Outsiders View of our Chances

hector · Post by **hector** » 22 Jul 2013, 21:56

I think the following is fair enough. Our signings are not yet setting the pulses racing and I just do not see where we are going to get many goals from (certainly not Benyon, who only gets his strike rate boosted when David Thomas insists on linking is goals - even if scored as a sub - to games he starts).

I am wondering if Knill's much heralded 'contacts' - that failed to materialise last season - have dried up already. He seems to be placing a lot of stock in circumstances suddenly swinging our way, in terms of previously unthought of players miraculously appearing and becoming available. Almost leaving it to chance that something or someone will turn up. Promotion is an unlikley outcome as this and the bookies suggest, and relegation battling is probably more likely.

http://thetwounfortunates.com/ttu-go-pr ... 2-preview/

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 23 Jul 2013, 00:42

Wait for the season to start Hector. I think AK will strengthen the squad if necessary with loan signings as the season progresses. I am expecting a mid-table season - certainly not another relegation fright. The so called 'Outsiders View' is written by an Argyle supporter - he would write us off, wouldn't he? He suggests Argyle will finish mid-table. There's no evidence that they will finish higher than the Gulls (although I suspect they will).

gullintwoplaces · Post by **gullintwoplaces** » 23 Jul 2013, 05:56

Oh my dear days, the hand wringing starts again. What a pessimistic bunch we see on this forum. Argyle fans are NOT "outsiders", they are Argyle fans with a particular perspective. Knill has made some good signings, more to come. I half expect some folk on here to turn up to Plainmoor wearing sackcloth and ashes.

wivelgull · Post by **wivelgull** » 23 Jul 2013, 08:14

Yes indeedy. 'A long and hard season in Torbay' [sic] seems just about right at the moment. There seem to be a many promises, but not a great deal of action. A warning sign may be the recent official site article on the current fitness of (some) players. Another warning sign may be the Rendell saga; it sounds a lot like barrels being scraped.

Lloyder5 · Post by **Lloyder5** » 23 Jul 2013, 08:22

We really don't know. The article is opinion based on pretty thin knowledge and AK's history at Scunthorpe.

gullintwoplaces · Post by **gullintwoplaces** » 23 Jul 2013, 08:55

The more I look at the forum these days the more convinced I am that there are several members who might as well be Greeks and Greens, perhaps they are? They just want to cast gloom and doom everywhere. Real Gulls fans would not post negative comment after negative comment after negative comment. I have not seen one positive comment from Wivelgull, not one. He usually only comments directly after one of Brucie's rants, saying that he agrees with Brucie, perhaps he IS Brucie?

I reckon the Greek scum will struggle this season, we will do ok.

PhilGull · Post by **PhilGull** » 23 Jul 2013, 09:01

An exceptionally succinct review of the last two season with absolutely no mention of the new recruits or position the club is in now and going forward. Utterly pointless.

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 23 Jul 2013, 09:46

We're going forwards with 1 centre forward on the books and 1 centre half.....

We've got 2 wingers that are extremely young and are unknown quantities, could be good but we've had young players from big clubs before that haven't done anything for us (Leadbitter, Macklin). We've lost our top goalscorer and one of our other better players in Saah.

It's easy to see from the outside why you might think we might struggle.

Fonda · Post by **Fonda** » 23 Jul 2013, 10:13

With decent service from the wings, Benyon will score plenty.

brucie · Post by **brucie** » 23 Jul 2013, 12:27

I agree with Wivelgull - things seemed to be going all right until Rendell appeared half fit and on trial. Worryingly after an appalling peformance against Yeovil, he was persisted with against Salisbury. Far from saying enough is enough Knill is saying he hopes to "revisit" when Rendell gets fit.
It does actually look that Knill might have signed him had he not done his hamstring.
The loan signing didn't materialise last Friday and we don't know whether we have enough money left in the budget to sign Tommy Cooper (even though he seems to have been binned by his last three clubs!)
The article is a load of guff but looking at Plymouths signings compared to ours (or indeed the lack of them) then it is a reasonable assumption that they will finish higher than us.

Fonda · Post by **Fonda** » 23 Jul 2013, 12:44

Don't know about you, but I think we need to PANIC! Actually no. I think I'll wait until we've played a few games, when Knill and the players have given us some indication of what we might expect.

I wonder what is easiest - sitting behind a keyboard telling the manager how he should have done better, or being the manager having to do it? We have no idea how difficult Knill's job is. Perhaps it's proven impossible to persaude players to move down here. Perhaps he's working with a tiny budget. Perhaps he has players lined up that won't be revealed until a week before the kick off. Either way, you can be sure he's doing his best, and criticising him before we've played a competetive game is a touch unfair.

Hubert Parry · Post by **Hubert Parry** » 23 Jul 2013, 13:06

Hello again Gulls!

From another outsider's perspective (me, a Devonian Cheltenham supporter with a keen eye on you lot, Exeter and Plymouth), I don't think the original prediction is far off the mark.

This forum is one of the best in terms of supporters with a realistic perspective of their own club (our own Robins Nest Forum has a fair few who seem to have ideas well above their station) although I have found the analyses of Ling and Knill rather fascinating particularly. I recall during our playoff encounters this forum fawning over the managerial qualities of Ling (and that was pretty justified, he did a magnificent job) and even before the early season game at Plainmoor last season, he was still subject to almost universal acclaim (again, justifiably so, he had lost some key players). Now, I know that many of you will disagree with my views of Ling's departure, and that isn't relevant here. However, I am getting a sense of deja vu reading some of your comment's about Knill. To some, he can do no wrong it seems, despite his questionable managerial record (indeed, many of the supporters from his past clubs have nothing but bleak stories that rival JG Ballard - the same goes for Chris Brass).

That said, you have made a cracking signing in Cameron, who I would have liked for Cheltenham. Harding and Tonge are your run of the mill League Two players, and Chapell has promise. Regardless of some of your views, you have lost two excellent players in Saah and Howe - integral to your playoff season and I don't think either have been replaced satisfactorily. This said, I expect you to finish lower midtable (16th perhaps) and higher than Exeter.

I fully expect many of you to strike me down, however, this is a perspective of someone with no prejudice or bias and someone who has been following your fortunes carefully (many of my best friends are Torquay fans and I have suffered their moaning down at the pub for far too long).

All the best for the coming season, and I would love for you to prove me wrong and join us (hopefully) in a promotion push.

gullintwoplaces · Post by **gullintwoplaces** » 23 Jul 2013, 13:18

Very balanced posting Hubert. I think (and hope) that you are right about Exeter, my candidate for bottom place. Your analysis of the Gulls is fair based on signings to date, but this will be remedied I am sure. I don't expect a promotion push, but I do expect to be higher than 16th!

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 23 Jul 2013, 13:35

Hubert Parry wrote:Hello again Gulls!

From another outsider's perspective (me, a Devonian Cheltenham supporter with a keen eye on you lot, Exeter and Plymouth), I don't think the original prediction is far off the mark.

This forum is one of the best in terms of supporters with a realistic perspective of their own club (our own Robins Nest Forum has a fair few who seem to have ideas well above their station) although I have found the analyses of Ling and Knill rather fascinating particularly. I recall during our playoff encounters this forum fawning over the managerial qualities of Ling (and that was pretty justified, he did a magnificent job) and even before the early season game at Plainmoor last season, he was still subject to almost universal acclaim (again, justifiably so, he had lost some key players). Now, I know that many of you will disagree with my views of Ling's departure, and that isn't relevant here. However, I am getting a sense of deja vu reading some of your comment's about Knill. To some, he can do no wrong it seems, despite his questionable managerial record (indeed, many of the supporters from his past clubs have nothing but bleak stories that rival JG Ballard - the same goes for Chris Brass).

That said, you have made a cracking signing in Cameron, who I would have liked for Cheltenham. Harding and Tonge are your run of the mill League Two players, and Chapell has promise. Regardless of some of your views, you have lost two excellent players in Saah and Howe - integral to your playoff season and I don't think either have been replaced satisfactorily. This said, I expect you to finish lower midtable (16th perhaps) and higher than Exeter.

I fully expect many of you to strike me down, however, this is a perspective of someone with no prejudice or bias and someone who has been following your fortunes carefully (many of my best friends are Torquay fans and I have suffered their moaning down at the pub for far too long).

All the best for the coming season, and I would love for you to prove me wrong and join us (hopefully) in a promotion push.

Our fans were so anti Buckle that they'd made their mind up whoever had got the job after was going to be better than him. Ling to his credit did a very good job in his first year, he signed well in the main, well in the first XI anyway, we didn't have many injuries, played terrible football but won games. Fans will look past everything as long as there is a win at the end of it. The moment we stopped winning suddenly Ling was useless apparently.

The reality was not a lot had changed but where we had a goalkeeper that won us 12-15 extra points and where we had the best midfielder in the league who won us another 10, suddenly we were without those extra points showing up the rest of our pretty limited squad of players.

for me the jury is out on Knill, we'll see this year. It wasn't an easy task taking the TUFC job at the end of last year with our confidence shot and team of pi$$ poor players but just about we sneaked enough points to stay up (we won 4 out of Knill's 14 games in charge) I think we've been too slow to build the side this summer with such a big rebuild job on so much so that we still don't have a centre half and still haven't replaced Rene's 15 goals and assists up front. 2 key positions, vital positions unfilled as yet.

If we don't get suitable replacements of high (ish) quality in those 2 areas then we'll definitely be bottom 5 or 6 again.

wodger of awabia · Post by **wodger of awabia** » 23 Jul 2013, 13:51

The thing is Knill has stated that he wants to sign a central defender, & another striker. It looks unlikely at the moment that he will be able to sign these players before the season starts.This could be because of lack of funds, or the players that are available are not ones that he wants on his staff, or even that they are not prepared to move down here & mix with "the great unwashed of Castle Circus". If this is the case,then why not say that he has "looked around" but there is no one suitable available at the moment, & he will start the season with the staff he has got, & look to strengthen certain areas using the loan market if considered necessary. Surely a "cards on the table" statement like this would reassure everybody that he knows what he is doing & is not a complete plonker. The Rendell saga smacks of desperation, & will not have helped season ticket sales. I think many of the fans would quite like the idea that we are going to start the season with all guns blazing & give the likes of Yeoman,& Knills recent young signings the chance show what they can do. I don't think that many fans would complain if things don't work out & he has to enter the loan market.
It is not too late for the bad P.R. re: signing new players to be put right by an honest statement from the club.

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