Torquay United manager Gary Johnson fumes at some of his players claiming they will go after what has been a shocking start to their season.
The Gulls ended up losing 2-1 to Neal Ardley’s Solihull Moors, putting the Devon based side 20th in the National League table, months after losing their playoff final to Hartlepool United.
Since that final at Bristol City, they have won one and drawn one of their opening six games and lost all three matches at home.
Torquay’s manager didn’t hold back when it came to his post-match comments in saying he has to ‘build again’ to put things right.
On the 32nd minute, Andrew Dallas opened the scoring for Solihull and the Joe Sbarra doubled their lead on the 48th minute slotting the ball home.
Klaidi Lolos came off the bench to score a consolation goal towards the end of the fixture and Torquay were prevented from being awarded a penalty with the referee booking Connor Lemonheigh-Evans for a dive instead.
Johnson said: “As a manager I have to, A, take the responsibility, and B, we have got to turn the personnel around a little bit as quickly as we can. Because at the moment some of them are not proving quite up to this level.
“And I apologise for that because I am the one that recruits these people and we didn’t have a lot of time to recruit people.
“There are a few out there that are not quite up to this level unfortunately and we have got to quickly turn that around.
“When you have had six games and you have had four defeats in those six games, of course you have to hold your hands up and say actually ‘how long do we go?’
“Now I don’t know how quickly we can turn it around, but I just know that at the moment teams are looking better than us and I can’t keep making excuses for them.
“Supporters are still following us, they have come all this way again, and I keep having to apologise to them. And I’ll apologise to them again.
“I am not down and out, at the same time I want to be honest, so that when they see things happening, they’ll know that I have told them it’s going to happen.
“We need to build again unfortunately. That’ll upset some people – but that’s football life.”
The Gulls have brought in a number of new faces over the summer but Johnson says he will need more players to improve the side.
“I don’t know the budget, I don’t need to know the budget, I don’t think the club necessarily knows a budget, but of course we can’t go out and buy somebody for £200,000-£300,000 like some teams are, and also we can’t afford to pay £5,000-£6,000 a week like some people are doing,” he said.
“We’ve still got to keep the club in business to have the chance to turn it around, but we’ve got to look and keep looking and move some people on, which is not always easy because they’re under contract. But some of them will find it difficult to get a group of games in our team.”
Fans reacted as the Torquay manager fumes some of his players will go after their shocking start to season…
@RachelVillavox: desperate. subbing a keeper at HT? worrying. need strengthening in so many areas.
@craigwwfc35: another pathetic display
@mp_white11: Seriously, what’s happened to this lot? Mentally shattered from last season? #TUFC
@tjd01_: who do we reckon will be leaving then? #tufc Halstead we can almost bank on tbh.
@Zakwtufc: Holman halstead Rogers
@AdlardHarry: Ngl I’m thinking at least four. One defender, midfielder, Halstead and someone else. 😅
@Easters86: I feel a lot better this morning knowing GJ has basically told them times up and that he said 5 or 6. Because that is absolutely right #tufc
@NatObsPod: A lot of people who claim to be Torquay til I die appear to be Torquay til they understandably lose form for a bit #TUFC #4lyf
@Gulls2000s: Assessment form last night:- we played well, in patches, but those patches were few and far between. Showed fight when we scored but too little too late. Too many passengers in that team and no team cohesion like last season. We looked too unbalanced. Recruitment needed 🤞#tufc
@Jonny___Jones: Just got home from what can only be described as a shit show. Terrible ground in the middle of no where with no where to park. Followed by a terrible performance by a terribly assembled squad. Johnson, it’s time to get rid of half of them and start again. #tufc
@TUFCshirts: Went tonight, terrible. Last time I remember a keeper being subbed at half time was Nathan Abbey, don’t think he played again. Be interesting to see if that’s the case for Halstead #tufc
@JWL_89: Absolutely love GJ’s very honest post match comments. Glad to see him being so proactive and not wasting any more time. Some of them simply ain’t good enough. Full trust in him to sort it. Long way to go! #tufc Quite happily see a few new faces in by Saturday or being realistic, next week. A new CB is a must (sendells-white?). As for the GK, got to be Marcin. Another striker? (Benji?) like to see him up top with Wright, however Lolos deserves a chance. We’ve got way too many passengers.
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