Torquay United Fans Forum

The acoustics in the away end are much better than any part of the pop - middle or end - that's why a relativley small away following can make a great deal of noise.

Nick you mention the middle can't hear the corners and this does not surprise me - even before the group moved down to the end the corners couldn't hear the middle, if you get my drift? So I'm not sure that having all the singers in the middle would make a huge difference. BUT as a fan who likes to stand at whichever end we are attacking I would welcome the drum returning to the middle - does my bloody head in. Especially that fecking awful Stevenage song, I never thought a song could be more annoying than the one Orient used to sing - unfortunatley I have been proven wrong. Grr!!!!

The problem of no atmosphere won't be solved by the singers moving back into the middle. It was crap when they were in the middle and its crap when they're up the end. The atmosphere has been dead for a while now. The be all and end all of the problem is that there's not enough people who can be bothered to join in.

Decent post, Alpine Joe. Some good points made in there.

In my opinion I think it should, and will be kept as it is right now. If the group in the corner are so intent on making a loud atmosphere, it isn't doing much to exclude themselves from other potential singers who stand in the middle. I stayed around the half way line because it's a great view. I like to sing as much as anyone else and I do at away games but when we can't here the group in the corner, the atmosphere seems muted.

What I'd propose is for everyone to rejoin in the middle, where you're getting the singers currently down in the corner aswell as a probable extra 100 or so who will join in as they'll be able to hear it. Add to that the Family Stand seems to be a bit louder recently, then we're away.

I can't see the club giving away a big section of Bristows Bench as I think there'll be alot of people who'll want to sit over there, perhaps moving there from the Family stand. I also think there will be a slight increase in attendances again once the stand is done, and if the season ticket intake is up, then they won't want the hassle of having to move people out of their allocated seats to move a barrier across for a larger away following.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. All that needs doing is for the singers to join in the middle again, I'd imagine the atmosphere to improve a lot.

Surely we could do what most teams do? If were expecting a small following just give them the seats for the bigger games such as Plymouth etc then give them both seats and behind the goal. Simple.

bc-gull wrote:Why do we have to give the away fans standing? Plymouth have no standing, alot of stadiums are all seating, if they want to stand they will stand at their seats like we did at plymouth, cheltenham etc. Giving us the away would be a great idea.

Spot on. This is a no brainer. It also effectivley forces away fans to pay the seating price meaning more money for us! For larger away followings we give them more seats accordingly by way of moveable netting, or for really large followings give them the current away end too.

There's a new vote but meaning putting away fans in the new stand which means if we want can stay in pop me for one am popsider but think we need to change something

I was hoping to comment on the vote, which didn't seem to be heading for the 'positive' result the Original poster was subliminally hoping to push us towards with wording that would have been a credit to Alex Salmond on a referendum ballot.

Whatever the result, we should bear in mind that all votes were given equal weight. An exile who might visit Plainmoor once a season or less & who really won't be affected either way, may decide it's best to act 'positively' & vote accordingly. His vote will carry just as much weight as the Pop Side ever present or Season Ticket Holder who doesn't want to see his favourite section of the Pop Side, where he happily watches the matches from Season after Season, given up exclusively to away fans. He's being turfed out of his area of Plainmoor but his opinion would be presented to the Club as carrying equal wait with that of a Gulls fan in the Outer Hebrides who might get to a game once a year at Christmas.

If the Club ever do give serious consideration to such a move I hope they'll just poll Popsiders i.e those likely to be affected. I doubt many Grandstand/Family Stand users would prefer to be stood up behind a goal.

From a practical viewpoint I'm sure the police/authorities prefer the present arrangement whereby they can get away supporters out of the ground & onto their coaches with minimal contact with home fans. If the coaches are to remain parked in their present position then the away fans (now exiting onto Marnham Road presumably) find themselves between the two sets of home supporters & a possible greater chance of conflict.

Is it feasible or practical to require greater numbers of coaches to try turning into Marnham Road ? If we were lucky enough to get promoted & find ourselves dealing withlarger numbers of away fans next Season then it's something that wil require a lot of consideration. And particularly if you did get a sizeable away following then we have to consider how much of the Popside would already have been lost to building a new toilet block & catering facilities for away fans. Is there room for this while leaving room for the vehicle access point / police 'lookout' platform etc that is currently there + the new big screen could find itself quickly smeared with cups of tea & tomato ketchup :~D .

Should the vote reappear I'd ask everyone to think seriously before deciding to be too 'positive'.


EDIT: Wouldn't you just know it, as soon as I post this the bloody vote thing suddenly turns up again. It now discounts any idea of involving the Poside but instead tells us that all visiting fans would be required to fork out for a grandstand seat. Getting to away games is a considerable financial outlay for any fan, particularly those on low pay or unemployed. For those visiting Plainmoor it will probably be their longest/ most expensive trip of the Season & for that reason cheaper standing accomodation behind a goal makes the trip that much more affordable. If such fans should now be given no other option than to pay grandstand prices to sit & view from the side you're really hitting them harder in the pocket. What might be 'positive' for the boozed up singer is going to provide a lot of negatives for plenty of other fans of both the home & away teams.

whits72 wrote:Rip out all the seats in the family stand and have that as the new mini stand. Job done!

This

Rip out all the seats in the family stand and have that as the new mini stand. Job done!

Plenty of away grounds dont give us standing, so why cant we just give away fans one section of Bristows Bench, but increase that for bigger away followings?
Even if only a few hundred Gulls use the current away end and make some noise, it will be worth it.

Yes giving us the away end would be a good idea only if it is done the right way, putting a section in the popside for away fans would be the worst idea under the sun, it would isolate home fans in the current away end, many like to use boots and laces at half time, they would not able to , so would not use the current away end, it would be a massive own goal on the part of the club, and all honesty hope the club do not go down that road.

The only sensible way of doing this in my view , would be to split the current away in half, witht he away next to Bristows bench clearly, there would be an issue witht eh current control room next to the popsdie, so there would have to be one on the other side as well though.

Why do we have to give the away fans standing? Plymouth have no standing, alot of stadiums are all seating, if they want to stand they will stand at their seats like we did at plymouth, cheltenham etc. Giving us the away would be a great idea.

You'd be the first one out

austrianandygull wrote:

I knew you were still hankering after those golden days throwing drunken boneheads out of Southampton nightclubs Dave! Why don't you become a steward at Plainmoor and try and revisit those halcyon times by heftily ejecting away fans that sing!?

Oh yeah. Thats done it. Now you have given the old soak ideas. :whip:

Haha, I still work as a Head Doorman, Andy, use the calm but authoratative approach now, Stewarding never appealed to me