Ruairi Keating

[tomogull]

There are players out there if you look hard enough believe it or not there is one on your doorstep worth giving a shout on non-contract and see if he could prove himself.

Yes - I agree. I remember you mentioning a player with Buckland Athletic. But the step up from local football to even National league level is big. Sean Finch, for example, is a good player at local level but he didn't make an impact in the few chances he was given at Plainmoor. I'm with you on young Keating. Of course, you can't fully judge a player on five minutes or so of football, but he did show enough in that short time to warrant more game time.

[merse btpir]

It's not the 'judgement of the management'. Jamie Reid plays because he's what we can afford. Full stop.

There are managers with smaller budgets in this league than Kevin Nicholson; managers who are achieving more.....the managers of five of the immediate six above Torquay United for a start ~ and three of them are part-time.

[arcadia]

I am thinking that next season could be our last as we are in GI hands and they are not interested in the club. The council need to support the club by perhaps giving part of the land to the club so we have a stake in Plainmoor, all that money that the lady spent could have bought the ground.

[merse btpir]

I am thinking that next season could be our last as we are in GI hands and they are not interested in the club. The council need to support the club by perhaps giving part of the land to the club so we have a stake in Plainmoor, all that money that the lady spent could have bought the ground.

But GI own the club so giving part of the land to 'the club' is giving it to GI ~ the worst thing Thea Bristow could have done was purchase the freehold for the club because the club was being run into the ground with reliance on her benevolence and when the club inevitably fell into someone else's hands the ground would have passed with it. It's far better that the ground's freehold stays with the council or falls into the hands of the trust.

Had Thea Bristow 'bought the ground' and then given it to the trust that would be a different matter wouldn't it; but under the previous board and with them under the influence of Pete Masters, the trust have been treated as pariahs

[Gullscorer]

There are managers with smaller budgets in this league than Kevin Nicholson; managers who are achieving more.....the managers of five of the immediate six above Torquay United for a start ~ and three of them are part-time.

Those managers with smaller budgets are probably at clubs which are more centrally situated, with a fair number of neighbouring clubs and a bigger choice of players, whereas the Gulls are out in the wild southwest. Players would have to be pretty desperate to choose the Gulls over a nearby club in, say, the southeast or the midlands, in the absence of any tempting financial offers from Plainmoor. Given the Gulls' circumstances over the past few years, I doubt that any other manager in the land could have done better with the next to zero budget KN was given.

[Neal]

I am thinking that next season could be our last as we are in GI hands and they are not interested in the club. The council need to support the club by perhaps giving part of the land to the club so we have a stake in Plainmoor, all that money that the lady spent could have bought the ground.

I think Arcadia meant that all that good money was in effect wasted, and could have been spent more wisely

[Neal]

There are managers with smaller budgets in this league than Kevin Nicholson; managers who are achieving more.....the managers of five of the immediate six above Torquay United for a start ~ and three of them are part-time.

Has Torquay geographically shifted these last few years. yes its a problem but blaming everything on that is ridiculous.

[arcadia]

I think Arcadia meant that all that good money was in effect wasted, and could have been spent more wisely

You are right managers look after themselves as it's their jobs a Chairman should control the cash flow this club has had air heads as Chairmen. They had someone else's money and spent it.

We could have been a steady ship with the money that has been spent here.

[tomogull]

Those managers with smaller budgets are probably at clubs which are more centrally situated, with a fair number of neighbouring clubs and a bigger choice of players, whereas the Gulls are out in the wild southwest. Players would have to be pretty desperate to choose the Gulls over a nearby club in, say, the southeast or the midlands, in the absence of any tempting financial offers from Plainmoor. Given the Gulls' circumstances over the past few years, I doubt that any other manager in the land could have done better with the next to zero budget KN was given.

Exactly, Gullscorer - good post. I haven't had time to check out the managers of the clubs referred to by Merse - i.e. how long the managers have been at the clubs and how settled are things 'behind the scenes'. I wonder if any of the players of these clubs have to drive themselves to away matches, or alternatively, if the manager has to drive them by minibus? I am not saying that Nicholson is the best manager in the league, far from it. He is in his first full season at a club which is an absolute shambles off-field, about as low as it can get without going into liquidation. He is learning on the job and, hopefully, learning from mistakes.

He's on a three year contract. If the club is still struggling in his third season, that will be the time to say "Sorry, Kev, it isn't working". I think if the club stabilises off-field, Nico will turn things around on the field. One of the six clubs Merse refers to is Eastleigh. For all their £££s, chopping and changing managers at least once a season hasn't helped them, has it?

[SuperNickyWroe]

^^^^^ it hasn't tonight tomogull...... :}

[merse btpir]

One of the six clubs Merse refers to is Eastleigh. For all their £££s, chopping and changing managers at least once a season hasn't helped them, has it?

No it is not Eastleigh! The clubs I was referring to are Sutton United, Braintree Town, Solihull Moors who are part-time, and Boreham Wood who are full-time on a very small budget with players supplementing their earnings by working in the club's development/academy system. Chester are the other full-time club in that group running on a very low budget.

It's not what you spend, it's how you spend it. The biggest playing budget in the Ryman League this season is at Billericay Town (c£9K a week) and they only sit halfway in the table! Eastleigh are an example of a club in the midst of change, are steadily increasing their gates to (now) better than Torquay's and are on a journey from Hampshire League football to who knows where. What sort of trajectory have Torquay United taken during that time?

You can bang on about 'Kev driving the bus', 'Kev doing the rounds of the local hospitals and schools'; 'Kev having a rough deal' as much as you like but the bottom line is his team are sinking and sinking fast towards relegation ~ a relegation that will be even more damaging than that of that other #legend Hargreaves when it crashed out of the Football League.

[tomogull]

Well, we shall have to agree to disagree. You see Nicholson as part of the problem. I don't. I see him as part of the long-term solution. Time will tell who is right. I agree that relegation will be even more damaging than relegation from the Football League, but even you have to accept that it was Nicholson who saved us from virtually certain relegation last season.

Going even further from the original topic - Ruari Keating - has the National League actually ratified GI as owners yet? One has to wonder why it is taking so long ...... Also, have you heard any news about Shaun Harrad's return from compassionate leave ?

[arcadia]

Where do you play him?