New Goalkeeper

[MidDevon]

David James is a strange character for a footballer. A very intelligent man who is currently doing his coaching badges. In his spare time he paints and is a keen gardener.
He is not money motivated (no need to be) and indeed is quite a generous man.

What I like about him more than anything is he is just not interested in all the claptrap that normally follows premier league football....he barely even knows other players, but just enjoys playing

If he signed it would bring a massive amount of excitment to Torquay in much the same way as Chris Waddle and Justin Fashanu did.... how exciting would that be!

[stevegull]

He's better than both of Exeter's keepers. I wouldn't be against it, especially fi we were choosing from the above list. Only Poke and DJ I'd pick in front of him. The rest pfffffff

Good. Some rare positivity regarding Ricey. Personally I'm still not sure. He's fine as a budget back-up for me but it would take some good performances from him to convince me that he has put his phase of dropping clangers behind him.

[royalgull]

Best chance to find out really, pre season play behind the first choice back 4 against some good oppo.

I'm biased on the subject but I have total faith in him. He only played 1 game this year and was arguably MOTM at Cheltenham. Every keeper makes mistakes but I'd rather give him a go than some proven failure like Pidgeley or Morris.

[wivelgull]

Terry Adlington.

[Dave]

David James, NO,NO,NO,NO AND NO...we would be signing him for all the wrong reasons, don't look at the name, don't look at what he once was, the most important thing is to look at the keeper is now.

He lost his place in the Bristol City side during last season for a very good reason, he is 41 and age has caught up with him, he now, has the reactions of a very large slow canal barge, yeah he may well be a nice bloke, he would put bums on seats...what we need is a keeper who can stop the ball from going in our net, the answer is not, no way David James.

From the list above, the obviuos one is Micheal Poke, however their is another keeper on their, who had a fantastic season in a very bad Barnet team, Dean Brill, who was a large part of the reason why they stayed up, only released because they could no longer afford to pay him, and at 26 won't need tena pads or a zimmerframe.

[CP Gull]

Actually when I think about it, I would have to say that in general TUFC have actually had some very decent keepers over the years, particularly given the fact that in the main we have been a Division Four side for most of the 40 odd years I have been watching them.

When you consider we have had the likes of Adlington (before my time), Donnelly, Mahoney, Turner, Lee, Veysey, Gregg (cough - well at least we got £400k for him), Allen, Southall, Dearden, Marriott and Olejnik, as well as a few other decent ones , I rather think we have punched above our weight a bit in terms of the glovesmen we have had at our little club over the years.

[royalgull]

He was also dropped by Barnet at least on 2 diferent occasions during the season.

Feel sorry for our next keeper, huge gloves to fill!

with regard to CP's point in my experience we've either had excellent ones or dreadful ones and not much in between!

[CP Gull]

Well yes, there have been a few ..... Coombe, Attwell, Jarvie etc :~D

[PhilGull]

I'm sure I posted this just now but can't see it...

Simon Raynor, welcome him back?

[Dave]

He was also dropped by Barnet at least on 2 diferent occasions during the season.
Feel sorry for our next keeper, huge gloves to fill!

with regard to CP's point in my experience we've either had excellent ones or dreadful ones and not much in between!

Yes I know, played 36 games, however interesting that reading this thread from their forum, all bar one Barent fan wanted their club to keep him.......http://www.onlybarnet.com/forum/viewtop ... 3&start=45" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And in a number of games last season including their last match away at Burton kept Barnet in the game single handed, however do agree, whoever comes in, has a big pair of gloves to fill.

[Glostergull]

Tim Sills. He will be cheap.

I like Atwell aswell.

I remember him well. Forest Green. One dark and moonlit night. 11 men got up to fight. One got sent off and we thought that's it. We will lose by a hatfull now. Up stepped Tim Sills. And wow did he ever pull off one of the performances of the season. For a player so far out of position he should have got man of the match. Including one superb diving save right in front of me I can say he made it look simple. I wonder if any manager had thought of him changing position. Now that would be interesting to see.

[royalgull]

I'm sure I posted this just now but can't see it...

Simon Raynor, welcome him back?

LOL er no. Last seen about 2 years ago playing for Three Bridges FC.

[Yellow Tree]

Really would love to see pokey back, however I feel this is highly unlikely! Does any1 think lingy may consider going after another clubs first choice keeper and therefor spending some of the funds from Bobby's transfer?

I know lingy spoke about doing everything possible to replace Eunan with someone of equal quality,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18422671" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

so will he try to replace bobby the same? (will be very difficult I know!) or are we going to have to rely on the free bee market? I just feel the replacements mentioned so far that would be quality replacements on a free (Pokey & James) are way out of our reach!

[gullintwoplaces]

Just so long as we don't sign the chap who was in goal for the Ukraine last night. He was so bad he could have been a Scottish keeper.

[wivelgull]

Talking of bad keepers....does anyone remember the infamous 'Coombe match' where we lost 0-4 (yes, at home) to Exeter City? Every single one of their goals was down to goalkeeping errors, some of which can only be described as egregious. Our keeper, Mark Coombe, never played league football again. I used to have the highlights of the game on video, but they - along with other TV highlights - ended up on the tip.