tomogull wrote: ↑08 May 2017, 13:02
More poisonous bile. Why don't you give just a little bit of credit to Kevin Nicholson and the players for avoiding relegation when everything happening off the field was stacked against them? Whatever your negative opinions, nobody could accuse any of the players of a lack of effort throughout the whole season.
Incidentally, your were conspicuous by your absence on here after the North Ferriby match .........
I can vouch for the fact he had good reasons for not being around.
I get where you're coming from tomo but as much as I'm a Nicholson supporter, Merse makes valid points and like most of us just wants to see us setting an example for a change instead of being the most amateurish of professional clubs. I've fallen out with Merse more than most but he knows as well as I do just how critical a time it is for our club right now. Perhaps we could find it possible to ignore the rough edges and look more at the message than the messenger? Whatever you feel about him or his writing style, he loves the club as much as any of us. He's also man enough to stand and chat to anyone who disagrees with him, he doesn't hide like most, I can vouch for that too.
Southampton Gull wrote: ↑08 May 2017, 13:37I can vouch for the fact he had good reasons for not being around.......
Good reason indeed; my PC was in for a clean up and wipe following a cyber attempt to extract a lot of money (well by my standards!) from my bank account.
I've got it back now and after a busy morning re-established everything on which a 'firewall' had come down around; so now I can participate again instead of just reading on my phone.
Nice of you to describe me as you do Dave ~ I'll try not to get dragged down to the level of those with personal agendas. ~ AND to concentrate on the original reason I came onto this forum and that is to keep everyone aware of the parlous situation our club finds itself in under this ownership and this Mayoralty.
My advice to everyone is not to get too complacent during the time that those with dubious intent will do their utmost to achieve what they want whilst people are snoozing.
torregull wrote: ↑08 May 2017, 13:25
I can see no reason why the season ticket prices can't be announced it's not as if Osborne has to wait until the Board meets to agree such decisions,given that we still don't have one.
Just chosen three National League clubs to see what they're doing about season tickets for 2017-2018 season - Aldershot, Boreham Wood, Dover - and all three have their deals up and running. In fact at Aldershot (despite being in the play-offs) and Boreham Wood's Early Bird deals ended on May 1!
Boreham Wood are also telling their fans that pre-season friendlies will be announced soon.
I can also vouch for merse I was once a so called victim of abuse years ago however I have put that behind me and would vouch for Alan as a very good friend who like Dave sais loves the club like any of us. I would also say I like richins another guy who clearly loves the club so despite us not all agreeing lets try and get on for the sake of the club as divide and conquer is g I game it should not a forum game .....
merse btpir wrote: ↑07 May 2017, 22:32
Hancox and Duke should have been informed of their decisions much earlier... before the opportunity to look after their own interests had gone.
I take on board your point of 'Duty of Care' and you make a valid point as the distinct lack of education before release is one of the biggest faults in the system. The often belittled lower leagues is a cauldron of 'unwanted' talent and this is a time when young boys have to turn into men and figure out their next career step by themselves. The PFA estimates that each summer those entering the game aged 16, three years down the line, 50% will be outside professional football
You know that the most important thing when you get released is the self-realisation that you take football for what it is, a game - and see where you end up. Otherwise, you take a 9 to 5 job like the rest of us, Now that is the real issue. Going from football into the "real world" will be the challenging transition for them.
They should take a leaf out of Jordan Seabright's book, the ex-Torquay goalkeeper who quit football to become a car salesman as he didn't see himself going anywhere and wanted to have a career and be successful. It wasn't his lack of ambition in football, but he saw a good opportunity to go home and work in a good environment. And who can fault him?
It's not the integration into 'civvy street' I was on about.........it was the lack of forethought and consideration for those two in their quest to remain in the professional game that cost them a built in facility ~ the EFL exit trials.
Geoff Harrop knows those events well enough; he has been to so many of them and recruited so often from them. It was selfish, churlish and indeed negligent not to assist Charlie and Will to get along to those trials if they so wanted.
As I said, I can understand Kevin Nicholson neglecting to pay attention to that with all that he had going on and his patent lack of a suitable background in the management of the game; but what the hell is Harrop there for if not to take that part of his role on board and ensure the club is being run as professionally as possible?
My own son suffered in exactly the same circumstances last year when Dagenham & Redbridge closed their academy and went back on their word that this season's under 16s would be accommodated within the under 18 structure. When push came to shove, they were not and they too were too late for those sort of trials.
Anthony was the recipient of a couple of placements by his former head of youth as a result ~ one with a higher status club and one with a lower status club ~ which he terminated himself against my advice and chose to spend the second half of the season concentrating on his GCSEs and playing schools football and now has the offer of a two year deal at Boreham Wood.
Would I want him signing for a club with no footballing infrastructure below first team level? No I would not and I know that when Charlie Duke went to Torquay they had an academy and beyond that a scholar pro' set-up. When he got to scholar pro age, the infrastructure had been dismantled and so for him and Hancox the road has been pretty forelorn with only being loaned out as the only option.
Ironically Anthony received four late offers from clubs following a showcase game he was included in recently and one of those was from Leyton Orient facing exactly the D&R scenario one year later and in considerable disarray. Needless to say that one was politely declined and with the others he has made the decision to stick with the one firm offer he has right now confident that he can pick up where he left off before Christmas whilst I fret that he will find that very difficult.
It's damned tough enough even fighting your way into the lowest levels of the professional game and demands far more ability and mental strength than most people would even contemplate. There are literally thousands of boys chasing only scores of places; it's that hard and I could point out to you many players who are now in the semi-pro game whilst their former colleagues at good academies are currently at the very best clubs and even playing for their countries right now........the margins between success and failure are that thin!
nickbrod wrote: ↑08 May 2017, 14:03
Just chosen three National League clubs to see what they're doing about season tickets for 2017-2018 season - Aldershot, Boreham Wood, Dover - and all three have their deals up and running. In fact at Aldershot (despite being in the play-offs) and Boreham Wood's Early Bird deals ended on May 1!
Boreham Wood are also telling their fans that pre-season friendlies will be announced soon.
Hartlepool were only relegated 2 days ago and they are already selling tickets for next season.
Southampton Gull wrote: ↑08 May 2017, 13:37
I can vouch for the fact he had good reasons for not being around.
I get where you're coming from tomo but as much as I'm a Nicholson supporter, Merse makes valid points and like most of us just wants to see us setting an example for a change instead of being the most amateurish of professional clubs. I've fallen out with Merse more than most but he knows as well as I do just how critical a time it is for our club right now. Perhaps we could find it possible to ignore the rough edges and look more at the message than the messenger? Whatever you feel about him or his writing style, he loves the club as much as any of us. He's also man enough to stand and chat to anyone who disagrees with him, he doesn't hide like most, I can vouch for that too.
Okay - fair enough. You both know, or profess to know, more about what's happening at Plainmoor than most of us and I think many would agree that off the field the club is a shambles, a disgrace and something we have to be very concerned about. In my view, the one positive is Kevin Nicholson sticking with the club in a situation which would have broken many managers, and I think you would agree with this.
Merse has a different opinion as he obviously doesn't think Nicho is a competent manager, even though he knows better than me what goes on at Boardroom level. Okay - that's his opinion. But he doesn't have to snipe at the manager, or the players, in the majority of his many posts. He comes across as the Victor Meldrew of us Gulls fans !
To be honest I am not that impressed with Kevin Nicholson. At the end of last season he promised a team that the supporters could be proud of, and does anyone honestly feel we can be proud of what was achieved over the whole season, what with abysmal home performances against Maidstone, Southport, guisley, Sutton to name but a few and our traditional early exit from the fa cup courtesy of Woking. The necessary improvement that was needed to avoid relegation seems to have coincided with the arrival of Dave Hedges, and I doubt Nico could have avoided relegation without his input.
So I wouldn't have been sorry to see Nico go; but he hasn't and I wonder why. Could it be that GI see him as a focus of fan adulation allowing them to divert attention from their real purpose. Merse has suggested in one his replys to three little piglets that said poster is an employee of the club, and by extension an employee of GI. Three little piglets has used his postings today to galvanise opposition to merse from other forum members. I say beware, some of you may not like merse, but he is more committed to the cause of TUFC than anyone employed by GI; and I believe this is an attempt by GI to divide and rule the fan base.
Note to moderators : there are no swear words in this post so if it gets deleted like my other post I will assume GI have taken over the forum.
You seem very im-merse-d in the cauldron of 'unwanted' talent of young footballers. In truth talent oversight equally applies in 'civvy street' for often no other reason than gender, race or religion - such is the rich tapestry of life. But we cannot put all ills to right ( even though we try) we all have to make choices in a world of unfairness. As you say ........the margins between success and failure are that thin!
Hat's of to your son for being level headed and strong in character to terminate his football placement (against your advice) and chose to concentrate on his GCSEs - at least he has a back up plan. There is life beyond the game of pro-football and a better life in most cases - so I applaud your son for making an informed choice for himself and taking a different path than that of - prison, gambling, medicine and the lower leagues. You question whether "he can pick up where he left off" ? If he's good enough - he's good enough - and talent always shine's through at the end of the day - even it take longer than expected. There are many examples of that e.g. James Vardy.
Plymouth Gull wrote: ↑08 May 2017, 09:41
I'm pretty sure that in most recent seasons the early bird season ticket offer has been announced before we've even finished our season. An example being at the end of 2013/14, where the Early bird period began in mid-March, so we knew about them long before the season was over.
Absolutely. No idea what threepiglets is on about whilst trying to defend the club's owners ad nauseam. There is information on season tickets and early bird offers by now every year. This year is the exception.
My advice not to walk out on a second club in two months was not against Anthony concentrating on his GCSEs and neither was it the reason. It was for football reasons and he has been successfully combining his schoolwork and football for more years than I care to remember. Indeed I reckon most of those boys who do so are streets ahead in life management, time management and a disciplined lifestyle. I wanted him to stay with that particular manager/coach as he was moving to another club and to go with him.....he didn't want to and neither did he want to stay where he was without him.
I spent the first half of the season working with a squad of twenty u16s who were almost to a man seeking to return to the professional academy ranks they had departed for one reason or another; busy working on their behalf arranging trials and placements at both full-time and part-time clubs where they were encouraged to combine their studies and football and over twenty five clubs were on my regular list of calls and visits.
That project for me ended at Christmas as planned ~ as the boys do indeed need to be putting academics first from then until exam time ~ and the rest of it which involved generally managing a community development club and it's different age groups came to grief at the same time following a disagreement over developing that club into a charter standard set-up. It was always going to be my last 'job' in this field and that's how it will be in a challenging field in a socially deprived area of London where quite often excellence in sport or one of the arts is the only way out of the basement for these kids who often have a lot less at home than many of their peers do in other parts of the country.
Working and mixing with such youngsters (whilst having it's frustrations and constant set backs dealing with social issues and matters of law and order at times) is hugely satisfying and I love nothing more than coming across players I knew as youngsters as young as nine or ten now playing the game for a living or 'semi-living'. Not for everyone the full-time game; some go into the semi-pro game and some use their talent to go globe trotting and play for fun in many corners of the world........you don't need to be a world star to play and earn a little in Scandinavia, South America or North America at the more modest levels. Have boots will travel is a great maxim; they're only young once and get those opportunities to expand their lives into something out of the ordinary.
merse btpir wrote: ↑08 May 2017, 15:05It's not the integration into 'civvy street' I was on about.........it was the lack of forethought and consideration for those two in their quest to remain in the professional game that cost them a built in facility ~ the EFL exit trials.
Geoff Harrop knows those events well enough; he has been to so many of them and recruited so often from them. It was selfish, churlish and indeed negligent not to assist Charlie and Will to get along to those trials if they so wanted.
As I said, I can understand Kevin Nicholson neglecting to pay attention to that with all that he had going on and his patent lack of a suitable background in the management of the game; but what the hell is Harrop there for if not to take that part of his role on board and ensure the club is being run as professionally as possible?
My own son suffered in exactly the same circumstances last year when Dagenham & Redbridge closed their academy and went back on their word that this season's under 16s would be accommodated within the under 18 structure. When push came to shove, they were not and they too were too late for those sort of trials.
Anthony was the recipient of a couple of placements by his former head of youth as a result ~ one with a higher status club and one with a lower status club ~ which he terminated himself against my advice and chose to spend the second half of the season concentrating on his GCSEs and playing schools football and now has the offer of a two year deal at Boreham Wood.
Would I want him signing for a club with no footballing infrastructure below first team level? No I would not and I know that when Charlie Duke went to Torquay they had an academy and beyond that a scholar pro' set-up. When he got to scholar pro age, the infrastructure had been dismantled and so for him and Hancox the road has been pretty forelorn with only being loaned out as the only option.
Ironically Anthony received four late offers from clubs following a showcase game he was included in recently and one of those was from Leyton Orient facing exactly the D&R scenario one year later and in considerable disarray. Needless to say that one was politely declined and with the others he has made the decision to stick with the one firm offer he has right now confident that he can pick up where he left off before Christmas whilst I fret that he will find that very difficult.
It's damned tough enough even fighting your way into the lowest levels of the professional game and demands far more ability and mental strength than most people would even contemplate. There are literally thousands of boys chasing only scores of places; it's that hard and I could point out to you many players who are now in the semi-pro game whilst their former colleagues at good academies are currently at the very best clubs and even playing for their countries right now........the margins between success and failure are that thin!
The academy shut down in 2015. We signed Charlie duke in 2016 from St. Helens town. So how was he part of our academy?
