Memories of plainmoor

BlueandGold53 · Post by **BlueandGold53** » 04 Nov 2017, 11:22

Best ever memories, standing in 'The Shed' watching the Northcott brothers Ernie Pym and of course Robin and his merry men. That Spurs game was just unbelievable, kids in the trees and running out of pasties. Thanks to all concerned. Remember Ben Street collecting the ball every time it was kicked out of the ground. Great times and consider myself lucky to have been there.

merse btpir · Post by **merse btpir** » 04 Nov 2017, 13:30

westyorkshiregull wrote: ↑03 Nov 2017, 18:34 Wow that is amazing. The old cowshed I assume went across from either side and the mini stand erected in the middle. But why did the mini stand get built with still the bit of cow shed either side

This is not so; yes the Mini Sand was built directly behind the goal but to it's left was open wooden railway sleeper and red dirt terracing that used to stand under the part that collapsed under the weight of the 1963 snowfall.......until then the old structure had more or less stretched from corner flag to corner flag.

The Cowshed
at the biggest it ever was

The remnants of the old Cow Shed still stood to it's right towards the grandstand until that too was pulled down and the Mini Stand was actually extended to either side to make it wider.

The stand was a pre-fabricated structure made by a garage building company in Coventry and erected once delivered on site in 1967 and the old weed strewn earthen banking that had been between the back of the Cow Shed and the perimeter wall was removed and replaced by a tarmac and floodlit area with a weight shed underneath the new stand where we used to rain (as amateurs) in the evenings.

westyorkshiregull · Post by **westyorkshiregull** » 04 Nov 2017, 19:47

Amazing about that bit in front of grandstand. I wonder if it was because close to the dugout? Better view I doubt ?.
Sub section within a grandstand, guess like the 3 tier prices at big stadiums. Love to know more about this.

Those pictures are brill merse, the cow shed look like exactly what it sounds like. The atmosphere when we got 5 figure crowds must have been amazing. The way plainmoor has matured into what I would call a fantastic modern stadium is surperb. But these old grandstand hold many memories for many people. The mini stand was a massive part of my early supporting. A lot of kids with there dad's, and people smoking cigars and pipes , I can smell it now.
Remember back in them days , getting players autographs was something that was done. Do people do that any more? Not talking adults but the kids?. I used to jump the boarding from the mini stand and get players autographs. At my parents house I still have much stuff which next time I see them i will post some pictures. A autograph book with loram , Dobson, Kenny Allen, Matthew Elliot ECT , those blow up sherpa van trophy seagulls , them yellow flags ...all sorts more.

Wraysburygull · Post by **Wraysburygull** » 05 Nov 2017, 16:10

Some great stuff on here.
Does anyone remember when MOTD has just the 1 game and around 1968 I reckon, it was us! A table topping match at Plainmoor against Bury, and we won 3-0. Stood in a packed Babbacombe End.We were on again a couple of years later v Fulham, winning again.
I think our decline can be traced back as far as those times. John Bond buggered off to Bournemouth and took half the team with him. 10000 crowds became 5000 almost overnight it seemed to me,and the rest is history I guess.
Don’t know whether there was a general deckin in gates at that time but ours seemed to drop through the floor .

westyorkshiregull · Post by **westyorkshiregull** » 05 Nov 2017, 21:42

Wraysburygull wrote: ↑05 Nov 2017, 16:10 Some great stuff on here.
Does anyone remember when MOTD has just the 1 game and around 1968 I reckon, it was us! A table topping match at Plainmoor against Bury, and we won 3-0. Stood in a packed Babbacombe End.We were on again a couple of years later v Fulham, winning again.
I think our decline can be traced back as far as those times. John Bond buggered off to Bournemouth and took half the team with him. 10000 crowds became 5000 almost overnight it seemed to me,and the rest is history I guess.
Don’t know whether there was a general deckin in gates at that time but ours seemed to drop through the floor .

Seen some still pictures of that match of the day event , but I would imagine the video does not exist any more. What golden material that would be. Did anyone on here actually watch it on t.v.? How many cameras were there, the picture i saw was the of the pop side and the tv platform on top on the roof. Can anyone tell me was that platform there just for that game ? I nearly had footage from plainmoor from the 1970s and all sorts but I've said in other threads the availability of it was taken out my hands. I'm going to get back in the case tomorrow as I've a day off work. The history section on TFF is amazing but i would love this forum to also have a history section to do justice to yesterday. I could read all day long posts about anything about any of our history. what we need is some golden exhibets on here to really get the interest going. There is not much on there but search westyorkshiregull on YouTube and those torquay videos are the ones i used to buy of that bloke who used to fil. Matches. He was called Brian and I'm not sure if he is still doing business as his website is now shut down. He lived on Marnham road and did media stuff to do with recording , editing ECT back in the day. He told me his first game was the Crewe 87 game and after that , I assume the next season the club asked him if he could film games for the manager to use in his training the following week. I used to buy the tapes off him. Remember him anyone ?
Has anyone any old school video footage. I'm sure many would love too see it , if they have I'll happy pay postage and would edit it on laptop and upload it if they would like to share it online ?
Those crowds we used to get as quoted above , makes you wonder why the support did drop like it did. Maybe the introduction of live games on tv? , people working weekends? , team doing worse ? Looks like other clubs same thing aswell. But some clubs increase over the years.
2000 seems good these days but even on my time during parts of the 80s and 90s we could pull 2500 plus on a reasonable regular pattern. To be fair when we were playing better. The 88/89 season was only few thousand and a bit some games but look at Wembley in the sherpa van trophy , I'm sure we took 20000 plus there. The fans are there and people do care, not everyone but it's just a shame more don't make effort. Also I wonder if the club is attracting more younger fans as TORBAY must a percentage like me have moved away from the bay many years ago so don't attend many home games. I do only one or 2 home games and 6 or 7 away games. Difficult like many of us With family's and work commitments.

Launceston Gull · Post by **Launceston Gull** » 16 Mar 2018, 00:20

16 March 1968 (50 years ago to the day) Div 3 Torquay United 3 Bury 0 Att 10693. Top of the table clash played in front of the MOTD cameras and was the featured main match that night. Fantastic day great result. I wonder how many Gulls fans like me walked away thinking promotion to Div 2 (Championship now) was a cast iron certainty. Ultimately 1967/68 would end in disappointment but on that March day everything seemed right with the World.

westyorkshiregull · Post by **westyorkshiregull** » 18 Mar 2018, 12:00

That's amazing. To think 5 figure crowds and the national broadcaster taking a interest is amazing. 20 years on from that crowds of sub 3000 and 30 years on crowds on sub 2000. Glory days that's for sure. Must have been fantastic

Bxm Foxy · Post by **Bxm Foxy** » 22 Mar 2018, 15:33

First game I went to I think was in 78, home to Wimbledon. Few years then to my next game, home to Oxford. Went in the Popular side, can always remember a couple Oxford fans wandering around the ground looking for a fight. Couldn't have been any barriers at all. Over the years, generally went in the Popular Side, then when things got really boring, me and my little brother used to occasionally sit in the away seats in the grandstand.

Plainmoor78 · Post by **Plainmoor78** » 22 Mar 2018, 16:32

That sounds like the 1979 pre season friendly against oxford united. The Oxford fans had taken the Torquay end simply by turning up early and chasing the dozen Torquay fans out of it. The oxford hoolies were wearing jackets or t-shirts with"London border" written on them.

Bxm Foxy · Post by **Bxm Foxy** » 23 Mar 2018, 11:59

Nope, had to look it up. 1982-83 FA Cup. 3rd Round replay. Beat them 2-1. Lost 2-3 to Sheffield Wednesday in the 4th round.

Teigngull · Post by **Teigngull** » 23 Mar 2018, 21:47

Bxm Foxy wrote: ↑23 Mar 2018, 11:59 Nope, had to look it up. 1982-83 FA Cup. 3rd Round replay. Beat them 2-1. Lost 2-3 to Sheffield Wednesday in the 4th round.

Awesome night , 12/01/82, stood in the paddock in front of the grandstand that night, some poor old sod got over excited & had a heart attack behind us in the grandstand, if I recall correctly Jackie Gallagher & Stevie Cooper scored our goals in front of a 6800 + crowd & one other thing that still sticks in my craw , a young 19 yr old George Lawrence got dogs abuse from all 4 corners of the ground just because of his colour, shamefully but I guess it was accepted then.

Bxm Foxy · Post by **Bxm Foxy** » 26 Mar 2018, 07:47

Yeah, that was it for me, I was an instant fan, amongst a family of Argyle supporters!

Teigngull · Post by **Teigngull** » 27 Mar 2018, 13:29

Bxm Foxy wrote: ↑26 Mar 2018, 07:47 Yeah, that was it for me, I was an instant fan, amongst a family of Argyle supporters!

Christ !

I thought I had it bad seeing emy old man signed for Exeter back in the 50's.
Mind you he reckons he was a gulls fan as a boy, I just think he wasn't quite good enough to play for us !

Bxm Foxy · Post by **Bxm Foxy** » 28 Mar 2018, 14:29

I'll take the banners over City any day. Never had any grief at Home Park but plenty at St. James! Actually I'll re-phrase that, I got grief from some Torquay fans in the away end when my brother who was sat with me celebrated when Argyle scored Lol.

Bxm Foxy · Post by **Bxm Foxy** » 28 Mar 2018, 14:31

Janners not banners!!!

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