by Keith » 22 Dec 2015, 10:00
Have been reading this thread for the last day after seeing the HE stories and hearing various rumours. It's very sad to see what's happening to the club but as a long standing supporter, I don't recognise some of the rose tinted views of days gone by that some posters are painting.
1. Pining for the Mike B era? Seriously? That was a very different era of football but 'he ran the club well' is not quite my recollection of that era. We would have been relegated to Non-League but for a ridiculous but legal league ruling weighted in favour of the established 92 league clubs. He had very little communication with fans, was prone to very embarrassing publicity stunts, handed over the Pop side to rivals, shutdown the youth set up, idealised part-time players and a the squad being reliant on loan players and ultimately sold the club to that walter mitty Roberts.
2, Frankly the club has been very badly run for the last 30 years so it's not exclusive to this board. There was the brief period with the Bristow money and the new board post relegation but even that had far too much short term thinking that we're paying for now. The issues the club have now are not all new. Some have been years in the making.
3. Steve Breed has done more for this club than the vast majority of fans. Yes he's making mistakes but frankly he's probably learning on the job that a football club is not like a normal business. Seale Hayne was a nice idea but it's right to draw a line under it. Why on earth it was built without one 3G pitch I'll never know. The Torquay Academy link up is a step in the right direction. A local training pitch with a guaranteed good surface 365 days a year. At the moment his sole aim should be to ensure the club still exists on August 1st 2016.
4. SDL players are far from ideal but there frankly is little other option at the moment. Right now, we have to start preparing for life in Conference South next season rather than throwing desperately needed pennies at short term options to possibly retain Conference status. Yes they are young players but they are on hell of a learning curve at the moment.
5. Changing the manager will achieve nothing. We need some stability at the moment. Give him a chance.
6. Torquay United Fans Ltd?! I'm not sure if others have covered this but that name bothers me. Your name implies you are representing Torquay United fans or 'Torquay United'. 'Fans' should never be part of a business name. You do not represent me. You are well meaning supporters and ex-directors but you shouldn't be using the club name when you have no direct association with the club as a business. I wish you'd called yourself 'Torquay 1899' or something.
7. Sadly relegation is inevitable i fear. But CS is not the end of the world. It's on par to what the Conference was in the 90's. The top half of the Conference is now effectively a 5th full time league with clubs that would hold their own in League 2. The CS has a lot of well run clubs and we need to look at them and strive to be like that. Short term, ensure the club survives to the end of the season. Clear the decks in the summer. Long term, rebuild as a stable club, with a budget built on 800-1000 fans. Rebuild links with local schools. Promotion from CS within 2 years should be the target. Promotion from Conference with 3 years after that is the next. Are the current board the ones to plan and lead that? I don't know to be honest. But we should give them time to stabilise.
There are too many people at the moment with vested interests, circulating rumours and accusations. Some of those accusations need to be answered. Some however (and you might not like it) are none of your business. You might like to know but at the end of the day, they don't have to tell you. The club do not have to answer every single thing thrown at them. Being a supporter, unfortunately, doesn't give you the right to know the financial runnings of the club. Being an investor, director, board member does.
I'm uneasy with the ground share with Truro. I think the money will be helpful but I fear it's the first step towards a merger of the clubs.
Have been reading this thread for the last day after seeing the HE stories and hearing various rumours. It's very sad to see what's happening to the club but as a long standing supporter, I don't recognise some of the rose tinted views of days gone by that some posters are painting.
1. Pining for the Mike B era? Seriously? That was a very different era of football but 'he ran the club well' is not quite my recollection of that era. We would have been relegated to Non-League but for a ridiculous but legal league ruling weighted in favour of the established 92 league clubs. He had very little communication with fans, was prone to very embarrassing publicity stunts, handed over the Pop side to rivals, shutdown the youth set up, idealised part-time players and a the squad being reliant on loan players and ultimately sold the club to that walter mitty Roberts.
2, Frankly the club has been very badly run for the last 30 years so it's not exclusive to this board. There was the brief period with the Bristow money and the new board post relegation but even that had far too much short term thinking that we're paying for now. The issues the club have now are not all new. Some have been years in the making.
3. Steve Breed has done more for this club than the vast majority of fans. Yes he's making mistakes but frankly he's probably learning on the job that a football club is not like a normal business. Seale Hayne was a nice idea but it's right to draw a line under it. Why on earth it was built without one 3G pitch I'll never know. The Torquay Academy link up is a step in the right direction. A local training pitch with a guaranteed good surface 365 days a year. At the moment his sole aim should be to ensure the club still exists on August 1st 2016.
4. SDL players are far from ideal but there frankly is little other option at the moment. Right now, we have to start preparing for life in Conference South next season rather than throwing desperately needed pennies at short term options to possibly retain Conference status. Yes they are young players but they are on hell of a learning curve at the moment.
5. Changing the manager will achieve nothing. We need some stability at the moment. Give him a chance.
6. Torquay United Fans Ltd?! I'm not sure if others have covered this but that name bothers me. Your name implies you are representing Torquay United fans or 'Torquay United'. 'Fans' should never be part of a business name. You do not represent me. You are well meaning supporters and ex-directors but you shouldn't be using the club name when you have no direct association with the club as a business. I wish you'd called yourself 'Torquay 1899' or something.
7. Sadly relegation is inevitable i fear. But CS is not the end of the world. It's on par to what the Conference was in the 90's. The top half of the Conference is now effectively a 5th full time league with clubs that would hold their own in League 2. The CS has a lot of well run clubs and we need to look at them and strive to be like that. Short term, ensure the club survives to the end of the season. Clear the decks in the summer. Long term, rebuild as a stable club, with a budget built on 800-1000 fans. Rebuild links with local schools. Promotion from CS within 2 years should be the target. Promotion from Conference with 3 years after that is the next. Are the current board the ones to plan and lead that? I don't know to be honest. But we should give them time to stabilise.
There are too many people at the moment with vested interests, circulating rumours and accusations. Some of those accusations need to be answered. Some however (and you might not like it) are none of your business. You might like to know but at the end of the day, they don't have to tell you. The club do not have to answer every single thing thrown at them. Being a supporter, unfortunately, doesn't give you the right to know the financial runnings of the club. Being an investor, director, board member does.
I'm uneasy with the ground share with Truro. I think the money will be helpful but I fear it's the first step towards a merger of the clubs.
