Buckle seen in Bristol

[CP Gull]

From various sources it would seem that it wouldn't take much of an improved offer from Ian Hayman to keep Buckle. I understand the need to keep finances under control, but maybe another £20K on his salary and a budget slightly improved on what is on offer might tempt him to stay. What concerns me is that if he left, what kind of side will we be putting out next season. Should he go, I can see a swift decline in the progress we've made over the last couple of seasons.

It would be hugely disappointing and short sighted on the part of the club if given what he has achieved over the last 4 years we aren't pulling out all the stops to try and persuade him to stay!

Following the departure of Colin Lee (say what you like about him but he was ambitious!) and the tragic loss of our main benefactor Paul Bristow RIP last summer, you get the feeling that the ambition to continue to really drive this club forward is very much in the hands of Paul Buckle. My biggest concern would be that if we were to lose Bucks that ambition might easily be lost. No disrespect to him but I just get the feeling that we might go for a "safe" appointment like Paul Trollope, probably a nice guy and all that and a half decent coach no doubt, but does he possess the same steely determination as Bucks, I'm not so sure.

Not only might we lose Bucks of course, we might also see some of the key backroom staff move on as well (North, Harrop, Milton and even Davey perhaps) and I wouldn't be at all surprised if one or two of the players went with him too ... especially the likes of Zebroski, O'Kane, Stanley (even though he's not really ours) etc.

Having said all that though I do realise (with head ruling heart) that there has to be a limit to our ambition otherwise we could end up going down the disastrous route of both of our Devon neighbours and you just get the feeling that if that ever happened to us then knowing our luck we would end up losing our club rather than the jammy gits getting away with paying their creditors an insulting amount of money so that they were able to stay in business!

[chippygull]

Hey hey!! Jo Kuffour!!! Come back, all is forgiven!

[TUFC92]

Sorry forgot to add to my previous reply,speculating on a new manager should our club need one,whilst i would love to see Paul trollope down here,i do not think our club would be able to attract him or any other experienced manager.

It would more likey be another up and coming candidate,how about Hargreaves/Branston,both working towards there coaching badge's,and think would be popular amongst our fans.

One last thing why do people keep saying Bucks will be a massively improved wage packet at Rovers,are we presuming because we are so small Bucks is on small wages,does any one know what he earns with us? i doubt it,i dont and i am not going presume either.

Would like to see Hargreaves or Branston in some sort of coaching capacity, but don't think it would be the best idea as manager. I'd choose Branston over Hargreaves, simply because I think Hargreaves has to many friends in the side, would he drop Mansell, Nicholson, Bevan etc if needed? Where as Branston, I don't think he'd be afraid to do that.

All speculation though, I don't see Buckle leaving before either play off game. I can see him leaving after though, would be extremely dissapointed but not suprised. All these Rovers fans saying they're a big club, who gives a flying sh*t? We could be in league one next season, they WILL be in league two.

Whatever you want to say about Buckle though, I don't believe he would be going to a job interview right before such a huge game for our club. I think he has far more respect than that, for the club and for the fans. This club gave him his first job in management, fair enough, he may feel like it is time to move on and I don't think anyone would begrudge him of that, but I'm almost 100% certain that Bucks wouldn't cause any un-necessary controversy for the club at this time.

[Southampton Gull]

Has anybody actually rung the club and asked them about these rumours?

I still believe that there is no way Bucks would be doing anything other than concentrating 100% on Saturday.

Would you expect them to make any comment, Rich?

[Richinns]

Would you expect them to make any comment, Rich?

Was hoping they would laugh and 100% confirm this is bullshit Dave!

[gashead468]

I am glad the Rovers fans have come on and told us they are a bigger club, I hadn't realised up until now.

BritishGas - thanks for the essay in the obvious.

Maybe you also didnt realise that Torquay's average gate for 2010-2011 was 2630 comparied to Rovers 6253. Additionally the highest you managed all season was 5002 compared to our lowest of 4829. The facts speak for themselves, we ARE a bigger club whether you choose to accept it or not.

Why all the sour grapes?

[Regiment]

i'm not going to get into this whole "my club is bigger than your club" nonsense, but i will say this. it's what makes football the sport it is. it's what makes the FA Cup the most exciting cup competition in club football in the world. NO CLUB OR INDIVIDUAL HAS A GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO ANYTHING IN FOOTBALL - YOU GET WHAT YOU EARN (and not always what you deserve).

anyway, back to the topic, and my ONLY concern about what could keep Buckle, or make him head for the door, is whether or not the club's ambition matches his own.

there was a lot of concern when we fielded the "illegal" player, as it was a clear kick in the slats to Buckle when things were going so well, and we all wondered how Bucks would come out the other side, but he got his head down, and here we are, three games away from promotion.

Buckle has (in my opinion) overstated his personal ambitions, but at the same time, has maintained his ambition for the work in progress at TUFC - a job he has not completed.

I also like to think Bucks is a pretty honest guy. we all know he makes dodgy decisions tactically at times, and he'll learn, but even the best do that. we've all stood on the terraces and seen his substitutions, and wondered what the hell was going through his head. for me, he's an inexperienced manager, learning his trade, and is very much a manager with no plan b. his plan a's are usually pretty good to be fair.

at a recent game, a fellow gull suggested Bucks may be under instruction from above NOT to get us promoted. personally i think that suggestion is ludicrous, but this is my point about ambition. we have gone from potential automatic promotion to skin-of-our-teeth playoffs, and of the 4 playoff teams, are probably in the worst form. i hope this is purely coincidence, but who knows ?

so, i don't know if bucks is indeed in line for the job at bristol, but ANY managerial vacancy usually comes with a sales pitch from the club based on ambition and achievement, so as i said, that would be my only concern about Bucks' head being turned.

regardless of all that, i can't believe any manager would do that to their club days before one of the biggest couple of weeks in their history. let's get behind buckle and the team, and get us up into div1, and then see what the future brings.

EDIT - final point i forgot to make - no matter how BIG bristol rovers are or think they are, and yeah, they are a bigger club than us, i don't have a problem with that, but i cannot see Buckle leaving to go to another Div2 club, bigger or not.

[TUFC92]

Maybe you also didnt realise that Torquay's average gate for 2010-2011 was 2630 comparied to Rovers 6253. Additionally the highest you managed all season was 5002 compared to our lowest of 4829. The facts speak for themselves, we ARE a bigger club whether you choose to accept it or not.

Why all the sour grapes?

Don't think anyones denying that Rovers are a bigger club than Torquay to be honest mate

Think it is more that you're coming on here giving it the big club bullsh*t about how you're a championship club. You are NOT a championship club, because championship clubs don't get relegated to league two

You're also NOT a sleeping giant, as said by somebody else Bradford City are, Bristol Rovers are NOT.

[Richinns]

Maybe you also didnt realise that Torquay's average gate for 2010-2011 was 2630 comparied to Rovers 6253. Additionally the highest you managed all season was 5002 compared to our lowest of 4829. The facts speak for themselves, we ARE a bigger club whether you choose to accept it or not.

Why all the sour grapes?

Why don't you stop trying to provoke reactions on our forum and then the ignorance to claim sour grapes!!!!. Deal with the fact you next season will be a League 2 club and no bigger than that. That is your reality.

[Fonda]

Fonda ..........."Really surprised he's so deseperate to get away that he's holding talks at this time though. I think his players and the clubs supporters deserve a little more respect than that, not to mention the board members that stood by him. "

Its a rumour so how can you say that ???

Where is the real evidence ? It may happen but the way you have posted it make it sound like a done deal ... do you know he has been holding talks ??..........

The glory of the internet............

Smileys for the hell of it !!! :na: :rules:

Of course you are correct Dutch.

My concern is that a couple of people have posted on this thread that are generally 'in the know' that have indicated it's a done deal...

[Southampton Gull]

Maybe you also didnt realise that Torquay's average gate for 2010-2011 was 2630 comparied to Rovers 6253. Additionally the highest you managed all season was 5002 compared to our lowest of 4829. The facts speak for themselves, we ARE a bigger club whether you choose to accept it or not.

Why all the sour grapes?

You won't find anyone on here is disputing Rovers are a bigger club, if you'd read his post properly you would see the irony.

Rovers are bigger than us, Bradford are much bigger than us, we beat them 3 nil at their place recently, size didn't help them much.

[Southampton Gull]

Shane, I've not seen anyone saying any deal has been done, but that doesn;t mean there isn't one, or a few for that matter, on offer.

[CP Gull]

Maybe you also didnt realise that Torquay's average gate for 2010-2011 was 2630 comparied to Rovers 6253. Additionally the highest you managed all season was 5002 compared to our lowest of 4829. The facts speak for themselves, we ARE a bigger club whether you choose to accept it or not.

Why all the sour grapes?

I think JamieE was being ironic, don't you?

Look we don't need reminding that you are a "bigger" club than us, clearly you are, and I doubt there is anyone on here that would seriously attempt to deny it. But as things stand I could probably name around 30 clubs who are currently "bigger" than us who happen to be below us in the League pyramid as things stand. We quite like punching above our weight and Bucks has (as far as I am aware) an excellent relationship with the current board at TUFC and I genuinely believe he enjoys his job here. Of course if he continues to be successful he will move on and it would be foolish of anyone to think that the limit of his ambitions is managing TUFC - his ambitious nature means he is aiming far, far higher than that!

His dilemma would be as to the timing of his move and finding the right club at the right level - that may well be BRFC who knows - but you may not be the only club looking at this moment in time and not only that but should we be successful via the Pay Offs I still believe that his chance to mix it with a few of the "big" boys in League 1 and enhance his reputation even further (hopefully) with little ole TUFC might also quite appeal as well.

Personally, I have no gripe at all with BRFC - but to expect anything other than a fairly hostile reaction when some amongst you are giving it the BBBs is asking a lot - particularly given the timing of this unwanted speculation.

[tommygull]

http://www.bristolrovers.co.uk/page/Lat ... 92,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The chairman confirms that no decision has yet been made because some candidates are currently out of the country and havnet been interviewed yet.

[Gulls10]

I am a big fan of Buckle and would love him to stay, but I can't understand the logic behind not going to Rovers. Rovers, as it stands, are potential. They are probably at or near their lowest ebb and you would think can only go one way (although see Bradford for what can happen) whereas we are probably at or near the top of our potential.

We dont know what goes on behind the scenes at either club or the promises made by our board or theirs, but if you look 4 or 5 years into the future I would guess that Rovers would be in a league (or two?) higher than us. That is what will attract Buckle to Rovers, or any other job.

I was disappointed when McFarland left and then we got Rosenior who in my opinion built on Roy's good work. it could happen again if Buckle left. Managers do come to a natural point when it makes sense to leave and now might be the best time for him. If we dont go up, can he repeat the process? His stock is pretty high so why not cash in. No manager or player are bigger then the club and who is to say that we wont get someone better in. Just a thought.