Torquay v Braintree TUE 17th

supergulls · Post by **supergulls** » 18 Mar 2015, 06:40

6667GULL wrote:Please don't forget Ladies and Gentlemen of the forum that the new level of ineptitude achieved last night is in no way the fault of Chris Hargreaves.
It is the fault of Alan Knill, Martin Ling, Paul Buckle and everyone back to David Webb and beyond.
Chris Hargreaves is blameless.
We will train well for the next 3 days and show against Kidderminster exactly how fine a side we really are.

What a stupid comment yeah it was Lings fault that he got ill ??? We was just outside the playoffs with games in hand when he left so how the hell was it Lings fault. Would you be to blame if you caught an infection and it didn't respond to anti biotics and you had to be hospitalised and in your absence your employer decided to sack you .

6667GULL · Post by **6667GULL** » 18 Mar 2015, 06:44

And I thought I was being ironic!!??
Obviously too early in the morning for some of us to grasp this.

Neal · Post by **Neal** » 18 Mar 2015, 06:52

On Ling (AND I WASNT ONE OF THEM) there were plenty on here wanting him gone because the football wasn't exciting enough!

A few have posted over the last years, cant remember who they are "Change isn't always for the better" and in Lings case its turned out that way. But its all hindsight, very easy to criticise with hindsight. No one and I mean NO ONE can forsee how any new manager would do, I know some of you like to think your some kind of genius and can, BUT YOU CANT.

But.... It is time for CH to go, of course it is. Could it get worse with anew manager, oh you bet it could. He could get us actually relegated. I don't believe we will get relegated if Im honest, because I think we will pick up a few draws and Welling wont catch us.

Neal · Post by **Neal** » 18 Mar 2015, 06:55

And if he does go, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! NO MORE ROLLING CONTRACTS. 1 YEAR ONLY.

Advertise the job as a 1 year job!
At interview ask each candidate where he think he can finish given the budget.
If he says top 8, then the agreement is that it will be renewed if he achieves that, unless there are any unforeseen issues.
SIMPLES

supergulls · Post by **supergulls** » 18 Mar 2015, 07:03

6667GULL wrote:And I thought I was being ironic!!??
Obviously too early in the morning for some of us to grasp this.

Sorry I still had sleep in my eyes and with the anger still raging from last night I failed to read it properly and I'm beyond tongue in cheek humour. The best comedians are Hargreaves and that other clown Hodges.

WestKentGull · Post by **WestKentGull** » 18 Mar 2015, 07:14

....woke up this morning thinking it had all been a horrible nightmare. Torquay United 1 Braintree 5 (vidi-printer mode F I V E). Nah, surely not. Just like that 1-8 defeat all those years ago to Scunthorpe, it never happened... then it dawned on me... it DID happen. We ARE this bad.

If we continue to capitulate like this we will passed on the way down to Conference South by the likes of Whitehawk, Bromley, Gosport Borough, Basingstoke et al.

We've hit an all-time low. Never before have I been so worried about the future of OUR club. We can blame Knill et al all we like for the failures of last season, but this season it comes down to one man and one man only. Chris Hargreaves.

Sorry to say, but Hargreaves is not fit for purpose and should hang his head in shame this morning and do the only decent thing and accept his P45 with grace (and no pay-off). Walk away. Write another book about caravans. Get a job in the media. But, please, do not accept another job anywhere in football as a manager because you have shown over the course of the tail end of last season and this that you are just not up to the task.

Next season. Who knows. New owners? New manager? New team? New league?

I will continue to support my beloved team until the day I die... but, like the majority, this season is one I just want to forget...

CP Gull · Post by **CP Gull** » 18 Mar 2015, 07:28

PlainmoorRoar wrote:100% no to Martin ling

Also CH refuses to speak to the media

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31934002

Think that was more because of the fact that he was stilled locked in the dressing room with the players after the match ... and was still there when I finally left at 11pm! The rest of the ground was in complete darkness!

Gutted that it has come to this for Chris Hargreaves, but surely this match signals the end of his managerial career with us? I can't believe he will still be in charge on Saturday, but that said nothing surprises me about this club anymore - his only saving grace might be the state of limbo the club is in but for any other Manager of any other team that performance and result, on the back of all the other recent ones, would spell the end of their tenure.

We still need a couple of results from somewhere to get over the line and make sure we are safe - the results of WELLING have suddenly grown a great significance that I never imagined thinkable a few short months ago. But if they (Welling) can follow up their recent impressive win away at Lincoln (2-0) with a couple more wins over the coming weeks then we could be in serious trouble. I can't help but think how important that (surprise) win at Eastleigh was a while back, because if we were sat on 44 points now rather than 47 ..... I would seriously make us a good bet to go down. As it is, we may just have enough with what we have already got (hopefully!) because the form this lot are in I can't see where the next point is coming from sadly.

CP Gull · Post by **CP Gull** » 18 Mar 2015, 07:51

Humiliating doesn't do last night justice. As if being asked by an incredulous Braintree Director, whether we were actually a full time team at half time wasn't enough ... he also reminded me that most of their lads would have (proper) work tomorrow and wouldn't get back home until 4am to boot having also travelled down and back up on the same day... to then hear BRAINTREE fans (all 15 of them) start up a chant of "Can we play you every week?" was another new low in our history.

The official attendance may have been over 1100 (presumably includes all ST holders whether they are there or not) but there was a lot less than that in the ground and that was before the stands began to empty during the second half.

The biggest cheer of the night was probably for Bowman being subbed off, the only genuine applause from the home fans on the night was for Braintree's number 11 and hat trick hero, who tore young Dawson a new one, in what was a particularly painful night for him.

If Hargreaves is still in charge on Saturday, he needs to change the focus to just trying to make us more difficult to beat - the way we are playing now, I would take a point on Saturday simply because I genuinely fear we could still go down. Starting with the formation, we need to go back to 4-4-2 with Pearce and Downes as centre halves, I would consider playing McQuilkin at Right Back and maybe Guegan at Left Back - not great I know but look at what the alternatives are!

I would also consider bringing Harding back into midfield and would start with Chapell and Ajala on the wings. I would be tempted to drop Bowman, and try Campbell (who had a decent first half last night) and Briscoe up front.

Desperate times ......

Forest gull · Post by **Forest gull** » 18 Mar 2015, 08:08

I agree CP

Post by **MidDevon** » 18 Mar 2015, 08:29

Just a small point perhaps, but not only did Braintree travel down on the day and back the same night....but did anyone see their team bus? No plush backward facing seats, tables and coffee machines on this one. It was little more than a school bus.

How the other half live

Post by **Dave** » 18 Mar 2015, 10:33

Been saying for some time and totally ignored, some keep going on about how poor we are, and don't blame CH his hands are tied. I'll say it again clubs like Braintree, Altrincham and few others have the some total of jack squat compared to us.

After a night at work the anger may have subsided some what, but result performance should not be accepted by anyone, it was unforgivable, the team aren't playing for CH, they don't respect him I would suggest, are they being managed right, who knows, this is a results business, we're not getting them, manager has to go.

Post by **Southampton Gull** » 18 Mar 2015, 10:36

Dave, the HUGE difference is that they come from areas where attracting players isn't a problem, can't believe this gets overlooked so often.

Post by **Dave** » 18 Mar 2015, 10:50

Understand that Dave, but they're still semi-professional players who do not train every day, I would suggest they're not getting paid as much as most of our squad, and I'm not referring to those still on League 2 wages, they don't get the use of facilities that our players do, or as said by some one else, even their team bus doesn't have the mod cons and comfort that our players enjoy.

I can take getting beat by Braintree, they've proved over the last few seasons they're more than capable, but 1.5 at home, could have been 8 easily, that I can't accept, I also can't accept our league position, for some of the reasons listed amongst others, we should not be this far down the league, so far behind a number of semi-pro clubs.

royalgull · Post by **royalgull** » 18 Mar 2015, 13:40

forevertufc wrote:Understand that Dave, but they're still semi-professional players who do not train every day, I would suggest they're not getting paid as much as most of our squad, and I'm not referring to those still on League 2 wages, they don't get the use of facilities that our players do, or as said by some one else, even their team bus doesn't have the mod cons and comfort that our players enjoy.

I can take getting beat by Braintree, they've proved over the last few seasons they're more than capable, but 1.5 at home, could have been 8 easily, that I can't accept, I also can't accept our league position, for some of the reasons listed amongst others, we should not be this far down the league, so far behind a number of semi-pro clubs.

I agree to be honest and while I'm not 100% anti Hargreaves as if sacking him will suddenly make Aaron Downes a capable defender, or Ben Harding turn into Steven Gerrard but I can't accept where we are and results like last night. The entire management team and every one of them players need to take a long look in the mirror this morning. Absolutely unacceptable result and performance, this is the worst team we've ever had but they should still be capable of competing with Braintree!!! The fact they aren't just shows how useless they are and how little effect Hargreaves is having.

If I was him and he's going to stay then getting an experienced bloke added to the management team either as assistant or director of football or just someone to turn to could be something he looks at doing.

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 18 Mar 2015, 16:40

I thought I'd get some stick on here when I posted last night that I thought we played better than against Wrexham, Telford and Chester but the team was restricted by Hargreaves selection of playing three central defenders. In my view, it was a case of two young managers - Alan Devonshire had a game plan and the players knew what it was and stuck to it. Chris Hargreaves didn't seem to have a game plan and if he did, the players didn't know what it was. Maybe I was wearing rose tinted glasses last night or maybe I'm a closet masochist, but I quite enjoyed the match, mainly because of Braintree's attitude to the game. There was no way they were going to try to sit back and defend a one goal lead - they went for the throat. At 1 - 1, the match was in the balance. Then Downes made a mistake that led directly to their second goal although Pearce could have done more to prevent it. In the second half, it was end to end stuff although we didn't trouble their keeper who looked suspect in the air. The turning point was their third goal which was the best goal I've seen at Plianmoor for a long time. From a tight angle, their hat-trick hero, Sparkes, hit it first time, it hit the underside of the bar and in. Rice had no chance. If it had been scored by one of our players (I wish !) it would have been goal of the season. After the third goal, because of the players' low confidence, we just fell apart whilst the Braintree players were by now oozing confidence all over the pitch. Their fourth goal was another well taken goal - I just wonder if they are usually as lethal as that in front of goal? So I repeat - although they were the better team over the 90 minutes and deserved their win, they were greatly flattered by the 5 - 1 scoreline.

Also, before the match, I heard Hargreaves agreeing with the interviewer, Chris Fleet I think, that Braintree were a big physical side so I was expecting one of those games littered with free kicks and yellow cards. But they weren't like that at all - they played good football on the ground and, where we have failed miserably since about last October, plenty of movement off the ball. And a word for the ref - maybe got a couple of minor decisions wrong, but overall I thought he was one of the better refs we've had this season. So in conclusion - yes, we were poor and we shouldn't be beaten by part-time teams like Braintree and Telford home and away, but in my view last night's performance was not as bad as some are saying on here.

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