Torquay United Fans Forum

Bromley fan wrote: 27 Jun 2017, 14:47 I wonder why Josh Rees dropped down a division? if he was good for you guys?

I suspect it was simply a case of a better contract. He was offered a contract by manager, Kevin Nicholson, but turned it down in favour of Chelmsford. Says it all about our finances, or lack of finances, really.

I wonder why Josh Rees dropped down a division? if he was good for you guys?

You have got it spot on, we have too many distractions being in South London, let alone being surrounded by Charlton, Millwall and Crystal Palace. We have about 700 hard core, but the rest come down when the above have away games! we are seen as their 'second team'

Might as well turn their club into a kinder garden as competing with 28 more Non-League Football Teams In South London for supporters, leaving aside the main draw of the area Crystal Palace, they are unlikely to raise their attendance to any dizzy heights. I rest that case in Bromley's average gate being a little over 1,000 last season, down 20% on the season before, even though they reached 10th place in the league. God help them if they have two dire seasons like Torquay. Nonetheless, as I said I know little of the club and give credit where credit is due; they have done themselves proud to get where they have got and appear to be driving for greater things through commercial outlets. Good luck to them. I think this is also GI's game plan, but I fear, minus our football club if they have their way.

Bromley fan wrote: 27 Jun 2017, 13:43 Bromley fan here.

Just wanted to remind you we are the same tin pot club that beat you 7-3 in your own back yard a few seasons ago!

(joking aside, will always have a soft spot for Torquay, and was glad you stayed up) hopefully Williams does a job for us. Next year will be a tougher division.

Currently, Bromley are streets ahead of TUFC as the wide gulf in our league positions show. Brett Williams is one of those players who divides fans opinions. We could argue on here until the proverbial cows come home about his talents and failings (I think Soton Gull hits the nail on the head when he says he isn't a team player). We wish him well at Bromley and hope he fits in better with their system than he did at Torquay. He won't be an 'ever present' cos he picks up a yellow card at least every other game - mostly for back-chatting the ref. You'd think at his age he would have learnt how futile that is.

I tell you what though, Bromley fan - you will be more impressed with the signing of midfielder Josh Rees. He was on loan at Torquay at the end of the 2015/16 season when our league position looked even more hopeless than last season. He's a very good player - one of those referred to as a 'player's player' cos you don't notice the amount of work he gets through.

Bromley fan here.

Just wanted to remind you we are the same tin pot club that beat you 7-3 in your own back yard a few seasons ago!

(joking aside, will always have a soft spot for Torquay, and was glad you stayed up) hopefully Williams does a job for us. Next year will be a tougher division.

I've known Brett since he was 10 years old. He'll always score goals but he's very blinkered and not often a team player. Will we live to regret it? I think in time he'll regret it more.

hector wrote: 27 Jun 2017, 06:35 I think we will live to regret this.

:slap:

.....but only for two matches....
....or four if we draw them in the fa cup and trophy...

I think we will live to regret this.

:slap:

MellowYellow wrote: 26 Jun 2017, 23:33 So there we have it a one man and his dog club!

Old news; this is the situation at Bromley FC.......

In April 2015 new investment group of four supporters agreed to back the club. The group agreed to back the then Conference South club to continue to improve their facilities at Hayes Lane to include the newly installed 3G pitch, a new South Stand/indoor sports hall and a new 124-space car park.

The rest (as they say) is history and they immediately achieved promotion to the National League and on the insistence of the 'new money' were appointing Neil Smith as manager in place of the chairman's brother in law Mark Goldberg who departed to buy his own club (he had once owned Crystal Palace) club Welling United.

The new investment enabled the club to continue its progress whilst also maintaining robust financial stability. As part of this transition, Jerry Dolke resumed the role of chairman, replacing current co-chairmen Derek and Ashley Reading who had replaced him when he had previously stood down through the frustration he was feeling at the time of your quotes.

Now; Also acting as managing director, he oversees the ongoing affairs of Bromley FC and Bromley Arena the rebranded name for their extensive grounds which cater for a multitude of community sporting and social use as well as the all-round upgrading and rebuilding of that decrepit but charming old ground you describe.

They have also put in place a comprehensive academy in which to develop their own talent in conjunction with nearby Ravensbourne School. Their academy under Mark Hammond is years ahead of where Torquay United's is right now and offers a great package to any aspiring scholar pro'.

The potential of the club is shown in the fact that the club defeated Boreham Wood 2-1 in front of 2,035 fans at Hayes Lane to return to the top of the Conference South table in 2015.

When I was at Hayes Lane the season before last I was in the directors suite as part of the match ball sponsorship package and invited United director Harry Kerswell (you know; one of those generous heroes who put his own money up to save the club) to come and look at how Bromley were maximising their commercial potential. He declined, preferring instead to partake a of a free lunch; but maybe if the then directors of the club had shown the nous; they could have better protected that money of theirs by learning from other ~ much smaller but more efficient ~ clubs.





How Bromley use their facility for community involvement and business turnover ~ Lincoln City house a similar project at Sincil Bank and this could easily be done at Plainmoor

merse btpir wrote: 26 Jun 2017, 21:12 Don't 'OMG' me with your incredulity that a club can be run properly on gates much smaller than Torquay United

My incredulity - steady on old boy. My point is Bromley's Chairman ( Jeremy Dolke ) back in 2008 tried to sell the club after admitting he doesn t have the money nor the energy to take it to the next level. I admitted I know little about the club or even as to whether they still are run on a part-time basis and that they may or may not be all the thing you say they are. But a small club they are, and yet they seem to be attracting some quality players on wages that do not appear to fit the club profile and are even doing what we did disastrously, last season reducing their 'early bird' season ticket price in a bid to get 'more bums' on seats. Their next project, by the way, is no more than bringing their stadium up to Grade A standard because it is s**t, a relic of the 50's.

As for the Bromley FC making money; I found some quotes from Bromley's Chairman that tells a story " I’ve put 11 years of my life into this club ...It’s not a board of directors who make the decisions – it’s Jerry Dolke ... Most people don’t fund the football club. I fund this football club"

So there we have it a one man and his dog club!

The only thing we cant disagree on is their Chairman like ours both speak with 'forked tongues' namely "To make (Torquay / Bromley FC) a financially sustainable club ... playing at the highest level possible in the English game".

MellowYellow wrote: 26 Jun 2017, 19:14OMG Bromley! I just hope he does not produce the goals when we play them. What were we offering him in wages if Bromley can afford him (peanuts!) Their ave gate was a little over a 1,000 last season 20% down on the season before, how do they find the wages.

Because they run their business properly and to the maximum of it's potential......Torquay United have been (and still are) the polar opposite of that. Bromley have installed 3G to maximise their pitch use. Does a club need to be in the EFL to be a viable proposition? No; of course not!

Bromley's next project is a stand behind the goal incorporating a large sports hub and indoor cricket school. Torquay United have a training ground at Seale Hayne that is not used to anything like it's potential; it is only used for training; there has been no attempt to install floodlights and a 3G there and use it for the community indeed the board of those simpletons Thea Bristow and Simon Baker hadn't even secured the place on a lease preferring instead on a verbal arrangement with the land owner.

Don't 'OMG' me with your incredulity that a club can be run properly on gates much smaller than Torquay United and don't be surprised if their manager proves more capable of doing his job properly where Williams is concerned and develops his ammunition to fit the gun and not the other way round as Nicho tried to do. I really think if Nicholson had a high velocity rifle he'd try to use a crossbow bolt to fire it!

Yesterday's Non-League Paper lists last season's most prolific scoring duos - 'the best things come in pairs' - for example AFC Fylde are top with Danny Rowe's 50 and his partner Bradley 11 giving them 61; Dover's Ricky Miller's 46 plus partner Lafayette's 12. In all there are 75 clubs listed with duos scores ranging from 61 down to 23 (Stratford Town). Even Truro are there with 29 (Neal18, Niall Thompson 11).
So are Pittman and Keating our potential deadly duo? Or will we rue the loss of Brett Williams and Keating/Pittman?

Interesting to read that he still fully believes that he is a 20+ goal a season striker at this level - shows the confidence he has as not many strikers like to reveal the targets they set themselves before the season has even started - for fear of falling flat on their face! But, in all honesty, who would doubt him? He scored 11 for us, in what was a poor side for large parts of last season and was also only a "bit part" player for a fair chunk of that as Nicho preferred Blissett, Moore and/or Reid over him on several occasions. If he had of made 46 starts for us last season, he probably would have hit the 20 goal mark, or at the very least come very close to it. Frustratingly, early on in the season, he seemed to hit the woodwork and/or miss fairly easy chances on too many occasions - but in the second half of the season he seemed to find his shooting boots and ended up scoring some fantastic individual goals during the course of the season - like his effort in the home game v Barrow and his wonder strike at Dover I think it was.

It's a funny old game, isn't it? I was one of these fans who was pleading for the Manager to give him a chance at the beginning of this year, when he was practically "in the wilderness". Fortunately Nicho did give him another chance, although you could argue he had little option, given that the funds to secure a replacement for him appeared to be withdrawn just before the transfer window closed (or did Nicho simply blow what was available on bringing back Shaun Harrad) ? Ultimately, you could argue that it was only the vital goals Williams scored towards the end of the season that saved us from relegation, and more pertinently perhaps ... Nicho his job!

But I guess he (Williams) will always be viewed as something of a flawed genius. He was clearly a source of huge frustration to the Manager - who probably invested a fair chunk of his budget in him last summer - when it soon became clear to him that Williams seemed unwilling (or unable) to change his approach to the game as he was being asked to do, but that is not so easy at 29 I guess, and perhaps Nicho should have realised that - he may well regard Williams as one of the "loads of mistakes" that he himself admitted to making last season!

A decent signing for Bromley I think, and no great surprise that he has gone there, given that he seems to prefer the South of England and the National League is certainly his level. It was always likely to be one of the 10 or so NL clubs in and around the South/South East area that he ended up at, and to be fair, Bromley seem to be putting together a pretty decent squad - with a couple of our other "old boys" there in Iffy Allen and Josh Rees - fair to say I wouldn't mind any or all of those three in our squad personally!

Will we miss him? We might miss his goals, but let's hope not. It does represent something of a gamble by Nicho though, as personally speaking I actually don't think it would have taken that much for us to have offered him something that would have tempted him to stay here - I don't imagine Bromley are one of the "bigger payers" in this division for a start. Ultimately, if we do end up missing his goals this season and we have another season of struggle under Nicho, then it will almost certainly the Manager that pays the price with his job ... but it's making decisions like these that make or break a Manager and we just have to hope for Nicho and TUFC's sakes, that he has got this decision right!

OMG Bromley! I just hope he does not produce the goals when we play them. What were we offering him in wages if Bromley can afford him (peanuts!) Their ave gate was a little over a 1,000 last season 20% down on the season before, how do they find the wages. So that is Williams, Iffy Allen and Josh Rees they have now got in their squad of 14 so far! I also see they are installing a 3G artificial pitch at Hayes Lane, so cant be thinking of promotion to the football league then.

So yeah Williams has joined Bromley(Thoughts?)