How many of you are actual fans?

[nickbrod]

As one of half-a-dozen season ticket holders who sit together in the Family Stand I would like to defend ourselves from the criticism about lack of support. Every game we sing as much as we can and yesterday was no different but after that free kick went in we were as deflated as the players looked to be.
What I have noticed this season is the lack of noise from the Popside.
I believe things will turnaround but this is going to be a season of consolidation. Losing key players isn't helping but neither is not having what I call a natural goalscorer. Interesting that Howe didn't figure yesterday for Burton and as far as I'm aware has scored just one so far whereas Billy Kee is a 'natural' and hit two yesterday.
Having said all that I'll be at Wycombe on Saturday.

[ROADRUNNER]

hi nick, this isnt a go at the family stand its just a general pop at people in the ground, but mainly the popside who have been shit this season, now im going to get slated for having a go at them but to be fair its been dead, as for you are the lot that sit just in front of the directors box because we are always commenting on a group that try to get the family stand singing.i just want a bit of atmosphere back in the place , people can bang on about the players being crap and the fans not responding but at least lets do our bit.
surely if i can manage it at my age surely the younger ones can manage it, for christ sake GET THAT FRIGGING DRUM BACK. THERE MUST BE SOMEONE WHO CAN DO IT, HAYDEN JONES WHERE ARE YOU?

[ferrarilover]

So, Hector, in all your years of supporting Torquay and watching football, you've never once seen a game where the team which played best didn't win?

Matt.

[Scott Brehaut]

Football is a simple game.
One team needs to score more goals than the other one to win, and get three points.

Regardless of how well the teams play, the ultimate need is that of goals. You could have 90 minutes of amazing showboating, wowing the crowd with your ability at holding onto the ball and creating chance after chance after chance without the ultimate objective of getting it into the net - if the other team then nick the ball in the 91st minute and score, it is they that win and it is they who take the three points.

That's all that counts at the end of the day - it may be a gross injustice, it may be the biggest act of robbery you have ever seen - but it's goals that win games and that's that!!

[ferrarilover]

Not the question I asked.

Matt.

[ROADRUNNER]

well if we all took that stance football grounds would all be the same as ours. like a **** morgue.

[Oil Beef Hooked]

Surely the players need to give the fans something to get excited about which then leads to the fans being more excited etc.

As fans pay to watch the starting point has to be the players that are paid to turn up proving they are up for it and have the ability to be up for it.

And if players dont like critics then they are in the wrong job

Sorry Edd, But I have to disagree with you on this.

We as fans have an important part to play at any game and that's of motivating and encouraging the team through thick and thin, good times and bad. I've seen every home game so far this season and the atmosphere at Plainmoor has been terrible. This cannot help the players on the pitch.

I don't know the answer to this, or why it's happening, but something has to change at Plainmoor as it's becoming a morgue. The only noise being made of late are the moans and groans which can be heard on the pitch or just as bad, the opposition fans. Imagine what the place will be like when the Greeks or the Gargs visit. It'll feel like an Excrectia or Plymuff home game.

What I think we do need is a crowd warmer before, at half time and after each home game. Something to get the crowd going, something that everyone can join in with and sing along to together. We don't have an anthem, an identify that all us fans will recognise and respond to whenever it's played.

There was a thread a few weeks ago, (sorry, I can't find which one it was), that had some good suggestions to songs that could be played as our anthem. I suggested the song played at Chelski - The Liquidator. Yes, I know it's synonymous with Chelsea, but the song could be so right for us and is very simple to sing and clap to.

[ferrarilover]

It's not a practical soilution, because too many of our elderly fans simply don't sing, but the theoretical answer is to adopt a system of reward for the team. That way, they give us something to sing about and we sing. This encourages them forward.

So, every time we get a corner, there's a chorus of 'Come on you Yellows.' If we get a second corner, we do it again, but louder and longer. It continues in this manner until the pressure is relieved by the opposition. They get a 'Yellow Army' for a shot on target, subject to the same rules as aforementioned. They get rewarded for performance and we get rewarded (hopefully) for singing.

As I say, it won't work, but it's a nice idea.

Matt.

[SuperNickyWroe]

what the f**k is wrong with people on here?

1. we have one if not the lowest budget in League 2.

2. we are so far off the beaten track its hard to attract players here.

3. as for wages see point 1.

4. if we were to offered the chance to finish 22nd every year for the next 10yrs I'd take it. Look at all the ex-league clubs in the conference.

5. I am a fan of Torquay United FC - and I am an exile and have the club crest as a tattoo. does either of those things make me more or a lesser fan?

6. who gives a sh*t about singing/singers? If people want too they will.

For gods sake get a grip and support TUFC.

[ferrarilover]

We had the same budget and geographical location 3/4 years ago when we made the Playoffs two years running.
We concur as to the realities of being TUFC, but we can't use those two factors (necessarily) as an excuse for finishing down low year after year. It is possible to succeed on no money and as a geographical back water, Yeovil will attest to that.

Matt.

[Oil Beef Hooked]

I see where your coming from Edd. The problem with all this is its a chicken an egg situation. Who motivates who first. We all then suffer, fans and players alike.

[SuperNickyWroe]

We had the same budget and geographical location 3/4 years ago when we made the Playoffs two years running.
We concur as to the realities of being TUFC, but we can't use those two factors (necessarily) as an excuse for finishing down low year after year. It is possible to succeed on no money and as a geographical back water, Yeovil will attest to that.

Matt.

even with the best will in the world matt, yeovil are still much better placed than us on those points.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I'll try and answer the O/P first as best I can and come on the the secondary issue on this thread about atmosphere after.

I didn't have an opinion about Knill as I wasn't really aware of how good/bad his managerial skills were, I was simply happy to have seen the back of Ling and if i'm honest I would happily have been over the moon with ANY appointment just so long as Ling was replaced.

For me Knill was the prospect of a refreshing change, someone who would at least endeavour to play attacking football, a man who had ideas and was walking into a tough challenge head on with the confidence to succeed. On that basis I was happy to have him as our manager and still am.

I am finding this difficult as a fan who has only seen 3 away games in total this season so I don't have the home performances to balance things out for me. It was interesting something Scott posted about do we want great football and lose or to be crap and get the points. In those 3 away games I saw 225 minutes of abject sub standard worse than Ling stuff, only the second half at Northampton providing hope. Now am I correct in saying that generally at home we have looked potent and incisive but just lack a finishing touch? If this is the case then I can make a clearer judgement on Alan.

If this is the case and we are playing some good stuff at times in most games then I have complete faith in Knill that things will turn around. Keep doing as we are and things will turn for the better i'm sure. I don't want to make an opinion based on 3 away games as that would be unfair. If this is NOT the case though and we are struggling for impetus and energy then that would be a gigantic worry.

We have been typically Torquay in the fact that we have had zero luck as our two key central defenders have been swept from underneath us leaving us with zero cover and zero experience at the back. Part of me believes Knill is at fault for not having at least one solid back up in that area but part of me can also appreciate that he has little or no funds to allow him this luxury.

I am also in a dichotomy regarding his signing of Cameron. I advocated an pretty much all out attacking policy from Knill and he has to his credit gone out and got Cameron, Chappell, Hawley and Ball to add to Bodin, Thompson, Yeoman and Benyon so we are top heavy with attackers (of which Cameron and Bodin shouldn't really be anywhere near the first team for the output we get from them). So I should be over the moon really with all these attacking options shouldn't I?

Well obviously I don't rate Courtney and Billy but I do feel Knill has made a ridiculous error letting both Thompson and Yeoman go. With those two we have enough attackers and don't really need Ball OR Cameron IMO.

Knill has failed to add any defensive steel relying on a centre back with a more than patchy injury record and a left back who in all fairness isn't up to the standard of this league anymore who should have been replaced by Cruise from day 1.

I do think Knill is an attack minded manager but we are struggling up front because he either plays the players who aren't good enough and who aren't going to change games and ignores the ones who can. We are struggling at the back because of lack of cover for an unfortunate injury crisis that Knill has my sympathy with but we are to be shipping goals now for the foreseeable IMO.

We have struggled in the middle because Harding has flattered to deceive and Mansell has also looked a shadow of his former self. They still get played though every week and players who could give us that extra something else IMO are being shunned. If it ain't broke then don't fix it, well at the moment it just isn't working.

Knill has had some unfair stick already but I have found some of his decisions about team affairs truly astonishing and he has to take responsibility for this. It isn't as if we have a bad squad overall, they are just being badly managed at the moment and this injury crisis has just compounded the frustration for many.

Forget the York defeat, we let 3 goals in because we had no settled defence, we didn't score because we are too reliant on Chappell, Benyon was left out, a few chances were missed and the rest of our attack on the pitch is pretty bad.

The worry for me is I see problems all over the pitch from back to front and although you cannot legislate for injuries, there still seems no pattern forming or any structure in our gameplan. It's a mess.

Knill has to ride this storm and has to tell his vast array of attackers to get their digits out of their rectums because if we don't score in games from now on we get no points.

I am a fan, I am worried now but it's not the end of the world yet. If we are still down there after Christmas and still it disarray then we can write the season off and prepare for a dour battle once again but i'm hopeful it won't come to that. We have far better players than the likes of Accrington et al and once Knill learns to drop the ones who are never going to make an impact, play his strongest side and get another 25% out of them then we're in business. At the minute we might grab the odd win here and there but will it be enough over the course of a season to stay above the dotted line?

I think it's unfair to have a go at fans who are sounding off, i'm sure many know they are over reacting but they are just so worried at the moment that we may be going through another season like last. With the relative euphoria about Knill's appointment and the new season I feel sympathy with them at the hugely disturbing start that none expected.

As for the atmosphere, I have been to Plainmoor only on a handful of occasions but each time the atmosphere has been awful. I'd sing if I was there but i'm not mostly. There is no solution, if not enough people want to sing or are as eccentric as me then there will be no atmosphere.

[Glostergull]

Hi Guys. So your still banging on about the players giving the fans something to sing about. Well look at yourselves. I know they can play a part when the match is a few minutes old. But i have been a couple of games this season where the players came out to a polite ripple of applause and not much else. Now how can the players give you something to sing about before the match has even started. You should have been singing your hearts out at least 10 minutes before the match began.
What your in essence saying is what can my club do for me only.
Well I am saying Not what your club can do for you. Rather, what can you do for your club.(to qoute Kennedy) don't leave it to the players. do your bit in the build up and don't let them come onto the pitch to a funeral. The onus is on us to start before play starts, not wait for play to get us excited.
We might then find that the players are more geed up and you will then get more to get excited about.

[ferrarilover]

They are better placed, but then, what they have achieved is vastly out of proportion from the advantage they hold over us.

In terms of geography, they're no more attractive than Torquay to a young londoner or Brummie. There aren't any people of a similar culture within 100 miles. There aren't any swinging night spots, there aren't too many things to do on your days off in either location. It's certainly no easier to get to London from Yeovil than it is from here. Yeovil may have a few quid more than us, but in the footballing world, the difference between us and them is probably smaller than the difference between us and Bristol Rovers. Sure, they are better off than we are on both counts, but that's a bit like suggesting that Goebbels was less evil than Hitler. It's probably true in a sense, but unlikely to be enormously significant in the bigger picture.

Matt.