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It's a good job we didn't appoint the following:-

Arsene Wenger - Hasn't won a trophy in over 5 years. Totally incompetant.
Mark Hughes - Dull safe manager, failed at Man CIty.
Martin O'Neill - Flaky and walked out on Aston Villa.
Carlo Ancelotti - Losing it and doesn't change tactics when things aren't going well
Alex McLeish - Poor, safety first, style of play but has won a cup!

Can you imagine the uproar from some on here if we'd taken any of this lot on?

Martin Lings Yellow Army!
Martin Lings Yellow Army!

A bit like Southampton, I did my dough as well. Forster for the record - first touted ages ago on this forum by myself if I may say so - at 25/1. I have been acting very smug these last 6-7 days I have to say and up until midday today I was doing cartwheels, summer hols paid for etc...
Now to Ling:
a shock - tick box
unexpected - tick box
left field - tick box
positive - tick box
do we need to rally round - tick box
get behind the lads - tick box
disregard CUFC negativity - tick box

Err I can't fault the enthusiasm here & I agree despite some outbursts (me included) we shouldn't get on his back when he's only been in the job. BUT, & it's a big BUT, if he was that a brilliant of a manager he'd still be at Leyton Orient. Yes..?

Seems to me that his assistant Dean Smith was the brains behind the Ling/Smith double act & his flaws were horribly exposed in his time at Cambridge. Don't forget Leyton Orient slid down the table into the relegation zone which was the reason they left.

Into his Cambridge career, I see they went on a run where they didn't win a game between October & March. That's disgraceful any level, let alone a strongish side in the BlueSq. Wikipedia also states he brought in his own signings Reason, Clare, Miller etc. & only somehow 9 victories towards the end of the season kept them from relegation.

Hate to be realistic guys but he hasn't really done a lot without Dean Smith & ever since Leyton Orient went on the bad run of form in League One. The apparent arrogance towards the fans "sing all they want I'm not going anywhere" would make things worse let alone better.

I do believe he's the wrong appointment & I'm really disappointed, but I shall get behind him 100%. Hopefully he rams my words back down my throat.

My first reaction when I heard of his appointment was positive, thinking of a good job he did at Orient. To be honest I didn't know about his unsuccessful stint at Cambridge, but as others have said how many free agents with a great record are out there? With a lack of a truly stand out candidate the board have gone for what they thought was best, so I'll give him a chance and judge him on what he does for our team.

I'm more worried that there's not much of a team left for him to work with.

Boom Boom wrote:Don't forget Leyton Orient slid down the table into the relegation zone which was the reason they left.

So you're telling me that given the choice of staying in L2 for 4 years or getting promoted to L1, consolidating the next season but having a relegation battle the season after, you'd chose staying in L2?

To me, he did very well for Orient and one poor season (but not catastrophic as they're still in L1) is a pretty good record. I'd certainly be happy with that.

Excellent post forever. The guy had a long term successful spell with orient where he turned them from a mid table league 2 side to an established league 1 club. He has extensive coaching and scouting experience, good contacts and no doubt a player target list drawn up - who knows this could have been what swung the job his way.

For all those clamouring for forster - what happens if we start the season badly, is it inexperience, does he have the mettle, is he up to the job. How long is he given when perhaps he just isn't good enough. He has next to no experience and has not been tested. On the flip side what if he does well - how long is happy with a limited budget when he is an ambitious guy and with a long list of ex clubs how long before he is linked with every job and is off. In 12 to 18 months we could easily be back to square 1.

cambgull wrote: So you're telling me that given the choice of staying in L2 for 4 years or getting promoted to L1, consolidating the next season but having a relegation battle the season after, you'd chose staying in L2?

To me, he did very well for Orient and one poor season (but not catastrophic as they're still in L1) is a pretty good record. I'd certainly be happy with that.

"Not catastrophic as they're still in L1" It's because of their current manager, not because of Ling. All I'm saying if he was that good of a manager he'd still be at LO or at Cambridge for that matter.

boom boom you are talking gash

Boom Boom wrote: "Not catastrophic as they're still in L1" It's because of their current manager, not because of Ling. All I'm saying if he was that good of a manager he'd still be at LO or at Cambridge for that matter.

He joined LO in 2003 and left in 2009, so we're talking 5 1/2 seasons in charge of LO. He took over them when they were 2nd bottom of L2 and eventually took them up. He then consolidated them in L1 for a couple seasons. He has one poor season and supposedly he's an awful manager. There's a reason why the LO fans hold him in fairly high regard...

As for Cambridge, he seemed to start in pretty acrimonious circumstances due to the chairman being a d*ck and it was his spending that put the club into free fall. He was left with a club in a poor position financially and they've had a mid-table position twice. The previous chairman seems very much like Roberts, wanted to build a new stadium and move them out of town. They're in slightly better shape now, I think Ling was in charge during a bit of a chaotic time.

Why not just give the guy a chance, rather than slate him before he's even begun. Unless you're one of those odious gobsh*tes who will never give someone a chance because you don't like him.

Agree Cambgull. Not too enamoured myself with the appointment but it could be that the Cambridge job just didn't work out for a number of reasons, that happens in football. I,ve had a sleep on it and woke up feeling ok. I think as long as Eunan and Billy stay and we add a decent keeper and a few more experienced heads to the squad then i think Ling has got a lot to work with. We definately had the best of Branno so he IS replacable despite what a lot of gulls think and even if we lose Zebs its still not the end of the world. There is actually a lot to look forward to despite my postings to the contrary yesterday. We deffo need Eunan to stay and help him develop his game to the benefit of Torquay because he has the makings of a player who can go on to a much higher level in the future. COYY!!!! P.S I'm sure i read somewhere that Danny Stevens has gone, can someone confirm this for me please. If so i do thank him for his service but i will be glad because he simply is no good at this level.

Pretty sure Danny Stevens hasn't left, he's been offered a contract and I think he realistically needs to be looking at amatuer teams to play first team football week in, week out. Danny Potter has gone, could that be the confusion?

Yeah possibly, i knew that anyway, Newport wasn't it? I think i probably just got confused! Cheers cambgull

Lets all do the decent thing, and get behind Martin and the team. He is our manager now, like it or not, and the best thing that we can do is support him and TUFC, as we have done over the years. Time will tell if it was/was not the correct appointment. I, originally, was a little disappointed, but I think that was only because Martin's name was not in the frame to begin with. I kmow most people wanted Nicky Forster, but why? He has not really had any managerial experience, apart from a few months at Brentford. He applied (As far as I know) for the vacant job there, but didn't get it. Again I ask the question Why? I'm not knocking him, just asking the question.

I have now started to come around to the fact that Martin Ling is our manager and I, for one, will support him all the way, untill/if he fails. He could turn out to be the best that we have had. Lets give the poor guy a chance.

I'm hoping to get to the pre-season match at Truro since I shall be holidaying near there. I can't wait to see the new signings we'll have by then and the new boss at work. Got my positive hat on today, now I've got over the shock.