Gary Owers

[Southampton Gull]

Having spoken to him after the game Owers is a decent bloke who cares about his team. Give him a break, he's trying his best in a situation even the most able manager would find difficult.

Oh he's a decent chap, give him a break. He's out of his depth and it was all predicted when he finally emerged as the Harrop choice to lead us forward.

He's had it easier than Nicholson ever did and failed miserably.

[nickbrod]

Well whether you like him or not at present he's still the manager and my guess is he will be when we're in National South.

[Southampton Gull]

It isn't about whether I like him or not, it's about him not being up to the task he was given. I don't know the man personally but don't need to.

I agree that he'll still be here when we play the likes of Poole and St Albans next year but only because to sack him Harrop would have to admit he got it wrong. There's more chance of him winning slimmer of the week than that happening.

[TUST_Member_Rob]

I make it (league games) P19 W4 D5 L10
Win % 21 i think

[Dockers Pal]

I hope you're wrong. I hope he's out well before this window closes.

[Teigngull]

How do we begin to rid our club of these clowns especially Harrop ? He's nothing but a disgrace to our good name will be forever known as the tw@+ who killed us .
I wouldn't want that on my CV surely he'd never work in football again or would he ?

[Southampton Gull]

I make it (league games) P19 W4 D5 L10
Win % 21 i think

And 25% of that percentage came from beating Maidenhead who turned up late

[MellowYellow]

So we hired a new manager because our old one was not too successful.

Now this isn’t just a personal lament – I say it because our management recruitment is one of the most incredible oddities of Torquay's recent football history. Knill, Hargreaves and Nicho (even though the latter was restricted).

This is weird, right? Managers are typically smart, and football is a dynamic game that changes tactically on a regular basis. Were told that the new manager Owers ticked all the boxes for our return to the football league! So why has hiring the present incumbent into the most important position in the club been one of the single most chaotic, backwards process of anything in Torquay Utd's history – bringing us ever closer to lower tier regional football.

I think we need to leapfrog back to the way we went about hiring this guy!

Did Harrop actually watch Bath City play football?
*crickets chirping*
I expect not! So how did he verify what Owers was telling him about team management and what style he preferred them to play. Was that somehow not part of the process?

So on what criteria was he hired?
Reputation ( He worked before at a big club.)
His team were capable of beating ours.
Network Advice on who would be good
Advice from friendly agents
Panic!
Past Success

The last one is the only factor that actually matters, but it’s usually the product of a lot of confounding factors that can be difficult to separate from managerial impact (budget, luck, players, etc). The rest of them are potential disasters in one form or another that don’t do anything to help find the manager that we actually need to became a successful club.

So what was Ower's past success with Bath City. Well on paper nothing that exceeds Torquay Utd that's for sure. And more to the point did Harrop really understand Ower's style of play in order to succeed. And did we have a squad of players who could fit into the new managers style because it was doomed to failure especially if it differed significantly from the style that our team has played in the past (as appears to be the case).

So am I lambasting Ower's for not having the winning formula. Well (as in the case of Nicho) not really. The part about style, circles immediately back to Crystal Palace’s situation this summer and the hiring of Frank de Boer. As a manager, I think de Boer is actually pretty decent but you needed to provide him players that can succeed and probably quite a bit of time to teach the team his system. Neither of which Palace could afford him without being relegated. Picture sound familiar!

So what is the answer to this conundrum?

Well we should have learnt by now that hiring a poor manager or a bad fit can set off a chain of events that could see our club plummeting through multiple relegations. And that hiring a good manager can take an average team and catapult them into title challengers.

Now as Clarke Osborne is a business man. I would assume he had drawn up a contract for Ower's with a winning + style execution using it as a trigger for guaranteeing future years success (based on some agreed set of Key Performance Indicators) to enable the club to terminate his contract if needs be and thereby limiting the liability on the club side if they have to sack him. I think that time has come. It is evident that he does not have any magic formula and that the club really need to start looking right now for a good talented manager/coach to get us out of the National Conference South league next season at the first attempt.

As Clarke Osborne is not a football man the club does need someone who brings together all the different aspects of running a football club and makes certain they comply with a coherent, long-term plan. But I think I am right in saying that the consensus of opinion is Harrop is not that person.

[Southampton Gull]

Great post!!

[DevonYellow]

What I find difficult to grasp, playing Devil's advocate, is that Kev was given 2 years to assemble "his" team and it still wasn't good enough. Yet Owers isn't afforded the same consideration.

I'm not saying Owers is the manager to take us forward. Christ we may never get that under GI. But he has only had loans and out of contracts to work with. To be fair his side look fitter and more drilled than Kev's but just as unlikely to win a sodding game of football.

I'll keep going, whatever division we are in, but bloody hell it's hard work watching this crap week in week out.

[Southampton Gull]

The difference for me is that Nicholson had 2 years on a shoestring budget, was hampered by the General Manager from day 1 whereas Owers has had the luxury of total backing from Harrop and a far better budget and is still light years away from putting out a team that can save us from relegation. Nicholson did that twice on the back of collecting players himself for training and having to offer players the sum of £150/week for a full time job.

[MellowYellow]

Kev was given 2 years to assemble "his" team ... Yet Owers isn't afforded the same consideration...his side look fitter and more drilled than Kev's .

Please don't take this personally DevonYellow, but I fear we don't have another two seasons to get it right. In addition 11 Herculean's do not make a football team.

[DevonYellow]

What is the difference in budget though?

I appreciate Kev saved us twice but I'm also of school of thought that he was manager when we got in the mess to escape in the first place.

That said Nicholson, Ian Atkins and Steve McQueen combined couldn't get us out of it this time!

[westyorkshiregull]

Reading all posts

.cant add anything apart from Harrop should walk away. Them 4 week did it for me. Had us like fools and still is

[DevonYellow]

Please don't take this personally DevonYellow, but I fear we don't have another two seasons to get it right. In addition 11 Herculean's do not make a football team.

Don't worry I won't...there's too much worrying about upsetting people on here...gets in the way of good debate!

I completely agree time is against us but I struggle to see why KN's stock continues to rise. For my money neither him nor Owers were the right appointments.

The damage was taking too long to get a new manager in and poor recruitment in the summer. The situation was (is) ridiculous...almost like they want us to fail???