Torquay United Fans Forum

The bottom line, as we all know, is the complete "blindness" of GJ to the results, last season, before the mini good run in last March and April. We shipped goals all last season at an alarming rate. But, as soon as we had the mini run, GJ thought he still had it - as a manager.

So he re signs a bunch of wholly inadequate players which DID NOT actually address the underlying problem- letting in too many goals:
Tomlinson brought back from loan, to "develop" I assume
Moxey ; still a good player on the ball, but losing a lot of pace, NOT a central defender
Crowe will be the new Wynter!
Marshall ( under contract) will have to fit in somewhere.
Donellan - a utility player
Hall ( however good a few years ago) injury prone and lacking pace.

That is the root of where we are now.
IF he had actually signed a squad that would not concede and we could score some up the other end, then we would have beed second or third by late Autumn.
Therefore no protests/ no disquiet ( apart from the ongoing silence from CO)

Would CO have still walked away under that scenario? Not sure. He was going to walk away at some stage, but GJ's complete lack of facing the defensive problem has added to the situation we find ourselves in.

Pretty fair summary Colorado.
There are some good players from the "region": Watkins, K Moore, Reid all from Torquay. We just did not have the ability to exploit their talent

Halstead

Good posting from Modgull; sums it all up completely

Many people over the last year or so have argued for and against GJ.
Some have said he should have gone at some point last season after the performances that we endured, mainly down to VERY poor recruitment in the Summer of 2022.
(The squad was poor and we got relegated, whilst the Directors decided to keep both he and Downes, then and now).

Others have stated, many times, that he is the best manager both at NL and NLS level to get us back to where we all think we should be.

Well, after today, there was a manager in the other dug out who patently would be a very good manager of TUFC. His team played out from the back and / or played a decent long ball into feet (further up the pitch); they played two very wide wingers ; they passed and moved ; they defended resolutely and allowed us very , very few chances. They also cut us apart time and again and Halstead kept the score down below 0-6

So what do the Johnson to stay supporters and the Johnson to go supporters say now?
I concluded that the GJ AD style of "hoof" it forward game plan does not suit this squad of players. Worthing played a completely modern style and we looked awful against it.

Regarding the budget for this season, Mr Osborne has said to me, after contacting him, that:
"There has not been any change to the budgeting, which remains in the higher quartile of the league"

You can draw your own conclusions from that, regarding how recruitment has played out this season.

September 29th 2007
Torquay ( top) of Blue Square Premier
P 13 W 10 D 2 L 1 For 36 Ag 18 Points 32

December 12th 2020
Torquay ( Top)
P 13 W 10 D 2 L 1 For 27 Ag 10 Points 32

Have I missed what is wrong with these two players?
Any information gratefully received.

Zonal marking at fault for both Hemel goals.

Ruairi out for the season......fractured cheekbone and eyesocket

Regarding the article in Devon Live about Reid's dive:

Interesting asessment by the Billericay fans. Difficult to see from the other end of the ground, and if it was a dive then the referee made the correct decision.
However it is a bit rich that they complain about unsporting behaviour when it took their man at least 4 minutes to leave the pitch after being sent off.Furthermore, their No 6 also took an age to leave, once substituted. In both those cases, the referee, was weak and should have booked both of them. Perhaps they would like to discuss that time wasting and " cheating" on their social media.

Excellent post quiet gull!
Your summary and player reports are spot on.

GO needs to stop picking Reid. How many years has he been at the club and patently failed to deliver, apart from the odd penalty kick.
Williams as captain will not work IMO as he does not have the maturity to carry out the role when the chips are down and the team needs a boost.

Dear Luggy,
Here is the information you have requested:

[email protected]

At last, the HE have woken up and started to say what we all feel. Well done Richard Hughes