In the end

[AustrianAndyGull]

I don't want to get bogged down in the negativity and start posting criticisms again all the time. Ok so we might go down. It's not as if we or a family member is critically ill or we are homeless or we can't eat tomorrow. We support a team who, I've been told on a number of occasions, have been pretty much permanently sh*t since their inception in 1899. I'll probably get some abuse for posting what may be construed as pointless trivia but who the f*ck cares?

All I'm saying is that if we go down then so what? Does the world stop spinning, do we nip down to the docs for some pills, do we stop going to Plainmoor and away games? Torquay United FC will still exist and still function so long as there is will in our hearts and in our wallets. For those who want to find alternative entertainment of a Saturday than watch us play Tamworth then be my guest. So long as there is a club to support then we should all still appreciate that we (or more so - you) still have your identity in the form of a town football club. You represent your town and your club and it shouldn't matter if we are playing Fleetwood or Cullompton. Both are crap in the grand scheme of things so what's the problem?

If relegation means certain demise then I apologise for all this but I can't see it. Otherwise we regroup and go again and get behind the club in the conference. The one positive is that we probably won't have to go to Luton. I'd rather wipe my arse on sandpaper than go to that hovel.

We whinge about spending our hard earned and being subject to the same old rubbish but if you are like me you absolutely LOVE matchday and if that was suddenly taken away then it would leave a huge hole. I'd rather watch us play Braintree than do anything else on a weekend. If that makes me a sad f*cker then so be it.

Going down again would be hard to take and a real struggle but if there are enough of us who have the will to keep calm and carry on then it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things. Why would I post this when tensions are high? Because I know that many of you feel the same way and after all, it's just games of football. What would we do without being able to chew the fat about TUFC? Whether you use forums or not, whether you use other social media or not, I'm sure you love talking about all things TUFC with your mates down the pub, down the bowling green or down the bookies and that won't stop if we go down. It will still be there, just that we will be discussing crapper teams in a crapper league. If it DID all stop then what do you plan to do then?

Get down to Plainmoor on Tuesday and get behind the lads. Win or lose we are all winners. We have a club and it means we have a piece of our life jigsaw completed. Relegation or not, it doesn't really matter in the end.

(cue Linkin Park track 'in the end' to be played at our final home game of the season and we all mosh on the pop in complete unison. The bench could join in too but I don't wish to see trauma on the terraces )

TORQUAY TIL I DIE!!!!

[nickbrod]

Despite my regular well documented lengthy journeys to Plainmoor I tend to agree with you Andy. Once a team is in your blood it's there no matter which league we play in. I'll be there on Tuesday hoping that somehow Chris H can turn this around.
What I can't guarantee is to continue to be a distant season ticket holder. The next 15 matches will help me to decide.

[hector]

I'm unlikely to attend on Tues, partly because of Saturday but mainly because it is difficult for me to get there in time but the performance on Saturday makes me less inclined to try.

Not sure I would renew my season ticket for the Conference.

[tomogull]

Agree in principle with what you're saying Andy, but it DOES matter. There is a certain status of being in the Football League as opposed to 'Non-League' football. Apart from the debacle of the Roberts season, TUFC has been in the football league for over a century. Last time we went through the trap door, we were extremely lucky to get back in two seasons. I fear we won't be so fortunate again. For the Forum Bus Pass posters like me, if we go down, the likelihood of us ever seeing league football at Plainmoor is highly remote ..... so it does matter. However, after all the doom and gloom when we were relegated last time, I quite enjoyed our couple of seasons in the Conference - mainly because we were playing reasonable football and most of the matches were equal to Div 2 standard.

Good to have you back on the Forum, Andy. You've been missed ...... like a toothache ......

[Glostergull]

I don't want to get bogged down in the negativity and start posting criticisms again all the time. Ok so we might go down. It's not as if we or a family member is critically ill or we are homeless or we can't eat tomorrow. We support a team who, I've been told on a number of occasions, have been pretty much permanently sh*t since their inception in 1899. I'll probably get some abuse for posting what may be construed as pointless trivia but who the f*ck cares?

All I'm saying is that if we go down then so what? Does the world stop spinning, do we nip down to the docs for some pills, do we stop going to Plainmoor and away games? Torquay United FC will still exist and still function so long as there is will in our hearts and in our wallets. For those who want to find alternative entertainment of a Saturday than watch us play Tamworth then be my guest. So long as there is a club to support then we should all still appreciate that we (or more so - you) still have your identity in the form of a town football club. You represent your town and your club and it shouldn't matter if we are playing Fleetwood or Cullompton. Both are crap in the grand scheme of things so what's the problem?

If relegation means certain demise then I apologise for all this but I can't see it. Otherwise we regroup and go again and get behind the club in the conference. The one positive is that we probably won't have to go to Luton.[youtube] I'd rather wipe my arse on sandpaper[/youtube] than go to that hovel.

We whinge about spending our hard earned and being subject to the same old rubbish but if you are like me you absolutely LOVE matchday and if that was suddenly taken away then it would leave a huge hole. I'd rather watch us play Braintree than do anything else on a weekend. If that makes me a sad f*cker then so be it.

Going down again would be hard to take and a real struggle but if there are enough of us who have the will to keep calm and carry on then it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things. Why would I post this when tensions are high? Because I know that many of you feel the same way and after all, it's just games of football. What would we do without being able to chew the fat about TUFC? Whether you use forums or not, whether you use other social media or not, I'm sure you love talking about all things TUFC with your mates down the pub, down the bowling green or down the bookies and that won't stop if we go down. It will still be there, just that we will be discussing crapper teams in a crapper league. If it DID all stop then what do you plan to do then?

Get down to Plainmoor on Tuesday and get behind the lads. Win or lose we are all winners. We have a club and it means we have a piece of our life jigsaw completed. Relegation or not, it doesn't really matter in the end.

(cue Linkin Park track 'in the end' to be played at our final home game of the season and we all mosh on the pop in complete unison. The bench could join in too but I don't wish to see trauma on the terraces )

TORQUAY TIL I DIE!!!!

Just to let you know that I have put in a few sheets of Izal. wet and dry and 40 grit sandpaper for you. I assume it will come in handy when you next have a curry.
I was going to include a rasp but after hearing your singing I think your voice will be just as good.


By the way. I totaly agree with you. I won't desert them even if we go down. not even if we end up in the Skrill South. It's in me blood.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I didn't mean that it didn't matter tomo, of course it matters. It matters a hell of a lot but if we went down it's not the end. We've done it before, Hargreaves has done it before and we can still be competitive should it end like that. When you actually look at league football though what does it offer us apart from a means to an end? We generally struggle, don't win anything and a few exceptional seasons apart have just been making up the numbers. The conference won't really be any different apart from we will lose more cash which, if the club makes adequate provisions and most fans stay on side then we can rebuild again and maybe start enjoying football once more. I haven't enjoyed ANY football from a Torquay side since Buckle left. If we look at the bigger picture it might not be worst case scenario.

Oh and thanks tomo but it is rare for me to get toothache as most have already been knocked out.

[Glostergull]

Agree in principle with what you're saying Andy, but it DOES matter. There is a certain status of being in the Football League as opposed to 'Non-League' football. Apart from the debacle of the Roberts season, TUFC has been in the football league for over a century. Last time we went through the trap door, we were extremely lucky to get back in two seasons. I fear we won't be so fortunate again. For the Forum Bus Pass posters like me, if we go down, the likelihood of us ever seeing league football at Plainmoor is highly remote ..... so it does matter. However, after all the doom and gloom when we were relegated last time, I quite enjoyed our couple of seasons in the Conference - mainly because we were playing reasonable football and most of the matches were equal to Div 2 standard.

Good to have you back on the Forum, Andy. You've been missed ...... like a toothache ......

I think you will find that although we have been in existance for over a century, we have only been a proper league club for just over 70 years Tomo.

[tomogull]

I haven't enjoyed ANY football from a Torquay side since Buckle left. If we look at the bigger picture it might not be worst case scenario.

Now come on, Andy - you haven't forgotten the days of Eunan O'Kane and Bobby Olejnik already, have you ??
Glostergull - we joined the league in 1927 according to Wikipedia so somewhere between your 70 years and my 100 years ! Cheers !

[AustrianAndyGull]

I didn't enjoy ANY of the football under Ling. Keep it tight, nick one and hang on? Worked a treat first season but still boring as hell to watch if not nail biting the last 20 when teams battered us. Even more boring the second season when we struggled to nick the one and we also couldn't hang on.

[yellowforever]

I must say, it is a pet hate of mine all this "we'll never return" b*llocks.

We all thought it last time we went down, and it took us 2 years. It's such a free for all in that division, and if you can make it in the play offs, anything can happen.

In some weird masochistic way, I'm almost looking forward to it...

[Burnhamgull]

I'll be there on Tuesday hoping that somehow Chris H can turn this around.
What I can't guarantee is to continue to be a distant season ticket holder. The next 15 matches will help me to decide.

Same here, I'll make the journey down from wherever I'm working but if we do drop into the conference, I can't see my wallet being opened for a ST next year. One crap year too many for me.

[Gullscorer]

Relegation could almost be a blessing in disguise for the club.

It could legitimately be argued that saving the club from the dreaded drop was an impossible task for Chris Hargreaves, and when we see his retained list we will have a much clearer indication of his prowess as a manager. What should happen is an almost total clear-out of players and for Chris to completely build his own squad from scratch, with a view to establishing a settled team with little reliance on loan players except in emergencies.

This, combined with a policy of developing home-grown players - and only those with real potential and promise - and an approach to team building which follows his avowed aim of open expansive passing football, is what will enable the club to compete and achieve success, whatever division we find ourselves in.

This more or less was Paul Buckle's approach when he first came in and built things up from nothing, and it was a successful one. Buckle, too, was a rookie manager, and I believe Hargreaves, like Buckle, can achieve the same success. But he will need to acquire the same degree of ruthlessness and courage and self-belief, and to be prepared for a similar degree of unpopularity among supporters and players. If he can do this whilst retaining their loyalty and respect, he will have the makings of possibly a great Torquay United manager. Time will tell.

Of course, contrary to what many have been saying, all is not lost, and the season is by no means over. Week by week every game becomes more crucial, but there is still a sizeable number of points to play for.

We may yet stay up..!!

[tomogull]

Relegation could almost be a blessing in disguise for the club.

It could legitimately be argued that saving the club from the dreaded drop was an impossible task for Chris Hargreaves, and when we see his retained list we will have a much clearer indication of his prowess as a manager. What should happen is an almost total clear-out of players and for Chris to completely build his own squad from scratch, with a view to establishing a settled team with little reliance on loan players except in emergencies.

This, combined with a policy of developing home-grown players - and only those with real potential and promise - and an approach to team building which follows his avowed aim of open expansive passing football, is what will enable the club to compete and achieve success, whatever division we find ourselves in.

This more or less was Paul Buckle's approach when he first came in and built things up from nothing, and it was a successful one. Buckle, too, was a rookie manager, and I believe Hargreaves, like Buckle, can achieve the same success. But he will need to acquire the same degree of ruthlessness and courage and self-belief, and to be prepared for a similar degree of unpopularity among supporters and players. If he can do this whilst retaining their loyalty and respect, he will have the makings of possibly a great Torquay United manager. Time will tell.

Of course, contrary to what many have been saying, all is not lost, and the season is by no means over. Week by week every game becomes more crucial, but there is still a sizeable number of points to play for. We may yet stay up..!!

That's certainly a different slant on our predicament and relegation may well be a blessing in disguise as you suggest. But two points - (1) Buckle was backed by Paul Bristowe's lottery money to bring in players capable of getting us out of the Conference (2) I'm hazy on the financial aspects of relegation, but wouldn't we lose grant funding for our Youth programme?

[Dave]

Difference is Yellowforever we had a promotion winning budget , the club have since made a number of very expensive mistakes in my opinion and is now potless, as much as you hate, and I hate to think is true, but sadly it's highly likely that TUFC will not regain it's league status for a long, long time.

Am looking forward to it, no, am I going to renew my season ticket, no. But I will never give up on the club, will go to match's of my choosing.

[Dave]

Sorry just to add, I believe we had been in the football league for 80years last the club went down, we've been back 5 , so in total that's 85 years of league history. Does relegation to the conference matter, yep it sure does, the club will lose straight away £250,000 premier league solidarity payment , TV revenue and sponsorship of £430,000 is halved year 1 and then is lost, youth development funding of £180,000 is halved for two years then lost.

Unless new investment can be found and quick, expect our current player budget to be slashed big style, probably will be around £400,000 a year if we're lucky.