Dagenham and Redbridge V Torquay Utd. A Saturday 30th September 2017 -match thread

[Gulliball]

Because he was going up for a bouncing ball from a standing start and the two players bumped into each other. I didn't think it was a foul, let alone the final straw for a yellow card. It just struck me as the ref wanting to give him a yellow, and if he felt he deserved one he should have given it at the previous one or waited for a further one as he did absolutely nothing for the challenge he was booked for. I think the crowd reaction showed that the away end was certainly united.

[brucie]

That looks a very harsh penalty to me rather than a "stonewall" one. Mcginty has got the wrong side of their number 5 because the Dagenham player has got his arm round Mcginty's neck.

After that their player appears to fall over. Its not as clear cut as everyone is making out. There isn't one Dagenham player appealing for a penalty and I reckon the first foul is by their player.

Its 50-50 for me in fact the more I watch it the more I think their centre half makes the first infringement.

[Yorkieandy]

This.

It WAS an improved performance and gutted that we lost in the way we did. But to have a York fan having a pop at us is a bit rich.

Never mind, at least the York fan will have his other club to support when we're all trying to find something else to do on a Saturday.

I must admit it's good to have options.

I'd support a phoenix Torquay club though if there was one (which there should be right now) and not York so you are factually incorrect.

[Yorkieandy]

Nice of you to Care Andy and I suppose all of us will then ( provided you are correct) have to do what you do and borrow a long range club whose management we can have a pop at.

No. You'll just support the phoenix club should there be one and not Carlisle or Hartlepool. Just like i would.

[United62]

No. You'll just support the phoenix club should there be one and not Carlisle or Hartlepool. Just like i would.

Priceless

[Mo Gull]

8 goals conceded in the 85+ minutes already. 3 own goals and a goalie has scored against us. I remember the season we first went out of the league and the amount of late goals we conceded and farcical ones was scary. It's confidence and taking a game by the scruff of the neck that we lack.

[Yorkieandy]

Priceless

Care to elaborate?

[United62]

Care to elaborate?

If you insist. You only 'support' Torquay when it suits.

[Yorkieandy]

I only support Torquay when i feel the club deserve my support. This isn't anything to do with results or performances, those who know me will know i was as excited to go to games when we were losing and bottom than i was the reverse. What about all those fans who stop going because the team is shit and losing every week and then return when the team are winning? Aren't those fans more 'when it suits' than I? A fan who has made a conscious and difficult decision to stop doing what i loved to do on a matchday because i feel so disenfranchised and disillusioned by the manner in which the club has been run.

"Why don't you still support Torquay then and return when new owners come in? You don't have to stop full stop" i hear you say. Valid point, even if you didn't say it.

I'm not Mystic Meg, she's a lesbian i believe however i had absolutely no reason to believe that TUFC would ever be the same again. When you are 100% convinced that no matter what happens, the football club you support will slide down the leagues and then fold within a 10 year time frame then you hold true to those beliefs and call it a day. I have not once believed any new owners will come in who want the best for the club and will do their best for the football club so the way i see it is why bother going anymore? The club effectively ceases to exist in my eyes therefore i go and watch another one. Just like some of you would if Torquay went tits up and no phoenix then i'm sure many of you will get into going to watch another team because the club you DID support isn't there anymore which makes sense yes?

The club i supported (Torquay) still exists but in 10 years time it won't do IMO so that's why i decided to save myself all those years of being mugged off by the club (vindicated now as it turns out as the club have got progressively worse both on and off the field) and go and watch another. I accept it's a difficult concept but that's the reasoning. I have an autistic spectrum disorder so think about some things a little more unconventionally than others although they make perfect sense to me. That's why i spent 2 years banging on about how shite Billy Bodin was and how he'd never make a professional footballer and now he's slamming them in left, right and centre for Brizzle. I see things differently but my God did i see THAT differently! :-|

I made some great friends at Torquay games and suddenly had to cut each and every one out of my life because i had to make that decision. If you think it was easy and a throwaway decision then that's because you don't know me so don't judge.

I've got to know around 50 people or more off of this forum in the past 7 or 8 years and meeting up with many of them on various matchdays was always a happy part of my life and now it doesn't exist anymore because of principles. I take it you know what principles are and how you stick to your beliefs regardless of what inaccuracies intolerant others throw your way?

[United62]

I almost stopped reading after the first sentence because that to me is the way I see your 'support' for Torquay United. However, and to be fair, I did read the rest of it. Some valid reasons for your reasoning behind chopping and changing clubs, not that I agree with them in principle. Call me 'old school' if you like, but look at it from my eyes (if you want to that is).... I have supported this club for nigh-on 50 years and will continue to do so in whatever guise the future may hold and it is my belief that you cannot just chop and change clubs when it suits irrespective of how the club is being run on and off the pitch.

If it all did go tits up and there was no longer a Torquay United Football Club to support then that would be it for me. Others might sod off to St James Park or Home Park but I'd rather not.

[westyorkshiregull]

I couldn't just change the team I support but there is a difference between active support and not. I've been to 2 games this season 1 home and 1 away. I find it hard to justify the expense and time away from family with the low moral I feel. If torquay went under I'd hope and pray that a Phoenix club would start else for me it would possibly be barnstaple town as I born there and have a soft spot for barnstaple in general

[United62]

I couldn't just change the team I support but there is a difference between active support and not. I've been to 2 games this season 1 home and 1 away. I find it hard to justify the expense and time away from family with the low moral I feel. If torquay went under I'd hope and pray that a Phoenix club would start else for me it would possibly be barnstaple town as I born there and have a soft spot for barnstaple in general

The amount of games attended (or, indeed, the amount of posts made on an internet forum) does not come into it.

What! You've only attended 2 games. What kind of fan do you call yourself??? (insert sarcastic smiley here to avoid any confusion).

But, this is my point, you still supported Torquay United this season (and seasons before)... you didn't sod off and support a.n.other.fc because the regime in place at the time upset you for whatever reasons.... Managers come and go. Regimes come and go. Players come and go. Supporters remain, regardless.

[Yorkieandy]

I almost stopped reading after the first sentence because that to me is the way I see your 'support' for Torquay United. However, and to be fair, I did read the rest of it. Some valid reasons for your reasoning behind chopping and changing clubs, not that I agree with them in principle. Call me 'old school' if you like, but look at it from my eyes (if you want to that is).... I have supported this club for nigh-on 50 years and will continue to do so in whatever guise the future may hold and it is my belief that you cannot just chop and change clubs when it suits irrespective of how the club is being run on and off the pitch.

If it all did go tits up and there was no longer a Torquay United Football Club to support then that would be it for me. Others might sod off to St James Park or Home Park but I'd rather not.

It's important to mention also that with most high functioning autistic spectrum disorders, a high motivational drive towards seeing injustice eradicated is prevalent and almost invasive. People can say it's just a footy club and nobody has been murdered or anything so it's a bit OTT to let even little injustices rule your life but that's just the way it is. I can learn to take each situation at a time and perhaps learn to modify my decision however the drive is still there and i simply won't accept it.

If you do something as innocuous as park in a disabled / mother and baby spot at the supermarket and i spot you without a disability or a kid you'll have some explaining to do. I've left jobs because i've supported the rights of others over myself and id do it again because that's how i'm wired. So however minor an injustice is, if it's done to me then i don't hang around and take it. With Torquay i couldn't do anything to change the situation as i saw it and felt powerless and that also played a part in my decision. If i believed there were ways of improving things and the club had fans prepared to fight tooth and nail then yes, that is what i like to do but when you are one bloke and nobody else seems to think like you then you think what's the point?

I'm not a martyr. I'm simply acting appropriately to what my instincts are telling me and they told me that continuing to support Torquay was wrong on so many levels just like my instincts told me to pack in a job i loved because the whole set up was all wrong and immoral.

I am absolutely 100% in agreement with you in principle that a football supporter should stick with their club until the bitter end however i do believe that there are occasional times when this isn't appropriate. Mine being a case in point. I don't believe you are old school. Just a dedicated and passionate fan who will support to the end and that's also what i was but am not now and i don't believe it's my fault. Others have forced me to make a decision as my ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) traits cannot simply allow me to continue chucking time and money at something that doesn't value me. I know many of us have difficulty with illness / health etc that impacts their support but i found attending games a very exciting yet stressful experience due to well hidden anxiety / panic issues. Driving down to Torquay and back from Derbyshire may be a simple 8 hour round trip for a 'normal' individual but when you have certain anxiety related issues it's a huge challenge. Away games also. Huge amount of mental and physical distress just going to a football match which took the weekend to recover from.

This also played a part in my decision. Why would i continue to put myself through regular stress and discomfort making myself ill supporting a club that didn't give two shits about me? It's not even worth it. I don't know where Ferrarilover Matt has gone to but he told me he would never have guessed in a million years that i suffered so bad with panic and anxiety as i'm sure all of the other fans i befriended during my time going to games wouldn't. You become skilled at hiding things so you don't look like a freak. Not that i am one but that's what a lot of society thinks about even the most tepid of mental illness conditions like a bit of nerves. So you see it's not straightforward but generally i'd agree with you that you shouldn't change clubs and i fully respect that. It would be nice if others also respected my decisions without me having to explain but i can appreciate how it looks to the general fan.

I was never and will never be a fan who stops going to games simply because the team is crap and then returns when it gets better again. These types of fans are the 'cake and eat it brigade' and not my type. I've made a decision based on what i feel is right and am prepared to stick by it and not just pick and choose games to go to and games not to like fair weather fans. I have more respect for a Torquay fan changing to support Chelsea then a Torquay fan who stops going for a few months because the team are losing but then returns when they start winning again.

It's these who aren't real fans. Not me.

Just say Owers and Kuhl get a tune out of the players and the club end up in the play offs come the end of the season. Will the home gates be 1,500? No. Add on another 1,000 because those 'when it suits' fans will come back again because they want to see winning successful football. That's not support is it? Unless they make a decision to stop going because they are fed up of losing but then NEVER return. That's fine by me but returning when the team are winning again is much worse than what i've done IMO.

I will return when the club is wholly supporter owned or a new club, wholly supporter owned is formed so technically i'll be supporting a new club. Any other owners of the football club now and in the future are / will be idiots who don't care about me or you or the club and why would you put up with that? Because you are Torquay fans and you think continued attendance is the best course of action for the football club which is your choice to do so. There is no right or wrong answer, just our opinions, beliefs and what we think is the best course of action given a particular set of challenging circumstances.

[United62]

All valid points and thank you for the detailed explanation Andy.

The 'joys' of being a football fan, eh!

[westyorkshiregull]

Yorkie I understand what you are saying and have 100% compassion with any kind of mental health , I suffered with depression for years and I still have to manage it. I was once told to just get on with it !! Would you tell someone with a broken leg to just get on with and get walking ???? No you wouldn't....

I don't judge peoples support , if it's bit part of full time or whatever your support it's better than none