Martin ling

[supergulls]

Not at all at the time in question I was living near Leyton east london so to watch affordable football I used to watch Leyton orient. There's no conspiracy !

[supergulls]

Yes your actual posts are tiresome. However Ling played at Leyton Orient he has produced some stifling boring football. So you told us 23 pages ago that he was coming back, maybe he is - so what?
I am probably also correct in saying that majority of supporters would prefer Knill to be in charge.
As Andy says the issue is that Ling maybe better but for how long? - the Plainmoor crowd didn't really give Ling much of a hard time when we were producing dire peformances but Ling's over the top reaction to the odd comment was really a pointer to how stressed he was.
What is for sure is that should Ling return and we start the season badly I can guarantee that the manager will get a much rougher ride.
Four months away with a serious stress related illness and now all of a sudden he is fit and raring to return to what is a really stressful job.
Far from rushing anything I would be more than happy for the board to take a bit of time to sort this out.
As for Knill - well I guess he couldn't really say anything else rather than that he is unemployed at the moment.

Brucie you are the most boring negative man put on this planet i have never had a go at you personally although at times ive wanted to.

[Dave]

Sometimes you have to go with what you have got, ling never had the forward options that knill had i.e Benyon so he was forced to play 4-5-1. Hopefully we get benyons signature and then we can continue to play a more attacking formation.

So Martin Ling could not have played Howe/Jarvis or Howe/Yoeman as a front 2, and played one those countless wide players we have in the squad sat around doing nothing.

[supergulls]

Jarvis was hardly setting the world alight early doors was he, people have short memory's. I remember when people were booing him and saying he was a waste of money. His performances up top have hardly been great. He has been pretty decent later in the season and at right midfield.

[brucie]

Supergulls - you are beginning to make yourself look ridiculous. Suggesting that Ling only played one up front because he didn't have Benyon is just plain daft. Ling assembled his own squad and has consistently left himself short of strikers since he arrived here. That was his choice, but no doubt suited his turgid,negative style of play.
Too many wingers who were not good enough, too many midfielders who weren't good enough. Christ Ling hardly ever played his second striker Jarvis - thats how bloody negative he was.
Ling is actually the most boring manager on the planet so stick that where the sun don't shine matey

[Dave]

Jarvis was hardly setting the world alight early doors was he, people have short memory's. I remember when people were booing him and saying he was a waste of money. His performances up top have hardly been great. He has been pretty decent later in the season and at right midfield.

Agreed, but he wasn't played regularly was he, as soon as he had a prolonged run in the team what happened, he started to look decent and scored some very important goals aswell, and didn't Lingy descirbe Yoeman as the best finisher at the club, and then didn't play him.

[Gullscorer]

The plot thickens, no wonder you are so defensive... Are you his agent ? Or a family member perhaps ? You certainly seem to be more of a "Ling fan" than a "Torquay fan".

Typical! When you can't win an argument or score a point in a debate, mock, belittle and abuse your opponent..

[Jerry]

After Simon Baker "presented" Alan Knill to the Popside yesterday there was a resounding burst of "sign him up, sign him up". Surely this tells the board what the fans think?

[Dave]

To honest Gullscorer, I was being to think after Supergulls said he has watched quite a few Ling games for Orient and other clubs that he might be a family member.

On the subject of Lingy, I did say back a page or so that I think nothing is guaranteed as far as lingy's return as manager. But as said I also believe that if he is confirmed as manager for next season it would be foolish for us fans not to support him, we want our team winning and we do not want to be back in this position again for a very long time.

I do not expect/demand promotion to League 1. I do not expect/demand our team wins every game, what I would like however is to see our team have a reasonable amount of possession, get players forward and support our attacking play and have some shots on goal.

What I do not want as a fan anymore is to stand on the popside watching us hoof the ball up to Rene Howe no one getting forward becuase we are playing to 2 deep lieing mdfielders and watch us hanging on for dear life hoping the other team wont score, it wasn't bad luck bad play, bad tactics, it was awful.

Anyone else notice the difference in Damon Lathrope in Knills more attack minded team, chalk and cheese, he looked a totaly different player, he looked more comfortable, happier and a much better player under Knills tactics.

And you can make your own luck, have 15 shots on goal, yes there is a good chance one will go in off the back of a players behind, have 2 shots on goal, you have to hope the keeper going have an Roche day, or your fowards are on form.

Thing is all those last minute goals we conceeded were not bad luck, they only hurt for one reason, we did not have enough shots on goal, and only scored 1 goal ourselves, if we had, had more shots on goal, we probably would have scored a second, even a third and those late goals would have cost us nothing.

[Gullscorer]

After Simon Baker "presented" Alan Knill to the Popside yesterday there was a resounding burst of "sign him up, sign him up". Surely this tells the board what the fans think?

Fans are fickle! And Gulls fans no less so than many others (in my humble opinion of course). Whatever happens, they'll soon find something to moan and whinge about. And why not; they paid good money to be there? Well, they could quite easily stop paying that money, and go shopping or fishing instead.

But I'm not sure I'd want to watch football at a club where fickle fans made all the decisions..

[Sunnysideup]

Typical! When you can't win an argument or score a point in a debate, mock, belittle and abuse your opponent..

Dont be such a tool. Its a perfectly valid question to ask someone that quite happily says

So how many of Leyton Orients matches did you watch then when they got promoted ??? Because I watched lots of them....

......I have seen various teams of martins play and I can assure you they have not all played this way.

Dont forget this is the same person posting that one of the players tells him he's pissed off that he cant get in the team when XXXX is playing crap ?? That'll make him a popular boy...

[Jerry]

Well, they could quite easily stop paying that money, and go shopping or fishing instead.

From what I hear quite a few will be doing just that if Martin Ling is manager next season.

[Jerry]

I was told yesterday by the chap I have stood next to at every home game for the last 25 years that he won't be renewing his season ticket if Ling is in charge. This has caused me to change my mind on the manager situation.

Believe me, there aren't many more committed fans than him, if he's thinking along these lines then how many more are thinking the same?

People say we can't afford to replace Ling, but can we afford not to? If 300 season ticket holders do not renew that's the best part of £100,000.

[supergulls]

Lads I'm a Torquay fan through and through without doubt my loyalties are with the gulls. I will be the first to admit that at the beginning of this season the football was drab and boring, I have sat in the family stand freezing my bits off thinking what am I doing here. I'm lucky enough to get some inside information sometimes and I like to share that with you so you guys can be more informed about what is going on at the club we love. I don't want to make any enemies all I'm doing is giving my opinion on certain situations. I admit knill has played a more attacking style of football but as I said I did watch Martins team at Leyton orient and they did play attacking football. I know that more has gone on behind the scenes this year than any of us will know. but one thing i will say is that martins remit for this season after they sold all the crown jewels was just keep us up. He has brought some good players to our club hence out players of the year Saah and Downsey. All I'm saying is when we was sitting 2nd in the league last year and we went on our record unbeaten run was anybody complaining. Overall I think the guy has done a fairly good job at our club. A forum is a place where we all have an opinion and that's all it is our own opinion so we shouldn't be shot down in flames if we don't agree with that opinion.

I'm so happy that we stayed up and will support whoever our manager is 100% all I'm saying is I think lingy is getting a bit of a rough ride

Up the gulls !

[Dave]

Supergulls, I may not agree with you on just a few small things, but have nothing but respect for you on your opinion and for sticking to your guns defending your opinions and Lingy in the face of so many who have dissagreed with you..you deserve a big

Anyway you never know, in a few short months , you may be proved right.