TUFC 24/25 Squad

I do agree with you.

But there appears to be a tendency amongst some of our fanbase (and I am certainly not suggesting that you are included!) to forget the situation we were in during the summer.

The season ended on 20th April. No doubt earlier, but certainly no later than the following Monday 22nd April, I would expect the phone lines were buzzing with contract activity from managers and agents. We didn't have a manager.

Paul Wotton was appointed on 14th May, three weeks after the end of last season. I'm struggling to get Transfermarkt to give me a list of NLS transfer by date, but we have to expect the best players at NLS level to have been signed by that date. It's like turning up to the Boxing Day sales on 27th December. (kids, ask your Gran...)

We finally signed seven players in a four-day period from 3rd June, then waited a week for another signing, then another week for another two signings, then another week for another couple of signings, then nearly a month before Cody Cooke signed. We haven't been shopping at a fully stocked player-market: the majority of good players will have already signed for other clubs and while Wotton may have been talking to a number of better players while waiting to be appointed, if you were an out-of-contract player and another club comes in with a firm offer would you wait to see if there really is a contract offer from Torquay United?

Some fans on other forums have doubts that the current side can cut it at the next step up: National League. My guess is that Paul Wotton agrees. By my calculations 14 of the 19 players currently contracted (74%) are on one-year contracts. Matt Carson was on one until his performances prompted the club to extend his deal. I would hazard a guess that those 14 are effectively on "prove-it" contracts. If they can demonstrate that they have the ability and application to play at a step above NLS, they will get an extension offer. If not, then they will be on their way.

I would also bet my proverbial bottom dollar that Wotton and Neil Warnock will begin their recruiting drive for next season from January onwards, when players in the final year of their contract can start negotiations with other clubs. I fully expect the squad that starts next season, whether in NLS or NL, to be significantly stronger than our current one.

It has also struck me over the past few years that at our level there are many clubs who will want to cut their expenditure once promotion is no longer a possibility and relegation has been avoided. We could very well find that quality final-year players at middling clubs are available for loan during March as their teams try to save on wages. We could yet get help for a final promotion push before the transfer deadline.

So I fully agree that we need some strength and pace added to our squad. I believe it will certainly arrive in the summer, yet I would fully expect quality reinforcements to arrive in January. While not subject to the EFL transfer window, that period does mean that some EFL clubs have players spare due to their own signings. We could get loan players in now, but while we are 3rd it seems prudent to let the current squad fight for points and wait until later in the season for new arrivals.

Who was it who said "He that can have patience can have what he will" ?