Torquay United Fans Forum

I was also at the 8-3 win over Newport County in October 1963 when Robin Stubbs scored 5 of our goals. Incredible to think that after 70 minutes the score was only 2-1.

The one thing you can guarantee when you are going through a rough patch is that you will bump into someone for whom everything is working out just right. Such is our luck of having to host Wrexham on the last day of the season.
Looking at the results and the league table yesterday during what has become known as my “ Saturday 5 o’clock despair” I got to wondering if any National League records are under threat. Unsurprising I found plenty and there could be more.

Current Wrexham Notts Co
Record 7 to play 6 to play

Most Points 105 97 94
Most Wins 31 30 28
Fewest Defeats 3 2 2
Most Goals Scored 103 100 101
Biggest Goal Difference 67 65 65

Having said bollocks and aimed a kick at the cat (I don’t have a cat but I would have missed anyway) I settled down to the satisfaction that being born and brought up in Torquay where I went to school next to the ground in the early to mid 1960s, as a TUFC supporter of 60+ years I have no intention of being anything else no matter what. It is not how you perform when things are going well but how you react when things are going badly. Please stick with it everyone because you are my eyes and ears for my beloved football club.

MellowYellow wrote: ↑06 Feb 2023, 14:30 A 19 year old loanee with U23 potential seeking proper mens football can only be viewed as a gamble. To.play in front of a real crowd, with the pressure to perform that goes with that is something some can handle and some cant. As for Trope being taken off Gary says he plays across the line rather than coming from deep. Which is code for he did not do his defensive work and let Cameron have room to roam. In other words he did not follow instructions. I don't see a lot in Trope, but as its just an opinion, I stand to be corrected.

About 5 years ago, I went to watch a minor league game being played on a back pitch at Watford's Training Ground. I asked one of the staff about a game that was in progress and was told it was an U18 or U21 (I can't remember which) between Watford and Sheffield Wednesday. There were 100 people watching and it could have been on any playing field in the country. The gulf between this and the National League is enormous.

I live in Hertfordshire 20 miles from Boreham Wood. The weather has been the same all week with temperatures just above freezing during the day and down to minus 4 or 5 at night. If there wasn't a problem yesterday then there shouldn't have been a problem today. Bad planning especially as the referee lives less than 10 miles from the ground.

I was also at the Newport game in October 1963. According to my records we scored 3 against Southport the game before and 1 against Gillingham the game after so another 12.
However in the 3 games after that we scored 6 against Bradford Park Avenue, 6 against Barnet in the FA Cup (goalkeeper Terry Adlington scored one of the goals after he injured his hand and before the days of substitutes played on the wing) and 5 against Chester.

Maybe because the FA President is Prince William.

When Chesterfield played Notts County in the 2021 Play-offs they didn’t have a backup goalkeeper on the bench and their goalkeeper had to play the entire second half with a bad leg injury. After leading 2-1 at half time they lost 3-2.

And the BBC still haven't corrected the score. I had to check the Grimsby Twitter to confirm which team had won.

The FL played their first league fixtures on the weekend 7-8 August whereas the NL didn't start until the 21 August. So the lack of quality opposition for pre season friendlies beyond the end of July was probably due to FL clubs not being available.

Probably the 1991 Friday night Play Off Final against Blackpool.

My brother had a wedding blessing the following day when I turned up sounding like Burnley manager Sean Dyche.

Unless anyone is able to ask GJ what his recruitment timeline was I guess we will never know the answer.

I couldn’t remember exactly what he said in his post match Solihull Moors interview so I copied the following from the club website.

“….because at the moment some of them are proving not quite up to this level. I apologise for that because I’m the one that recruits these people, and we didn’t have a lot of time to recruit people”

He doesn’t strike me as someone who leaves everything to the last minute so maybe he really didn’t have a lot of time.

Last season was different in one respect in that the National League which usually runs in conjunction with the Football League operated 3 weeks behind the FL in both first and last matches as well as the Play-Off final.

It seems that getting to the Play-Off Final and remaining in the NL did us no good at all. I felt that not knowing which league we would be playing in this season gave us little time to assemble a new squad when pre-season training was only 4-5 weeks away.

I’m sure the club already had several targets in mind but couldn’t go ahead until they knew the outcome of the Play-Off Final which would have dictated the standard of the players required. Also at what point were the club informed by the 4 leavers who rejected their new contracts? This would have added greatly to the problem.

If as GJ suggested some of the players aren’t good enough for the NL, perhaps they were the best available at the time as others clubs would already have snapped up the better options.

The Play-Offs are a double edged sword. Great to be involved in but you risk f***ing up the following season if you get to the final.

Whatever happens let’s all stick together and enjoy the ride. It may be bumpy at times but it is never dull.

Like many of us I have been scratching my head to try to understand what may have affected our start to the season. Looking back over the last few years there may well be a reason.

In the 3 years before the curtailed 2019/2020 pandemic hit season, the National League fixtures ended on the last weekend in April with the Play-Off Final 2 weeks later. The Football League season ended on the first weekend in May with their Play-Off Finals at the end of May.

So when FL clubs announced which players they had released NL clubs even those in the Play-Off Final were ready to act.

Last season all that changed. The final FL matches were played on 8/9 May and the Play-Off Finals 29/31 May. The NL season also ended the same weekend 29 May but the Play-Off Final wasn’t until 20 June some 6 weeks after many FL clubs had finished their season.

So when FL clubs announced their retained lists some possibly as early as mid May, not knowing which league we would be playing in for another month we where unable to do anything about it not knowing what quality of player we needed to sign. Then when we did know many of those made available would already have committed to other clubs.

With the 4 players we wanted to keep rejecting new contracts and 2 quality loan players returning to their clubs we were well and truly in the mire.

Then when we needed quality opposition to enhance our final pre-season preparations the FL started 2 weeks before the NL so we had to make do with playing teams from NLS instead.

Reaching the Play-Off Final has not helped us at all.

Fasten your seat belts everyone, it is what being a Torquay United supporter is all about.

According to the Solihull Moors twitter the game is being played this evening at 6pm.

20 miles north east of Boreham Wood there are no weather concerns. It is 10 degrees with light rain and a bit windy.