Newport v Torquay United. 28/09/2013

[gullintwoplaces]

Totally agree. Steve is clearly a passionate Gulls fan. I enjoy his commentary, he is a real character and good to listen to. Unlike Brucie, I don't ridicule people for making mistakes. What a sad world Brucie lives in if he has to criticise others in such a nasty way.

[A Realist]

@ferrarilover and gullintwoplaces. Well said and refreshing to see true Gulls fans getting behind another. The way it should be.

I would be surprised if representatives of both TUFC and Radio Devon dont have a browse of this forum to try and get feedback. Luckily I would also be surprised if they are as kneejerk as some of the silly attitudes on here.

If Steve is reading this, get your chin up lad as most appreciate your efforts.

[ferrarilover]

Tomo, Deaman was absolute pony. One of the worst triallists we've ever had from what I saw. There is obviously a reason that we persisted with him for so long, but it wasn't talent.
The problems which beset the Saturday all came from Thursday. There simply wasn't time to do anything practical about the situation other than what we did. Knill's choice of bench is not as odd as may seem. He goes into the game with a somewhat makeshift defence. Having another defender on the bench doesn't really help us. What we need is enough attacking options to give us a chance of outscoring the opposition.
Truth be told, it really should have worked. We were desperately hard done by to come away with nothing. We didn't play as well or dominate nearly as much against Cheltenham and we got 4 against them. The only people refusing to accept that are the two or three usual suspects who couldn't possibly know because they weren't there. Such is the unfairness of the result that even the Newport board is full of people wondering how the hell we haven't won the match.

Matt.

[yeovilgull]

, I think Steve did a pretty good job. I have to say I love his enthusiasm and passion for the club and way he says it as it is as does Dave Thomas. I would much rather listen to these two than some of the northern based commentators we get sometimes.
I felt to start with he was maybe trying too hard and trying to name every player who touched the ball and as someone said earlier the end of a lot of his sentences seemed to go up in pitch but as the game went on and he got more into it he either improved or I got used to it. Either way at least you knew which team had the ball and a reasonable idea of where on the pitch it was. With some commentaries I've listened to we might take a shot then there's a load of waffle until our keeper is taking a goal kick at the other end. I did pick up a couple of times, as Brucie said, that he gave the score as 0-1 to us but put that down to his wishful thinking and over enthusiasm.
Well done and thanks Steve, a good 1st attempt and I look forward to many more.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Right, declaration of interests first: Steve is a mate of mine and has been for a number of years. He's a top bloke and is as genuine, honest and simple a chap as you'll find anywhere.

He called me this morning and asked me to make a post on his behalf, since he doesn't use this forum, but he does come across it through his children and others.

When he called, he was very upset and angry about what's been posted on here, mainly by Tezza and a couple of others. I said I'd post up a message for him straight away, but decided to give myself the afternoon to make sure I wasn't just going off on a rant and to do him justice. He expressed his unhappiness using plenty of ripe language, but said that I could post basically whatever I liked, so here goes.

Brucie, Steve is extremely unhappy with you in particular. I don't blame him. A few facts (we know you're keen on them):

Steve does the commo for free and as a favour for Radio Devon. He could charge, he could refuse point blank, but he doesn't. Radio Devon are desperately short of commentators and without Steve, it is just possible that we'd have no commentary at all.
The commentary position yesterday was described by Dave Thomas (who has a lot of experience of these things) as the worst he'd ever seen. The reason a lot of Steve's commo was a bit ad-libbed was because he simply couldn't see the action. He had a post and a load of fans in his way. Often, he was as good as guessing what was going on in order to avoid dead air.
He was speaking from 1410 until almost 1800 and was offered not so much as a glass of water or a piss break.
He's not had a single day's training for his job at RD. He was simply handed a mic and thrown straight in at the deep end.

He is perfectly happy to admit that he isn't God's gift to commentating, but he never claimed to be. Yesterday was a baptism of fire for him and he did his best in terrible conditions. He will continue to work to improve as lead commo, but he will also continue to do it for nothing and will spend a chunk of his free time listening back to a recording of Saturday's game and finding areas in which he can improve.

He accepts fair and meaningful criticism, but his children, friends and family read this board and neither they nor he need to be confronted by vitriolic rants offering him up as the worst thing ever to happen to mankind.

For my part, he doesn't deserve what he's got in this thread. He's just a bloke doing a favour for other fans who can't (or can't be arsed) to attend games. He doesn't have to do it, he doesn't have to do it for free and he doesn't have to put up with nonsense when he does his best.

Matt.

Here here Matt. I can't say I've ever heard him commentating (as I live in Derbyshire) but he isn't a professional broadcaster and is doing his best so what do people expect?! I'm sure he conveys as much information as he can to keep fans listening in the loop generally of what is happening out there on the pitch and all from a TUFC perspective so I think he is doing a commendable job.

I feel a slight idiot as it is perhaps remiss of me to comment having never heard the man before but some of the stuff written is just not called for regardless.

He is trying to contribute to the club and to the fans for nothing and i'm all for that and all some can do is have a dig. Why not ask these detractors next time and see if they want to do it. I'm sure they would make their excuses and leave faster than I switch off the telly when I hear the X Factor music! (just done it actually not long ago, 2 seconds I think it was - a record in our household AND I was upstairs on the sh*tter at the time! )

Back of the net!!

Well done Steve and keep up the good work.

[hector]

Yeah, losing 1-0 in a tight game against Rochdale is exactly the same as getting a lesson from Fleetwood. Load of old shite, Hector, the sort of crap I'd expect of someone who'd been watching football for about a week.

It's got f**k all to do with Knill. We could have Sir Brian Clough-Ferguson here and we'd still only have been beaten properly once this year.

There's more to a game of football than the result, if there wasn't, people wouldn't bother going to watch, they'd just read the results in the Sunday papers.

Matt.

A defeat is a defeat, however. If the other team score more it means you are beaten. You sound as though you are trying to suggest that those defeats were, well, you know, draws.

We have been beaten 'properly' 4 times, 5 when you include cup. Because when you are beaten 'properly', like in the real world, not the la-la land you inhabit, the other team tends to score more. Football results, sadly, I guess, rely on quantitative data rather than qualitative. Pesky referees, awarding the game to the team who score more. You're not Paul Buckle are you?

[ferrarilover]

Again, you're just demonstrating that you know the sum total of three fifths of **** all about the game.

Matt.

[Plymouth Gull]

Is it worth trying to get this back on topic?

Chapell was taken off with an ankle injury on saturday, fingers crossed that's nothing serious. The boos from the fans at the time were a bit silly really, not gonna lie. Lets just hope Azeez didn't think they were for him, as should we manage to get him on a longer spell we'll be quids in.

[Gulliball]

Steve Breed and Dave Thomas is a great combination, they are both Torquay fans and have a huge knowledge and passion for the Club that all the other regulars don't express. I don't care what the ex-Exeter right back used to like 4 years ago, I want someone to describe the action and how we are playing, to me when I'm sat 600 miles away and can't see it for myself. Steve's excitement is a perfect match for radio, you can tell when the ball is in a dangerous postion, and instantly tell from the sigh, the shriek or the cheer if it was awful, close or in. That's what you want on a radio commentary, not a fantastic descriptive version of what happened, when you have to wait for 30 seconds to find out whether we've scored, conceeded, got a corner, or otherwise. The details can be filled in afterwards, as they are. I would have Dave Thomas and Steve Breed every game over the other options.

[TeenageGull]

It would be nice to see if Brucie is going to crawl out of his hole and maybe apologise to Steve. Or he could just sit behind his keyboard reading matts comments from Steve personally and wonder what a true fan he is to the club and how he is the nicest human being ever. Brucie?

[ferrarilover]

The boos were justified. Chappell, at the time, was our best attacking threat. They were shit scared of him and were allocating a disproportionate number of men to look after him, freeing up players in the middle. It certainly allowed Bodin to find himself in acres of space time and again. As it turned out, Azzezzezez was a more than able replacement, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't have been one of the central two going off, since they weren't doing anything anyway.

Matt.

[Plymouth Gull]

Yes but to save aggravating injury, it was a wise decision, is it not? Bodin was doing fine on the other side, causing as many problems as Chapell in my opinion. Ball was pretty useless, but I think that was his final appearance for the club really..

When you say 'central two', who do you mean, considering we only had Ball..

[hector]

Brucie & Hector....

Just to reassure me and possibly the rest of us why do you bother with Torquay Utd ?

As the only thing either of you post is to moan criticise and generally knock the club,manager, players at every opportunity I wonder what kind of perverse pleasure you get from spouting your drivel ?

As I now know Hectors real identity I am not too surprised as you used to moan and continually have ago when Mr Bateson was in charge. Same old crap year after year after year from you. Do I have to remind you that this is Torquay United and not Manchester United ? Oh dear even they are not winning every game !!! So please GET REAL!

Everybody is entitled to their opinion but the stuff that you guys spout is both negative and pathetic.

We are a small club run on a shoestring budget and unlike clubs such as Exeter Plymouth Portsmouth etc etc we have never gone into administration the club is being run in the right way but for some reason you expect us to perform fecking miracles on no money.

What do you realistically expect from Torquay United ??

For once try thinking about it before posting more drivel.....

The drivel is what you have posted.

Why is it, that if you are supporter of a small League 2 club that you are expected to accept your lot, put up with say, a relegation battle without complaint and it be suggested that you follow a big club if you dare express concern that your team are crap. Why is it either, or? There is a big grey area in between.

Even a poorly financed League 2 are allowed to appoint managers who are not useless. There is a breed of fan who want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend everything is rosy. Some of us have been watching football and Torquay for so long that you can see the signs. I expressed concern about Alan Knill before he was appointed and before he was even interim manager when he was first mooted. There are many, many other fans on here who moaned about Ling, it was their opinion. My view of Knill is my opinion and in the past people who wanted to be all pally with Bateson, defended Wes Saunders, even beyond him becoming indefensible as a manager. Based on his previous record and his record at Torquay, so far, I just do not think Knill is a good manager. The board jumped on the populist bandwagon when they appointed him.

Now, the idiots will say, 'Who could manage instead?' and quote Ferguson and Mourinho, as if there were no other candidates. The argument is self-defeating because if there really was no other candidate then it just demonstrates how we were actually scraping the barrel with this appointment.

Supporting Torquay United does mean we should expect a relegation battle and that anything better is a bonus. Being a solid League 2 team should not be beyond the limited ambitions some set themselves as Torquay fans. It is not an unreasonable expectation. Another relegation battle is unacceptable in my view.

[AustrianAndyGull]

When is Ball due back then? This week? Are we asking for an extension does anyone know?

[hector]

As for Radio Devon - I think Brucie is being unfair. Steve Breed often tells it like it should be told and I hope he isn't put off by some of the comments on here.