TorquayFans.com | Torquay United Fans Forum

Where are these facilities, Dave? I don't doubt that they have them, but where are they hiding?

Matt.

I can't see that paying a Kings ransom to players that bears no relationship to current or even potential income is "forward thinking". It is a recipe for financial disaster.

still no sponsors for the conference next season, any rumours?? i reckon BT sports will jump in with a miniscule deal at the last minute

season starts august 9th and the fixtures are released, at 9am, on my birthday, june 18th, so just less than four weeks away now!

They are no Crawley. They've progressed from county football over a 20 year period and have never gone beyond their means.

I do find the attiude of some of our fans a little amusing when they try and belittle clubs like Eastleigh. Sure they don't have much of a fanbase at present but if Sholing (a much smaller club than Eastleigh) can take 4000 to Wembley you can bet your life that Eastleigh would more than treble that number dwarfing the paltry 8000 we took on our last visit.

They have developed their site over a number of years and their growth has been sustainable to such an extent that a lot of local business happily sponsor and back them. How many local businesses in Torquay are prepared to do the same with TUFC? We need to get off our soapbox and admire what some clubs are doing, not laugh at them like idiots.

Midson signed now too. Regardless of their history, they will be right up there next season. Midson, Constable and Fleetwood would be an excellent L2 strike force and they have a few others too.

How many they might take to Wembley is probably neither here nor there really. On that picture I will stand by my comment that the ground is a hovel.
The chairman (who is head of an insurance company apparently) seems to be suffering from a frontal labotomy having won promotion.
If their "capacity" ends up on two thousand with a cast off stand from Exeter Chiefs which will probably end up falling down when it has 1200 Bristol Rovers fans stomping all over it, then the chairmans spending spree will blow up in his face bigstyle.
Midson (ok but bog average really) Fleetwood (so good he has been plying his trade in the Conf South) and Constable (again lacks ability - thats why he has never gone any higher than League 2) - all on inflated wages.
It truly is a recipe for disaster.

If Midson had signed for us I would by lauding it brucie. Exactly what we need and the reason we got relegated last year.

Throwing money around like they are is a dangerous game but the recruitment of players such as Constable and Midson at this level (albeit they are massively overpaying them for their service) is something we can only envy I am afraid.

ferrarilover wrote:Where are these facilities, Dave? I don't doubt that they have them, but where are they hiding?

Matt.

New floodlights, the purchase of the old Chiefs stand as CP rightly says, state of the art 5-a-side pitches adjoining the ground with refurbished corporate and conference rooms making the site far more usable than Plainmoor could dream about. There are endless teams of young kids using the place and they have sides representing them at all ages. They have sound investment and a much larger catchment area to draw fans from.

Stories of their budget are a bit far-fetched but it's competetive compared to ours and their backers include long-term investors. Their plan is coming together while ours has taken a real backward step. I just feel that some are playing the Billy Big Bollocks card when in fact they should admire the way Eastleigh have built solidly and advanced within their means. Several years ago they were battling with Histon. Instead of peaking too early and taking a step too far they've built slowly and got there the right way.

Southampton Gull wrote:They are no Crawley. They've progressed from county football over a 20 year period and have never gone beyond their means.

I do find the attiude of some of our fans a little amusing when they try and belittle clubs like Eastleigh. Sure they don't have much of a fanbase at present but if Sholing (a much smaller club than Eastleigh) can take 4000 to Wembley you can bet your life that Eastleigh would more than treble that number dwarfing the paltry 8000 we took on our last visit.

They have developed their site over a number of years and their growth has been sustainable to such an extent that a lot of local business happily sponsor and back them. How many local businesses in Torquay are prepared to do the same with TUFC? We need to get off our soapbox and admire what some clubs are doing, not laugh at them like idiots.

You do know they've just outbid Oxford United for James Constable? Not quite sure how they afford that on gates of 600 - 700 !

Fair enough then, sounds like a nice little ground and perhaps their investors are in for the long haul. I can't shake the feeling that talk of sustainability doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with paying the sort of money they are on the gates they get.
If their investors are really happy to keep chucking money at it, then that's fine and well done to them, but imagine one of them finds another in bed with his wife tomorrow, the whole house of cards could come falling down PDQ.

Matt.

We really do have short memories don't we! Remember a certain Mr & Mrs Bristow investing in some tin pot little club that had just been relegated out of the football league, a club that had no players? They hired a manager and let him go out and buy a selection of the best players the Conference had to offer, including I think at least 5 club captains from other Conference teams.
There is no way, were OUR club being run to it's means, were our spending linked to the money received on the gates that we would have signed all of the players we have done over the last 6 years.

People living in glass houses and all that...

And of course the investments in Plainmoor, Seale Hayne and the youth setup.

Given the close proximity of Eastleigh FC to Southampton airport, and the fact that is will only cost me about 60 notes to get across for the day, if the fixture at their ground is played on a Saturday and I have sufficient funds, I'll definately be over for it.

Scott Brehaut wrote:Given the close proximity of Eastleigh FC to Southampton airport, and the fact that is will only cost me about 60 notes to get across for the day, if the fixture at their ground is played on a Saturday and I have sufficient funds, I'll definately be over for it.

You'll be over for the weekend and working with me on the Saturday night

Even with that investment, with those crowd level and season tickets about half the price of ours i feel there is a level of overspend

Midson
Constable
Fleetwood
Reason
Mcalister

certainly a forward line that will score goals