Torquay United Fans Forum

I attended the Weymouth match as a 15-year-old. There was a very large crowd, mostly to hear updates from Crystal Palace via the PA system. There was very little optimism about the outcome. Although United (no "Gulls" then!) were unbeaten at home that season, our away record was poor - only five wins as I recall. Nevertheless it was a great time to be a supporter. There was no crowd segregation and visitors were welcomed with friendly banter, as were Torquay fans at away matches. Do I miss those days? Not half!

Mr Candy's post reminds me of the story told about Bobby Charlton in his playing days, when in one match he was particularly viciously upended by an opponent (not his brother!). After the game Charlton approached the player and invited him home to tea.

Apologies for going off topic, but royal's asterisks when describing Crawley reminded me of a quite good joke:

The Pope is sitting on a plane and passing the time by doing a crossword.

He turns to the aide sitting next to him and says: "I don't think I've got this one quite right. Clue is four letters, female, last three letters u, n, t."

The aide says: "Aunt".

The Pope says: "Oh, of course. Got a rubber?"

The good thing about being a pessimist is you only get nice surprises.

Many thanks for great reports by Gloster, Royal and Ben.

We have everything going for us tonight - we're the side in form with a fantastic recent record, our substitutes have come good, a not-too-tiring journey, and we often do very well at Cheltenham.

Therefore I fully expect us to get hammered!

I am of course hoping (and indeed praying) to be proved wrong.

Trojan 67 wrote:
Checked the stats and found no record of goalkeeper Peter Wakeham making any appearances for England at full international level.

Well, the question asked was "international". Wakeham was selected for either Under-21 or England B, I forget which.

Peter Wakeham (England)

As a fan since 1952, I can confidently say that there has never been a Torquay player with the same combination of ball skill and tactical brain. When he has experience to match, possibly with a Championship club, I think he has the capacity to become quite a famous player in the Premiership.

I'm very sorry he won't be available on Friday and fear his absence may bring us down to earth with a bit of a bump.

I remember the change from black and white to gold and blue very well. As the excellent kit website says, the new synthetic material resembled silk and looked extremely gaudy. It did not go down at all well with supporters. At its first home outing the crowd (we used to get 7,500 - 8,000 in those days) greeted it with somewhat stunned silence, then there was a buzz around the ground as everyone discussed it with each other. Part of the trouble was that although it looked acceptable on beefier players who filled it out (eg Ted Calland), on the more diminutive forms of people like Graham Bond the shirt billowed out like a blouse. Obviously the club could only afford a limited range of sizes! Many people felt it looked "un-English" and resented the change. (Bear in mind that the England colours in those days were black and white.) I recall chatting to the then goalkeeper, Eric Gill, about it some time later and he said he was very glad to be a goalie! In those days, of course, all goalkeepers wore green.

I would not accuse the players of lack of effort, though it may look that way. They have no confidence at the moment and are trying TOO hard, with the result that nothing they try comes off. The only cure is a handsome win or two, and with the innate ability in (most of) the side I'm optimistic they can achieve it. We can help by not getting on their necks every time they make a mistake.

bixieupnorth wrote:as i've said before, it was obvious that it wont be ready for february, there is a law that all building projects will both overspend vastly and overshoot wildly, i'm sure some of the mathmeticians can provide the formula to back up my speculations?? maybe ready for last couple home games, but not before that?

I'm no mathematician, but I've been involved in several major projects and can tell you that the formula is very simple:

Cost: double the estimate
Time: double the estimate

clemy1989 wrote:bucks even mentioned in that interview that the deal to take him to bristol was made around a month ago taking it back to before the playoffs so proving our theories correct. Good riddance bucks, the only important people at torquay united are the ones who want to be here!

Buckle's comment is the clearest admission yet that he put his own interests above those of the players and the club. No surprises there, and it seems there is not much honour left in football anywhere. Casting around for role models in the big clubs (slightly off-topic, sorry), I couldn't think of any players, and only a few managers - for instance Moyes, Wenge, Bruce, Martinez. And how depressing that the best player in the England side is a thug.

I suspect the board will go for the cheapest option, which will be either Hargreaves or, as player-coach, Branston. While I admire Hargreaves's many fine qualities, most of all his commitment, I doubt that he has the ruthlessness necessary for the job. Branston undoubtedly has, but - as far as I can see - he's no strategist.

Would love to be proved wrong!

For me the question is how many matches have we won when we've hit the woodwork. I don't recall any!