Its Good To Be Back!

[SimplyRed]

Hello all,

Hope you all had a good summer and have got over the Millennium, and England's Euro 2004, heartbreak ;-)

Apologies if I bring up anything that's already been discussed to death but I haven't read any of the rest of the messages yet... just pleased that it's now 1st August with footie looming.

My thoughts on the summer, so far:

As a supporter of Danny Wilson and an eternal optomist last season, I have to say that his removal was not so much a surprise, merely a raised eyebrow due to the speed of change. It was on the cards after the dismal failure in Cardiff and I think the management, Wilson and the supporters were fully aware that only promotion was good enough.

As for England, the positives I take from the tournament was the emergence of Rooney as an astounding talent for one so young and the maturity and establishment of Lampard and Ashley Cole as senior internationals. Things can only get better folks!

Anyway, here we are again, a new season approaches and trepidation mixed with enthusiasm forms the usual nervous and expectant knot in the pit of my stomach.

While Tinman would not have been my choice as a replacement, I have to give the man credit that he has certainly stirred up the composition of the squad and brought in some new faces that generates hope and anticipation in the hearts of success-starved supporters.

He's also shown a few players the door - some, perhaps all, not by his choice - but generally, I think, for the better. Peacock and Brown were frustratingly inconsistent last season. Burnell, while giving 100%, was ordinary. Carey, generally reliable, was another who had the odd brainstorm and lapse of concentration.

In their place, Tinman has brought in some young players in Orr and Heffernan and, along with the late signing of Gillespie last season, they have certainly added a sparkle to the pre-season friendlies. And if the experienced Armstrong can do a job for us, we will have a much more potent strike force than we did last season.

The friendly results have been promising and the performances uplifting and refreshing. I am looking for Miller, Wilkshire, and Goodfellow to kick on and turn in a successful season, with Fortune finally establishing himself as a senior player and Lita hopefully fulfilling the promise he shows and not falling by the wayside a la Marvin Brown.

The defence, as well, has been looking solid and my only fear is whether we will be able to hold on to Coles for the whole season.

So now, with so many positives, we can finally turn our attention to the new season and the familiarity of 17 teams we played last year along with the unknown 6 teams who have been promoted and relegated.

Last season I was convinced we would be playing division one football now. Well, we are, but not in the way I was expecting!

I remain convinced that we will finally do it this year and will be giving Tinman and his team my full support, as I did with Danny Wilson. I don't particularly care who the actual eleven players are that will start the match next week, because I know that, whoever they are, it will be a tough side to beat and Torquay will have one hell of an initiation into Coca Cola League One.

Seconds out... round one... bring on the Gulls...

U Reds!