Post by rjdgull on Jul 17, 2011 21:46:54 GMT
It isn't the first time and certainly won't be the last that Mr Barton Downs has got the most votes in any given week. Some good posts on the youth set up and then an inward look at where this site is at, which I wouldn't disagree with. There are always some gems in his posts, which are just as likely to be non TUFC based but there is nothing wrong with trying to broaden your horizons! A great contributor to this site and his efforts are much appreciated from this quarter!
I think people are being unrealistic AND unreasonable if they think every signing is going to be greeted by everyone saying "Interesting. I'm sure Ling knows what he's doing". Who the f*** wants to log on to read that?
.....What's wrong with asking whether a player who has been turning out for a part-time outfit and who didn't make the grade for us couple of years ago in the Conference is an adequate number 2 for us now? In response, those who say the manager has more pressing needs given his modest budget make a persuasive counter-argument.
You’re right of course. Not everything can be wonderful for we know from history that we’ve had plenty of awful players and awful managers with many dreadful decisions made along the way. Nor can it all be bad because, if it was, we’d no longer be in the business of being a professional football club. If you look at the history of any club, some of it is due to vision, talent and application; much is down to circumstance; the rest to incompetence or misjudgement. That’s how it’s been and that’s how it is now and for the future.
As for this site, I tend to agree with the majority of the views expressed and have a certain degree of respect for much of the remainder. In this way, because there is plenty of reasoned debate – one way or the other – I’d say this site is in rude good health. Sometimes, admittedly, I’m a little regretful it’s lost much of its quirkiness and eclecticism but these things come in cycles. It’s a Torquay United site so it’s only reasonable that the main topic of conversation is Torquay United (yet, at the same time, it’s perfectly permissible that we veer in other directions). At the moment I guess it reminds me of how the old Mervo site was for most of its history rather than the TFF of, say, 2008-2010. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but – once the TUFC-focus goes above a certain level – we have to accept that things can become more intense and contentious (although we’ve had our fair share of that throughout).
From my perspective football is a hobby to enjoy and to be absorbed by without getting too strung up, bitter or angry. When I signed up for this site I deliberately took the decision to try to inform and entertain without getting into too many arguments or falling out with people. That, I admit, often involves inwardly digesting opinions - albeit at a stage in life when I becoming increasingly sanguine anyway. For sure I get hacked off by the negativity and, perhaps more so, by the impatience in just the same way as I do on the Popular Side. That, I guess, is something we have to manage as part of being a fan. And, although I don’t get too involved in the daily debates, there are normally plenty of people to speak for me in an eloquent fashion. Of those who don’t, I digest, occasionally wince and sometimes wonder if I’ve grown soft with too much fuzzy-thinking. As for my take on events, while not a fully-fledged “fluffy”, I’ve tended to be understanding of - let’s say – 75% of the things that have happened at the club in recent years. We have progressed.
So, yes, it makes for far better reading if people do query signings, performances and decisions rather than being meekly accepting. Poster A may welcome signings V, W, X and Y but not Z; poster B may like V, W, X and Z but hate Y. That’s okay but if poster C thinks every signing – and decision and performance – is wonderful, and clearly believes in a footballing form of Papal Infallibility, I become a little uneasy. And if poster D disregards everything – invariably by kneejerk reaction – you wonder what makes them tick. Football, they say, is a matter of opinion. They also say you can’t win them all. We get pissed off when things don’t go to plan and, some more than others, get frustrated and wound up. But all of us - the meek, mild or belligerent - must be reasonably tolerant of this or else we’d be doing something else with our lives. Each to their own, as ever, but there’s got to be perspective and there has to be some limit to impatience and negativity. I know that too much of either would bugger up my blood pressure and mental well-being.
Jul 17, 2011 1:23:15 GMT @bartondowns said:
.....What's wrong with asking whether a player who has been turning out for a part-time outfit and who didn't make the grade for us couple of years ago in the Conference is an adequate number 2 for us now? In response, those who say the manager has more pressing needs given his modest budget make a persuasive counter-argument.
You’re right of course. Not everything can be wonderful for we know from history that we’ve had plenty of awful players and awful managers with many dreadful decisions made along the way. Nor can it all be bad because, if it was, we’d no longer be in the business of being a professional football club. If you look at the history of any club, some of it is due to vision, talent and application; much is down to circumstance; the rest to incompetence or misjudgement. That’s how it’s been and that’s how it is now and for the future.
As for this site, I tend to agree with the majority of the views expressed and have a certain degree of respect for much of the remainder. In this way, because there is plenty of reasoned debate – one way or the other – I’d say this site is in rude good health. Sometimes, admittedly, I’m a little regretful it’s lost much of its quirkiness and eclecticism but these things come in cycles. It’s a Torquay United site so it’s only reasonable that the main topic of conversation is Torquay United (yet, at the same time, it’s perfectly permissible that we veer in other directions). At the moment I guess it reminds me of how the old Mervo site was for most of its history rather than the TFF of, say, 2008-2010. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but – once the TUFC-focus goes above a certain level – we have to accept that things can become more intense and contentious (although we’ve had our fair share of that throughout).
From my perspective football is a hobby to enjoy and to be absorbed by without getting too strung up, bitter or angry. When I signed up for this site I deliberately took the decision to try to inform and entertain without getting into too many arguments or falling out with people. That, I admit, often involves inwardly digesting opinions - albeit at a stage in life when I becoming increasingly sanguine anyway. For sure I get hacked off by the negativity and, perhaps more so, by the impatience in just the same way as I do on the Popular Side. That, I guess, is something we have to manage as part of being a fan. And, although I don’t get too involved in the daily debates, there are normally plenty of people to speak for me in an eloquent fashion. Of those who don’t, I digest, occasionally wince and sometimes wonder if I’ve grown soft with too much fuzzy-thinking. As for my take on events, while not a fully-fledged “fluffy”, I’ve tended to be understanding of - let’s say – 75% of the things that have happened at the club in recent years. We have progressed.
So, yes, it makes for far better reading if people do query signings, performances and decisions rather than being meekly accepting. Poster A may welcome signings V, W, X and Y but not Z; poster B may like V, W, X and Z but hate Y. That’s okay but if poster C thinks every signing – and decision and performance – is wonderful, and clearly believes in a footballing form of Papal Infallibility, I become a little uneasy. And if poster D disregards everything – invariably by kneejerk reaction – you wonder what makes them tick. Football, they say, is a matter of opinion. They also say you can’t win them all. We get pissed off when things don’t go to plan and, some more than others, get frustrated and wound up. But all of us - the meek, mild or belligerent - must be reasonably tolerant of this or else we’d be doing something else with our lives. Each to their own, as ever, but there’s got to be perspective and there has to be some limit to impatience and negativity. I know that too much of either would bugger up my blood pressure and mental well-being.