TO YOU IN PERSON, A GREAT SHAME WE WOULD NEVER MEET BUT THEN THAT IS PROBABLY A GOOD THING, NOW RETURN TO YOUR ARM CHAIR AND SPEND THE NEXT FEW HOURS REPLYING TO EVERY THREAD IN A CONTRADICTORY FASHION THAT FOLLOWS MOST OF YOUR POSTS. GOOD LUCK TODAY TORQUAY

I just think that the vibe around Lingy at the start was premature, yes we over achieved but most managers are rated on consistency or over a period of say two/three seasons, in my own opinion, this season so far has been pretty poor, aside from Downes I am not sur ehe made great signings this year and then he goes and gets Angus on loan when Kirstys was immense against Vale?

Attacking the fans through the club website is poor, as a paying customer I have a right to air my frustrations but if every football manager told the fans what he thinks of them after every game then stadiums would be empty and lots of personal bodyguards employed!

Anyway, thank you for the replies, as I have always said, the jury remains out on Ling, I do not like his PR nor do I like the fact that almost every weekend the bloke can be found in Torquay Town centre lapping up the good life!! enough said!!

Hi All,

Initially I liked the openess of Ling and his ability to disclose publicly when a player had played poorly or made a decision that changed the game in favour of the opposition..... over time however this got a little repetitive and at times marginally offensive or over the top, he rarely throws critisism at players he signed himself but seems to be happy letting us all know on the club website and local paper that Oastler, Manse, Nicholson and so on have played poorly or not played well enough. For those of you chomping at the bit to reply and totally disagree this is merely my opinion, I also note he strangely makes predictions at odd times, I think he employs a strange psychology on the team for example with his top three prediction, best team in devon comment, and his constant outbursts at fans either in Bristows Bench or now on the Pop Side as clearly if you don't sing when we are losing then Ling does not appreciate you? I dont want a debate about whether fans should voice their negatives during a game or not, just making a point.

Is it just me or does anybody else agree that his PR skills are odd. I also note his comments about Davids at Barnet, I watched the game and his touches were class, Ling claimed that the ref favoured him? Or was it yet ANOTHER excuse for a ***p performance and tactical balls up?

Cheers,

Y_E_L_L_O_W

Hi All,

Just an honest post and general feelings.

Firstly, Torquay United Football Club is a small, COMMUNITY football club that runs as a legitimate business attempting to stay in profit whilst bringing the community local football at league 2 standard. - We need to remember why we love watching Torquay, why we endure the freezing tuesday evenings as the rain batters the ground and why when those yellow shirts walk on the pitch, there is that sense of feeling that there is my team. Through many ups and just so many downs they are our club, we make a decision to SUPPORT them, you are not forced to do this remember.... suggest mr Ferrarilover checks out the definition of the word support.

Secondly, whilst I do not mean for this post to be condescending in any way I think some of you agree that there seems more negatives than positives on here these days, I think a community football club forum is one part of the many strings that create a community vibe about a club, but it should not be used to persecute an individual player that may be going through a poor patch, lets look at how crucial Mr Boden's goals were last season, in the short time we had him, he won us football matches, lets not forget that. Finally in reference to the post about family stand ticket deals, this is great and for the poster who replies he has no children, the consider keeping a post like this to yourself as it borders on very offensive.

Good luck Tuesday Torquay.

Y_E_L_L_O_W

think on my last post someone called me an idiot for voicing my opinions, injuries or not, our form and performances at this rate equal a team that will struggle to even finish mid table....

I stick by my guns that the jury is still out on Mr Ling!

Fingers crossed we find three goals from somewhere

Dutchgull wrote:IDIOT

That was not a constructive or mature reply was it 'DUTCHGULL', I go to nearly every game and paying to watch our performances when as others have said we have offered nothing on the pitch naturally makes me upset.

Also why should I hail Ling as a hero? Surely the jury is still out? We did not get past Cheltenham in the playoffs and this really as his second season is his chance to show what he can do, lets also remember pre-Torquay he was not a well renowned football manager with much success so I am logically taking the stance that after his second season we can weigh up his managerial ability with Torquay!

I dread the situation but what if we are 17th/18th at the end of the season, no good saying we wont be, what if we are.... what will be said about Ling then....

Hope our luck changes with injuries soon, this quite obviously is not helping.

It seems strange that everyone seems happy taking a point every week.... which seems to be the case as was the responses to the Burton game at which point many agreed that a point was a fair return.

If we continue to draw games and fail to win at home, which apart from Rochdale is something that is likely in the immediate future is no one concerned that this equals a recipe for sliding down the league and perhaps being somewhere we should not be after Christmas.

If you look at other teams that are successful, bigger budgets or not, they seem able to get new signings to gel in pre-season ready for the league campaign, we still look at times like a team thrown together, 11 good players but unable to play the formation, certainly not like last season.

I am afraid I am a Ling doubter at the moment, things have to change, we need to be more adventurous at home and stamp out this attitude that everytime we draw it is a good point.

Y_E_L_L_O_W

Agree with everything said Brucie, I just question the tactics which the manager is solely responsible for...

Hi,

Just a quick post, is it me or am I the only one with concerns over the actual management of the team.

Firstly I think fans should voice their opinions even during a game and even directly to the manager, in current times a manager should be robust enough not to react to these fans and if anything it gives the manager a rare chance to hear what some of the fans thinkof the game.... rightly or wrongly.

Secondly, sometimes silence is bliss, it seems ling has a great ability of posting comments on the website pre-season/pre-game that put the mockers on the results. Lets remember his comment that we were good enough to be a top three side and that we were good enough to come out on top of the three Devon sides. Lets remember despite Exeter losing both them and Plymouth manage to score goals, and away from home.

It phases me a little bit because Ling mentioned in his post match interview that the remit has changed since he joined, that we had achieved two play offs in consecutive years so therefore expectations are higher, is this statement a bit of a cop out... as a true fan my desire is always to go for the top and yet the way we play and the way Ling seems to very openly criticise in my opinion not a recipe for success.... your views.

Y_E_L_L_O_W

Thank you for the replies and responses, it isnt that I don't agree with farrarilover reponse but more so I can't. Firstly lets be honest as many people have reviewed Vale and Fleetwood destroyed us and we got away with a point on each occasion, and yes up until the red card against Rochdale I think I would say we outplayed them totally so the home advantage swang in our favour but lets look at something....

Apart from Wimbledon at home last season can anyone remember us dominating games in the fashion that Vale did on Saturday? It doesnt make them a better team but it does mean than percentages would probably equal to us losing more points at home than they will. A bold statement saying Win all home games, draw away games and promoted when we have already dropped points at home.

I am a very avid TUFC fan but I am also a realist that likes to share my views every now and then and I enjoy the feedback, I know that replies will normally be biased and sometimes I too leave a biased post as I should do being a TUFC fan, these are only my views afterall.

Finally with reference to Cheltenham you asked why I predict mid table for them rather than promotion candidates.... I think they have a lucid attack but that their defence is poor as exploited by Accrington at the weekend. Just a hunch thats all.

Cheers people.

YELLOW

Poke
Mckenzie
Nico
Oastler
Struggling with number 5 - Morris?

I like to not post on a Saturday, always a day full of emotions, sometimes joy, sometimes satisfaction, on occasions dismay and nearly always a day full of envy. Anyway, here it goes after some time to reflect. Firstly I cast your memories back to a piece produced on the club website before the season kick off that included elements from Martin Ling. I think I wasn’t the only one surprised to see him make an early claim for automatic promotion but needless to say it was good to say a Torquay manager brimming with confidence so early in the season; albeit a little premature in my opinion. As with most avid fans I was more than happy to go with the flow and see what happened over the coming weeks...
It has in fact been that statement made by Ling and the coming weeks which came that have led me to believe the statement to be in my own words a bit bizarre. It is easy to make squad size excuses, injuries and the rub of the green to be taken into account but for the fourth game running Torquay (aside from Rochdale) Torquay have been the same old Torquay since the appointment of Martin Ling. I know Ling is developing a name for himself in this neck of the woods with last seasons well employed smash and grab tactics but as I previously pointed out, this is not the way to get automatic promotion.
It is amazing to see the youth finally coming afore but would we be saying the same thing if a loan player had come in and scored the winner.
Finally I cast my mind back to an earlier post I made about Cheltenham being tipped as there or there abouts, I will stick with my prediction of mid table and my view that the 2-2 draw with Cheltenham was a poor result.
What I am wondering is how long we can keep employing these tactics and attitude in view of creating success, I want to see us produce some fantastic youth and am very prepared to wait for on the pitch results but do you not think it would then be sensible to tone down the season ambitions and the expectations on the pitch so that everybody is singing from the same sheet. Including the players! Cheers people, have a good day! YELLOW!

Thank you, appreciate your reply.

Hi All,

I wanted to ask all you football guru's out there if you can explain the rule behind suspensions from a straight red card as received by Downes last weekend.

Twice in the same article on the Torquay website

http://www.torquayunited.com/news/artic ... 37509.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The suspension has been referred to as one match however I was always under the impression that a straight red was a 3 match suspension.

If this is not the case then how can an accumalation of 5 Yellows, or 2 Yellows in a game constitute the same ban as a straight red card (1 match as suggested by this article)

Would be good to hear your responses.

YELLOW.

Hi, first post and only my views as an avid fan but also a genuine realist.

Having watched most of pre-season and the the game against Cheltenham I have a couple of observations.

1) Martin Ling spent all of pre-season in my opinion learning very little. I appreciate he wanted to get games into the players but in the three competitive games we have played nothing has changed from last season with respect to style or manner of play.

2) Clearly Downes is a good solid defender and Bodin we all knew would be a great signing but I question his attitude towards Morris who clearly thinks he is the next midfield meastro? The inclusion of the new signings I have mentioned gives us parity in defence in comparison to last season and another option on the wing that can and will score goals but out Midfield is woefully boring, we needed a player along the lines of Stanley who had the ability to make the killer pass.

3)... and finally, I would love to see another succesful Yellow season but where have all the realists gone, is it only me or did I watch a game on Tuesday night that was full of shoddy defending, poor passing and players that struggle to knock down a barn door? I may agree that Cheltenham will make top halk but to keep quoting them as promotion contenders surprises me. An ealry indication would tell me that last season we rode the wave of luck, we set up not to conceed and won games by the odd goal. I think Mr Ling will need to get his thinking cap on because we don't have a bag of goals in the team each game and that same tactic could if anything produce a season of dissapointment, one that I personally believe will be down to tactics rather then the group of players.

Not looking forward to getting destroyed with the replies, but all the same.

YELLOW!