Southampton Gull wrote:
So misguided, so silly not to be able to recognise the signs that these clubs are building something that is sustainable. Eastleigh have been on this road for 30 years, not just overnight because of a rich benefactor. They beat Swindon away in a replay 3-1, they took 800 fans, they are building up the fanbase each season while we lose ours but still you can't see it, can you? They sacked Chris Todd because he wasn't meeting expectations, Ronnie Moore has left to go back to Rotherham. Martin Allen is the kind of manager that will see them promoted. I see kids around Eastleigh wearing their shirts and scarves, I see fully used facilities.
They're also in the same league as us...............for now. You really have no idea whatsoever about how we can learn from them, still that armchair must be wearing out now
Dave that's just plain daft. What do yo want us to do move lock,stock barrel to be on the edge of Cardiff or Swansea so that we can be those cities second club as those cities grow. Eastleigh has become a club purely because of city growth from Southamton and the introduction of a rich mans money. We have neither , so stop telling us to learn lessons from them.
You are always harping on about Eastleigh. Lower league teams have been raising their games in the Fa Cup since the year dot. So they beat Swindon - So what?
It doesn't alter the fact that for all their money they have only won nine out of twenty three league games and are lower down the table than the mighty Boreham Wood. That's hardly anything to crow about (given a comparison between the two teams resources)
If Eastleigh had Dean Edwards, Breed, Phillips and the other succession of bone domes in charge they would no doubt be doing worse than us.
You say they are going to be promoted every year but every year they finish half way down the league.
Same with Forest Green really. Every year they try and buy their way out of the league and every year they fail. Last year they got found at Wembley with their 250 fans against Grimsbys 30000 (or whatever it was)
It will no doubt be the same this year when Lincoln or Tranmere win it. The fanbase of these teams will always outdo the likes of Eastleigh and Forest Green in the end.
brucie wrote:You are always harping on about Eastleigh. Lower league teams have been raising their games in the Fa Cup since the year dot. So they beat Swindon - So what?
It doesn't alter the fact that for all their money they have only won nine out of twenty three league games and are lower down the table than the mighty Boreham Wood. That's hardly anything to crow about (given a comparison between the two teams resources)
If Eastleigh had Dean Edwards, Breed, Phillips and the other succession of bone domes in charge they would no doubt be doing worse than us.
You say they are going to be promoted every year but every year they finish half way down the league.
Same with Forest Green really. Every year they try and buy their way out of the league and every year they fail. Last year they got found at Wembley with their 250 fans against Grimsbys 30000 (or whatever it was)
It will no doubt be the same this year when Lincoln or Tranmere win it. The fanbase of these teams will always outdo the likes of Eastleigh and Forest Green in the end.
I've never ever said they would be promoted every year. Good luck finding that quote.
As usual you miss the point entirely as does Dazza. The point is they have been doing this for 30 years. They still have several of the same committee men they had when I played there. They've continued to build and sustain at each level they've progressed to. You keep your head in the sand, that's your lookout but in the end you'll see what any open minded person can see, they're a progressive club that will be a League club before us, with or without their current chairman.
Dazza, I've mentioned plenty of times about their proximity and links to Southampton FC, why is it plain daft as you so "eloquently" put to state that we can learn lessons from them? I thought you had more sense than to be so blinkered and unable to see the difference between the way they are heading and the way we've been heading. A friday morning and before 9am their ground is a hive of activity, ours is dead until about 12pm on a bloody matchday. I think it's you being daft.
Fair point. Okay maybe it's me that's daft. Touché Dave.
I do however however think it gets more and more difficult for the peripheral located clubs like Torquay every year that goes by. Would Bondy and Ken Brown come here now. ? No they would not. They would have either made so much money they wouldn't go anywhere - or if they still fancied kicking a ball around it would be adventure like China or the relative luxury locations like USA or Australia. Now the likes of Eastleigh and Boreham Wood ( depending where you live ) are actually a better vbet. They are closer to the money and have wealthy chairmen and their kids don't have to move school. They are much 'better placed'.
Okay so Eastleigh are doing a lot but they have the place and space ( and money ) to do it.
I am slowly being convinced Barton by the improved A380 has to be risked. Plainmoor much as I love the place is too tight- no parking, no youth facilities, too limited in its layout for other sports perhaps, close to Babbacombe but probably not close enough.
The Board take massive stick for trying to do the right thing. It's not their fault we are where we are. They have done more than anyone can have possibly have asked of anyone. I can seenthe initial attraction GI offered them. However the fans are right here GI have demonstrated no real love of the club. I hope it's anybody other than them- but when it comes to cup draws, injuries, refereeing decisions or the bounce of the ball have we ever been lucky. I hope we are this time- we need someone who loves football as well as business.
It needs a backbone of decent people with the staying power to start at the bottom and work up. I use Eastleigh as an example because I know the club and the area so well.
The son of my closest friend is a lifelong Saints fan but he now goes to Eastleigh and has bought into it with his two sons. They all have season tickets, all wear Eastleigh shirts and follow them home and away. I was pretty shocked that he had realised what we all know, the football at our level is mostly more accessible to the everyday fan. The kids can go in the bar and mingle with players and enjoy an atmosphere much like Boots or No10's but unlike with us they are brought back during the week for all kinds of activities that Eastleigh put on. We aren't grabbing the kids as fans the way others are, not just Eastleigh. It's like we just expect fans to materialise rather than use any initiative possible. It needs every avenue exploring. The whole place is positive, go to Plainmoor and it's always so negative, the place has lost its buzz, successive boards have failed to tap into the local community. Of course I know the money has given them tremendous advantages on the pitch but it's the way they've built up off it that has impressed me. The activity around the place impresses me, the way they use local surroundings to help with the growth of the club is impressive. They explore everything, if Donald pulls out they'll cope in the Conference, they'll consolidate and then before long they will progress again, it's how they got this far. I'm envious of that, it's not like I'm a closet Eastleigh fan, I used to play for them but they weren't my club, If we get the chance, I would love the club to bring on board the kind of people Eastleigh have, diehards with drive and ambition to drag the club forwards.
Excellent vision I must admit Dave. But it's easier to do these things if you are getting a return by the club being successful on the pitch. Plainmoor has seen too many very average sides go away with victories and gloom breeds gloom.
The current board have always made it clear they were holding the baby. I think turning on them isn't helping anything or anyone.
The club in my view have made some really poor decisions. Appointing a novice manager when fighting relegation from the football league was a totally ridiculous gamble and we have all been paying for it ever since. We virtually gave away the Football League status we had clearly overspent to get back. It was obvious even then that if league status went the youth team would also have to go.
Whilst I share the frustration with those who are gutted the current cycle of rudeness can't possibly assist IMO.
I am sure the club will turn the corner and refind its drive. It need a big break right now and who takes over and their prime reason for doing so is going to be key.
I supported the Board until they got into bed with GI. Since then they've made some very poor decisions starting with getting rid of Steve Breed. He was the fans voice on that Board, obviously his distrust of GI was paramount in his services being dispensed with, I actually think he was doing a great job making tough decisions.
You make some great points but we had the chance when we were chasing promotion to League 1. We were narrow-minded and should have explored avenues that I know were offered. If the people I'm aware of complete their bid to buy the club we might just stand a chance, if not then I fear for our future.
Whoever is running the club, I hope they take a leaf out of the book of progressive football clubs and invest in the ideas of those with the clubs best interests at heart, namely the supporters themselves.
Or get in a chairman who will keep writing out the cheques such as Eastleigh or Forest Green. Irrespective of what you say that makes a big difference. Before the Loony BeanEater got involved at FGR they weren't exactly doing anything. They are a rich mans plaything - pure and simple.
The people "you were aware of" seemed to be GI and Masters (or that was what you were telling us three days ago)
brucie wrote:Or get in a chairman who will keep writing out the cheques such as Eastleigh or Forest Green. Irrespective of what you say that makes a big difference. Before the Loony BeanEater got involved at FGR they weren't exactly doing anything. They are a rich mans plaything - pure and simple.
The people "you were aware of" seemed to be GI and Masters (or that was what you were telling us three days ago)
I'd rather that TUFC were a rich man's play thing than a rich man's next property development.
The annoying thing is that we had the sugar daddy/mummy. We had the money, we had someone willing to pump millions of pound in to the club and it was wasted, squandered by a succession of inept board members.
Compare Torquay now to 10 years ago - apart from Bristows bench what do we have to show for all that money? When the Eastleigh & FGR money-men leave they will be left with good infrastructure, good income streams that will see them going in to the future.
Gary Johnson's Yellow Army! Yellow Army! Yellow Army!
brucie wrote:
The people "you were aware of" seemed to be GI and Masters (or that was what you were telling us three days ago)
Do keep up. If you hadn't gone missing for a month while we were losing every week you'd realise that interested parties were ending discussions only for them to be re-opened, shock, horror, things don't always go the way some plan.
PhilGull wrote:The annoying thing is that we had the sugar daddy/mummy. We had the money, we had someone willing to pump millions of pound in to the club and it was wasted, squandered by a succession of inept board members.
Compare Torquay now to 10 years ago - apart from Bristows bench what do we have to show for all that money? When the Eastleigh & FGR money-men leave they will be left with good infrastructure, good income streams that will see them going in to the future.
I'm not sure about FGR as they don't have the local population to draw from that Eastleigh do. The improvements they've made are remarkable though.
For all those who view Thea Bristow as a saint the fact is their lottery money and the inept boards led by Alex Rowe and Bill Philips led to the current situation. When we first went down to the conference the availiablity of too easy money led to lazy administration, without it the club would have been forced to adopt a more responsible business model. Instead when the chickens came home to roost Thea bolted leaving a basket case of a club with no finance. Yes she supposedly left it debt free but it still needed feeding. The current board had little option but to make savage cutbacks which means there is little opportunity to utilise what other funding streams may be available due to lack of manpower.
It is very unfair and misguided to constantly blame the current board for everything whilst eulogising Saint Thea.
Plainmoor78 wrote:For all those who view Thea Bristow as a saint the fact is their lottery money and the inept boards led by Alex Rowe and Bill Philips led to the current situation. When we first went down to the conference the availiablity of too easy money led to lazy administration, without it the club would have been forced to adopt a more responsible business model. Instead when the chickens came home to roost Thea bolted leaving a basket case of a club with no finance. Yes she supposedly left it debt free but it still needed feeding. The current board had little option but to make savage cutbacks which means there is little opportunity to utilise what other funding streams may be available due to lack of manpower.
It is very unfair and misguided to constantly blame the current board for everything whilst eulogising Saint Thea.
Thea Bristow didn't bolt. Her husband died and left her with a large some of money invested in a business that she cared for but had no knowledge of. Yes, in hindsight she made some mistakes in trusting people around her to do a job which they also were incapable of doing. She passed the business on to other people who she hoped (with at the time Deano and Breedy) did have some more knowledge of how to run a football club. Besides which she hasn't bolted as she is still a shareholder and still has money in the club.
You seem to suggest that we would have been better off without the Bristow's money! Without their money Buckle wouldn't have been able to assemble the squad he did and we would be now approaching 10 years as a non-league club without having had any of those Wembley or Old Trafford visits. And we would be playing in a three-sided ground as we would not have been able to rebuild the grandstand after it was condemned.
Gary Johnson's Yellow Army! Yellow Army! Yellow Army!
