Torquay United Fans Forum

the best way has to be a price reduction. I havent been for ages as its too expensive for the :red: level of football. Going to the walsall game as £12 is fair.

Shrewsbury away was the best performance I've seen in Buckles tenure at the club, in terms off passing the ball. Absolutely fantastic to watch, and if we had kept that up at Plainmoor, I think the crowd may have increased (slightly).

[quote="kevgull"]The real reason for a poor atmosphere stems from a poor performance.

Try passing the ball through the midfield to our two small strikers instead off hoofing it from keeper to the oppositions centre backs.

Improved tatics will create a better atmosphere, therefore improve attendances.

You can see why Billy Kee thrived at Accrington as they play the ball on the floor![/quote]

Wholeheartedly agree kevgull. Did we not do this when we beat Northampton and Bradford ?

The real reason for a poor atmosphere stems from a poor performance.

Try passing the ball through the midfield to our two small strikers instead off hoofing it from keeper to the oppositions centre backs.

Improved tatics will create a better atmosphere, therefore improve attendances.

You can see why Billy Kee thrived at Accrington as they play the ball on the floor!

Forever, That does actually make a bit of sense, your idea of having the home and away fans next to each other. Maybe it is something the board should look at.
I'm not sure what the plans are regarding building the new grandstand but it will be interesting to see how the atmosphere is affected if we have to play many games with all the fans pushed in to three sides of the ground.

Shrewsbury did shuttle buses from a place called Shirehall. Maybe we could do a shuttle bus that starts from the Town Hall (?) which costs £2 to use, then stops off at other places around Torquay before heading to Plainmoor.

Maybe another one that does the Newton Abbot/Kingsteignton run, from the Train Station or something, costing say.. £4.

I know its expensive, but if we want to increase our attendances then the club need to try and put more money into getting more fans in, or work on the council trying to help us. :|

[quote="PhilGull"]Firstly a huge well done to the club, firstly for recognising the terrible atmosphere, secondly for trying to change it and thirdly for being so quick to listen to the fans views.

Moving on to Forever's post. I really don't see how allowing home fans in to the away end will help. There aren't enough Gulls fans to fill the areas we have already, surely spreading the supporters even more thinly around the ground will just make it worse, unless the suggestion is to do a swap and put the away fans in the Pop?

To be honest the only way I can see of improving the atmosphere is by spending money. Offer free entry to all kids and send a fleet of coaches out around South Devon on a Saturday lunchtime to give people free travel to the ground. The answer isn't in playing music or moving people but in simply getting more of us in there.[/quote]

I do see what your saying phil.as for the histon match yes it was a play-off semi so there was more fans in that night than usal,however i had friends in the family stand that night,and they said in all years they have been coming to tufc matchs ,they had never heard the home fans so loud.

My point in general,if you sectioned of say about 40% of that stand for home fans,stood next to away fans,it would make the away fans sing up louder to try and out sing the home fans,and in turn you would hope the home fans would sing up louder to avoid the embarrasment,thus creating a better atmosphere,it may not work, worth a try maybe?.

Your point about coach travel is a good one,the club already has a good deal with hookways,it realy would be worth trialing a coach from newton abbot,and around torbay,however i cant see the club being able to offer it free,maybe a small cost to the user,which would surely be cheeper and less hassle than people driving in from around the bay and tiegnbridge.

Firstly a huge well done to the club, firstly for recognising the terrible atmosphere, secondly for trying to change it and thirdly for being so quick to listen to the fans views.

Moving on to Forever's post. I really don't see how allowing home fans in to the away end will help. There aren't enough Gulls fans to fill the areas we have already, surely spreading the supporters even more thinly around the ground will just make it worse, unless the suggestion is to do a swap and put the away fans in the Pop?

To be honest the only way I can see of improving the atmosphere is by spending money. Offer free entry to all kids and send a fleet of coaches out around South Devon on a Saturday lunchtime to give people free travel to the ground. The answer isn't in playing music or moving people but in simply getting more of us in there.

The roles of the club and supporters on match days are different. The fans are expected to give partisan and vociferous support, but the club is acting as host to our opponents and visitors, and therefore the playing of triumphalist music is, as Alpine Joe neatly put it in the other thread, the height of bad manners. Well done to the club for recognising this. Unfortunately it's a fact that the key to improving the atmosphere is success on the field - it applies to every club in the land - and no amount of gimmickry will alter that.

All credit to the club for acting fast on this and listening to its fans,the majority did not like the goal music so fair enough.

Also i would like to credit the club for atleast trying something even if it did go down like alead balloon,and agree with jane,a good performance from the team does help the atmosphere,like yoevil home in f.a cup and the histon match,however i do feel we the fans must reconise when the team are struggerling and need aboost from us,its really important to the players they feel the fans are on there side,specialy when things on the pitch are going there way.

I have felt for a long ,long time now that the away end is the key to improving the atmosphere on matchday,and hope that soon the club wil turn over part if not all that stand to us home fans,it was proved against histon,and that when/if they do we the fans support it,by using that stand and making some seriuos noise.

Very good of the club to listen and respond so fast.

Have indeed sent a thank you very much email!! I do feel for those who introduced it though, they had good intentions and must be wondering what the next step is to generate noise... Perhaps a better PA system would encourage foot stomping and tapping of legs during the Sham 69 intro. I agree with Trojan (sorry, turning into a bit of a stalker here) about the players encouraging the crowd. It often helps if the crowd feel appreciated and gestures (polite ones) from the players generally have the desired effect. Not sure how often they could interrupt play to make these gestures though... And as a lot of fans do prefer to watch in silence, is it right that the creating an atmosphere bit is so important? As I said earlier, and will keep saying (sorry), if the football is exciting, the crowd will be more vocal.

The few games I get to go to I enjoy a good shout, but I am far too self concious to start anything myself. :Oops:
I realise that people want to watch the football but I thought the whole point of going to a match was not just to watch but support. Supporting doesn't mean just finding your voice when a pass has gone awry but geeing them up and showing appreciation at a good piece of play.
As has already been stated elsewhere, which way round does it work? Good play is a condition of the crowd being in good voice or the crowd energising the players and instilling a sense of pride, belief and passion?
The goal music has only been shelved not scrapped entirely, so if you don't want it back make some damn noise! :lol:

I wonder if those who contacted the club will now send an email to thank them for listening ?

Something that can be done to get the crowd going : players turning to the crowd and giving gestures that indicate they need our support, I have seen Mansell do it on occasions.

Any other ideas ?

Well done to all those who made their feelings known and to the club for taking notice.