The Serious Torquay Thread

[grecIAN Harris]

The trouble with Torquay fans are they a continually dying breed. They're either kids who have to move away from The Bay for their working opportunities or they're pensioners who moved down to The Bay when they've retired and many don't last much longer than 15-20 years and during that time are restricted by health anyway.

 

[tagz]

Lost at home to bottom place Telford i see

They done the double over them this season. The first win ended Torquay's 6 game winning streak and 5 clean sheets in a row.

 

[Grecian_In_Exile]

How can there be a serious Torquay thread, when we only laugh at the Torquay (rofl)

 

[jmgull]

The trouble with Torquay fans are they a continually dying breed. They're either kids who have to move away from The Bay for their working opportunities or they're pensioners who moved down to The Bay when they've retired and many don't last much longer than 15-20 years and during that time are restricted by health anyway.

To be fair, it's not really the fans to blame Ian, we've been utterly dreadful for 2 or 3 years now, the average is still somehow over 2000, not bad considering away fans down here hardly bump the figures up much.

Our rapid decline can be pinpointed to the time when Thea Bristow decided to take over the Chairman's role - Ling (a damn good manager) was booted out, the cheeky cockney chappie was never her cup of tea, despite his mini breakdown, he should never have been fired.

Knill was the next to go and paid off...when you add his pay off to the Ling one and add in their assistants, we paid out 300/400k to get rid of experienced managers and then went out and employed the inexperienced (and useless) Hargreaves to save us from relegation.

Thea Bristow wants out and will take have to take very little for her shares, her financial advisers Camelot have told her that she can't keep ploughing money in to prop us up.

Thea should never have got involved in the day to day running of the club but obviously most are thankful to her for what she's done in the past.

Where we go from here is hard to fathom but there is a lot going on behind the scenes.

Kelvin Thomas the former Oxford chairman has been brought in as a deal maker and our skint council are prepared to sell the ground to the club to allow a development elsewhere. Plainmoor is next to a decent sized secondary school that has no playing fields and would also be worth a fortune to property developers.

Torbay desperately wants an events kind of stadium....especially now the new road in is almost finished, after decades in the doldrums, their is a fair bit planned for Torbay as it seeks to get back it's share of tourists.

Their is a considerable plot of land close to the Willows shopping area as you enter Torquay that is apparently being considered - it would be big enough for a stadium, cinema, retail outlets etc etc - a bit like the Oxford situation.

Don't be surprised if this is how it pans out - I can't see us having much future as a club at Plainmoor,

 

[grecIAN Harris]

I'm not suggesting they're to blame just that as a fan base quite a number have a relatively short shelf life and when it comes to trying to support the club in the way it's needed now. The two groups I'm talking about are both at the wrong ends of the age scale which in turn leaves a rather large burden on those in the middle age bracket in way of support for any kind of financial movement.

 

[IBA]

I think the retirement demographic for Torquay can be overestimated, most people I know that have moved to the Bay are under 40s. if these incomers are football fans they continue to support their old clubs and only take a passing interest in Torquay United and would only be tempted to attend say a playoff game or glamour cup tie. It's no different to East or Mid Devon .

 

[flakey pasty]

I wish there was somebody out there that would buy us.

You must be very new to "supporting" ECFC, Pete.
One hundred years of abject failure.
Complete incompetence at boardroom level.
A history of financial mispractice by directors.
I had some time for poor old Ivor Doble who loved the club, but was totally out of his depth. The rest of them? Amateurs.

 

[elginCity]

I think the retirement demographic for Torquay can be overestimated.

Had a quick looksee, and at the last census, average age of males on the Bay was 44 compared to Exeter's 38. I think you have a point.

My belief is, Torquay suffer through having a poor catchment area, shoehorned on the coast, surrounded by Green and Red Devon. Will never forget what they did back in the day, in our hour of need, so yes, there should be no hesitation in offering the same if ever needed/asked for.

 

[Silver fox]

Had a quick looksee, and at the last census, average age of males on the Bay was 44 compared to Exeter's 38. I think you have a point.

My belief is, Torquay suffer through having a poor catchment area, shoehorned on the coast, surrounded by Green and Red Devon. Will never forget what they did back in the day, in our hour of need, so yes, there should be no hesitation in offering the same if ever needed/asked for.

Would be a travesty if they disappeared IMO

 

[Pete Martin (CTID)]

There's nothing new under the sun........

"Throughout the 1930s Torquay struggled against financial problems, such as having to replace the stadium roof when it was blown off in 1930. They also failed to finish higher than 10th in twelve seasons. In the last few seasons before league football was suspended during the Second World War, Torquay struggled in Division Three South, finishing 20th, 20th and 19th out of 22 teams."

(From Wikipedia)