The past, present, our real natural level, club and fans

[hector]

I suppose the beauty of our football league system is its fluidity (one that some Premiership owners have mooted removing by banning relegation). That is why we have some traditionally bigger clubs in the division below us and some traditionally smaller clubs in the division above us and us where we have been now for 40 years bar 2 in League 1 and 2 in the Conference.

You have clubs in the Premiership like Wigan, QPR, Fulham whose gates are dwarfed by teams in the division below like Derby. That will always happen. There will always be clubs who over-achieve/under-achieve and somewhere in between.

Simply because some clubs with bigger potential are languishing, it does not mean we simply should accept our place and roll over to continual seasons of struggle. This was Mike Bateson's mantra. It engenders disinterest and apathy and football clubs do need to try and be imaginative in recruiting and keeping fans.

However, the only real thing that will truly sustain a growing fanbase is success on the field. Yeovil tripled their fanbase in a matter of 2 years on their march from Conference to League 1, as did pretty much Exeter. However, for both clubs attendances have dipped to reflect their fortunes on the field.

We have never really managed to sustain success since the 1960s. Any good season has usually been followed by a difficult one so any momentum is lost.

Geography is often cited as a reason for struggle yet it is surely easier for us to get players down here than it must have been in the late 1930s when we started being competitive in Div 3(S). Yeovil have just signed Darren Purse on loan. I cannot imagine us ever getting anyone like that in, yet they struggle with gates now and Yeovil is probably a harder place to get to than Torquay.

I think there is a mindset with Torquay that we are beaten before we try. We cannot attract players/fans, so lets not really bother. It is not for us supporters to suggest ways or go about promoting the club. We already go and pay our money and buy programmes etc. The club need to do this.

In some small ways they do it well, such as the programme but communication from the club is poor. That in itself is not necessarily going to attract new fans but there are things the club could perhaps try to do to actually stop losing anymore fans. I have a season ticket but if I did not, I would be tempted to miss tomorrow's game.

I have so many reasons not to go before I even start thinking about the reasons TUFC are making going to Plainmoor a less attractive proposition with the dull, soulless atmosphere at Plainmoor, the really quite drab football on offer and not much prospect of even seeing the team win.

In the end we get gates of 2300 or so and always have done since I have been going unless we are doing very well or very poorly. At the moment it looks like things are about to get a whole lot worse so I guess the crowds will indeed drop and unless Wimbledon bring a lot tomorrow I suspect the attendance will be below 2000.

[yellow]

Enjoying the nostalgia trip as well. Life seemed a lot simpler then.

But this is here and this is now.

However I think the other significant factor that has not been mentioned was the decision that home clubs would keep all of the gate money rather than share it. I believe this was circa 1983. This harmed the likes of TUFC disproportionately.

Football was more egalitarian before the advent of this and then the formation of the Premier League changed the face of the working man’s game forever (that is for a long time, rather than aimed at you Forza).

The board have to deal with the new reality which is that support levels are modest and we need a new grandstand. The team on the pitch is a consequence of the financial constraints.

I doubt that we would be a league club without the munificence of Paul Bristow and now his widow Thea continues to support the club. Bless ‘em both.

Mike Bitesize wasn’t that far wrong. We are very lucky to have a league club at all IMHO.

[Southampton Gull]

I think you've pretty much got it spot on there Yellow.

While Hector raises some good points I'm not sure if he realises the most important and deciding factor is in how the club is marketed. If some of the members of the Board were allowed to impliment some plans and use the sound advice they've been given then maybe we might be able to start improving the size of our fanbase, it's obvious that the current commercial department are not doing their jobs well enough. If we want to develop as a club then we need to move with the times instead of sitting still.

[hector]

I think you've pretty much got it spot on there Yellow.

While Hector raises some good points I'm not sure if he realises the most important and deciding factor is in how the club is marketed. If some of the members of the Board were allowed to impliment some plans and use the sound advice they've been given then maybe we might be able to start improving the size of our fanbase, it's obvious that the current commercial department are not doing their jobs well enough. If we want to develop as a club then we need to move with the times instead of sitting still.

I did mention how the club was marketed/promoted itself in one of my answers

[Southampton Gull]

If you weren't so keen to keep making this personal you'd have understood my post a little better. I mentioned a specific example of one of the shortcomings of certain officers at the club which backs up what you said but In my opinion is an area which is vitally important if the club is to improve itself financially.

[Trojan 67]

The thread starter from Dave (forevertufc) has prompted some great posts from Hector, Austrian Andy, Wonderland, Gloster, Stefano and Yellow.

My time supporting TUFC started in 1965 when I was at Ellacombe Primary School. It was after the FA Cup 3rd Round game v Spurs. I saw a few home games at the end of the 64/65 season. Things for me, regarding football, kicked off big time the next season (65/66) especially in the lead up to the '66 World Cup. Wow, what a year, United get promoted, the Toffees come from 0-2 down to beat the Owls 3-2 to win the FA Cup and the feckin big cherry on the top was England WINNING the World Cup.

I celebrated by dancing around in front of the black and white telly in Norbert Styles style.

I was ten then, I won't in my lifetime see England do it again. In fact, there are ten year olds now who won't see England win it again.

Football received an attendances boost after that and the crowd figures at Plainmoor for the 66/67 season were very healthy. In the next couple of seasons Saturday night home games (k.o 7.30 pm) saw regular attendances of 9000.

As a kid at school, I thought Division Three was our natural place.

[Southampton Gull]

My Dad used to take me to a lot of those Saturday evening games, I can remember being hoisted above heads by other fans so I could take up a position at the front to see the game.

It seemed a very showbiz affair at the time, seeing crowds that size as a young lad was quite intimidating.

[Trojan 67]

It seemed a very showbiz affair at the time, seeing crowds that size as a young lad was quite intimidating.

Yeah, I remember being crushed a few times against the Ellacombe End fence. It must have been really bad when there was 21,000 there against Spurs.