Blarney

Match Six If it's possible to go from bad - where you've not scored in 3 straight matches - to worse... you've done it by not even getting a shot on target in this game. When can the supporters expect to see some change? I think we're approaching a time where something is going to have to be done, whether that's drastic or just mixing something up. This certainly can't continue. We did just sign Rumarm Burrell to try and do something different up front but it's a lot of pressure bringing in someone and telling them they have to be the savior. Hopefully he'll provide just a small spark though going forward.

August in Review Schedule 2 good wins to start the month, followed by a loss against a good club, followed by 2 draws. We didn't score in the last 3 matches. Table Still we find ourselves in the 7th spot on the table, mostly due to our outstanding defensive play to start the year. NL Team Stats Possession and pass completition are excellent as always. Now we just need to find a way to put the ball in the net. NL Player Stats Finances Made a little cash. Finances are "okay" and the owners still won't spend anything to make things better.

Match Five That's 3 straight where your club has failed to score now. 4 in which your #1 forward, Euan Pollock, hasn't put one in as he remains goal-less on the season. What's gone wrong? Well, the flip side is that we're not allowing goals either. So while one side is trying to figure things out, the other has been spectacular. If that wasn't the case it would be much worse than it is right now. Obviously we have some things to figure out. That's not concern, it's just part of the job of... reconfiguring what we're doing and finding something that works. You absolutely dominated the stats in this match. More shots, more on target, a 70-30 possession advantage, over 90% of your passes were completed. You did everything right but put it in the net. I would imagine that's frustrating. I would imagine you're right, but that's how the game goes at times.

Match Four Euan Pollock has gone 3 straight matches without a goal scored. He came into this season as probably your number one choice at the forward position after coming off a good season last year. He's even commented on it in post-game when asked about it and has vowed that he will score in the next match. Has this become a distraction to the team? No and I'm not worried about it either. Euan is a good player going through a stretch that a lot of players go through. If he had scored 10 times in 15 matches and then went 3 where he didn't in the middle of the season nobody would care. It's just that he's started the season off slowly and as a club we've started off rather slowly in the goal scoring department so it's magnified. He'll come through it and nobody on this club is concerned about it.

Match Three

Match Two

Collins Gone Collins was a good player for us last season but became expendable with our youth movement and other pieces we acquired. Besides, he said he wanted to go and I'm not going to stand in the way when I don't need the guy. We also lost Adam Berry before the season started when another club came calling and offered his release fee of 250k to acquire him. At least we're selling for profit. We have several other players we're dangling out there hoping for hits so we'll see how the season goes.

Match One How good does it feel to come back in your opener after being down 0-1 after the first half? It's nothing I don't think we deserved. We had a great match, controlled possession, won a majority of our tackles so I couldn't be happier. So 46-0? Why not. You can't get there without being 1-0.

Season 3 Predictions Golden Boot Once again they don't really like any of my boys to lead the league in goals scored. I can't really blame them, right now I have 4 different guys that might get time up front until someone really stands out, so deciding who will be the main guy.... might take a minute. Top Player See above. Standings We're picked to finish about the same spot wee finished in last season. I think we'll do a bit better. Hopefully.

Facilities Downgraded Gosh... that's not good, let's have the board fix that. I don't like new ownership.

Expectations We've been developing the youth systen, we need a little more help from the board to accomplish this. We have been playing possession and high-tempo pressing football. I'd like to think we're a little better next season than a mid-table finish, but we'll see how it plays out. I need a new contract. They want a top-half finish in the National League basically for the following 3 seasons after this and then a playoff appearance. It's good they have no real expectations of advancing... but it's also bad they have no real expectations because that means they probably don't intend on doing much to compete.

Budget Well now we know that new ownership has no plans to spend money as there's very little change between last season's budget and this.

Personal Diary So another season - my 2nd in charge - has come and gone. It obviously wasn't the success that the first was when we won the National League South and earned automatic promotion but it can't be considered a failure either because we did avoid relegation, which many picked us for in the preseason. The funny thing is our 10 goal difference was actually better than Yeovil's who hold the final playoff spot but we were just a real Jeckyll and Hyde club all season long. We actually were in the playoff hunt for a bit but then went on a very lengthy stretch where we just couldn't buy a victory. At that point the pundits looked like they were right as we were free-falling on the table and on our way towards a relegation battle. Luckily we turned that around - just enough - and were able to finish mid-table - better than 20 points clear of dropping. What lies ahead? As I said privately I'm not even mad that we will be back in the National League against next season. This club really wasn't ready to take that next step. We're very young and very much in need of growing within ourselves. I think if we had somehow managed to go up this year we'd just come back down against next season so probably better just to stay where we're at for now and not get the expectations of the supporters up too much. Hopefully most are happy with how we played the season out. We had a few run-ins with some players that think they're better than they are or wanted starting spots when I was prepared to get it to them. We'll probably have to shed some dead-weight and hopefully bring in a few more guys that can grow with us, but I doubt we'll make many moves. I'm not sure about new ownership. It was an internal takeover and no money was provided to the club to make any moves. Honestly, really nothing was said at all. They've been completely quiet since becoming new owners, other than to pretty much keep the same goals as we had before... which luckily for us just meant staying where we were at. So I guess we'll see going into the next season if anything changes with expectations or on the financial side, as of now there hasn't even been a glimpse into what I will have to work with next year. Regardless, that's out of my hands, I'll just keep doing what I can do until I'm told not too. Here's to next season.

Final Table

Match Forty-Six

Match Forty-Five

Match Forty-Four

Torquay Weekly Glass half full or half empty? You've managed to escape a relegation battle but you've also just been eliminated from a playoff spot as well. Which way are you taking it? Oh I think escaping a relegation battle is more important for us right now. A playoff spot would have been nice but I don't know that it was in the cards for this year anyway. This year was all about growing as a club and avoiding going back down. We've done that and more so I'm taking the season as a win. You managed to make quite a few moves this season despite not having a lot of money. Is that a source of pride for you? It's my job... money or not. We're very happy with what we've done though. You had a takeover at the corporate level but it doesn't seem like much has changed. How are things on your side? Business as usual. As you've said, nothing has really changed at the moment. I would expect maybe to see something once the season is over.

March in Review (abbreviated) Schedule Table

Match Forty-Three

Match Forty-Two

Match Forty-One

Match Forty

February in Review Schedule What a great month coming down to clutch time. We had really been sinking rather quickly and even though I thought we were probably going to stay safe, this month really helped that by pushing further away from the drop zone. Table Only 7 matches remain and we can consider ourselves safe. In fact there is really still an outside chance that we could continue to push ourselves up to a playoff spot. If you ask me privately I'm going to say that would not be the best for us this season, we need another year of growth before we go up but publicly of course I'm all for it. Let's do it! NL Player Stats NL Team Stats Our possession has been good all season long. I'd like that to continue. Gulls Attacking Data Gulls Defending Data Financials

Match Thirty-Nine