TorquayFans.com | Torquay United Fans Forum

Anybody who supports Torquay through and through deserves an opinion or a suggestion as what we have to go through as a supporter as hell at times.

I don't mean this in any way to be critical of the Board at TUFC but why do certain people keep on banging on about how because people are successful in business then they must know what they are doing when it comes to running a football club? Just because a person has been a success in a particular field doesn't necessarily mean that those skills are easily transferable when it comes to running a football club. Yes they would (or certainly should) have more of an idea than the average man in the street but the world of football is littered with stories of successful business people making a complete hash of running a football club !

For goodness sake you only need to look 30 miles down the A38 to see how things can go spectacularly wrong and there were some pretty high profile business people involved there with much like us a wide range of business backgrounds - there were people at CEO level, Sir Roy Gardner being one - and I don't think anyone in that city is in any doubt that they made a rotten job of it!

Indeed if you look at the bigger picture you could argue that nearly every football club in the country are being run by people who have had some success in business - they've made their money and invested a chunk of it in a football club for whatever reason (and there are many!) - but how many football clubs in this country can we honestly say are being well run? There are a few admittedly and I would like to think that ours IS one of them but that's not to say that they couldn't do certain things a whole lot better and I'm pretty sure that there are probably those on the current board who probably recognise and accept that fact.

Robots can't think for themselves they have to be fed information for them to function and to accept. I OBEY THE MASTER THAT IS THE BOARD AND ALL IN POWER AT TORQUAY AND I PROMISE TO BELIEVE EVRYTHING THEY TELL ME AND ACCEPT THINGS AS THEY ARE EVEN IF THEY DON'T APPEAR TO BE RIGHT. Maybe some fans of the gulls are happy as robots or perhaps sheep.

andygullagain wrote:Robots can't think for themselves they have to be fed information for them to function and to accept. I OBEY THE MASTER THAT IS THE BOARD AND ALL IN POWER AT TORQUAY AND I PROMISE TO BELIEVE EVRYTHING THEY TELL ME AND ACCEPT THINGS AS THEY ARE EVEN IF THEY DON'T APPEAR TO BE RIGHT. Maybe some fans of the gulls are happy as robots or perhaps sheep.

Hence my OP on the ambition thread.

monkeyboy wrote:Cheers SG, you've finally made up my mind to give this site a miss from now on. TorquayFans.com is a misnomer. The majority of so-called fans who use this site are an embarassment. Goodbye, I'll leave you to wallow in your pool of negativity and also your arrogance that you can run a business better than a board of successful business people. Forever a Torquay fan, no longer a TorquayFans.com user.

he'll be back, he'll miss us, prob even reading this as we speak, negativity, positivity, its what a forums about mate!!

The thing i think is fantastic about this site is that is probaly is the most balanced fan's site around,we have a great mix and range of posters on here,form the ultra positive to the ultra negative,and many sat right in the middle of the two grounds,and not forgeting Brucie of course

Those who nothing other than postively about all things TUFC ,should not feel they are un-welcome on this site,the thing is you will find on the cold Tuesday nights many who have posted negatively on this site are amongst those 1700 crowds,because no matter how they post they are fan's and do care about our club.

Totally absurd. Don't you know that it's only the rose-tinters that are proper fans? Those that dare to criticise the Club are not fans at all, despite travelling for over 2 hours to midweek home games having forsaken paid work, how stupid of you to think differently, forever

Southampton Gull wrote:Totally absurd. Don't you know that it's only the rose-tinters that are proper fans? Those that dare to criticise the Club are not fans at all, despite travelling for over 2 hours to midweek home games having forsaken paid work, how stupid of you to think differently, forever

It's the extremes that annoy me, both the "la-la-la I'm not listening to you we are going to walk the league this season everything is OK" merchants, and those who are so negative, they see a beautiful rainbow and think "terrific, rain"

Is it not possible that, in some aspects, the club are pretty hopeless, in other, they are absolutely brilliant and in a third and final set of things, they are sort of ok-ish?

Does everything have to be perfect or a total disaster?

Is it not possible that, while we have the makings of a half decent squad, we do need to sign a few more players to stand any real chance of success? Do we have to either be coming bottom with 0 points or top with 150?

Is there no middle ground?

Is it not possible that Saah and Ohfgghsgfsyehbfjdhccdjsklasoe (the keeper) are decent signings, but losing Stanley and Bevan is a blow?

Is it not possible that Stevens is neither the best, nor worst footballer God ever graced us with, could he possibly have good games and bad games?

Middle ground people, middle ground.

Matt.

Unfortunately, in recent times, we've rarely been 'middle-ground'. We've proven a team of extremes. If we're not challenging for promotion, we're generally battling relegation. And if we're going to finish near an 'end' this season, at the moment it looks more likely to be the bottom.

The thing is, Chris, without those "extremists" we wouldn't know who was holding that middle ground.

I do wonder about the motives of those who try to shout down anyone holding what some consider a negative view of the Club. In monkeyboys case I have to admit that a lot of what he's written makes good sense, but to label the majority of users of this site as "so-called fans" while assuming the role of a genuine fan just pisses me off.

I've had more arguments with Fonda than anyone else over the years and mentioned his negativity on countless occasions but I've never ever thought of him as a lesser fan than myself. We argue until the cows come home but have always shaken hands and enjoyed a good chat before games and the same goes for a lot of other fans I've met. Quite what monkeyboys agenda was is a mystery, perhaps he has a problem dealing with people who hold a different viewpoint to his, perhaps it was all a futile exercise to disrupt the site, either way I feel it's a better place for having fans with a variety of differing views. Some love brucie, some hate him, some (myself included) find him hilarious, but would the site be better off without him? Not for me. Same goes for monkeyboy, I sent him a pm confirming what I've said here and if he wants to come back and argue with me on a daily basis that's fine. For every brucie or Southampton Gull there's a CPGull and a stefano, for every ferrarilover there's a Julian Clarey, that's what makes reading this site such an enjoyable experience in my eyes.

Fonda wrote:Unfortunately, in recent times, we've rarely been 'middle-ground'. We've proven a team of extremes. If we're not challenging for promotion, we're generally battling relegation. And if we're going to finish near an 'end' this season, at the moment it looks more likely to be the bottom.

Those recent times include all of the last twenty years at least !

Even when we've finished "middle ground" it was either a falling away from the "top" in the closing stages or like the season before last, a phenomenal clean sheet run of successive wins that took us away from the "bottom".

Edit : thirty years at least !

I am one of the supposed "rose tinters" and those who cannot accept views that differ from mine. To that accusation I would say this - all I ask for is a sense of realism. TUFC is what it is - always has been and probably always will be - it is run by well meaning people with limited resources who sometimes get things right and occasionally horribly wrong. What useful purpose does it serve to constantly snipe when things don't go the way we would like? -what does it achieve other than possibly making the person complaining feel better for a while.
Does the club lack ambition - yes without any doubt but only because clubs of our size are basically looking to survive rather than progress. Membership of the Football League still means a lot. The lower leagues may be catching up but they still lack the kudos of league membership. There are many examples of clubs whose desire to progress has resulted in financial catastrophy. Are we better supporting a club of limited ambition who manage to stay in the lower leagues or one who presses forward and ends up in financial meltdown. For instance, it would seem that Buckle United are going to be in one hell of a mess if Buckle dosn't win them promotion. You have to think that they are taking one almighty gamble on winning promotion and if they fail it won't only be Buckle out on his ear.
All i've tried to say is that we need to be realistic in our expectations - if you want big money signings and expectations you are supporting the wrong club.
TUFC is never going to be like that much as we might like it to be. Supporting Torquay is something to be endured rather than the pleasure we would like to be and full of the attendant frustrations.
I'm sorry views such as mine do not seem acceptable on this forum and for that reason I will join "monkeyboy" on the sidelines.

Fonda wrote:Unfortunately, in recent times, we've rarely been 'middle-ground'. We've proven a team of extremes. If we're not challenging for promotion, we're generally battling relegation. And if we're going to finish near an 'end' this season, at the moment it looks more likely to be the bottom.

How do you know this though? Why are people being so negative.

You never know Kee and Mcphee may both score 20 goals (9 pens for mcphee) Our new backline may be the strongest one we have had in a long time and may be really hard to break down. One of our young guys may turn out to have a real good season, maybe macklin could turn out to be a little star. You never know.

But....

No, most people want to think negative and think we will score no goals and let in 250 and be the worst team league 2 has ever seen. Finish on -15 points after going into debt and winning no games.

Both extreme yes but why does everyone assume were going to be so bad? Noone knows untill the season starts. Yes you can have your views but all this real negative stuff is really getting a little anouying. But i love to read other people views to see what people really think.

mlw wrote:I am one of the supposed "rose tinters" and those who cannot accept views that differ from mine. To that accusation I would say this - all I ask for is a sense of realism. TUFC is what it is - always has been and probably always will be - it is run by well meaning people with limited resources who sometimes get things right and occasionally horribly wrong. What useful purpose does it serve to constantly snipe when things don't go the way we would like? -what does it achieve other than possibly making the person complaining feel better for a while.
Does the club lack ambition - yes without any doubt but only because clubs of our size are basically looking to survive rather than progress. Membership of the Football League still means a lot. The lower leagues may be catching up but they still lack the kudos of league membership. There are many examples of clubs whose desire to progress has resulted in financial catastrophy. Are we better supporting a club of limited ambition who manage to stay in the lower leagues or one who presses forward and ends up in financial meltdown. For instance, it would seem that Buckle United are going to be in one hell of a mess if Buckle dosn't win them promotion. You have to think that they are taking one almighty gamble on winning promotion and if they fail it won't only be Buckle out on his ear.
All i've tried to say is that we need to be realistic in our expectations - if you want big money signings and expectations you are supporting the wrong club.
TUFC is never going to be like that much as we might like it to be. Supporting Torquay is something to be endured rather than the pleasure we would like to be and full of the attendant frustrations.
I'm sorry views such as mine do not seem acceptable on this forum and for that reason I will join "monkeyboy" on the sidelines.

Damn, who has ever said your views are not acceptable? When it comes to Martin Ling I think I'm in a minority of people who think he will be a cracking manager for us. I've made that quite plain and it pleases me to see fans starting to share that view.

When it comes to the Board I've been on both sides of the argument, I've praised them for some things and criticised them for others. I've had people strongly disagree with my views plenty of times but never have I felt the need to back away from arguing my point of view. Your post actually makes a lot of sense to me, it's a shame you weren't so thorough previously. We might not agree on much, mlw, but I can tell you one thing, I'd be the first person to defend your right to express your opinion even if I didn't agree with it. A forum without your input is worse off in my book so please take some time to consider that.