Hope or Hopeless

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Minneapolisgull
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Hope or Hopeless

Post by Minneapolisgull »

I am a exiled Torquay fan following from a far ( Minneapolis USA). Followed Torquay for many a year and remember those heady days of automatic promotion to the 3rd Division.(lived in the area for a few years and got hooked) Seems a long time ago now!!! So most of my Torquay information is garnished from this site. Things seem very ominous and relegation seems almost a inevitable, especially from what I read from those who witness the performance's first hand. So the only thing i console myself with is hope!! I keep telling my eleven year old daughter why there is a mathematic chance we have still got to have hope. If there is no hope what is the point!!! I have managed to time a trip home to visit family that will also enable me to catch UTD 3 times first game Feb 17th against Dagenham second home game 20th against Sutton and then 24th away at Orient. If we win a few before then put a run together still 17 games can we escape?
So my questions to the forum
1 Does anyone think we can survive and stay in this league?
2 I keep listening to Owers talking about bringing new people in he was saying this at Christmas when the window opens! Who else are we talking to? Everyone kept talking about the guy from Tiverton giving him a shot.. Is there any news on those expected to arrive at Plainmoor.
3 What are the chances that Owers will get the sack and someone coming in for the last quarter of the season? Performing a miracle?
3 Finally if the nightmare does not end and we get relegated. How likely is it that it will be the end for Torquay? I again keep reading the owners want relegation so they can dissolve the club? How true is this and more importantly what do they gain from relegation?
Any re-assurance would be greatly appreciated!
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Post by Southampton Gull »

Welcome to the forum (as a new member) ;-)

Personally, no I don't see us surviving this time around.
He's talked about bringing in a couple next week but will he ever address the forward line shortcomings? I doubt it.
Owers won't get the sack, for that to happen Harrop would need to admit he made a mistake.
Relegation to regional football will leave many disillusioned and the hopelessness would make it easier for him to make his move.

Not really anything positive to say at the moment and as a wise lady recently said, it's the hope that kills you.
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Post by westyorkshiregull »

Welcome friend from the USA . It's all dire on and off the pitch. Off the pitch is worse as long term looks bleak however on pitch we are staring at southern football for 1st time since 1958 ( doesn't count as it was 3rd division south ). Owers i had the benefit of doubt but I'm bored of hearing about new signings when all we get is young hopfulls when what we do need is experience.
There is hope but not a lot and we are 4 wins behind safety but I can't see us getting 4 wins as it's took us 29 games already for 4 wins.
National south we will be a shark amongst hunters and god forbid who thinks it will be easy because it won't be.

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Post by merse btpir »

Minneapolisgull wrote: 14 Jan 2018, 19:59 24th away at Orient.
Sorry but the Orient are still in the FA Trophy, and if they win their third round tie (on Feb 3rd) then that game at Brisbane Road will have to be postponed.
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Post by Minneapolisgull »

Lets hope they get beat then!!
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Post by Dave »

Well it's now looking very unlikely the team can avoid the drop this time around, however, as I've maintained all the way along, never give up, because when you do, it is all truly over.

Relegation the regional non-league does not have to be the end of the club, TUFC won't be the first. I can accept relegation to NLS, if we were under the right ownership, if believe there is a genuine desire for project promotion straight to the NLP, sadly I don't believe there is.

As said Owers wont to the sack, any way, to late now, only hope now is a few players can be found, and they settle, gel quickly.
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Post by Modgull »

No, its pretty much all over now. Remember, four wins behind safety sounds possible but others will pick up points too, especially since many of the other possible candidates for relegation are making better recruitment decisions. And where do we look like getting even one of those wins?

I didn't even jump up when Young scored on Saturday, and didn't get too hopeful that Reid would equalise - like Dave says its the hope that kills you and I find I can enjoy the matches more if I don't get too worked up either way.
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Post by United62 »

Minneapolisgull wrote: 14 Jan 2018, 19:59 1 Does anyone think we can survive and stay in this league?
2 I keep listening to Owers talking about bringing new people in he was saying this at Christmas when the window opens! Who else are we talking to? Everyone kept talking about the guy from Tiverton giving him a shot.. Is there any news on those expected to arrive at Plainmoor.
3 What are the chances that Owers will get the sack and someone coming in for the last quarter of the season? Performing a miracle?
3 Finally if the nightmare does not end and we get relegated. How likely is it that it will be the end for Torquay? I again keep reading the owners want relegation so they can dissolve the club? How true is this and more importantly what do they gain from relegation?
Any re-assurance would be greatly appreciated!
1. The number of fans who think we can survive this must now be down to single figures. A while back I was (stupidly) optimistic that we were on the verge of turning our season around. After yet another home defeat on Saturday, that's it, barring a miracle of the highest order. We need 4 wins (and hope that the teams above us don't win) just to move out of the relegation zone. We've won four games ALL season. I'll let you do the maths.

2. C'mon. Be serious. If I was a professional footballer I would go nowhere near Plainmoor unless I was part of the away team knowing that I'd be travelling back somewhere other than Torquay with a win on my CV. As far as I'm concerned what we've had in during the window is it... we were promised by Harrop et al that Owers and Kuhl had the 'contacts'... really?

3. Osborne is NOT going to sack Owers. Why would he. Owers and his sidekick are doing everything in their power to make sure that Osborne gets his way. We waited 4 weeks after Nicho was sacked, being promised all the time that the new manager would be someone with a proven track record with plenty of contacts. We ended up with Owers. From Bath City. and, so far, NO contacts to speak of.

4. It's not a case of 'if' we get relegated, it's a case of 'when'. The future of Torquay United FC lies in the hands of one man. A man that wants the freehold to Plainmoor above anything else. He couldn't give a monkeys about the history of our club. He doesn't care about the supporters, the lifeblood of any club. When (not 'if') relegation is confirmed (which seems to be coming sooner rather than later) we can all 'look forward' to part-time, regionalised football, lower crowds (with hardly any away support whatsoever) and we can all look across to the empty seat in the Directors Box and think about Osborne sitting at home rubbing his hands with glee knowing that he is closer to his dream of razing Plainmoor to the ground.

Sad times indeed.
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Post by Yorkieandy »

Fantastic post and agree with every word. The last paragraph has a air of starkness about it which hits home the grim reality of being at the whim of just one man who sadly wants the exact opposite to what fans want.
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Post by tomogull »

Yes - surely the post of the month. The brutal truth is in that last paragraph. The sad thing is that wasn't a relegation side we watched on Saturday, but it was the usual story - we didn't/can't put away goalscoring opportunities. Not even from the penalty spot. For me, that was the best team performance so far this season but it was a game we had to win. IF we'd picked up six points from these two home games - Eastleigh & Bromley next Sat - We might just have had a glimmer of hope. But now with just 17 games remaining, we are too far adrift to make up the difference.
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Post by portugull »

We are not down yet. 2 years ago we visited Boreham Wood on the 20 Feb and we had 26 points from 31 games. We won 1-0 at Boreham Wood and in the last 15 matches we won 8, drew 3 and only lost 4, one of which was at Guiesley in the last game of the season when we were already safe.

We can still survive but I admit, and I am always a supreme optimist, we really are cutting it fine to save our bacon this time but none of us should admit defeat yet.

For me the most frustrating part of this season is the number of games where we have looked the better side, played the better football, and lost.

From now on it is more about mentality than ability but we have got to stick with the players, who do not want to lose but have forgotten how to win.
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Post by SuperNickyWroe »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42695329

Blissett off to Macclesfield with two other signings... :-/

might as well have a few quid on him to score against us in a few weeks......... :-/
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Post by desperado »

Well we did it 2 years ago from a similar position but its not going to happen again. Then we had battlers in
the team such as Danny Racchi and Josh Rees with Blissett up front who was a physical nuisance and could
score and Harrad who though didnt score many had a lot of experience and know how
The current management seems incapable of signing players such as those.
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Post by Southampton Gull »

No need to panic people. We have a manager who has experience of keeping teams in the NLS ;-)
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Post by SBP »

I had a chat today with a former player( fairly recent) who told me that he had two family members who were good young prospects. He contacted the club to inform them that they were available and even offered to house them free of charge to the club.
Sadly it was the usual story of the club not interested. Those two lads have signed for other conference sides and are doing extremely well by all accounts.
How many times have we heard similar accounts of people trying to help.
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