TT REVIEW

Rob Dand

Rob discusses the game at Plainmoor and the departure of Paul Wotton

Full disclosure: I started writing this piece while Paul Wotton was still the Torquay United manager. By the time I finished it, he was gone, and I had to edit the whole damn thing. If it now seems disjointed and confusing, I apologise, but you’ll just have to accept that. Life is disjointed and confusing. Just know that the first version was brilliant, obviously.

PAUL WOTTON

There’s only one real talking point in the wake of this thoroughly miserable game, and that is the employment status of a one Mr P Wotton. Evidently, the ownership consortium is not blessed with a wedge of cash burning a hole in their collective pocket, and this had quite possibly been the only thing keeping the suddenly beleaguered Gulls manager in a job – but as I was finishing up this blog, the news started to break…

Earlier today, the club posted ‘coverage’ (not ‘highlights’) of Saturday’s game on social media, later followed by the prerequisite photograph of a corner flag accompanied by a statement regarding the manager’s position. Paul Wotton had been relieved of his duties. A sad inevitability after an inexcusable capitulation. He will be remembered for being the man who so very nearly dragged us back out of regional football, but ultimately came up agonisingly short. He leaves with immeasurably more dignity than his predecessor.

A likeable and down to earth man, Wotton always seemed to speak as fairly and openly as he could. He clearly has an analytical mind and possesses many attributes that will likely make him a decent football manager at this level. But maybe therein lies the problem – “this level”.

I had generally felt, maybe naively, that despite his weaknesses he would be good enough to get us over the line in the National League South, grow with us and earn the opportunity to have a crack at the league above, with the benefit of whatever lessons he might have learned from his time in this depressing, uncovered-terrace, plastic-pitch hellscape of a division we now find ourselves seemingly mired in. For me, though, there had always been question marks about his overly defensive tactics, and his ability to truly get the best from his players. His team talks must have been about as inspiring as a shoe.

It’s a gamble from the consortium, and no doubt a painful financial hit with no guarantee of immediate success, but these players have shown in flashes this season that they are capable of better. Something was not working, so something had to change – if nothing breaks, nothing moves.

THE NEW MANAGER

Neil Warnock will be in the dugout for Tuesday’s home game against Farnborough. He’ll probably feel like he’s faced greater tests in his storied career (I hope he has), but will need to waste no time getting to grips with this increasingly fragmented squad if we’re to get a result. After a disastrous run of results, and with a growing injury list, he’ll need to dig deep to inspire a group of players that looked flat and out of ideas at the weekend.

Whether he occupies the position for any significant length of time will be doubtful, particularly given his relationship with Wotton, but Warnock is certainly one of the most qualified (and the most available) people you’d want on board to steady the ship. A skilled man-manager, you would expect him to be able to inspire the older players to better manage their response to setbacks and lead by example, something that’s not been happening in recent weeks. When you’ve got the perpetually frustrated figure of Jordan Young bemoaning every inconsequential throw-in, needing an arm around the shoulder from 18-year old loan signing Kieran Wilson, as happened on Saturday, I feel like that’s not a great sign. Over to you, Neil.

Long term, there are all manner of names already being touted as the possible next Gulls boss. Whatever happens, we have to believe that despite our geographical inconveniences, a Torquay United side still occupying a playoff berth at this stage of the season remains a truly tantalising prospect for any aspiring manager.

THE GOALKEEPER

James Hamon has long had his detractors, but for the most part he has been just about good enough so as not to divert attention from more obvious weak links. On Saturday, admittedly not helped by a patchwork defence missing both of United’s starting centrebacks, he was unconvincing. Bar a good late save, he couldn’t react quickly enough when called upon and was frequently caught in a less than ideal position.

With no genuine competition for his shirt, Hamon’s flaws and limitations have been exposed without consequence this season, presumably in the vague hope that he will end up having more bad games than good. We’ve now shipped 16 goals in the last 6 games, and while it would be unfair to say he was at fault for all of them, his recent performances are doing little to inspire us to dream that we might ever need to debate the dubious abbreviation ‘cleano’ ever again.

WILL

Will Tizzard arrived from Sutton United of the National League this week on an initial 28-day loan, funded by TUST and however many Nectar points we could muster together at short notice. With United desperately short of central defenders, he took up his obvious position in the starting line-up – on the bench. He did replace Jordan Thomas at half-time, as part of a rare triple substitution that if it were not made whilst 2-0 down at home to Chelmsford City would have been quite exciting.

He initially looked direct and unafraid to move forward with the ball at his feet, featuring in a couple of attacking moves as the reshuffled home side had their best spell at the start of the second half, but looked to lose a little bit of that confidence as the half wore on. Playing for Torquay will do that to you, I guess. We break them all eventually.

THE OPPOSITION

It would be unfair to pick out five talking points from Saturday’s game and not mention the opposition, scorers of five goals in front of 77 of the loudest people in Chelmsford. Every goal was different, too, exposing us in a multitude of ways – a decent long range strike, a counter attack, a lob, a goalmouth scramble and a header from a corner. Nice to know we couldn’t defend in any situation.

In truth, Chelmsford played a good game and were comprehensively the better team, without really having to fight for it. Despite a ropey-looking Plainmoor pitch, they routinely passed the ball along the ground with some neat movement, and had a couple of creative players who were always looking to make something happen. By contrast, we were sluggish and unadventurous. Of the two teams on the pitch, to say we were second to every loose ball would have been generous. Yes, they wasted a bit of time and one of their substituted players was allowed to walk via Brixham to the touchline before being replaced, but in general they were no more disruptive to the flow of the game than any other team we’ve seen. They didn’t really need to be.

Aside from Chelmsford’s well-taken goals, and a brief period of threat from United at the start of the second half, the game itself was a poor advert for lower league football. At one point I even began to question whether what I was watching was worth the money, and whether I really wanted to be there or even enjoyed it any more – in many ways, the ‘Minecraft Movie’ of football matches.

And so here we are, left to lick our wounds and prepare for the challenge of Farnborough on Tuesday night. I cannot tell you how depressing a sentence that is to type – be thankful you only had to read it.