Aveley F C vs Torquay United Sat 2 Sept KO 3pm

[Wolborough]

If Johnson remains the downward and wayward trajectory will continue. He is a spent force as will Torquay become if he stays at the helm. He had his chance to contribute to the Club’s successful history but ultimately his term will become a blight on TUFC. A pity he did not leave a long time ago.

[brucie]

The league table in which we are below the likes of Averley, Taunton and Bath City in the table. What I dont understand is why you continue to ignore what is staring you in the face. You had the opposition manager saying that Halstead pulled off a number of great saves yesterday and that they should have won by more goals. Its a pattern that seems to be repeated in almost every away game.

How on earth can you deem that to be acceptable .

[UnitedinDevon]

GJs words after the game were fair and reasonable, but we need to know what he is going to do to change things. For example, should he drop the player who made the most misplaced passes? Should he guarantee to drop 2 or 3 players if the team don't perform? We need to see action taken by GJ, else, before long, action will be taken against him, or should be.

A win on Tuesday and all is not lost, but a few players need a rocket!

Nonsense, you speak like GJs just arrived at the club and needs some time - hes been here for over 5years and has kept together a squad from last season

he knows them and how they play and to generate the performances we've seen so far on the pitch is very poor

He's blown the budget on them and if he can't get the best out of them its time to go

[Taelee73]

Don't believe Johnson has ever said 'judge me after 10 games', he has said that he judges the team itself after 10 games.

We seem to of gone through the same scenario the last few seasons, GJ spends around 4-6 months finding the right players to fit his system and mentality. We then normally find some form. However at the end of the season, the good loan players return to their clubs, the better players we had, leave and we're left with the dross and good players who are into the last seasons of their careers or are too injury prone.

I was happy with the continuation of players staying here after the great form at the end of last season, however we lost Nicho, Nouble and Dawson from that team. Those 3 are the big losses. The lack of information about Dawson is shocking, why not just say he's had an operation, does it really give the opposition a huge advantage, no one knew anything about it till his name was missing from the opening pre season games. It's another gamble contracting a player knowing he'll miss the first 2/3 months and will need another to get match sharp. I assume he's been offered at least 2 years for the gamble we've taken.

GJ saying sone supporters have crossed a line, on the contrary, I think GJ and the team have got off very lightly for a lot of the performances since the Play Off final . I sit just behind the Home dug out, and I have had to bite my tongue so many times. Johnson was furious at the job vacancy comment, but you lose games and you lose your job

Unfortunately that fear factor of losing your job isn't there for him, it must give you an edge knowing you have to perform at 100% all the time. He doesn't have that fear and I feel that's another reason we're not at the right level.

Getting beat by part time teams is unacceptable, whatever team we have to put out. We've played poorly so far and are still in a good position, but he must get the right players in and soon. We can't have this waiting for them to come along, promotion has to be achieved this season. Players and management seem to forget that they come and go, yet we remain here forever!

[MellowYellow]

The first rule of football management is: It's always the managers fault. The second rule is: It's always the managers fault. Nothing to do with the players who certainly in their heads believe they are better than they actually are. On their TUFC interviews you would think we had Messi and Bale playing for us when in reality we find out half of them playing are a mess the other half are like they're out on bail. But why should the players take accountability for their actions or decisions in today's win at all cost games. Much easier to use the manager as a human shield after all as the rule book states 'It's always the managers fault'.

[Dave]

There's nothing temporary about this, this is three straight seasons , of poor performances and never ending injury crisis. Yes GJ has blown the budget and on what ? Hall, Dawson and Moxey , was led to believe in the week our monthly wage bill stands at £80k lets presume that figure is correct which of course it may not be, however what percentage of that is going to the three players named and how many games are we going to get in return , we'll be lucky to get 60-70 games combined, so in my view a lot of money thrown down the drain here.

What percentage of the budget is going to Pete Johnson and what are we getting in return ? The moment Lee Johnson went north of the border, Gary and Pete Johnson got found out, as the endless supply of quality loans dried up, how they must be hoping Lee gets a good club soon.

Lets stop banging on about tight budgets, and insist on the clubs money being spent more wisely, and with more efficiency.

Last season after 10 games we were on 0.8 pts per game, after 20 games we were on 0.7 pts per game, and at this point GJ should have gone, I, and many others posted relegation was looking certain unless the club changed course it did not, after 30 games we were on 0.8 pts per game and the battle lost , ended the season on just over 1pt per game, but it was all to late, and still nothing changed.

Yes we're just under the 2pts per game currently, however we all know, our team have played poorly in every game so far, we will not continue to 'get away with it' 4 of our 7 opponents are sat in the bottom 9, 2 in the relegation zone, but, yet we have the goal frame and Halstead to thank for at least half our current point tally, and the fact our goal difference is still in tact.

So forget 10 games, 20 games, GJ is probably no where. No you cant expect to win every game, no team in the world performs in every game, but to get promotion you have to have consistency with in your performances, and we've not seen that full stop so far, so lets hope GJ can that side of our game around, otherwise we're going no where.

[UnitedinDevon]

There's nothing temporary about this, this is three straight seasons , of poor performances and never ending injury crisis. Yes GJ has blown the budget and on what ? Hall, Dawson and Moxey , was led to believe in the week our monthly wage bill stands at £80k lets presume that figure is correct which of course it may not be, however what percentage of that is going to the three players named and how many games are we going to get in return , we'll be lucky to get 60-70 games combined, so in my view a lot of money thrown down the drain here.

What percentage of the budget is going to Pete Johnson and what are we getting in return ? The moment Lee Johnson went north of the border, Gary and Pete Johnson got found out, as the endless supply of quality loans dried up, how they must be hoping Lee gets a good club soon.

Lets stop banging on about tight budgets, and insist on the clubs money being spent more wisely, and with more efficiency.

Last season after 10 games we were on 0.8 pts per game, after 20 games we were on 0.7 pts per game, and at this point GJ should have gone, I, and many others posted relegation was looking certain unless the club changed course it did not, after 30 games we were on 0.8 pts per game and the battle lost , ended the season on just over 1pt per game, but it was all to late, and still nothing changed.

Yes we're just under the 2pts per game currently, however we all know, our team have played poorly in every game so far, we will not continue to 'get away with it' 4 of our 7 opponents are sat in the bottom 9, 2 in the relegation zone, but, yet we have the goal frame and Halstead to thank for at least half our current point tally, and the fact our goal difference is still in tact.

So forget 10 games, 20 games, GJ is probably no where. No you cant expect to win every game, no team in the world performs in every game, but to get promotion you have to have consistency with in your performances, and we've not seen that full stop so far, so lets hope GJ can that side of our game around, otherwise we're going no where.

Spot on, said it time and time again this was the summer to say thanks very much to Asa and Dean but let them go, i would have said the same for Lapslie as i dont think hes consistent enough

too much money, not enough game time

Dawson - much is unknown about that knee issue but what checks were done prior to offering a new contract?

[culmstockgull]

Brucie, it is not acceptable, I cannot imagine any supporter no matter how laid back would consider what is occuring acceptable, playing your heart out and losing does occur and no one will complain as long as its not too often.
We all know things are not right at the club,.As johnson said yesterday he had to remind players about stealing a living as opposed to earning one, for a pro footballer that should be the worst slap in the face possible but we know we have at least six players that fit that former category. More telling it is a comment he should never have had to make if he had done proper research and signed the right players.
At present we have one genuine midfielder but for some reason known only to Johnson signing a forward was the priority. Is he waiting for Dawson and Hall to return sometime towards christmas and winging it in the mean time using a mixture of forwards to stack the midfield.
Something I find very odd ,we signed Dawson on contract in mid to late June knowing he was going to have or already had surgery and would be out for months, there was no danger that anyone one else was going to nick him with surgery upcoming, why did we not keep the money in the bank or at least sign a stop gap just in case he nveer made a recovery, he is after all 33 and repair times take a lot longer.
Dan Elliott has put a brilliant report on the TUFC blog on yesterday's debacle where he decribes the team better than I can. Johnson is making do and mend, he has no choice, any loans we get will be untried youngsters, it is where we are as a club , if we go down the road of changing managers any replacement manager will not even get a check book let alone attracting what we actually need.

[Dave]

The first rule of football management is: It's always the managers fault. The second rule is: It's always the managers fault. Nothing to do with the players who certainly in their heads believe they are better than they actually are.

Who signs the players, who checks their health and previous injury records, who responsible for the man management side of things, such as welfare etc, who trains them, who sets the tactics, who's responsible for personal improvement, GJ is, that's who.

Who keeps playing our best attacking players out of position, not getting the best out of them, GJ, who keeps asking midfielders to flood forward, then expecting the 37 year old Hall, when he's fit to get back in behind the ball, or McGavin with no pace to do the same thing, GJ, that's who.

Why for the last 3 seasons have I either seen, or read reports of constant poor decision making from our players, who's responsible for 1 on 1 improvement, GJ that's who.

If the players aren't playing for the manager, there's only one way to solve it.

[MellowYellow]

Who signs the players, who checks their health and previous injury records, who responsible for the man management side of things, such as welfare etc, who trains them, who sets the tactics, who's responsible for personal improvement,

And the players (on full-time pro contracts) responsibility for their actions or decisions on the field is down to who? Just the manager? Not for me that! Where was the attitude and desire of the players to compete against a hard-working village-green side on Sat?

At least can us fans adopt a strategy in deciding whether the manager should be sacked rather than shooting from the hip. Even if it's only a short honeymoon period of 10 games, to set the trapdoor. The level of that trap door? the average number of points per game; if the manager’s performance falls below this, then consideration can be given if he ought to depart, even if we find ourselves in a play-off spot at that time. Johnson target is approx 2 points a game so let's hold him to that and see what happens over the next three games. Then at that time we can all put up or shut up.

[davidcaldwell123]

Having played for the club and been involved in football all my adult life it’s sad to see the demise of the club. Getting things correct at a football club is a bit like baking a cake, get the correct ingredients and it tastes great, one ingredient missed and it just doesn’t taste right.

Football is a marginal gains sport, the margins between success and failure are so close one ingredient can totally change the dynamics of a club.

There are only so many managers you can recruit, most at this level have not been successful, I would suggest putting all your eggs in one basket hoping they deliver success from their philosophy and installed culture is a risk in the modern game.

If hope is a clubs only strategy then they are in trouble!

What’s the risk and reward of rolling the managerial dice, is what the club needs to weigh up. Any previous 3-5 year plan now must be in the bin.

I would suggest it’s very unlikely the club will get related in this league, something would have to go drastically wrong, it’s not the National League, so I would suggest if there is ever a time to strip things back and implement a 3-5 year strategy which is innovative to face off to the challenges of the modern game it’s now?

[Admiral]

Why is it that when Owers got us relegated about 95% wanted him out, but not Johnson? At least the bloke was a good scout that basically gave Johnson a good team. Just don’t see why we should accept the way we are performing in the SIXTH tier just because it’s Gary Johnson. He’s on tenure

[Cheddargull]

The first rule of football management is: It's always the managers fault. The second rule is: It's always the managers fault. Nothing to do with the players who certainly in their heads believe they are better than they actually are. On their TUFC interviews you would think we had Messi and Bale playing for us when in reality we find out half of them playing are a mess the other half are like they're out on bail. But why should the players take accountability for their actions or decisions in today's win at all cost games. Much easier to use the manager as a human shield after all as the rule book states 'It's always the managers fault'.

Of course its the manager's fault. GJ recruited these players, what was all that crap he used to say about ensuring a player had Torquay United DNA before they were signed.

[desperado]

We need 11 players with the winning mentality and fight of Dave Caldwell, there doesn't seem to be that with this young team. I think they have more than enough ability to be doing a lot better performance wise but the management seem to taking an awfully long time considering most were here last season to get them playing as a well drilled passing team with a real desire to be successful. We're still waiting for a performance this season after 7 games

[jono_Gull209]

Why is it that when Owers got us relegated about 95% wanted him out, but not Johnson? At least the bloke was a good scout that basically gave Johnson a good team. Just don’t see why we should accept the way we are performing in the SIXTH tier just because it’s Gary Johnson. He’s on tenure

One major difference is Johnson got us within a kick of the EFL. But his stock is tanking fast.