I am from Southampton, so naturally a lifelong Saints supporter, but over the years I developed a lot of affection for your great Club.
Through my childhood and teens, we rented a holiday apartment in Exmouth every spring, and I have so many fond memories of visiting the area. My Dad and I were regulars at The Dell and later St. Mary's, so we used to miss our football fix when we came away for two weeks. At first, as it was just a short bus journey away, Dad decided to take me to Exeter to see a game (sorry about that), but as a kid, I didn't like the atmosphere there, and the city itself was not much to write home about either.
Next year, as it happened, City were away when we came down, so we had to look further afield for our footballing day out. I was given a choice of Plymouth or Torquay, and fortunately, I made the right choice.
I instantly loved Torquay on my first visit. Such a lovely, traditional English seaside town. Couldn't get much different than Exeter or even Southampton for that matter. And I was hooked. Loved the kit, loved Plainmoor, loved the friendly welcoming atmosphere. And from that moment onward, every year we came down on our holiday, the first thing we would do is see if the Mighty Gulls were at Home for our visit.
So many wonderful trips over the years too see Torquay, that absolutely made our holiday for us. We both became firm secondary Gulls (though loyalty is very important, so Saints still always came first). But your lovely town and wonderful Football Club became very important to us. I would look forward weeks in advance to the coming of Spring, as I knew we'd be going to see the Gulls again.
Childhood passed, but I never lost the buzz for Torquay. All through my teens we kept up with our annual appointment at Plainmoor. So tiny compared to the Premier League grounds I was used to, but there was something special about the place for me. Eventually into my early twenties, the lease on our holiday apartment expired, and it was decided we could no longer afford the expense, but Dad and I decided that we could not give up our trips to watch the Gulls. They had become very special to us, and something we just loved doing together. So we'd look ahead at the fixtures, and book a weekend stay somewhere in Torquay so we could still keep ,up our easter tradition.
Our visits continued into my thirties. Eventually Dad could not make the journey anymore due to deteriorating health, so for a couple of years, I just came down on my own. The only thing that finally curtailed my visits was a nasty accident that left me with a damaged spine. Whilst I can still walk, any kind of travel over more than a short distance is no longer an option for me. So, with great sadness my nearly thirty year adventures with United came to an abrupt end.
These days, I still spend my Saturday afternoon's enjoying the football with my dear old Dad, but nowadays it is from the comfort of his lounge, as we keep up with events on Sky in the wonderful company of Jeff Stelling, and to this day, the Torquay goals still get nearly as big a celebration as the Saints ones.
Your Town, and your Club left a lasting impression on us, and it genuinely brings me great sadness to see how far you have fallen in recent years.
I just don't understand it. For a great town like Torquay, filling Plainmoor every other week, with even a half decent level of investment, you really should have been able to support an established League One level Club. In my younger years, I was absolutely convinced that one day we'd be coming down to watch a stable Championship Club, in a shiny new 20,000 seafront Stadium, like a sparkling jewel on the English Riviera.
I guess part of the current struggles have a lot to do with how strong the National League has become these days. With so many pretty sizeable former Football League Clubs down there now, there really is not that much difference quality-wise between the bottom half of League Two and the top half of the National. But for a club of your stature to fall so far as the NLS, doesn't seem real to me. When you bounced straight back up in style, I assumed it was just an unfortunate blip in your history. But to see you struggling so badly again this year, and on the verge of dropping back, down there again, there must be some deeper kind of rot at play.
Doesn't even bear thinking about that soon you could be playing Exmouth, where it all started for me.
I really wanted to understand what has happened. How you have fallen so far, so fast. I've tried looking for answers online, but not come across anything definitive. I though who better to ask, than the diehards who have been with the club through it all.
So, how did it come to this???
Please be as detailed as you like in your replies. I will read all of them, no matter how long (if they are well formatted and not wall of text). I just want to understand what has happened to that lovely sunny football club that has brought me so many happy memories over the years.
Thank you very much for your time, and sorry for the long read.
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