Torquay United Fans Forum

Made it with 45 minutes to spare. Well worth it. Great turnout from the Yellow Army. Lets hope results today go our way and next up for me will be the home game at Accrington, can't wait.

Need to leave in next half hour to stand a chance of making it for KO, stuck at work waiting for a system to process and churn out something for quarter end. Will I make it???

Well, i guess if i get there after KO i can still get in

Amateur football club Wheel Power, leaders of the Torbay Sunday League, inflicted what's believed to be the heaviest defeat in British history - beating Nova 2010 FC 58-0.

Full story: Metro

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/gossip/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Any more photos knocking around. Would be nice to see the latest progress.

GulldenBoy wrote:I've only been skimming so sorry if this is repeating what someone else has said but one of the biggest problems for me is the proximity to a train station or the town centre.

Yes most people drive up to Plainmoor but let's be honest, it's not the easiest ground to get to, which I'm sure a lot of away fans will support me on. This will always put off the casual punter. As an example, I live in Wimbledon and have actually gone along to a couple of Wimbledon games when i've had nothing better to do on a Saturday, and the reason? Because it was easy to get to.

The club needs to work with some of the local bus firms to get a match day service going, and not just from the town centre and the train station but also from some of the surrounding areas. Oxford are an example of doing this well.

Like the rest of us i despised Roberts but his idea about moving the club to the seafront would have increased attendances purely for this reason.

Accessibilty is a valid issue. You have to be dedicated if are one who attends without a car. Also, how would Plainmoor cope with 6 to 7000 fans at home games if most did arrive by car.

Despised Roberts, yes, his idea for the Seafront was interesting. What about a new stadium in the future somewhere in the gap between Edginswell and Kingskerswell, next to the rail line (new station) and the new dual carriageway. Only thing to consider is, it must retain character and not be a plastic stadium.

Now you may say that this is unfeasable due to the cost s invovled, but think about it this way. That lovely littel area is going to be turned into a busy concrete area, with dual carriageway (coming soon) and Office park already there. Most likely further retail space as well, maybe a multiplex, maybe Frankie and Bennies, all the standard outlets, if the council is wise, they would come up with a plan to hellp build a new stadium here, and use that projected footfall to entice leisure retail operators to invest in this area as well. The building of the stadium would be funded by the other aspects of the development.
Saying all this, it is a shame to imagine a nice quiet and green area like that being turned into this.

bobby93 wrote:This might be true for you, and it's true for me and a lot of people I know too, but for some armchair Man Utd/Chelsea/etc fans who prefer the comfort of their sofa, a can of Carling and Sky Sports One every weekend over the terraces of the lower leagues, it probably isn't. And we all know people like that.

I feel like a lot of good points have been made but we're focusing on the negative issues surrounding the town that are beyond our control. We aren't going to be able to have an impact on the regeneration of Torbay as football fans, but we can have an impact on our football club and we know those in power read this site so we all need to think positively about what can be done.

Great post.
We are having a great season. Unexpected and great. We have a new stand to open for next season. I am all for focussing on the positives, and being positive about the negatives.

hector wrote:Torbay is economically deprived as are many other areas. The main difference between say Torquay and a place like say, Wigan, is that the general population of Torbay is not a local one. So many of the local populace come from somewhere else so have not grown up with TUFC, feel no affinity for the club etc.

Not sure i agree with this, if you are a football fan then you would try to go to games. I live in West London, and when I can i go to watch Fulham. If i lived in Spain or Portugal, as i hope to do one day, I would go and watch the local team and probably develop an affinity for them.

Hi Bobby,

You're quite right i don't live in the area, but i do visit at least once a month. I can't live there and mores the pity, there just isn't the work for me there or earning potential. I am planning some things that may change that in the next few years, but these involve self employment, and that means giving up the job security, annual bonus and pension contributions etc.

My connection to the area is, Torquay is my hometown, I am a product of Westlands, so used to go to school by United every day. Living away, i see other towns progressing, getting more investment, other smaller town football clubs doing better, getting higher gates, and it's frustrating. Newbury for instance, a pretty small town compared to Torquay, is the home of Vodafone. Why can Torquay not be the home of a few Multi nationals.

However, I think you have hit the nail on the head to be honest, i think a major part of the Towns problem is "unemployment, average salary, teen pregnancy, etc - we are easily one of the least attractive towns to live in in the country, if not Europe" and "general apathetic attitudes and aversion to change that a lot of the residents seem to have developed"

The question is, what is the solution. There must be one.

bobby93 wrote:With respect, and unless I'm missing anything regarding your connection to the area (which I probably am as I don't know you), I think if you lived here you'd have a different view. And it's also quite obvious that a lot of other fans don't live in the area either. Of course that makes for good away support, but it highlights the fact that in general, the area of Torquay is not an attractive one in terms of jobs, etc. If it was, less people would leave, surely?

It might not JUST be the economy or the society of the town that holds it down but that certainly plays a part. As do the general apathetic attitudes and aversion to change that a lot of the residents seem to have developed. And naturally I think, along with other factors, that seeps into the football club. I appreciate that other towns are experiencing the same problems, but I don't think you realise that in a lot of league tables - unemployment, average salary, teen pregnancy, etc - we are easily one of the least attractive towns to live in in the country, if not Europe.

I may have gone off on a slight tangent with this, but hopefully it makes sense.

Hi Parry, Lets hope so.

Parry wrote:Perhaps promotion this season will be the start of a whole new era for Torquay. Greater league, greater teams, greater crowds, greater interest in the bay, greater ambition. Great.

Ending up in a situation like Darlington is a risk, but that is why i feel it is so important to take advantage of our location. We can compare ourselves with Darlington as football clubs, but not as Towns or regions. Torbay is the English Riviera, at night and indeed during the day, Torquay, viewed from Paignton, looks spectacular, Monte Carlo esque, can Darlington say that?

I know this doesn't equal fans through the gate, but my thinking is, well, can't TUFC take more advantage of this potential "glamour"

But i think it is something that ultimately the council have to work on, because they are the ones who can bring this together. ie, Economy, Jobs, Investment, Pride, Regeneration. There are a lot of Companies out there looking for ways to save on high rental costs for office space in London, Bristol, even Exeter, if they felt there was a workforce and environment suitable for their business, many would move to Torquay. But seriously, as the Town Centre is now, if you owned a business in Bristol, and geographic location wasn't an issue, would you move it to Torquay?

Myself, i go to Plainmoor when i can, and try to go to some away games as well, I live in London, and have done for 15 years, purely because, this is where the jobs and money are, however, i would glady move back to Torquay if i could get a job that paid well enough, without having to be a Doctor or a Solicitor, i work in Telecommunications (no not a mobile phone shop), what is there in the South West for me?

devonboy wrote:
Some interesting points although to be fair most of these places have more history than us and a fan base that generally stays in the area whereas in Torbay, sadly much of the passionate younger generation are forced to leave if they want to make a decent wage. At least that means we get a great away support though

Fair play though for acknowledging some of the issues and describing how we can move the bay forward. Its what everyone wants. My only concern is if we had developed the stadium you describe, whilst it might have worked in the way you say there is always the risk of ending up with a situation like Darlington. Is that a risk worth taking??

Torquay used to be the classiest place in the country at one time. Torquay United used to get crowds of 10000 or more every home game. What happened. Torbay has been dying for 50 years or more now. Major investment is needed, not in the form of a Tesco on every street, that is negative investment, we need more individual businesses, not cringeworthy £1 shops and bargain shops and tat that you see as you walk through town. From a distance, Torquay looks lovely, close up, it's a dump.

The new Kingskerswell bypass will hopefully stimulate investment and job creation in the Bay, but the whole region needs to be brought in line with the rest of the wage structures in the country.

Previous attempts to regenerate the town have been nothing but dissapointing, take Fleet Walk, an eyesore, a poor mans attempt to build a shopping centre, it really is pathetic when you compare it with the Princesshay development.

Now, lets move away from the town and to Plainmoor itself, Yes all three stands have now been redeveloped, but at what cost, vastly reduced capacity. The Pop side, is a pathetic stand, look at the room behind it, oh, but we needed a bowling alley in there didn't we. We are a football club, we have the potential to be bigger and better than League 2, Torbay has a population of 150000 i believe, then there is the surrounding area as well. We have the potential to be bigger and better than Exeter, and as big as Plymouth. But Bateson thought small for all those years and the excuse was, to stay within our means, well that i agree with, but then to sell to Roberts???
Now lets take the Family stand, another waste of potential, the seating area is cringeworthilly small, a non league club wouldn't build something that small, and the exec boxes also are not really exec boxes, they are like patio doors, go to any other pro club and find exec boxes like that. Now the way end, much needed roof delivered a few years back, but again, was adavantage of the space taken, was it hell, that terrace ought to be two and half times the size.

Finally it looks like we are building a proper stand in the new Grandstand, something to be proud of. Look at the height of the roof and then look at the Family stand, doesn't it make it look pathetic.

Ok, some may argue, but we don't fill the stadium as it is, no this is true, but if you build in such a way that shows real ambition, then that generates interest, the atmosphere can be massively enhanced on big game days and anyone attending for the first time at a game like that can get hooked.

The marketing of the club needs to be much better throughout Torbay, they should have a club shop in the town centre, surely the council could come to an arangement and offer some retail space for a budget cost when you see all the empty units in town. The council need to realise that TUFC can play a key role in the regeneration of the Town, League 1 or Championship football equals many more away fans in the town, all spending cash and many staying in hotels in the Bay, which equals guaranteed income during the usually quiet winter months for the Toursim industry.

Does anyone else see the Potential, not just of TUFC but of Torbay itself, what it could be.

Come on Torquay, i want to walk through town on a non match day and see Torquay shirts on display, not Man Utd and Chelsea. If Swansea can rise up, and Wigan, Hull, Blackpool, Cardiff, Burnley, etc, so can we.