Where do we go from here?

[Yorkieandy]

Sorry Neal. I deleted my post just before you posted. I'm not a true fan apparently so thought better of it in the end and deleted it but I agree with you totally.

The tragic thing is that one day these fans who are insistent on being patient and that everything will change will wake up one day like the rest of us to the news that Torquay United has folded and it might come home to roost then hopefully that some things could have been done to ensure not so much that it doesn't happen. GI own the club. It will happen but more so to ensure that the a football club in the town still exists and is owned by the community.

No more rats creaming off stuff for their own ends. Hasn't everyone had enough of that?

If 500 people help set up a new club and own and run it then it is what it is. Nobody can take that away or come in and takeover spouting complete crap about theoretical plans that are never going to happen in a million years.

If there is a community club of 500 fans all mucking then I'll drive the frigging coach and let the manager manage. After all that is what a community owned club should be about. Everyone proud and pulling together giving their time and money for something money can't buy. The love of their football club that only they can control it's destiny.

[Richinns]

This start again bullshit annoys me. We are currently still a full time professional football club whose future is still very much in the balance. We are now in the hands of new owners who will need to prove they are in it for more than just financial gain but they should at least be given this chance. If the worst case scenario happens then the phoenix club comes at that point but those calling for it now are making ignorant and knee jerk reactions because of current frustrations.

TUST cannot aquire or will be giving the ground and land it belongs on as the Council and/or owners will not give it to them so the romantic idea of rebuilding from scratch with Plainmoor as our home is nothing more than a fairytale.

[wivelgull]

Where do we go from here? Perhaps we ought to take a look at the fortunes of a similar club: Stockport County. Like us, but with a potentially much bigger fan base and a larger ground, they have fallen from grace. But Stockport are in a worse position: they actually ARE in the Conference North, whereas we are not in the Conference South yet. For many years we played Stockport (in Divisions 4 and occasionally 3) and so to some extent have a similar history. Today, though, they are still languishing in the darkness of a regional league, although they can - and do - command crowds of 2500-3000 on a regular basis. yet even with this income they still cannot get out of the minor league where they have resided for a number of years now. This seems to provide a precedent, one which TUFC may well follow. The moral of the story is that it's easy enough to get to the Conference South, but EXTREMELY difficult to get out. As for the Football league - forget it. Just look at Wrexham, Lincoln, Tranmere and, yes, Stockport.

[Yorkieandy]

IMO there should be significant investment from now and over the summer in the playing side from GI and more transparency.

If neither happens, and I'm sure it won't then boycott the club and form another. It's no longer a step into the unknown. Loads of clubs now have reformed and from nothing built themselves a proud little club more suited to their circumstances and are thriving and fans enjoying the journey.

I find such an idea exciting. More exciting than being puppets for the next bunch of liars who want a crack at taking over the club.

[arcadia]

Chris Hargreaves was also a legend but got it wrong, Kevin has got it wrong albeit with less finances, he has to go now , at least we may have a chance with someone who can bring some players who can change the game or at least motivate the ones we have , We only have a few games left before its to late, all this bitching about GI and the last lot aint going to change anything, we have who we have so we have to get on with it.
Any other club and he would now be gone, we cant hang on to what he achieved as a player or last season.

I agree with your post.
The players should be given a few days off then work together up to the Southport game confidense is low it's time to get behind the club even though it's a shambles.

I was talking to a an official(Referee group) on Saturday and they thought the club needs to have an area for the officials in the club before and after the games so they can sit together. There is nowhere for the assessor to go through his notes at half time who at the club deals with this. I believe you treat officials right they treat you right!

It seems we are falling apart on and off the pitch. Whoever takes the side give the players a break!

[Neal]

IMO there should be significant investment from now and over the summer in the playing side from GI and more transparency.

If neither happens, and I'm sure it won't then boycott the club and form another. It's no longer a step into the unknown. Loads of clubs now have reformed and from nothing built themselves a proud little club more suited to their circumstances and are thriving and fans enjoying the journey.

I find such an idea exciting. More exciting than being puppets for the next bunch of liars who want a crack at taking over the club.

Exactly!

[lucy6lucy]

I agree with your post.
The players should be given a few days off then work together up to the Southport game confidense is low it's time to get behind the club even though it's a shambles.

I was talking to a an official(Referee group) on Saturday and they thought the club needs to have an area for the officials in the club before and after the games so they can sit together. There is nowhere for the assessor to go through his notes at half time who at the club deals with this. I believe you treat officials right they treat you right!

It seems we are falling apart on and off the pitch. Whoever takes the side give the players a break!

Did you actually mean work together or should be drive together to southport

[eddyh]

My God there's a lot of emotional claptrap on here from the usual protagonists. Talk of packing it in now and starting again is just plain stupid. We are where we are at the moment. Let's see if the current owners do something to try to keep us in this league. After that, it's all just conjecture at the moment.

i suppose we could just go and support another team. That'll help.

[Southampton Gull]

Ironic that you should mention emotional claptrap, you're describing most of your posts

[CraigUnder]

Let's just see what Monday brings but whatever happens, come the end of April all that matters is TUFC to still be in the National League, shit bust.

[arcadia]

Did you actually mean work together or should be drive together to southport

Lucy they call football work in the professional game so it would mean prepare fore the match at Southport.

[kevgull]

I would hope that those in charge of TUFC will have given our predicament some very serious thought and will issue a statement regarding any additional investment or potential changes.

To remain silent and inept would be very worrying for us all.

[Yorkieandy]

My God there's a lot of emotional claptrap on here from the usual protagonists. Talk of packing it in now and starting again is just plain stupid. We are where we are at the moment. Let's see if the current owners do something to try to keep us in this league. After that, it's all just conjecture at the moment.

i suppose we could just go and support another team. That'll help.

So there is something wrong with having, showing and feeling emotions then? It's not the 1960's. I'm emotional and passionate and I am a man. Well, was last time I looked.

Proud of it too.

I did agree with you about not packing it in now and waiting for the summer to give GI a chance. Completely agree with you but I guess it was tl.dr for you so you missed it.

Most of you will be supporting a different team in a few years anyway so you can try it for yourself.

[Plainmoor78]

If 500 people help set up a new club and own and run it then it is what it is. Nobody can take that away or come in and takeover spouting complete crap about theoretical plans that are never going to happen in a million years.

If there is a community club of 500 fans all mucking then I'll drive the frigging coach and let the manager manage. After all that is what a community owned club should be about. Everyone proud and pulling together giving their time and money for something money can't buy. The love of their football club that only they can control it's destiny.

Remember what happened when the TUST asked supporters to pledge £100, so as to prove the viability of community ownership?

[hector]

It's one thing TUST asking supporters to contribute £100 for what essentially is a hypothetical scenario and quite another to ask them to contribute £100 to actually buy and save the club. It's no wonder the first option didn't raise much money as it was never going to result in the purchase of the club. I think if it was a case of donate or the club dies, the outcome would be quite different.

The combination of half a decade of despair, with regimes that treat the supporters as terrace fodder, a local press colluding in the silence surrounding the scandal of the club's fall, and the general sense of resignation and apathy from supporters has just led to this acceptance of our fate.

There was a time when the prospect of playing in the Conference/National League was horrific. It is an awful sort of limbo and it is a despressingly crap league and it hurts that we are not even good enough for a league we resent actually having to be in. The thought therefore, of National League South is almost beyond comprehension. If I thought we'd be any good in it, it might be an interesting little adventure, with a fair few local fixtures but I think most feel our decline will just continue unabated if we go down.

Therefore, bucking that trend might only come from starting again as the current guise is dying and this is likely to be the case with GI leeching off the club for their own ends.