TT BLOG

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive blogs about Paul Wotton’s latest presser

I’m delighted to say that Torquay Talk will be taking its place in the press pack again this year as Season Two of Operation Bryn gets underway in earnest. This is the first of what will hopefully be a regular series of reports based on the Manager’s Thursday afternoon press conferences.

Paul Wotton normally speaks to us in the Dave Thomas Media Suite at Plainmoor. The room (where Sam Swann & I interviewed Paul for Torquay Talk on Tuesday night) now has a proper sign on the door paying tribute to Dave, who covered his first Torquay match in 1967 and is as enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the game as ever.

Pre-season & looking forward to Enfield:

Wotton is looking forward to the real stuff starting on Saturday: “Pre-season’s not a great period of time. It’s about getting fit and trying to stay injury-free. In pre-season games you don’t win any points or lose any points. We always do a 6-week pre-season and this week it’s about looking forward to playing in front of a proper crowd with points on the board.”

He talked about the recruitment and said that some of his signings had been earmarked as early as last October.

There are no injuries at present, apart from Sonny Fish, who is nearly 3 weeks into his recovery from his cartilage operation: “The medical side are bang on that and he’s in good spirits: he’s made good progress.”

It’s the time of year to talk about this summer’s signings, and as you would expect it’s all good vibes. United have enticed former Yeovil captain Matt Worthington back south from Oldham, and he seems nailed on to be our midfield king-pin. Wotton was again fulsome in his praise for the 27 year old: “He’s captained a team to the NLS title, He’s played at a higher level, he’s well-respected by his peers. He’s a good talker. He knows football. He acts in the manner that a captain should. He sets standards in training and also he’s vocal on the pitch. He’s someone I have had an interest in ever since I first got the job at Torquay. I thought he would fit the bill perfectly. Sometimes you have to wait to get the right player.”

Guy Henderson asked about the mix of the squad- still containing some young players but bolstered over the summer by experienced signings. Paul said that the transition has been “seamless: it’s like they’ve been here all the time”. In terms of the younger players it’s clear that last season’s near-miss is still on people’s minds, but that it has been important experience: “Those younger players will be so much better off for last season. The only way you get experience of anything is living it and doing it, isn’t it? The boys who played in big games last year, they won’t be as tense, they won’t be as nervous this season because they have lived it and breathed it, so although they are younger age-wise I think that maturity-wise in their minds and their football journey they’re more experienced now, because they’ve lived it.”

“The older ones have driven standards and they’re not afraid this year in training to say ‘Come on, that’s 2 mistakes now. You can’t make a third one: you need to liven up.’ Before, it was always my voice and it it’s my voice all the time it becomes white noise: it doesn’t work: you need different voices.”

I asked the Boss about Louis Dennis: “Louis can play anywhere in the forward area. He can play as a ten; can play left wing; right wing; he can play as a lone striker; he can play in a 2 upfront. He brings something completely different to what we had last year. It’s a totally different dynamic, he’s a rangy runner so he gives us that little bit of pace in behind. He’s got great experience. He’s played in big games- 19 in League Two last year for Bromley- so he brings that wealth of experience. He’s also a leader, not in the sense of a ‘Worthington’ leader. He’s a very quiet leader and he will pull players to one side and have a word with them. He’s had a grumbling back issue which has meant he hasn’t played as many minutes as we’d have liked in pre-season, but he has trained all this week and he’s fully fit. He’s also a great guy and he really fits right into the DNA, that culture of what we’re trying really hard to build here- and he wants to be here. He wants to be here and hopefully he’ll be here for a long time.”

You hear quite often about “DNA” in sporting culture, and I asked how he would describe Torquay’s: “Without sounding like I’ve swallowed a coaching book, you’ve got to be a good person. Straight off the bat you’ve got to be a good football player. That’s the first thing. But then you’ve got to go quite deep into what they’re like as a person, because there’s no point signing a good football player who upsets everyone all

the time on the training ground. I’ve got no problem with someone upsetting people on the football pitch- that’s perfect- but off the pitch I think it’s really important (with) the way that Bryn are, the way the club is, the way the staff are around the place, I think it’s really, really important to be a good person. I think our squad are a credit, I really do. I think they’re great guys, they’ve always got time for people. There’s not one big time person amongst them. They’re very humble and that’s something I’ll constantly keep drumming that into them. The DNA is someone who wants to be here, someone who’s not here for a paycheck, not here for a last dance, someone who wants to be here, someone who wants to work hard ans domoeone who will give everything for Torquay United and ultimately is a good person as well. I think we’re pretty much there with all the boys in the squad at the moment.”

I think the manager is right. It’s early days but I have heard great feedback from Tuesday’s open training session, and met most of the players at Stoke Gabriel Cricket Club on Tuesday night. There seemed to be a great spirit amongst them, many of whom spent time signing shirts for young fans.

The best morale boost in the world is winning football matches, of course. Let’s hope they get off to the start we hope for and expect on Saturday.