Giving up on Bodin

[exilegull]

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Interesting..

[JamieE]

As soon as I saw Bodin's name pop up on SSN the other night I knew there was little chance he'd be coming back in the near future. Like Ling's quotes about getting excited about who we can bring in, maybe this 'wait until the transfer window closes before we do any business' mantra may pay off. A downside of it is, if we make the playoffs, any loanees will be unable to play in at least the final because we can only sign them for 3 months now.

[Dave]

Even a friend of mine at work who is not bothered about football came up to me and said, see Swindon are looking for £150,000 for bodin , do you think Torquay will pay that, so there most have been a far bit of truth behind that figure, and of couse my answer was no, and think thats when most of realised that any chance of getting Bodin back was gone.

I would be, beyond shocked if Swindon let us have Bodin back on loan, we are a promotion rival as things stand at the moment, why would Swindon want to help strenghten a rival, cant see it.

[numpte]

Do we really need him? I'd rather we give our own player a go than Swindons player, especially as we have 50 pts in the bag already this season.

Give Morris or Halpin a go.

[TUFCforever]

Bodin done ok for us scored some good goals but would you pay 150K for him, not a chance we could get a very good established player for that sort of money. Have faith Mr Ling knows what he is doing, think back to the start of the season and we were all questioning him but if you had said at the end of January we will be in 6th place and 2 points away from a automatic place at the start of the season everyone would have thought you were mad and would have been calling for the men with white coats. However that is where we are and its down to Mr Ling and Mr Taylor who have worked wonders with the squad and we now all believe.

[bobby93]

I think Ling's got this one spot on. I'd love Billy back, but obviously Paolo wanted silly money. Well done Martin for not getting sucked into it and not being bullied. Billy's a cracking player and a cracking prospect, but we can't go chucking money around paying over the odds just to fill a gap in the team that isn't really a desperate situation. We have been doing well enough without him. Like the boss says, one more phone call when the loan window opens wouldn'y hurt but it's obvious that Bodin's elbowing his way into the Swindon setup and the club seems to mean a lot to him as well so good luck to him.

Ling seems pretty happy with other potential options as well, which is good to hear. I trust him to find the right man, Bodin or not.

[Bigman]

Personally I've not been amazed by what I've seen of Billy, I get the impression we could find plenty of similar level players for loan, so while I can appreciate him being first choice as a known quantity, it's nice to know Ling's got other options in mind and knows what the squad needs.

[Warwickgull]

Well I would not be surprised to see Bodin back here next week. Interesting to see that Ling still mentions he will be calling Paolo next week so he has obviously not recieved a firm NO! as yet.

The only reason I say this is that I was in Swindon at the Honda plant the other day and listened to BBC wiltshire's build up to their game at Southend. Paolo was quizzed thoroughly on the Bodin situation and the Commentator had to cut Paolo off in the end because he was rambling on so much and basically just wouldn't stop talking lol. Paolo said Billy is a good player, a top pro, and a nice lad, however he then went on to say he does't want players that are not happy, without being asked if Billy was happy or not. If I was a neautral listening to the interview I would have said afterwards he certainly doesn't see Billy as a key figure or certain starter in his side. I spoke to a couple of Swindon fans and they both seem to think Billy was desperate to play football and was not happy at all to be on the bench. It was also mentioned he had said (maybe twittered) he would be looking forward to a return to Torquay when he is sat on the bench.

Just because Bodin came on and scored i dont think that would have changed that much in the eyes of Paolo in the grand scheme of things. Paolo probably doesnt see little old Torquay as much of a threat and a returning Bodin on loan until the end of the season who wouldn't face his side anyway wouldn't cause him any nightmares. Paolo came across as one of the most entertaining but also unpredictable people I have ever heard being interviewed about football, so anything could happen.

The return of Bodin is obviously now far less likely but I certainly wouldn't rule it out.

[Alpine Joe]

Warwickgull covers all bases by informing us that it is now 'far less likely' that Bodin will return to Plainmoor, while at the same time claiming that he wouldn't be at all surprised if young Billy turned up on our doorstep as early as next week.

I'd love to see Billy back here, whether permanently or on loan, & I'm not sure we'll be such a potent goalscoring force without him. Remembering he's still a teenager but I think he can work his way into the Swindon team. An injury or suspension to one of Paolo's regulars & Billy will take some shifting once he's in there, & be looking towards playing a higher standard of football than Lge 2.

I rather imagined that Di Canio would have been rather impressed with us after his visit to Plainmoor. He knows he's got a good team & he knows that they were played off the park at times,particularly in the 1st half against us.. If despite that he views us as not 'much of a threat' as Warwickgull thinks is probably the case then I'd be surprised but delighted.

Billy is worth a fair wad of anyones money. You've either getting an excellent player for the next 10 years, or more likely a handsome transfer fee coming your way when he moves on to greater things. I'd love to see him become a Torquay United player but I'm certainly not holding my breath on that one.

[Glostergull]

Bodin done ok for us scored some good goals but would you pay 150K for him, not a chance we could get a very good established player for that sort of money. Have faith Mr Ling knows what he is doing, think back to the start of the season and we were all questioning him but if you had said at the end of January we will be in 6th place and 2 points away from a automatic place at the start of the season everyone would have thought you were mad and would have been calling for the men with white coats. However that is where we are and its down to Mr Ling and Mr Taylor who have worked wonders with the squad and we now all believe.

We are still saying it but it's about someone else. Not say who of Course!

[londongull63]

I know it feels unfair levelling any criticism at Lingy (i was pleased with his appointment from day one) and the board after the great job they've done getting the club within touching distance of automatic promotion, but I think Lingy has definitely boobed with his pronouncements over Bodin, and also there may have been a clanger dropped over Robbo too.
Swindon would barely have paid any attention to Bodin at the end of his loan, and I reckon he would have been floundering in their reserves now if it wasn't for the way Lingy kept publicly "bigging" him up as this great player, initially declaring he was his big target for January and he would wait until February. As would have happened if we'd loaned someone out and then they'd got rave reviews from a boss desperate to keep them, on their return there's suddenly renewed interest in giving them another chance and re-evaluating their ability. Swindon fans have been commenting on how we rated Bodin on their forums and suddenly Di Canio decided this player he didn't want was worth something. He suddenly plays him and he's scored.
Then I couldn't believe what Lingy said publicly this week (on BBC website) "I think the biggest club interested in him now, IF THEY'VE GOT ANY SENSE, is Swindon", "I've always felt he was good enough to be within Swindon's squad", "he's having more and more value to Swindon", "I felt, and I still feel, that he's a first-team starter in League Two and LEAGUE ONE".
Anyone would think Lingy's on a bung to get Swindon to keep him! At the very least it would have talked his price up and alerted other clubs and reduced any hope we might have had even for the end of the season when he's out of contract.

As for Robbo, everyone seemed pleased when contract talks started with him, Ellis and Lathrope in JANUARY. Now, I don't know, they may have started before Christmas and I may be doing the club a dis-service if the players didn't want to sign pre-Christmas, but if talks did not start until January it was far too late. In the month when other clubs could come in for them, there was no way they'd sign or their agents would let them before they had a chance to see what else would come along, especially with all the talk about clubs being interested. Thank goodness we didn't lose the other two. But if Robbo had signed something before all the talk of other clubs interested, then we would have got far more than the paltry £50,000 we had to accept because we knew he'd go for nothing in the summer. Compare his barely worthwhile £50,000 to Tubbs's £800,000 to go to another Div 1 team, or Matt Ritchie £200,000 to a Div 2 team) Match-winning headers and tackles like Robbo's at Home Park are as valuable as Tubbs's goals.
On the plus side, at least Eunan was signed up so we weren't forced to grab whatever under-valued offer we got for him. Apparently he's such a top bloke that I've heard a major reason why he signed was so that Torquay don't get shafted by cheap bids.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Even a friend of mine at work who is not bothered about football came up to me and said, see Swindon are looking for £150,000 for bodin , do you think Torquay will pay that, so there most have been a far bit of truth behind that figure, and of couse my answer was no, and think thats when most of realised that any chance of getting Bodin back was gone.

I would be, beyond shocked if Swindon let us have Bodin back on loan, we are a promotion rival as things stand at the moment, why would Swindon want to help strenghten a rival, cant see it.

Absolutely spot on forever. IMO this is the sole reason he isn't coming back. If we were Hereford or Northampton then maybe but not now. We are competing with Swindon for promotion.

[Alpine Joe]

Londongull63 queries whether we could have done better regarding Bodin & Robertson. I think it's fair enough to raise those points, but I don't think there was much more we could have done in either case.

If Eunan is one of those unusual footballers who works out how he can make most money for his employers rather than for himself, then we should remember that he's the exception rather than the rule. We're all aware of the strong bargaining position a sought after player is in if he's out of contract.
Just think of the deal the out of contract Guy Branston could negotiate for himself with Bradford. He won't want to give up that cash even if he's not playing.

A player & his agent naturally say 'you're saving yourself a fortune by not having to pay a huge transfer fee for me, therefore you can afford a nice little signing on fee plus a bigger pay packet for me than if you'd had to pay the transfer fee, & you'll still be quids in'.

Don't forget that scottish Chris Robertson was acknowledged as the 'tightest' member of the squad & would certainly have worked out the best deal for himself using very different criteria from that which Eunan supposedly deployed. Robbo is obviously from the north,as is his girlfriend, & as he was 'adamant that he would be heading north in the Summer' I really don't know what more we could do.

He'd spent 5 years down here in what wasn't his first choice part of the country, & saw the Summer as the chance to go back home & get a decent increase in wages. Yes he could have signed on again for us before January, but why would he do that & weaken his own position...thereby bumping up a transfer fee & possibly pricing himself out of a move up North....maybe he would have even jeopordised his current move to Preston if they'd baulked at a higher fee...or lowered Robbo's wages to compensate for having to pay the higher fee to get him.

As for Bodin, you're exactly right. If Ling thought we had the slightest chance of buying the lad then his comments would of course be madness.
When Paolo arrived at Swindon in the Summer he brought in a tonne of players & also moved a few out without a lot of thought as well. I think it's obvious he can't have had a good look at Bodin & instead thought some of his imports would adapt better than they did. Di Canio would have been getting reports, reading opinions & noting Bodins goalscoring & good performances for us. But just supposing he hadn't - then his eyes would have been well & truly opened for him when Swindon visited Plainmoor. His Swindon team were played off the field in the first half & Paolo even spent a good deal of the second half jumping up & down as his team got outplayed as they fell to defeat to the mighty Gulls. Now at that stage even a total idiot could work out that if Bodin had been not only making the team but often being one of the star performers for us then it must be worth our Italian friend taking a more serious look at him when he returned at the end of his loan period.

If Bodin was no good how the hell was he managing to get into such a good team ....a team that certainly looked better than the one Di Canio was managing on the day. Paolo will have given Bodin a fair crack of the whip on his return, plus Billy will have improved in confidence & fitness from his time with us & Paolo will have realised he actually had a very valuable asset on his hands, & I don't think that will only be dawning on him as a result of Martin Ling voicing that opinion.

For my own view I'd agree with Ling's assessment. Billy can score goals, he can go past people, he's more than good enough for this league & is only 19. He should be looking to progress to a higher league very soon. He might already have secured his place but if not it only takes one injury to create an opening for him & he could be in a Championship winning team playing in front of huge crowds at the County ground by the end of the season.

I really couldn't see anyone advising him that a permanent move to Torquay & our 2000+ crowds was a sensible move & he should surely set his sights higher....disappointing as it is for us. As you can tell that's a minority view with most of our fans thinking Bodin is over priced & that we'll easily pick up someone of at least equal quality on loan. I certainly hope they're right.

We can't afford £150,000 for him, nor would it probably make sense for us to spend that amount of our money on just one player. But even for a Lge1 club I reckon he'd be a good signing. You've got a good player for the next 10 years who should still improve a lot yet, or you collect a big transfer fee when he moves on. Lingy has been in the game long enough to know that talking up the value of a player you want to buy is self defeating. Praise for Billy, praise for Paolo, insure good relations with Swindon..& if Billy spills his cappucino over the crazy Italian & gets sent out on loan as punishment maybe he'll come back to us. It's such a long shot, particularly as we're up there challenging with Swindon that it seems totally illogical to send such a good player back to us....& so for that reason also,I reckon Lingy's comments have done not the slightest damage.

[Scott Brehaut]

Alpine,

Excellent post!!

[Gullscorer]

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