On paper this should be the sort of game we are looking to get something out of, I know people will point to Torquay being an 'ex-league team' but we have to judge teams on their current position not history and the truth is, if we win on Saturday we go above them and a 4-2 defeat at Havent this evening is perhaps a better indication of where they currently are.

All that said, we are hardly in the best of states ourselves, hopefully Bowry will be back fit and maybe even Bird and/or Denton for a spot on the bench.  The worries for me are further up field as Rowley will be a huge loss, particularly until Barrett regains some level of fitness that will allow IC to consider starting him

                 Jones
   McFadden, Bowry, Fernandez
Jones, Coleman, Clunan, Barrows
                 Gyasi
          Linton, Omotayo

subs - McGavin, Sundire, Barrett, Taylor plus hopefully one of the returning defenders

Thought it said in match report that Bowery was injured in training.

Thanks, the just read the report on the club site which I couldn't see earlier (cache issues or not posted?), report says Bird and Denton were rested - hell of a rest for them having not played since 11th September and 28th September respectively so would have thought one could have been on the bench if fit.  Also says Bowry should be fit for next week so that will help too.

B&B, I don't think it's negative to have concerns about the new lads injury record - this is what he posted on Twitter yesterday

"Delighted to be here and kick on, I fell out of love with my biggest passion the last 2 years. But I’m ready to get fit & show what I can do"

Now, much as I wish the lad all the best there have to be questions around his fitness and I think we should be realistic about that, particularly given the size of our squad and the pressure to throw him into games sooner rather than later, but he left Bristol Rovers at the start of September

I have to agree with Mall, this looks like a huge gamble for the club but maybe that is where we are when it comes to recruitment?  Looking at his fitness levels the obvious parallel is with King so hopefully we have learnt from that experience and with Barrett coming in without any initial outlay lets hope he is on a short-term deal which gives him the incentive to prove Barton made a mistake.

Why would you say the money isn’t there KES ?   Do you think SC has already burnt through all of the 500k loans ?   Also if bringing a striker in was the difference between staying in the NL or being relegated to the NLN then would you not think that SC would dip once again into his own pocket to find that few grand extra ?

Mall, I am not sure anyone knows what proportion of the loans remain unspent but given that the previous promotions were secured with a fair degree of financial doping and I can't imagine 2020-21 or the current season's budget were set with a view to breaking even and with COVID I guess we have already spent a fair chunk and that is probably without lower than anticipated (in some quarters) crowds and the fact that repayments have already started on the bounce back loan.

At the recent fans forum, SC did say that all of the modelling and planning for the future was based on staying in the current division but whether that is worth yet more cash is really down to SC, personally I think we have already gambled more than is reasonable for the future of the club so I would accept that the budget is what it is and if we can't secure NL football with that then so be it.  SC said the Sport England loan repayments kick in in four years time - that is a hell of a long timeframe to maintain NL status and lets be honest are we unlikely to be able to do that without a massive cash injection from elsewhere so maybe we should start trying to live within our means sooner rather than later?

KES, you beat me to it and yes, there was an element that the question from Backie was a set up to allow SC to give the 'depends on crowds' response.  Certainly if the two games since the price reduction are anything to go by we won't see a new striker anytime soon

Quote from: Mallard on October 11, 2021, 10:41:12 AM

He is an amazing   character.   Just a few days ago he arranges a meeting with the fans to try and curb the growing feeling of unhappiness with so many things that is seemingly going wrong at the club.  To the man’s credit he holds his hands up to say yes there are issues and wants to work to put them right.

Then in EDP he goes on a full frontal attack on a Youth set up in the Town that has been around long before anyone had ever heard of the name Cleeve.

Now we see a name and shame on a young supporter.

PR at the club is really something else.

I have to say that I don't really understand what angle he is coming from with the EDP article on Saturday, or more to the point, what he is really hoping to achieve with it.

I'm surprised that the people at the EDP even gave it column space!

Exactly what we said on the terraces on Saturday, as much as it is clear relations are strained with the Council, this is hardly likely to help the relationship

I am not really sure the EDP care about what is written as it is a feature article by a guest contributor so SC probably has a fair degree of autonomy in terms of topics and content - basically column inches filled for little effort.

As for the Twitter storm, whilst SC may have had a valid point about a supporter 'underpaying', there are a number of ways to address this sort of issue and I would say posting on Twitter wouldn't have been my first choice!

I agree with KES that it is obviously a big step up for Joe and he will need some time to adjust but there was enough positivity in his play to justify giving him more chances.  As for Walker, I think his loan spell ends next week and I can't see that being extended and Gyasi hasn't really done anything to justify getting more game time imo. 

I would like to think the attendance would be a lot more than 1100 tomorrow, particularly given the weather forecast.

On the pitch, I just hope our luck turns in front of goal and we can put together a bit of a run, including a positive result next week in the cup.  No preview as yet from the club so still no injury updates but can't see that any of Tuesday evenings starters wouldn't keep their place if they are all fit.  Plenty of positives from the Barnet game to take into Saturday so hope we can get our first win at the Walks this season although like B&G, I think we might need to score at least twice to achieve that.