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Richinns wrote:Why have we/are we letting Paul Buckle walk all over us in this way??

When Bucks asked the board if he could talk to B.Rovers, they should have said "fine, but we will start looking for your replacement". If this had taken place then the new manager & Bucks would have crossed in the corridor & all of this time would not have been lost. Furthermore the new Guy may have impressed the likes of Bevan, Stanley & Robinson & persuaded them to stay.
In "real life" a manager would have to give a months notice which would have given the board sufficent time to interview & appoint the new man. The compensation will not be much use if we are too late & all of the decent players have been signed.

Bucks will know exactly what type of figure we would find difficult to turn down, but we should call his bluff if he is sniffing around Zebs, Kee or O'Kane. Any of our players actually. Dig our heels in - the Rovers board will be tempted to continue to back their new Manager and Bucks will be keen to get his man - If a particular player has had his head turned then I have no problem selling them to Rovers - But so often we appear to sell ourselves short in the transfer market. Lets cash in fully on the the blossoming PB and Rovers romance. Other than Gill he seems to be intent on recreating a side that finished 7th with a comparatively poor total of points in a particularly poor League two. I must be alone in thinking that many of our players were very mediocre last year - good in patches, but clueless in just as many. I'd have thrown in the coach driver for a few grand after the Rotherham match. From reading all this bull about how well PB prepared for games one would think we walked the league last year. We were very oirdinary - but for TUFC oirdinary is consolidation, so it was fine by me. PB or any player that follows him will not have that luxury next year.

Whilst I see O'Kane as a real special talent who can go far higher than even Paul Buckle's ambition can take him, the rest of our players are replaceable in my opinion. Some would undoubtedly be difficult to replace, but replaceable all the same if the budget is there. I was very impressed with Zebs last season and his workrate was immense - in my mind he was our player of the year. However, he is still a very frustrating player. I'd love him to stay, but if we are offered decent money and he no longer wants to be here then we should cash in. With Kee, I was just about losing patience with his fitness and his display in the Play off final pushed me over the edge - he needs to sign for weight watchers before signing for anyone. A great prospect if he gets his diet and attitude sorted, but if decent money is offered then let someone else worry about it. Then again, maybe a manager might have the sense to play him in the correct position one day.

Agree with pretty much all of that. Enzo. Not sure that Kee could be blamed too much in terms of his form, he was hopelessly lost out wide, he does need to work on his fitness though.

We have League Two players with just a few that could play at a higher level so none are irreplaceable, my fear is that we'll be replacing them with inferior players on the cheap. It's obvious from those that have left already that almost all of the higher earners have been allowed to leave.

One of things with Kee, for me, is that he can be anonymous for the game, and then he score a peach from nowhere.

I remember Northampton, he'd done naff all, until he bent that effort in the far corner. Magnificent effort. It was the same at Burton.

It's like he can't do the easy stuff, but he can score the harder efforts.

NickGull wrote:It's like he can't do the easy stuff, but he can score the harder efforts.

That sounds very similar to David Graham, to be honest.

regiment wrote:as a slight aside here, just read that Roberto Martinez has turned down villa to remain at Wigan.

he always comes across as a nice guy, decent and honest, and clearly pretty loyal. some certain others could do worse than take a leaf out of his book. well done Roberto.

I was also quite surprised to see Martinez turn down Villa.

But to say he comes across as pretty loyal is a little wide of the mark IMO.

He didn't show much loyalty to Swansea did he? At least Paul Buckle was at Torquay for 4 years and got you promoted and nearly got you promoted again.

Martinez was at Swansea for 18 months, in which he inhereted a side from Kenny Jackett, he jumped as soon as Wigan came in for him.

He is a decent, young manager, but he is no different to Paul Buckle or any other manager.

He reminds me of Graham in so many ways. Hopefully we can see him develop here over the next few years, it's easy to forget how young he is.

We need Zebroski here next season too, he's the first name on the teamsheet. Anything under £100k wouldn't be worth risking relegation for.

For me Gulli, you're bang on there. The board need to work out the cost of relegation to the Conference, remaining down there for 10 years, then putting together a squad capable of promotion. I estimate £5,000,000. If we receive offers for our better players (Zedders, Eunan, puffin' et al) worth more than this, then feel free to sell, otherwise, keep them.

Matt.

Southampton Gull wrote:Agree with pretty much all of that. Enzo. Not sure that Kee could be blamed too much in terms of his form, he was hopelessly lost out wide, he does need to work on his fitness though.

We have League Two players with just a few that could play at a higher level so none are irreplaceable, my fear is that we'll be replacing them with inferior players on the cheap. It's obvious from those that have left already that almost all of the higher earners have been allowed to leave.

Kee can't be blamed for being pushed out wide, but he two stone overweight. I read somewhere that we were paying a dietitian. Amazing. David Graham had his attitude problems, but he was in a different class to Kee at the moment - both in the brain and in the feet. Graham would ghost past players and had a terrific shot. Kee has got by with a decent shot on him.

In terms of our budget, it is just something we are going to have to get used to it, by the looks of it. Other Managers have done it with a small budget and we must find a man who can do it again. PB didn't want to be that man and whilst it is great to be so professional, can a club our size really justify employing Colin Lee, Sean North, Kenny Veysey, Junior North and John Milton to support a Manager. I think PB would have left this season whatever happened at Old Trafford - he knew the budget and knew his stock was at its highest. The way it played out Rovers have given us £50,000 - £100,000 for a Manager we could no longer afford.

The figure in my mind for Zebs would be around £150,000

happytorq wrote: That sounds very similar to David Graham, to be honest.

Hmm, a bit to early to draw comparisons between BK and DG, for me. I haven't seen enough of Kee to suggest that, but if he gets anywhere near the level of Graham in the 2003/04 season then that'll be fantastic!!

Enzo wrote: Kee can't be blamed for being pushed out wide, but he two stone overweight. I read somewhere that we were paying a dietitian. Amazing. David Graham had his attitude problems, but he was in a different class to Kee at the moment - both in the brain and in the feet. Graham would ghost past players and had a terrific shot. Kee has got by with a decent shot on him.

In terms of our budget, it is just something we are going to have to get used to it, by the looks of it. Other Managers have done it with a small budget and we must find a man who can do it again. PB didn't want to be that man and whilst it is great to be so professional, can a club our size really justify employing Colin Lee, Sean North, Kenny Veysey, Junior North and John Milton to support a Manager. I think PB would have left this season whatever happened at Old Trafford - he knew the budget and knew his stock was at its highest. The way it played out Rovers have given us £50,000 - £100,000 for a Manager we could no longer afford.

The figure in my mind for Zebs would be around £150,000

I may be way off the mark here, and if I am, quite rightly tell me so.

But I honestly dont see anybody paying 150k for Zebroski, that may obviously be to your adavantage, but I dont see how that fee can be justified.

Rovers signed Rickie Lambert for 200k and he was a proven 20+ goals a season man at this level, and is far superior to Zebroski.

I honestly think something in the region of 50k is value enough.

But you have obviously seen a lot more of Zebroski than me.

The board should stand strong and tell anybody trying to take any of our players that they are not discussing anything until the new manager is in place. Simple.

I'm not sure how you can value someone you havent seen play? Or are you basing it on the fact he plays for "Little old Torquay" so cant be that exspensive? His value of about 150K sounds right to be. He can score goals and hes good at setting them up aswell he's one of our key players so that value of 150K sounds about right to me.

If you get Zebs for £50k, we've been robbed again. He's worth closer to the £150k quoted. But with him having only a year on his contract, and potentially having his head turned by the prospect of a move, we should realistically be looking for £100k.

BritishGAS wrote: I may be way off the mark here, and if I am, quite rightly tell me so.

But I honestly dont see anybody paying 150k for Zebroski, that may obviously be to your adavantage, but I dont see how that fee can be justified.

Rovers signed Rickie Lambert for 200k and he was a proven 20+ goals a season man at this level, and is far superior to Zebroski.

I honestly think something in the region of 50k is value enough.

But you have obviously seen a lot more of Zebroski than me.

You'll get shot down by some on here with that valuation, but I think £75 to £100,000 would be about right. Like I said, I'd like us to dig our heals in and test your board and Bucks. Whatever any of us think, a player is worth whatever a manager is prepared to pay for him. I'd never have thought Andy Carroll was worth £35 million, but he is.......or was.

This player may not even be Zebs - for all I know he is 100% committed to TUFC - as he appears to have been all season. Bucks did seem to like him though.