Who stays? Who goes?

[Plainmoor78]

Gowling, Pittman & Clarke, supposed!y senior pro's, you'd hope they would pool their experience & help the younger inexperienced members of the squad to get the very best out of their ability.
Instead we have 3 of the most least productive , expensive, underachieving players* ever to have pulled a TUFC shirt on at the same time, I'd get rid now, pay up their contracts now, pay them a bit more if necessary, they're obviously a thorn in Owers side, as you can tell with Gowlings attitude & lackluster performance v Guisely last tues, they're not good for squad togetherness.
*couldn't be bothered to call them anything derogatory.

Send them out on loan or make them train with the youth academy. But agree they will be a bad influence if left at the club.

[Plainmoor78]

One things for sure, whoever wants who, Billericay Town will probably have first dibs. It will be interesting to see if Glenn Tamplin uses a more restrained approach than splashing the cash on old premier league has beens after the grief it caused this season.

[Bristol_Gull]

One things for sure, whoever wants who, Billericay Town will probably have first dibs. It will be interesting to see if Glenn Tamplin uses a more restrained approach than splashing the cash on old premier league has beens after the grief it caused this season.

Yeah the guy splashed some cash! O'Hara, Konchesky and Pennant?! They finished as champions though and most of the grief / controversy was caused by Tamplin himself wasn't it?!

Bring on the Premier league oldies if it helps us take the NLS title!

[6667GULL]

Only Dorel should stay all the rest should go including Young who is past his use by date.
Shame Reid has a contract as he could bugger off too otherwise.
Whatever we still be sh*t again next season.

[merse btpir]

Yeah the guy splashed some cash! O'Hara, Konchesky and Pennant?! They finished as champions though and most of the grief / controversy was caused by Tamplin himself wasn't it?!

To illustrate a point; Konchesky retired himself well before Christmas and Pennant's hardly been selected for ages ~ only Jamie O'Hara continues to hold down a place from amongst that plethora of publicity attracting signings.....

By far the most successful of their expensive singings have been Jake Robinson who has been just senstional at their level and should never really be playing in it; but as he had shown previously by singing for Whitehawk, money definitely talks for Robinson. When I have seen them Sam Deering has been a real pro', great captain but I felt they didn't really know where to play him and he frequently found himself being withdrawn. Left back Joe Kizzy was picked up for peanuts from Wingate & Finchley (who play peanuts themselves by the way) and I feel he will play a significant role going forward.....and local hero Billy Bricknell of course is a veritable scoring machine too.

I think the days of signing signature veterans have served their purpose and are now over and I was told that Tamplin had told Harry Wheeler that once the club got into the National League he (Tamplin) would no longer continue in the technical area as he knew he was far from qualified to do so at that level of the game. But then the outwardly wealthy owner often talks one game and then plays another shortly afterwards.

A serious football game is being played here, and they must be treated with the utmost respect; an acquaintance of mine is moving in as development manager and giving up his Isthmian League North manager's job in order to do it; which indicates they intend to re-start the U23 team they suddenly disbanded after only a third of this season had gone and they are seeking to recruit a lot of upwardly mobile young talent from around London and the south east in order to begin the process of being self-sufficient producers of their own talent rather than continue with the unsustainable manner in which Tamplin has sensationally put this club on the map.

They are an old established club being formed in 1880, have a good core of support and have been in this level of football before having had a singular season in 2012-13 when they finished bottom of the league amidst huge problems with their still notorious pitch and I know that is now a major capital project for this summer.

[Gloomy Gull]

Only Dorel should stay all the rest should go including Young who is past his use by date.
Shame Reid has a contract as he could bugger off too otherwise.

Absolutely agree.

[SuperNickyWroe]

I think Keating could do well next season with the right player beside him

Ronaldo?

Actually, I'd better pipe down as he's Mrs SNW's fave player..... =D

[Gulliball]

If I remember correctly Nicholson's 'maybe list' suggested that if they could not find a new club he would reconsider. There is no suggestion that this is Owers condition.

This seems a funny thing to still be stuck in your mind 12 months later.

From what I recall, Nicholson had a list of those he definitely wanted to keep, those who were being released and a group in the middle that were in-between. To all intents and purposes, they left the club, with the covering note that it wasn't due to lack of quality, rather lack of budget. As we've seen, Williams, Gallifuoco etc were National League level players, so weren't released, but as we didn't have the funds to give them the wages they were looking for, they were free to look elsewhere and presumably would only come back to us as a last resort. Both did indeed get better offers elsewhere, but Williams still found his way back to the club, so they look to have been pigeonholed pretty accurately.

The idea of inviting a player back for pre-season if they haven't been fixed up elsewhere is hardly innovative, and indeed should pretty much always be on the table if the club takes its duty of care responsibilities seriously.

With Owers now, for all the rumours of a £1m budget, I think this released list shows that this is not the case. If the manager knows he has that kind of budget, then I don't think he would be looking to keep a front line of Williams, Reid and Keating. Those are offers of a manger who knows money is tight, indeed pretty identical to twelve months ago.

The two 'in limbo' this year, Sokolik and Osborn, look to be in similar situations to those of Williams and Gallifuoco last year. Sokolik has played 5 games for us and not done enough to be offered a contact, but his background in the game should see him get a deal somewhere else. It's likely then that he will leave, but should he not get that other offer, we would be interested in having him back next year if the money is right. That seems like sensible management, rather than something to still get upset about 12 months later. I imagine Osborn's future is linked to Clarke/Dorel - if as Owers would like, Dorel stays and Clarke goes then we need a new number 2, which Osborn would be a cheaper alternative to Clarke. If Clarke stays but Dorel doesn't we might still want him as number 2, but if Dorel signs and Clarke stays then we don't need all three, so there's nothing for him... Again, it seems quite sensible to wait and see given the circumstances, rather than try to either offer Sokolik or Osborn something now, or release them now, when you don't know what will happen over the summer. Unfortunately, both would indicate that Owers is under the same constraints of Nicholson last summer rather than a £1m budget to sign who he likes...

[Plainmoor78]

That's actually a very good post Gulliball. I suspect that if there is a £1 million budget it probably covers the entire running of the club for a whole season, not just the playing budget.

[merse btpir]

I rather think the question mark over Sokolik is the health issue he currently has which still appears to be unresolved. If that is the case then more than likely he will be made a conditional offer dependent on him passing one of those medical that were seemingly scandalously absent when signing unfit for purpose dross like Clarke and Gowling last summer.

[Gulliball]

Have just covered this in another thread, but if you think about it for even a second, not giving a medical to new signings would be a negligent act - so while it may fit into a narrative about your manager of choice, would actually implicate the entire medical team, the player himself and the General Manager. Whilst Nicholson may be gone now, the medical staff and General Manager now are exactly as they were last summer, so either Kevin Nicholson was desperate to sign injured players who he then couldn't play and everyone else was entirely happy to go along with this and not do their jobs, or there is a basic flaw in your judgement that you are happy to pass off as 'seemingly' true.

Clarke was Player of the Month in August, and then replaced by a very able goalkeeper in Dorel that kept him out the team. Had he been required to be number one then it would have hardly been the end of the world. Likewise, Gowling had played 46, 42 36, 46 and 21 games respectively in the last five seasons, and played 26 this season. You might expect some injuries at his age, but were he five years younger he would still be in the football league. Like every other signing, there is a reason why these two players were in our price range (age in both these cases). Both also fell foul of being signed by a manager who was sacked four games into managing them. Until anything changes off the pitch, the signings this summer will be exactly the same, as indeed Owers signing Sokolik who was then immediately unavailable - these things will happen and usually clubs have a squad to cope with it. The poorer you are the more you feel the impact of players missing.

[gullsdiv2]

Were you at Eastleigh at home? Old chocolate Wrists gifted them their first aswell as staying rooted to his line for juat about every corner inviting more and more pressure every time, in such a pivotal match we needed our keeper to stand firm! Maidstone at home in the Trophy was another example of him not leaving his line any time a ball went into the box, lo and behold we conceded 4 that day. You could argue the first four games he only “shone” as he was the best of a bad bunch and was called into action so many times he was the only one to stand out! Combine that with his injury record this season and he really was a shoddy signing! Good riddance i say, i just worry who will take him off our hands! No relegation release clause?! That should be a sackable offence Mr Harrop!

[CP Gull]

Whilst Nicholson may be gone now, the medical staff and General Manager now are exactly as they were last summer, so either Kevin Nicholson was desperate to sign injured players who he then couldn't play and everyone else was entirely happy to go along with this and not do their jobs, or there is a basic flaw in your judgement that you are happy to pass off as 'seemingly' true

Not sure why the club hasn't made an official announcement yet ... but actually Gareth Law has not had his contract renewed and has left the club.

[torregull]

Not sure why the club hasn't made an official announcement yet ... but actually Gareth Law has not had his contract renewed and has left the club.

What's Damian Davey doing these days?

[Tufc83]

Torquay United have released five of the squad which got relegated from the National League and put three more on the transfer list.

Reece Mitchell, Conrad Balatoni, Sam Chaney, Yan Klukowski and Jake Gosling have all been released.

Josh Gowling, Ryan Clarke and Jon-Paul Pittman, who all have another year to run on their deals at Plainmoor, have been transfer listed.

The club has made offers to six players and are in talks with two more.

Luke Young, Brett Williams, Sean McGinty, Ruairi Keating, Liam Davis and Vincent Dorel are all considering new offers, while Jakub Sokolik and Neal Osborn are to start talks on new deals.