Torquay United Fans Forum

by **Glostergull** » 12 Mar 2012, 10:01

Gullscorer wrote:Rovers fan on their forum said there was never any trouble, but their coach was escorted out of Torquay by police motor bikes and a police car. What was all that about? Certainly it was the police who talked up the possibility/probability of trouble. Palm FM merely had the stupidity to promulgate it. The outcome was some nice easy overtime money for the police, paid for by the club. And it seemed to me there was a ridiculously large police presence yesterday. It does make you wonder, sometimes, about our police..

I am pretty sure according to the law that Football clubs are only liable to pay for any Police on duty if they are actually inside the premises of the stadium. That in large part is why Stewards entered into the argument. It lowered the cost of Policing. Outside the stadium and around the Town. That is covered by the normal policing budget..
I agree it seemed an easy overtime payment and I never heard anything to suggest the Police had anything to do except enjoy the sunshine.
Even the More tiddly members of Both clubs don't generally need locking up much nowadays, Just leave em in a deckchair on the beach somewhere and they'll sober up and wake up to a lovely view. assuming they aren't floating away on the tide of course.

by **kbgas** » 12 Mar 2012, 08:28

good morning all
just popped in to say we had a great weekend , and were made to feel welcome everywhere we went
have to agee with forevertufc about the steward , we were stood near him , he did nothing wrong and was only trying to keep the gangway clear ,

by **Dave** » 11 Mar 2012, 18:09

To be fair to the Steward , he was in charge of that area and clearly had been placed under a lot of pressure because of this scare story, he just needed to calm down a bit , and with stewards and police, they are damned if they do, damned if they don't, so we must be fair.

I just do not understand why there was a need for such hype because it was Rovers, there was no more or less risk of trouble with Rovers as there was with Plymouth and Swindon who both sold out our away end, and Oxford who brought a fair few down, and remember the 2009 F.A cup tie with Oxford I do, there was a group of Oxford fan's in the home end that day who tried to start trouble with us, I was caught right in the middle of them. yet no hype whn they cam down.

If we are promoted, our Police/ security, and club are going to have to learn fast how to handle large away supporter numbers, we could have one or both Sheffield clubs, looking at the bottom of the Championship , Portsmouth are as good as down, and the likes of Forest, Millwall, Bristol City and Coventry are by no means safe.

The fan's fo these clubs have a different mentality to us, not saying they are trouble makers far from it, however football is a way of life to them, and they will not worry about a 5 hour drive to Torquay on a cold wet and windy day, nor will they stay at home with a mug of hot chocolate, as some of our fan's will.

All I am saying is welcome away fan's , treat them the same way as how you want to be treated when visting there grounds, and be on hand to deal with problems if they happen, dont predict them and make yourself look foolish.

by **Gullscorer** » 11 Mar 2012, 16:59

BritishGAS wrote:Hey Chaps, How have you all been?

I havn't been on here for a fair while, after that horrible cretin got the boot, I thought I would leave you guy's in peace for a while.

I just came back to say what a credit to the 4th division we both were yesterday, it was a cracking game with a fantastic atmosphere.

It is very nice to hear that us Gasheads impressed you yesterday, during the summer after the Paul Buckle affair, I think the relationship between us both became a bit strained.

But hopefully this has put all that behind us, and we can be mates

I sincerely hope you get promoted come may, it is just unfortunate that Mark Mghee was not installed a couple of months sooner as I feel we would be up there with you too, but it came a tad to late.

Good luck for the remainder of the season, and fingers crossed you get a top three spot.

Thanks BG. Yes, that's what football is all about. Look forward to our teams meeting in League One the season after next. Best of luck.

by **Glostergull** » 11 Mar 2012, 14:06

Modgull wrote: Yes there were at least two bays at the defending end of the Popside which were empty or at least sparsely populated.

I would have said 4,500 was an accurate assessment of the capacity of the ground at present.

tufc4life1 wrote
I was stood up end and it wasn't completely packed but was close the only bit which was empty was the block by where players come out, reckon you could of got 50/100 more fans in the end at tops.
Found some of there songs funny and you could hear them laughing at some of our songs the banter was fantastic, had most the ground singing hands up if you hate buckle.

Not sure how many you can get in a bay but if you take an average between those two figures I still think that would make the pop side really packed without reaching the full capacity.

Nice to see us all friends again and long may it continue.
One thing that really troubles me from reports that are coming from The Rovers Fans in particular is the bahaviour or steward no48 and the large number of Police in attendance with the escort into and away from Torquay. I came into Torqauy Myself at around 2pm and was surprised at the large number of Police Officers with motorcylces and Squad cars to stop Supporters stationed between Newton Abbot and Kingskerswell. What on earth have they been on.
Something really needs to be said about this. It seems as if they are tarring us all with a brush from the bad old days of the Large clubs which had a reputation for aggro. Rovers have never really had any history of Violence with Torquay and even though there was a strained relationship over the summer it never spilled into violence at the Mem when we played them up there so why would they do it here. Seems someone wanted to talk it up to justify a large payday. It needs to be stamped out just as surely as the trouble was years ago.,
And as for that Steward. I think there needs to be some sort of enquiry as to why this keep happening, It's no coincidance that other fans are reporting stewards who go over the top at our patch as well as we are. They are to serve us and keep the peace. Not to stir up trouble. it spoils our good name.

To all the Rovers fans. Thankyou. Anyone of you who wants to talk football will be wellcome at my Model Shop in Yate. We get all sorts of Footy Fans in there.

by **BritishGAS** » 11 Mar 2012, 13:32

Hey Chaps, How have you all been?

I havn't been on here for a fair while, after that horrible cretin got the boot, I thought I would leave you guy's in peace for a while.

I just came back to say what a credit to the 4th division we both were yesterday, it was a cracking game with a fantastic atmosphere.

It is very nice to hear that us Gasheads impressed you yesterday, during the summer after the Paul Buckle affair, I think the relationship between us both became a bit strained.

But hopefully this has put all that behind us, and we can be mates

I sincerely hope you get promoted come may, it is just unfortunate that Mark Mghee was not installed a couple of months sooner as I feel we would be up there with you too, but it came a tad to late.

Good luck for the remainder of the season, and fingers crossed you get a top three spot.

by **Gullscorer** » 11 Mar 2012, 12:00

This from Bideford Gas, on the Bristol Rovers Fans' Forum:
From what we saw the Police enjoyed their day out and no doubt the overtime money will be well received.
Have never seen so many police at a game, an absolute joke in my opinion.
Feel sorry for a small club like Torquay who will have to foot the bill!
The only trouble for want of a better word we saw was the steward supervisor in our end who seemed to have a bee in his bonnet about something in the first half, indeed he looked to be the one instigating the trouble!
Did notice he had disappeared from the away end after halftime.
Anyone else see this idiot performing?
Oh almost forgot, three motorcycle cops and one car to escort a supporters club coach out of Torquay, another case of over reaction on their part!

And GasHeadBlues:
Didn't witness any trouble today despite the best attempts of Steward No. 46 behind the goal before kick-off who seemed hell bent on stirring up trouble, he looked like a nasty piece of work and I was delighted to note that after he went over to the police control point he was unseen for most of the rest of the game. perhaps the old bill cooled him off a bit.

by **Gullscorer** » 11 Mar 2012, 11:37

Rovers fan on their forum said there was never any trouble, but their coach was escorted out of Torquay by police motor bikes and a police car. What was all that about? Certainly it was the police who talked up the possibility/probability of trouble. Palm FM merely had the stupidity to promulgate it. The outcome was some nice easy overtime money for the police, paid for by the club. And it seemed to me there was a ridiculously large police presence yesterday. It does make you wonder, sometimes, about our police..

by **tufc4life1** » 11 Mar 2012, 10:14

I was stood up end and it wasn't completely packed but was close the only bit which was empty was the block by where players come out, reckon you could of got 50/100 more fans in the end at tops.
Found some of there songs funny and you could hear them laughing at some of our songs the banter was fantastic, had most the ground singing hands up if you hate buckle.

I didn't see or hear any abusive language aimed at other set of fans or any bad hand signs.

by **Southampton Gull** » 11 Mar 2012, 08:54

Could this be the start of a long happy and harmonious relationship between Gulls and Gasheads?

I can't remember a game of this nature before where the two sets of fans got along so well, considering the "previous" centred around Buckle leaving it was really refreshing to chat to so many Gasheads in a friendly manner and I hope it stays that way between both Clubs for as long as possible. It would be nice to travel up there for a League game and see something similar in all the pubs surrounding the Memorial Ground.

by **Aussie** » 11 Mar 2012, 08:46

It was the Rozza`s that caused the unwarranted rumours of violence, and Palm FM that spread them! Absolutely disgusting behaviour as the Gas were an absolute credit to their club, before, during and after the game. The intel ( if you can call it that ) was way off and misguided, someone should be sacked over this because the report itself could have sparked something off and it wouldn`t have been Gas vs Gulls, it would have been directed at the very people that are supposed to keep the peace!

by **Modgull** » 11 Mar 2012, 08:12

Glostergull wrote:One thing I would like to know is about what our ground capacity is meant to be right now. I thought it was around 4,500.
Now with the best will in the world. The Away end was full to capacity. The Family stand for a change was full with no visible empty seats. and the pop side seemd jammed to capacity. Where there any largish gaps in the pop side toward the away end or not?. Because at the family stand end we were pretty stuffed up and there couldn't have been even helf a dozen spare places to stand let alone 500 plus. so I can't see where 4,500 are meant to go.

Yes there were at least two bays at the defending end of the Popside which were empty or at least sparsely populated.

I would have said 4,500 was an accurate assessment of the capacity of the ground at present.

by **Glostergull** » 11 Mar 2012, 07:16

One thing I would like to know is about what our ground capacity is meant to be right now. I thought it was around 4,500.
Now with the best will in the world. The Away end was full to capacity. The Family stand for a change was full with no visible empty seats. and the pop side seemd jammed to capacity. Where there any largish gaps in the pop side toward the away end or not?. Because at the family stand end we were pretty stuffed up and there couldn't have been even helf a dozen spare places to stand let alone 500 plus. so I can't see where 4,500 are meant to go.

by **cambgull** » 11 Mar 2012, 02:32

Today was always going to be a good natured day, both sets of fans had a common ground in disliked managers and a current one which was liked. I really don't think Palm FM would be much of a detriment to attendance figures, they weren't much different to Argyle and Crawley.

The way I see it is simple, a small local radio station said there might be trouble, there wasn't any trouble and the Palm FM article will be long forgotten whilst the good natured spirit of the match will stick in the memories of the fans who were there for much longer. Whether it had any effect on this game, I don't know, but will it have any effect on any other game? No.

Truth will out!

by **Trojan 67** » 11 Mar 2012, 01:11

forevertufc wrote:Must admit to still being confused as to what our current capacity is, however was dissappointed to hear the gate read out as 3920, I did consdier doing this thread yesterday, thought I would see what the attendance was first. this was a very high interest game, it should have sold out with people turned away.

Palm FM ,aired a news story during Friday about expected crowd trouble, and this appeared on the web site.....http://www.palm.fm/p/news/local/heavy-t ... -plainmoor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I personaly do see this as bad reporting, and has rightly upset many Rovers fan's, it makes me wonder how many families, and supporters who are easily put off by such scare stories did not attend the game today, I must admit to reading through both there main and alternative forums, and picked up no hint or suggestion that any Rovers fan's were intending to cause trouble today.

There were more than enough gasheads here today, around the ground there was no sign of any problems before or after the game, and there were no problems in the home end's either, nothing but good natured banter between us, and it was nice to see both sets of supporters joining in with "buckle chants" As a gulls fan I would have no problem welcoming them back to our club.

I would like to know who fed this story to Palm FM, and who decided to run it, I can't believe it was our club, as what a massive "P/R" own goal it would have been.

I wonder if an apology is in order here, and hope in the future we see no repeat, as should promotion be gained there are quite a few clubs in league 1 or about to join it from the Championship, who will fill our away end with bristows bench built.

Just tried to read the link and it's been taken down. Went into the Union Inn before and after the game and the Bristol Rovers fans were a great credit to themselves and their club. A lot of them were outside the front of the pub pre-match enjoying their favourite tipple (Blackthorn) and soaking up the English Riviera sunshine and Geoff (the landlord of the Union) asked me to go outside and "have a word" (about drinking on the street, not allowed).

About 20 - 25 of them in small groups of 4 or 5 and when politefully asked to go inside did so with no problem. Then I f*ck*d off quick to Boots & Laces before the next group of 20 -25 came out for the impromptu alfresco.

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