Torquay United: 2010 / 2011 Pre Season

Hello friends and warm welcome back to my Torquay United story. This report will feature the build up to life in League One following our tremendous title win last season. So without further ado let’s get right to it.

At the end of the season I was offered a new contract which I accepted though it seemed a bit stingy to me after just winning the title but I decided not to negotiate and be grateful for what I was given. Besides I like it down on The Riviera.

The Riviera

As the weeks progressed into June I was reducing my shortlist of players to those that were more or less certain to sign for the club though the boards transfer budget of only £12,000.00 meant that I’d be looking for some free signings. An increase in the salary budget would help tempt some of those targeted players.

Having recently read an article about the NFL’s New Orleans Saints I decided that their approach of signing all their new and returning players to contracts prior to the first pre-season game (this is unusual) sort of made some sense as my team would be settled and therefore we could all focus on playing the game.

In some respects I haven’t practiced what I have preached to others and in fact brought in far more players than I ever intended most of which arrived as described above but others took their time putting their name to the dotted line and arrived after the first game on July 17^th. I had a hard time with my target areas of the back four and a goalkeeper and in the end brought back Michael Poke as a back up to Scott Bevan between the sticks with Ayala, Wiktorski (only 17) and James Wilson as the defenders.

Below then is my overall transfer history though as many of you are seasoned players you will be familiar with the individual talent of this group so I’ll just highlight a few.

Kamil was picked up from Glasgow Rangers and although young brings a bit of pace to the back four and has a good work rate attribute.

James Chambers comes from across the Irish Sea courtesy of Shamrock Rovers. He can play all over the place so would be an ideal utility player and doesn’t take a bad free kick either.

Kieran Trippier at only 19 has a good chance of becoming my new right back having been released by Man City. He‘s got some good speed about him though I’m a little concerned about his passing.

Steve Irwin was released by Liverpool and his good crossing and creative attributes  means he will start at the MR position, ousting Wayne Carlisle who is off to Rushden

Josh Payne (West Ham) and Jake Livermore (Spurs) I couldn’t resist snapping up on loan which leaves me with a bit of an awkward situation in the centre as I also picked up Sam Hewson a on a free from Man United. Not sure how Nicky Wroe and Shane Hooks will react to this.

To supplement the left flank I signed Jason Demetriou who has won four caps for Cyprus and brings some competition to Eunan O’Kane on that side of the park.

Finally is Paul McGowan from Celtic and is being considered as my back up poacher to Elliot Benyon but as you may have noticed in the overall screen I also have John Guidetti as well. See what I mean about over stocking of players!

That completes the new intake of players but to be honest I’m not all that     happy with the players I’ve brought in and I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to get at least one quality player into the back four and so will be an area of concern again for the season. I don’t think all these players are necessary either but its all too easy to get enticedby freebies!

Here’s how the pre season results went. Not too good against better opposition

So that’s my report and it’s on to the new season in League One. The latest betting seems to suggest I’ll be spending some time at the wrong end of the table.

As always, thanks for reading and enjoy your own FM experience.