Martin Ling

[gullno4]

getting pretty f@@*ed off with this notion that ling is not good enough for us, for christ sake we are a L2 club in a transtional period and he has a proven track record i league football, we can never judge until we have something to judge him for at the moment he has done nothing wrong, he has a good nucleus of players to start from and of those seem to fit with his style of play( on the deck footie) I think he will add something to us he will bring new ideas, all those that have shot him down before he has even taken a training session are deluded and incredibly stupid to be blunt, it's like saying to a new employee at your own workplace "there rubbish" before they even take their coat off give everyone a chance you might even be suprised.

[basil75]

I'm underwelmed, but let's not put Forster up on a pedestal.

Sure he had a good record at Brentford, but he inherited the entire squad at Brentford (there was zero transfer market dealings) and it had a decent amount of momentum before he was in charge, so he's never really been under pressure to change anything or had experience of the transfer market.

Those are two pretty big aspects of management that he doesn't have experience of and we have no idea how good he would have been at these.

[doogull]

I'm underwelmed, but let's not put Forster up on a pedestal.

Sure he had a good record at Brentford, but he inherited the entire squad at Brentford (there was zero transfer market dealings) and it had a decent amount of momentum before he was in charge, so he's never really been under pressure to change anything or had experience of the transfer market.

Those are two pretty big aspects of management that he doesn't have experience of and we have no idea how good he would have been at these.

ok so what would you consider overwhelming without being silly and be realistic

[basil75]

I'm not sure - maybe I was always destined to be underwhelmed. Personally, effectively promoting someone who failed in the league below makes me quite apprehensive. I'll support him, but that can't change the fact I was underwhelmed.

To be overwhelmed would have required a positive shock - not exactly sure I can comment on what that would be given it would have been a shock.

[Trojan 67]

When the season begins, "Dinger" (Ling) starts with a clean sheet, a 0 - 0, a point before we kick-off.

The first objective in any game is to keep it nil against. We keep it nil until the final whistle, then the point we already had before kick-off is secure for sure. Do all this and pinch one at the other end and the result is a win and 3pts not 1pt. Point made ?

Read the last bit again, it's 3pts.

Keith Smale (R.I.P.) a manager of a local South Devon League team used "a point before we start" talk before every game. I liked Keith, a down to earth bloke who got results. I was saddened when he suddenly passed away.

[doogull]

yes he was not succsesful at cambridge but let's be honest after we beat them at wembley they lost alot of players and had there budget cut, some managers are not always succsesful at all the clubs they manage he has an automatic promotion on his cv and had oriont playing some very good football also he can offer a decent contact list he has been in football a long time and we have employed alot worse before we need to back him and show support. If we are all honest we overachieved last season by pushing the way we did but by doing that we have all raised our expectations of our club and that is now reflecting that in this mass dissapointment of martin ling being made manager if he is not up to it he will leave or be sacked like any other but until we see what he is all about for us leave all preconceptions at the door.

[mickyflash]

if he is not up to it he will leave or be sacked like any other but until we see what he is all about for us leave all preconceptions at the door.

Underwhelmed appears to be the word of the day and yes I am disappointed. That does not mean I won't get behind Martin, but no matter how much my heads tells me to give him my full backing my heart will remain disappointed.

This is where I think the board have made a business error, the point quoted states that if he Is not upto the job he will go, this is of course true but at a huge financial cost to the clubs pockets? I feel that the fans would have given someone like Forster a lot more time to bed in and find his feet, taking pressure off the board if things don't go well on the pitch. We really need Martin to get off to a good start, and to remember we would all have taken mid table consolidation before this announcement, so if that's what we get under Martin, it can't be considered a failure

I can only hope that someone on the board decided that there was not too much difference between what the candidates had to offer on paper but by employing Martin Ling we would be able to afford extra backroom staff, maybe an assistant manager of his choice and a first team coach, at the club getting good football people around him to support him, and thus representing a better full package for the club.

I await the coming few weeks with intrest.

[Neal]

I am very dissapointed to read so mnay negative posts about our new manager, even before he has had a chance to start his job.

Look, is anyone suggesting the board made this appointment becuae they wanted to p@ss the fans off, of course not, they made the choice becuase he was the best candidate.

NONE OF YOU KNOW WHAT WENT ON DURING THOSE INTERVIEWS, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT DEMANDS, ABOUT THEIR AMBITIONS, THEIR PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR THE CLUB ETC ETC ETC.

The board however do know all that went on during the interviews, and I guess most of our board are successfull businessmen in one way or another so i doubt they are stupid either. More successfull than many on here I would guess as well!

I also remember many on here slating the fact we chose Paul Buckle as manager, some even carried that on for his entire reign, although he proved to be one of the most successfulll managers we have ever had.

The fact is, none of you know if Martin Ling will be successfull or not. I HOPE HE IS! Its eaasy to knock, very easy, could do it all day, but it doesnt help at all, not one bit. I really hope many of you see some sense and get behind him, and dont jump on him as soon as we have our 1st defeat, again not helpfull.

Welcome to Torquay Utd Martin. all the best, and hope you can prove some of these people wrong!

[uberwozza]

He's not what I expected but he's now managing my club so he gets my support until he does something to bring that support into question

lets get behind Dinger !!!!!

[Ausgull]

Wow, This appointment came out of left field, wasn't even in the mix last week. I would of preferred a more senior coach ( Hughes or Butterworth ) with league contacts to bring in the right sort of player that we need after all the departures. still we have to give him a chance and he may well turn out to be a good acquisition.

[DerbyGull]

Lets be honest none of us know what happened in the interview process, it could be that after the candidates were interviewed and were told the situation they would have Ling may have been the only one with the balls to still take the job!!

[Mysonjackg]

I am very dissapointed to read so mnay negative posts about our new manager, even before he has had a chance to start his job.

Look, is anyone suggesting the board made this appointment becuae they wanted to p@ss the fans off, of course not, they made the choice becuase he was the best candidate.

NONE OF YOU KNOW WHAT WENT ON DURING THOSE INTERVIEWS, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT DEMANDS, ABOUT THEIR AMBITIONS, THEIR PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR THE CLUB ETC ETC ETC.

The board however do know all that went on during the interviews, and I guess most of our board are successfull businessmen in one way or another so i doubt they are stupid either. More successfull than many on here I would guess as well!

I also remember many on here slating the fact we chose Paul Buckle as manager, some even carried that on for his entire reign, although he proved to be one of the most successfulll managers we have ever had.

The fact is, none of you know if Martin Ling will be successfull or not. I HOPE HE IS! Its eaasy to knock, very easy, could do it all day, but it doesnt help at all, not one bit. I really hope many of you see some sense and get behind him, and dont jump on him as soon as we have our 1st defeat, again not helpfull.

Welcome to Torquay Utd Martin. all the best, and hope you can prove some of these people wrong!

Wholeheartedly agree with Neal on this one. If Martin Ling has had the misfortune to stumble across this messageboard he must have wondered what he has let himself in for! We are where we are and now is the time to stop moaning and get behind the team. Lest we forget, amongst the vast array of people we have on the board of Torquay we have many a supporter in their own right. People like the chairman and the likes of Cris Boyce have been supporting the club for donkeys' years and they sit/stand amongst the crowd like the rest of us. They support the team and will see the same things that we do. They are not stupid. To think they have appointed somebody to deliberately hack of the supporters amounts to naivety at best.

Football is about opinions and that's why this site is so good, but for christ sake let's now get behind the guy in charge and support the club because if we don't we are not going to improve the situation.

[AndyC]

Wow, This appointment came out of left field, wasn't even in the mix last week. I would of preferred a more senior coach ( Hughes or Butterworth ) with league contacts to bring in the right sort of player that we need after all the departures. still we have to give him a chance and he may well turn out to be a good acquisition.

According to someone I know within the industry, Ling has more coaching qualifications than just about every coach working in the Football League.

He worked setting up a scouting network between jobs in the past and the same person who told me about his qualifications, who has worked with him in the past (although not as part of his management teams) also told me he spent much of the second half of last season watching PL reserve team football so he was ready when another team called for his services.

Expect signings of that ilk I would imagine.

[crazyfool]

Lets be honest none of us know what happened in the interview process, it could be that after the candidates were interviewed and were told the situation they would have Ling may have been the only one with the balls to still take the job!!

Possibly, but taking into account Forster's comments on Twittter yesterday, and prior to that, it appears that Ling got chosen over him. I totally agree about the interview process though. A lot of people seem very quick to criticise the appointment without having any idea about what happened during the selection process. If the board deemed he was the best man for the job then I'm happy enough with that. Sure he wouldn't have necessarily been my first choice, but at the same things aren't as bad as some are making out.

A new season, a new man in charge, some new faces on the playing side ... with hopefully another decent season. I'm staying positive ... at least until we lose our first 6 games!!!

[CP Gull]

According to someone I know within the industry, Ling has more coaching qualifications than just about every coach working in the Football League.

He worked setting up a scouting network between jobs in the past and the same person who told me about his qualifications, who has worked with him in the past (although not as part of his management teams) also told me he spent much of the second half of last season watching PL reserve team football so he was ready when another team called for his services.

Expect signings of that ilk I would imagine.

That sounds encouraging, Andy.

Indeed being "unemployed" for the last three months of the season is an advantage that he (Ling) has had over nearly all the other candidates (allegedly) on the shortlist. It would not have been possible for the likes of Forster, Russell, or Baraclough to watch any "other" games. Whilst I would be surprised if Hughes was anywhere but in Scotland and not even sure exactly where Butterworth has been - abroad possibly? As for Greavsie he has had twelve months to prepare for such a role but seems to have been rather preoccupied with writing his book and opening up a business!

Let's hope that time spent out of work has re-energised him and that he can now put that time spent scouting to good work ..... by finding us some real gems.