by SenorDingDong » 02 Nov 2016, 18:43
Burnhamgull wrote:And sadly, that's where a previous poster comes in.......
The public in Torbay do not care about the football club. If you don't back a club, you won't survive. This hasnt happened over the past 12 months. This club has always been on the edge. Right back to the days when we always had to seek re-election to the football league.
Bollocks, the fanbase may be apathetic at times and nothing like the fanbases of clubs in major cities, the Midlands and North but to have averaged over 1.8k last season with the shower of crap we were given shows that a core population of the Bay does care about the club. Given development we could support League One football, just like Yeovil did but it would require an ownership that knew what they were doing...and hopefully an uptick in the local economy thanks to the Link Road. We averaged over 3k in our first season in the Conference. It's not something that could happen overnight but it's possible, Burton, Yeovil etc have shown that a well run team can be successfully despite moderate history and catchment areas.
Our 2(!) re-election bids during the 4th division era reflect fairly well compared to Hartlepool's 11, Crewe's 7, Barrow's/Halifax/Rochdale/Southport's 6, Chester/Darlington/Stockport/Lincoln's 5 etc etc. Hell even our neighbours up the road in Exeter also had 2 re-elections. We may be small but we haven't historically been a basketcase for the majority of our history. Indeed there's only really been 3 periods when we have been, the Webb era, the Roberts era and now. Bateson's was an up and down rollercoaster.
Don't try and blame the fans for the mess that Phillips et al have made, last season we delivered everything they asked for as part of their 'turnaround plan' and somehow they've created a situation where the club is just as indebted as when they took it over, despite cutting practically all the staff, putting out a team on one of the lowest budgets in the league and receiving thousands through the fan's fund.
[quote="Burnhamgull"]And sadly, that's where a previous poster comes in.......
The public in Torbay do not care about the football club. If you don't back a club, you won't survive. This hasnt happened over the past 12 months. This club has always been on the edge. Right back to the days when we always had to seek re-election to the football league.[/quote]
Bollocks, the fanbase may be apathetic at times and nothing like the fanbases of clubs in major cities, the Midlands and North but to have averaged over 1.8k last season with the shower of crap we were given shows that a core population of the Bay does care about the club. Given development we could support League One football, just like Yeovil did but it would require an ownership that knew what they were doing...and hopefully an uptick in the local economy thanks to the Link Road. We averaged over 3k in our first season in the Conference. It's not something that could happen overnight but it's possible, Burton, Yeovil etc have shown that a well run team can be successfully despite moderate history and catchment areas.
Our 2(!) re-election bids during the 4th division era reflect fairly well compared to Hartlepool's 11, Crewe's 7, Barrow's/Halifax/Rochdale/Southport's 6, Chester/Darlington/Stockport/Lincoln's 5 etc etc. Hell even our neighbours up the road in Exeter also had 2 re-elections. We may be small but we haven't historically been a basketcase for the majority of our history. Indeed there's only really been 3 periods when we have been, the Webb era, the Roberts era and now. Bateson's was an up and down rollercoaster.
Don't try and blame the fans for the mess that Phillips et al have made, last season we delivered everything they asked for as part of their 'turnaround plan' and somehow they've created a situation where the club is just as indebted as when they took it over, despite cutting practically all the staff, putting out a team on one of the lowest budgets in the league and receiving thousands through the fan's fund.
