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ferrarilover wrote:Oh good, the old 'I've been a fan for X years, so my opinion is automatically valid' argument.

If you're insulted by an alternative opinion, then, and here comes more insult, GITP, perhaps the Internet isn't the place for you.

You've been a fan for all those years and, for all those years (bar, what, three?) we've been in division 4. For the majority of that, we've been somewhere near the bottom of division 4. It just happens that, right now, we're dead bottom. You're extremely upset about this. So upset, in fact, that I really cannot believe that an extra, say, 8 points (which it is perfectly feasible that we could have without really being any better than we actually are) and sitting 14th-16th, would sate your thirst for blood. If it would, you're even dafter than your persistent calls for a meaningless, cliché riddled, 'official statement' suggest.

Matt.

10 actually.

And finished in the bottom half of division four 22 times in those years.

Thanks for that GITP, i'll take that as a compliment! :na:

AustrianAndyGull wrote:Thanks for that GITP, i'll take that as a compliment! :na:

We should all be happy to receive compliments. I get very few, but that is because I am a complete barsteward.

ferrarilover wrote:Blimey, you really are of extremely weak constitution, which is odd for someone from a steely generation.

For someone who supports a club who struggle as often as Torquay does, you're reacting very badly to our current situation.

Your 49 years comment certainly had a 'wisened old gent' quality about it. Perhaps you don't understand the impact of the words you choose beyond their plain and simple meaning which, ironically, would render you and I both as the Garibaldis among a barrel of Bourbons.

Matt.

You, Matt, obviously do not have much of a handle on our club's history, in your desperate attempt to defend the inadequacy that is Alan Knill? If you did, you would know that in the 86 years since we acquired league football, we have finished bottom just FIVE times. In 1927, 1985, 1986, 1996 and 2007.

It is not the 'normal' state of affairs for us to be bottom of the league. Other than the first year, each of those seasons were avoidable, the vandalism of the Webb years in the 80s, Bateson's utter disregard in 96 and the wreckage of Roberts in 2007. Sadly, for you, you have backed yourself into a corner, with your support for Knill, so strenuous and superior you appear to believe your views are, yet you look stupid now. One of the lonely 9 or 10 (and probably less, thanks to multiple posting, no doubt) who clearly are happy to see us relegated because there are no arguments for keeping Knill. Not footballing, not financial.

Fortunately, I believe that the directors have far more ambition for Torquay United than the instigator of this rather pointless thread. If not, we might as well hoist the white flag now and prepare ourselves for Conference football next season and for evermore. We have been a league side since the 1920s and apart from the season Chris Roberts brought the club to its knees, on the whole it has been a well run club and I believe the club is still being well run.

No, we don't have a God-given right to stay in the league but Torquay United has just as much right as any other club to be a league side. If our league status is being judged on fan base, there are several other clubs with similar gates between 2000 (or less) and 3000. I haven't checked in detail but those that spring to mind are Rochdale, Burton, Bury, Accrington, Newport, Morecambe, Crawley, AFC Wimbledon, maybe even Stevenage (as I say, I haven't checked for accuracy so I may be wrong in one or two of those I've named). We have always been recognised as a well run, friendly club and I feel a certain pride that I have been a supporter for longer than I care to admit as was my old man before me. So lets have no more of this 'we're nothing but Conference fodder' nonsense. We've got a proud history and WE WANT TO MAINTAIN OUR LEAGUE STATUS. UP THE GULLS !

Rjc70 wrote:So, to summarise, those who previously felt the club needed to issue a statement, now do not believe this is necessary. Quite right, too.

No Rob, I'm still firmly of the opinion that the Board should issue a statement. All that's happening with the deafening silence is that they are compounding all the nasty vibes and comments aimed at the manager of our football club. A simple "Alan is working very hard to turn things around and has the full backing of the Board.............blah blah" is all it needs to quash all the bile we're reading and having to listen to at games.

Back him or bloody sack him, saying nothing is just not helping matters.

Southampton Gull wrote:
No Rob, I'm still firmly of the opinion that the Board should issue a statement. All that's happening with the deafening silence is that they are compounding all the nasty vibes and comments aimed at the manager of our football club. A simple "Alan is working very hard to turn things around and has the full backing of the Board.............blah blah" is all it needs to quash all the bile we're reading and having to listen to at games.

Back him or bloody sack him, saying nothing is just not helping matters.

Agree 100% Dave

The club releasing a statement to the effect that they are backing Knill would do absolutely nothing. We're too small a club for enough people not to know 'someone close to the club' who knows full well they can't afford to sack him.

nickfrench82 wrote:The club releasing a statement to the effect that they are backing Knill would do absolutely nothing. We're too small a club for enough people not to know 'someone close to the club' who knows full well they can't afford to sack him.

Is Knill bigger than the club then?

nickfrench82 wrote:The club releasing a statement to the effect that they are backing Knill would do absolutely nothing. We're too small a club for enough people not to know 'someone close to the club' who knows full well they can't afford to sack him.

Some of us have been relaying that for what seems like months now, making a statement such as I've suggested could/should/would relieve a lot of the tension for everybody, the board, the manager and the fans. The only ones not getting too much grief at the moment are the players.

The club/board don't want to back him, so it would be empty words. I understand what people would like to get from a statement, but I just don't think the manager, fans or players would believe anything contained within it.

nickfrench82 wrote:The club/board don't want to back him, so it would be empty words. I understand what people would like to get from a statement, but I just don't think the manager, fans or players would believe anything contained within it.

You're speaking for a lot of "contacts" there.

Ok, that is from what 1 person has told me...

I think in terms of the players, and it's a great point you've highlighted Dave, I think that by and large they can be absolved of much of the blame for this mess. I actually felt sorry for some of them on Saturday and that was a feeling that make me stop and think. How could this be? They just looked shorn of any belief, confidence, idea and positivity for the duration and after the game too I just sensed a different demeanour in them when they came to clap the fans off. They looked totally dejected and looked a thoroughly beaten and demoralised set of players. Like the fans too on Saturday. It all got too much.

I got the impression that they were saying, "It's another game gone, we've played the game and we've lost again and we're so sorry but we just don't know where we go from here". I actually felt like they were saying that to me when I looked them in the eye. Not seen that before ever.

My sympathy also stems from the fact that the constant changes in personnel and positions almost every bloody week has reduced these players to the most basic of things. Running. It seems to me that all they can do is run about for 90 minutes chasing rainbows because they are totally lost out there and by default they just give us the one thing that makes them look busy but in fact offers us nothing. You can see it, they are confused as to what they should be doing, when they should be doing it, how, who they should be doing it with and so on.

Many fans commented on Harding and Mansell in particular at the beginning of the season highlighting the fact that all they seem to do was sort of run around a bit and nothing much happens. Well that has pretty much spread throughout the whole team so we now generally get all our players doing this and the end result is we create nothing and we look like nothing. Look at Chappell, perfect example of a player who likes to look busy but makes little impact nowadays. We know that isn't him but that is what we get. Who is responsible for this? You could say the players but EVERY ONE OF THEM? You could also argue that Rice is the only player who looks as though he knows what he is doing and is consistent, that is because he is a goalie so what the hell is happening to ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS?

For me it's a no brainer, it's Knill.

Southampton Gull wrote:
No Rob, I'm still firmly of the opinion that the Board should issue a statement. All that's happening with the deafening silence is that they are compounding all the nasty vibes and comments aimed at the manager of our football club. A simple "Alan is working very hard to turn things around and has the full backing of the Board.............blah blah" is all it needs to quash all the bile we're reading and having to listen to at games.

Back him or bloody sack him, saying nothing is just not helping matters.

Fair enough. Just Andy then.