Torquay United Fans Forum

I was really excited about Niall when he first got involved with the first team as he had electric pace and i believed at league 2 level that was a rare and dangerous commodity. Sadly he had very little else to his game on all that i saw - maybe being harsh as he didn't get much of an opportunity but the more i saw him the more disappointed i became. He had spells out on loan to no great effect and it's a shame as if he developed the other facets to his game then he could be an exciting prospect. I wish him all the best and hope he can rekindle his career somewhere.

Ashley Barnes again. He's an Austrian U21 international did you know. If he carries on scoring goals like today the Marc Janko can bloody well sod off!!

Also Tom Aldred of Accy. Basically got York's teenage on loan Middlesbrough full back sent off on boxing day by rolling around in apparent agony before getting up and sucking the dummy moments later.

Had a shit game too.

Hunt at full back for Accy has always impressed me though but he's not an ex Gull.

Credit to the decision makers where it's due. A wise and i'm sure gratefully well received offer for the fans.

Christmas songs are pants Chunks!! Bah Humbug!

Check out LOOSE CHANGE by ROYAL BLOOD.

The rest of the album is pretty desperate listening but the CD is worth it for this little chugger

1. David Graham
2. Guy Branston
3. Bobby Olejnik
4. Eunan O'Kane
5. Kevin Hill
6. Kevin Nicholson
7. Lee Mansell
8. Martin Gritton
9. Tim Sills
10. Steve Woods

ferrarilover wrote:And you pair, and the likes, are exactly the problem.
Where's your Blitz Spirit? Where's the steel, the bottle, the guts that won us two world wars against massive odds?
Yes, it's massively melodramatic, but just tossing in the towel on the basis that things are tougher than they've ever been just isn't how it should be. It is now that we really need people rallying round and doing as best as they can for the club.
Make it personal: when things are great, you've got a good job, loadsa money, a sexy girlfriend and a kid on the way, a fast car on the driveway of your half-a-million city pad and Wednesday afternoons free to play golf, you don't really need mates. Once you've been made redundant, had all your sh*t repossessed, been blackballed from golf and the fitty has taken the Jr and shacked up with her Yoga instructor, that is when you actually need the help and support of your pals.
Guess where the club is right now...

Matt.

So the bloke with the lavish lifestyle bins off his mates with no thought or consideration whatsoever to live the high life and then when it goes tits up he begs for forgiveness on one knee, proclaims how stupid he has been and how arrogant and pleads with his pals to help him and bail him out of the brown stuff and get things back on track?

If this is the scenario you paint Matt then i completely agree with what you have said.

The problem is if Torquay United is the bloke in question then when and where did the latter parts of the analogy occur because i didn't see or hear them?

Where were the genuine apologies, the heartfelt pleas for the support of the fans in a desperate time of need and where was the desire to put things right at all costs?

I'm a little weirder than most because i can take shite football for years on end even against pub sides in ramshackle grounds and still go and pay my money and sing my balls off. The very things that most TUFC fans have now had enough of. What i can't take is a total lack of ignorance and disrespect towards me personally as a fan from the board which is what i felt i received during the summer.

Tamargull made a telling contribution recently about why he won't go anymore which i think has been deleted - i can't find it anyway but he also made another post on the attendances thread where he commented on the club's inability to market itself effectively. Again, another accurate post IMO. Some will tell you that Torquay is basically run by one man and a dog and if this is the case then non league is the right place. If not then Tamargull is spot on and the club has lost just as many fans because of this than have stopped going because of relegation.

Obviously most of you know that i used to play for and go and watch York before i became a Gull so during the summer when my anger and bitterness towards TUFC was at it's peak i enjoyed the World Cup and tried to forget about football. Then the fixtures came out and august approached and i had that yearning to go and be part of something once more. As many of you know, i live for matchdays. I live for raw football and to feel a valued part of a team.

I had wander round Bootham Crescent one day having dropped my mum off nearby as her hairdresser lives there and i chatted to a few people at the club and i was well received and folk had time for me. They had time to talk to me about their offers for the new season and the things for families etc. I felt the familiarity of the old place returning.

Anyway, back to the point about 'profile' and presence' or lack of.

I went to the summer fair at Bootham Crescent which was well advertised, well attended and real fun and i took my little one around the place inside and out.

There i joined the York City Supporters Trust who i regularly get emails and information from unlike at Torquay where you pay your cash for membership and don't hear anything for the next 30 years. They thank you for your support and keep you in the loop.

In 4 and half months of going to watch York (the only home game i've missed was the 2-2 draw with Cambridge as i was in Cornwall) i am constantly updated with club offers and offers and promotions from club partners, have enrolled my young 'un into junior reds which knock out allsorts for kids to get involved in, she has met Yorkie the lion (who to my knowledge hasn't been involved in tawdry arguments with his own fans, at half time they have colouring and a kids room and a sweet shop.

In contrast i contacted TUFC twice last year about the Gulls fanclub for young fans, once after seeing it on the O/S and not one person could tell me what it was or what i was on about.

Their matchday programme has lots of features about local fans and puts them in the limelight having many innovative competitions and activities for young ones. My little one has been featured in it too for making her city debut, the club ran a competition for the young fans to design the front cover for the Accy boxing day programme and we won out of 70 entries we got 4 free tickets to the game and a free programme and a write up (on the way home to Derbyshire though i had to abandon my car in 15cm of snow and walk in the dark and thick snowstorm for 3 hours with my little one to get home - i recovered my car today).

On another occasion i was offered the opportunity to go on the pitch to present midfielder Russell Penn with player of the month award, we sponsor Jake Hyde's boots which we are regularly shown gratitude for and not just left to wonder why the **** hell am i bothering and i've had a nice chat with Russ Wilcox in the car park before the game with Mansfield. Incentives aplenty to keep fans interested too.

Basically, in one of my rambling nutshells - i have had more opportunities, feedback and more engagement from York City in 4 and a half months than i ever did in nearly 7 years of following the Gulls. Behind the scenes they are well organised and at face value appear to put the fans at the forefront of their minds at all times.

Don't get me wrong, football fans are fickle regardless. York reached the play off semi last season yet just a month into this season they were down to the usual hardcore of sub 3000 gates. York strive hard to attract and retain fans through exceptional communication, advertising, customer service, innovation and fan interaction and engagement whereas TUFC quite frankly embarrassing in all areas in all honesty. If the club don't see fit to offer gratitude to fans for forking out to watch utter garbage (which to be fair to Torquay is quite a lot of other clubs too) nor a consistent high end product then the very least they should be doing is making the whole matchday experience and involvement the very best it can be.

Like Matt highlights, a club who takes fans for granted cannot expect those fans to hang around and be at their beck and call when it all comes crashing down.

A club who appreciates it fans and strives to make it a symbiotic relationship have EVERY reason to expect them to keep turning up when things are going wrong. It's called support.

I don't believe in withdrawing support just because the team you follow are always crap and have taken 2 years to decide that Billy Bodin will not produce the goods and i can hold my head up and say i have not done this.

Ok, so i kind of considered it with the Bodin thingy but you get my drift. :Oops:

Most fans are very proud and protective of their club so obviously i expect either no response to my post which is becoming the norm (I've suddenly become a not very nice person purely based on perceived misguided morals which perhaps tells you something about yourself ) or some telling me to piss off like Brucie very kindly did to our Brizzle frequenter. Very welcoming i'm sure. Oh, and he is mentally ill too apparently, Friendlygas that is and not Brucie. :}

Finally :sleep: :sleep: :sleep: :sleep:

I've stood with a hundred and odd York fans at Plymouth. A hundred and odd Torquay fans at some northern griefhole make more noise and are more up for the laugh than what i witnessed. I've also stood with 700 York fans at Hartlepool. Half that amount of Gulls at Cheltenham were far more impressive. York at home have a drummer but he never plays the friggin' thing! He brings it and bangs it a couple of times and then gives up! A bit like Silvio Berlusconi taking his latest to a cocktail party. I'm 100% positive that Danny lad is like the Keith Moon of Torquay whilst the York lad (no offence intended) is like Partridge sat in the car waiting for Lynne and listening to theme tune to The Saint.

Torquay fans away are a pleasure to be with and are without doubt the most impressive of the lower leagues that i've ever stood with. I still miss all that shit.

Anyway, as Brian Potter said.......you can't go back and so i bid you a happy new year and i'm willing you into the play offs. I'm obviously not going to bet on it because we all know that you would be 2-0 up on the last day with 5 minutes left and needing only a draw and then the opposition would make a triple sub of Karl Hawley, Billy Bodin and Conor Wilkinson and end up winning the game.

CH proved last season that he couldn't make players respond and that is 30% of why we went down - he had plenty of time.

It would be inappropriate of me to comment on how he is doing this season but i think overall where you are in the league - i'd have taken that if i was still a yellow.

Oh and i almost forgot...............you can also respond my tl:dr

Hope all are well and a Merry Christmas to most Gulls fans out there!! (there are a few exceptions - goodwill to all men doesn't necessarily extend =D ).

Taxilady Nina i hope all is going well and not too many long trips driving lazy people about , Dave forever i hope you and your lads are chillin' and looking forward to the festive season - i hear your lad is doing ok for himself in the old footy game - tell him he can be anything he wants to be and to believe, oh and good match threads too my man.

SG Dave and Scotty lad, merry Xmas to you two also. I know that you now don't like me purely based on the fact that i no longer support TUFC even though i'm still the same person but there is nothing i can do about that. How are the little pooches now Dave? I bet they are mahoosive now and ripping the shite out of some scally's arm!! Scotty, don't beam me up when i say keep up the jammin' - music is the joy of the soul. On that premise i recommend one of my favourite albums Slayer - Reign in Blood. :devil:

Louis, to you too, gets through a lot of shit behind the scenes and for no recognition. Merry Xmas!

Alexgulls and the lads - the lifeblood of TUFC. Hope you have a great Christmas and get to visit Wycombe soon so you can go the White Horse. :devil:

Lucy, Neal, Yellowmonkey, Yellowsmiffy, Gullscorer (minus the feministy bits), Chunkygull who i miss actually although there is absolutely NO affection, Cambgull, Jeff and his excitement over the Stortford game. I totally get that man! Loved the infantile excitement of your posts about that and it was pure fans passion, i don't mean infantile in a derogatory manner but in a descriptive and reminiscent way - raw excitement is what keeps our love for football alive. Merry Christmas.

Bix i miss our betting chats but needless to say i lost today. Facking Queen of the South at home to Cowdenbeath!! They can beat Rangers when on telly but when not they give up!! Twats!! I had some pale riders on offer from Morrisons tonight - Kelham Island Brewery which i used to take the dogs from Sheffield RSPCA out to for a walk. Got attacked by a staffy outside the very brewery doors but had enough about me to keep it real. Always remember that day. Not the staffies fault of course - just the amoeba previous owners.

SuperNW - i now accept that you think i'm a ****. That's cool man and i always appreciated your medical knowledge bud. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Bengull, if he ever reads this forum anymore gets the most sincerest of Merry Christmasses and also to his old man (dad - not penis) and also to Launceston Nige.

Oh and merry Christmas to that bloke who accosted me at Mansfield last season at half time asking me if i was austrianandygull. I so wanted to say Ja, Wer bist du?!! However i had a brief chat in English and that moment has always stuck with me that someone takes the time out to introduce themselves and give praise. Yes he said that my posts were irreverent and enjoyable. I really did think he was a bit simple.

Of course i didn't. It was a really nice thing to do and i appreciated it.

Merry Christmas to him. I think his name was Nigel but regardless, he'll know who he is.

Merry Xmas to Bobby too. Bobster that does the fanzine. Had a conflab with him at Wycombe away most recently and a thoroughly decent bloke. More importantly a bloke willing to get off his arse and make things happen for the g benefit of TUFC fans. You're fighting a losing battle Bobby lad but i have nothing but admiration for your aptitude and passion for the club and also to the fans who have bothered to purchase Highway to Hele.

Without fans there is no club, an important point other generally ambivalent fans would do well to take heed of.


Just to everyone really. Merry Christmas and just enjoy what you have. Don't go mad, don't go superficial - just look around at what is important in your life and compare that with people who have nothing. Basically what i'm trying to say is don't be those arseholes traipsing around the supermarkets filling their trollies full of shit - shit that you can so easily buy the day after if need be. It's only 1 day. One day where you don't need presents. You don't need money. You don't need 'products'.

You just need to appreciate what you have.

39 POINTS from 21 games is what you have so make the most of it and give thanks for it...............or would you rather have Alan Knill?

Merry Xmas one and all!!

Serves them right for being the only club whose turnstiles i had to ingest myself to get through.

Joke.

I liked that ground and i feel for the fans. If enough are passionate then they'll be back.

I can't really square this circle for you madgull but i can certainly confirm that Mario is a complete fanny and about as consistent as one of my 'morning after' toilet visits.

Just don't spend money. :~D

Agree with Burhamgull about CH and his TV persona. How someone can wear tracksuit tops that tight is beyond me. If i ate nothing but yeast for 6 months i still couldn't squeeze into one of those training tops.

However, half the squad are conference standard and despite CH and a lack of plan B (which was evident as early as Hartlepool away last season to which i can attest) TUFC are still only 3 points off a play off spot. I'd have been over the moon with that given the turmoil of last season. Look, Braintree today was shocking by al accounts but you are always going to get those games and instead of getting them every week like last season you are getting them every few weeks but still hanging in there.

As long as you don't get that desperate for promotion that you go and offer Ched Evans a contract then i'm sure the natural order of things will prevail and a play off spot despite all the odds will be in the bag.

In all seriousness before my 'falling out' with the Gulls in the summer the Braintree game was one i was most looking forward to getting to. Braintree...........................it just sounds like a place you can't afford to miss.

BayGull wrote: Not exactly correct!

I know for a fact then whilst the Roberts debacle was taking place at Plainmoor - Ian Hayman was down under watching the test match cricket! He kept well out of things.

If you want to know who sussed Roberts out first - you need to look much closer to home!

Why?

My cat isn't involved.

Perhaps the fact that a man of 25 years service to the club (regardless of personal opinion) has retired and only elicited 5 responses is indicative of the terminal apathy that surrounds the club. I always thought that this was the 'GO TO' place for TUFC fans but not so as we enter 2015.

The man has given 25 years for pity's sake!! I'm not the biggest fan of people behind the scenes at TUFC as you all know but come on guys, it really is poor.

Gullscorer wrote:I posted this on another thread, but it seems appropriate to also put it here:

If Luke Young (or any of our best players) moves, it's an indication that the club desperately needs the money. You have only to look at the small attendances at Plainmoor to realise that the club's finances must be (or very soon will be) in very dire straits.

It's not a lack of ambition by the club that's the problem, it's lack of ambition by the supporters, and there's only one real answer: double the Plainmoor crowds from 2000 to 4000. Then we'll be able to keep our best players and give ourselves a chance to make progress up through the leagues.

Unfortunately, the support of many so-called fans seems to amount to nothing more than whingeing, moaning and criticising. It's these 'supporters', not the club, who are the real problem and they must be the real solution. If everyone took a friend or neighbour, and their kids, along to matches, or helped with fund-raising or made regular small donations, and, above all, actually supported their team, things would surely improve.

It's not the team's job to lift the crowd; it's the supporters' job to lift the players..

and it's the clubs job to lift the supporters.

When it was desperately needed over the summer they failed big time. They let fans down. Nothing to do with finances but simply the feeble manner in which they plodded through the most traumatic few months for a good few years.

Some fans will stay away because the footy is rubbish and by and large they're fickle but some will stay away because they feel disillusioned and hung out to dry.

It's all well and good the fans trying to drum up support for the club but that shouldn't be their job either.

The support the team got from the fans last season, certainly at away games as I went to most, was phenomenal. A real twelfth man at times. The fans were the only ones involved at TUFC who did their jobs properly last season. The players bombed, the board members passed every buck to poor Thea at every opportunity, the stewards annoyed and the club reclaimed the mantle of 'tinpot' status. You can hardly blame the fans for non attendance this season because of all that chaos and rampant unprofessionalism.

Just thought I'd respond on this one Mick because it hit a nerve. In the main what you have said is valid but just a few things I'd take issue with from a personal perspective.

Hope you are ok mate anyway.

In addition, I obviously read the forum still and the amount of poison, bickering and nastiness that still prevails on here is staggering and I don't even post anymore!! :devil: It's quite tragic really. Many of the posts even transcend the arguments between myself and Nick and that's going some! . I hope you are ok Nick, I mean that sincerely my good man. I note that Royalgull wanted to slope off and I agreed with a lot of what he had to say and I also notice that Richinns also decided to call it a day ( he got a tenner out of me you know!! ). Rich hope you are ok too.

The comments aimed at Breedy for the commentary thingy were typical. Always happy to have a pop but not prepared to have a go at commentating themselves. I'm sure Breedy is like most other Torquay fans in not giving two shits what I think anymore given my 'defection' but regardless. I'd just say **** 'em Steve and if you enjoy it then carry it through bro.

Oh and Super is right.......Mock the Week is the most annoying pile of shit around other than my good self. Filled with obnoxious, self important morons who think they are funny........again, like my good errr.............

I did apply to go on I'm a Celebrity this year. I had a word with the producers and apparently being a regular poster on a football forum with almost a thousand posts to my name qualifies me under new rules to be officially a celebrity!! I know! It's **** madness ain't it?! At first I didn't think it would enough, so i told them that I had once been served scampi and chips at a beefeater restaurant in Corby by Andi Peters when he worked there as a waiter before his kiddie tv fame so surely that qualified me as a celeb? Obviously. Why wouldn't it?

It was only when they told me that during the show (if I was selected) then I may have to be confined with a load of snakes. I said no probs as a few years back I'd visited the House of Commons on a school field trip.

They told me I'd have to eat offal, testicles and mouldy insects too. No probs I said. I had half time refreshments at Fleetwood last season so knew what to expect.

They also told me I'd be plunged into some dark, grubby and rat infested places in some of the trials. Again, I went to Accrington last season. Bring it on man!!

They also told me that I'd possibly be chucked in there to create some 'romantic interest' from the other female campmates. Jesus! Who are these women?!! They must either be partially sighted (I do have SOME attractive attributes at least!) or they must have passed away. Or they could even have been a WAG! News for them before they start getting frisky.............I'm feckin skint ladies. Two years of trawling the UK watching Billy **** Bodin trying to play football.

In the end they refused my application because apparently there were key criteria that needed to be met............."are you effervescent, a team player and have a desire to meet new people?" they asked.

I'm a miserable Yorkshireman who CHOSE a career working with animals........WHAT DO YOU THINK?!!!


Torquay.........................be UNITED!!!!!! You'll get there in the end.

COYY!!

forevertufc wrote:Not denying that for a second G/S, also well aware that good goalkeepers win points. There's a point that I've made constantly through out this season, the club let Michael Poke go for one simple reason, it could not longer afford to pay him, Rice was made no1 and Seabright was signed because that's the level of goalkeeper our club can afford.

Another point I've made to the point I've almost bored myself into submission, we're now in the conference, the time kick, shout and scream was last season, this is where we are now, our income has dropped, we lose the parachute payment next season, Thoughts of Knill's expensive flops moving on creating room in the budget for CH to go into the transfer market and bring a quality keeper and strengthen over positions, are in reality just pipe dreams, it simply isn't going to happen.

In reality, once the high wage earners from last season have gone, it will only serve one purpose, that's to bring the clubs wage bill into a more sustainable level. I'm expecting to see more Seabright type players turn up at the club, so what I'm saying is, unless CH gets lucky and finds and undiscovered freebie gem of a goalkeeper, Rice is where we're at, just as well back the lad as things aren't going to change in a hurry.

Spot on Dave. You have been correct in your concerns about relegation from day one and you accept that Ricey is the best available on the budget available. Others can't see this and want Buffon in or even would be happy chucking a green jersey at Peter Shilton. When they finally wake up they may realise that in the conference you cannot have 2 solid experienced keepers. Firstly because you have to pay them and secondly because you aren't going to get a decent experienced understudy in this league.

The team and club are stabilising after a year of extreme turmoil, it is in the position in the league most would have been happy with the day after relegation, Barnet have just been beaten and there has been some really entertaining wins by all accounts this season and STILL people whinge about stuff and whinge about Ricey.

It's **** beyond belief. I saw the defending v Barnet and if that is the chaos that Ricey has had in front of him all season then I'd forgive him a few errors.

You'll be in the play offs come the end despite all the odds, despite having an inexperienced and conservative manager, despite having to still pay and play some of squirrel man's cast offs and despite errors from Rice so enjoy it and embrace it instead of whinging about minor women's whiplash.

(Had to chuck that one in Ben! )

Really enjoyed a Torquay game for once. I thought it was a superb performance from the Gulls and lots of attacking intent too which has been alarmingly lacking for the past 2 or 3 seasons. If the defence can be a bit tighter then you'll always get goals at the other end and a play off spot will be a formality IMO. Saw some familiar faces in the away end when the cameras were on them, I'm sure they all had a good night as did Mr Bastard. Club legend.

On top of that I whacked a hundred quid on the Torquay win at 7/2 with Betfred so stick that in your pipe and smoke it Bix!! I didn't want to come on and tell you BEFORE the game as there is no way you would have won the game given my propensity to lose bets.

Briscoe looks a player, Young had a really dependable game, Downes is slow but a battler and will give his all. I thought CH made some positive changes re: subs when I perhaps thought he might try and shut up shop but brought on Thommo et al. Cruise to me looks the weakest link still, I watched him closely and his positioning at times was really poor. He battled and got some important blocks in when we were under pressure but his concentration and slowness will cost goals. A remnant of the last era that needs to be got rid of.

Pleased for you guys. If you can go to Barnet and get a win then anybody is beatable. The squad is there with CH adding some really decent players. Once the last of the dead wood is shifted then you can kick on. Play offs is a serious goal to aim for this season and from there who knows.