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I got to the ground after the drive down at about 7.25pm last night. There was a queue of about 15 people at each of the two turnstiles affording access to Bristows Bench at the main gate.

The loudmouth blonde female steward with the black glasses (who loves to be the centre of attention) was busying herself berating some seven year olds who hadn't presented their back packs for inspection.

"its always better to get your back packs ready luvs" she shrieked "then there won't be a delay". Quite what delay there was I wasn't sure.

I soon found out though because at 7.40 pm the queue I was in hadn't moved.

I asked the female steward what the delay was because having driven 80 miles I really wouldn't watching the start of the match.

Just a minute sir she said I'll just check what is happening.

Actually she didn't say that - she grasped her head with both hands "ang on me crystal ball ain't working".

The queue started to move but stopped again as I got to the gate.

"We ain't got no tickets mate. They won't give us no tickets" its the bloody same for the last three games of last season. We've got to keep sending down for more tickets says the gateman.

I point to a batch of tickets in front of him

"don't have a go at me mate its nothing to do with me".

He then gives me a ticket from this batch and I enter the ground. The players were already on the pitch and I get to my seat just as the match kicks off.

all this with a crowd of 1800 - bizarre.

My major criticism of the club has always been the professionalism (or lack of, I should say) and the way they treat supporters, especially the stewards.

I didn't go last night, but I went to the first game of the season with my drum. I was only back in Torquay for one day after traveling 5,000 miles and spending time in London after that and one of the first things I did after arriving back in Torbay was attend a TUFC game. I walked into the ground through the Family Stand gates after buying my sister the new home shirt and paying for two tickets, heading up to the Gulls Nest for a drink with the family and friends. As I had the drum with me, I decided (as I always did) to strap up my drum before the Popside filled up. Whilst doing so, Mr Bigshot decided to tell me that I shouldn't be there. After asking a very simple question many times ("why?") he proceeded to tell me to stop arguing with him and threatening to not allow me into the next game. I thought I'd give it another go and ask him, very nicely, why I wasn't allowed to be here at this time and set up my drum when I did that every single game when I was living in Torquay. He told me that "there was no-one to look out for me." Yep. Because I can see what a threat I am when I've travelled 5,000 miles, spent over 100 quid and brought my drum with me to try and create an atmosphere AND with dozens of stewards and Policeman already in the ground.

This sort of attitude and lack of professionalism has always been the same and will never change.

frankly the stewards are shocking ,nothing has changed over the last 5 or six years, we are treated like we are scumbags, I thought this was supposed to be entertaining for people, not feel like we all had done something wrong.
if your reading this mr Osborne can you sort this club out, it is a mess from the security, the staffing at the ground to the team the manager the whole thing is so wrong, please sort it out. its rotten to the core!

Geoff Harrop you are supposed to be the General Manager. Do you have any idea what you are doing or not doing?
Can you give a definitive response to the serious allegations levelled at the Club you are supposed to be managing.
If you do not respond then I will take it for read you have no idea what is going on.

At most grounds fans are treated by stewards as customers, at Torquay fans are treated by stewards as the enemy.

portugull wrote: ↑16 Aug 2017, 13:01 Geoff Harrop you are supposed to be the General Manager. Do you have any idea what you are doing or not doing?
Can you give a definitive response to the serious allegations levelled at the Club you are supposed to be managing.
If you do not respond then I will take it for read you have no idea what is going on.

If employees of an organisation can get away with faffing around, being unproductive and generally not being bothered about their responsibilities AND still get paid and treated with total impunity by those paying them of course most will give it a try.

It's not Harrop that's got the problem. It's you poor sods rolling up to pay his wages every week. A fool and his money so to speak.

A phoenix club would have a general manager (finances permitting) and make no bones about it. He'd f*cking well be fully accountable.

Another example of the shambles at the club is the way they have failed to sort out the seats of season ticket holders.
For the vast majority of season ticket holders they have had over two months to put their names on the back of their seats. In fact you could probably say that the vast majority of season ticket holders have renewed their tickets and seats from last year meaning that there was no need to take all the names off in the first place.

Just for the record i'm not saying that Harrop does bugger all. I personally have no idea what he does or if he's fit for purpose or not. I'm just going on what seems to be the general assumption of others that he's pretty much a waste of space when it comes to fulfilling his job description.

The club we all know and love is finished,has been for some years and even National South would be a bridge too far.I am all for a new start at a place where we can compete and afford the position we find ourselves.Prossional football in South Devon has gone,no vast support,no one willing to put in the money to compete at that level and no players good enough willing to relocate to Torquay so all in all we are another Barstable Town.

frenchgull wrote: ↑16 Aug 2017, 14:41 The club we all know and love is finished,has been for some years and even National South would be a bridge too far.I am all for a new start at a place where we can compete and afford the position we find ourselves.Prossional football in South Devon has gone,no vast support,no one willing to put in the money to compete at that level and no players good enough willing to relocate to Torquay so all in all we are another Barstable Town.

This is nonsense.

We still attract an average of 1800 after 6 years of abject failure. Barnstaple had less then 150 on Tuesday.

There is more than enough support for a professional football club in South Devon if only it was run well!

dannyrvtufc4life wrote: ↑16 Aug 2017, 11:20 My major criticism of the club has always been the professionalism (or lack of, I should say) and the way they treat supporters, especially the stewards.

This is one of the reasons I together with I know quite a number of old Plainmoor faithful now prefer going to Sandy Park.

Apart from the always excellent match day atmosphere and an entertaining top tier sporting encounter, there is always friendly and efficient stewarding. This is conducted with a crowd at or nearing capacity of almost 13000 every week and of course rugby supporters drink alcohol on the terraces. I was searched 3 times last season at Plainmoor which really winds me up as I do not fit any target profile. The Plainmoor stewards would be totally clueless and out of their depth at Sandy Park. Well actually they are at Plainmoor....and it affects the perception people have of the club.

chardie wrote: ↑16 Aug 2017, 13:09 At most grounds fans are treated by stewards as customers, at Torquay fans are treated by stewards as the enemy.

That has been my feeling for some time. It feels to me that the stewards at Plainmoor view ALL fans as potential troublemakers not as PAYING CUSTOMERS. How on earth are we supposed to feel good about parting with our hard earned cash to go to Plainmoor with such an atmosphere of mistrust and aggro? Going to Plainmoor reminds me of when I went to nightclubs around the Harbour in my youth and I was met at the door by gorillas in suits who loved giving clubbers a hard time. It is bloody outrageous, most fans are mild mannered, relatively intelligent people who just want to watch football (not that we see much of that at Plainmoor these days). The club that I love has become a joke in recent years, presided over by people who clearly just want to see it die.

The stewards need to be reminded forcibly that they must treat their customers with respect or be sacked. Will that happen? No, more chance of Torquay getting promoted.

It is no doubt true that stewards in general at other clubs are better than those at Torquay and just do not act in the same way. Christ if you are bigging yourself up in front of six and seven year olds and telling them that they have to have their backpacks open for inspection by Gestapo Greta the next time you rock up at the main gate. you know the worlds gone mad.

The other steward (the bearded Latvian/Ukranian) offended a middle aged lady in the other queue - didn't actually catch what he said but he is am arrogant **** if ever there was one.

They are just an embarrassment.

HARROP IS A USELESS **** LOOK AT THE CAR HES DRIVING DIDNT HAVE THAT TILL HE CAME BACK TO TORQUAY GET RID OSBORNE AND YOU CAN FUK OFF ASWELL

He isn't a useless **** at all.

He's a useless FAT ****

He's pulling a salary almost twice what the manager was on and what has he done to earn it? Well I guess he managed to get Brucie to a game..............