TorquayFans.com | Torquay United Fans Forum

westyorkshiregull wrote: ↑15 Feb 2018, 16:48What would regionalising the non league scene benefit us.
more money should be trickling down from above. Clubs should be obviously sensible also .

You're last point is the most pertinent; there is no God-given right to 'more money tricking down' and whatever league United are in they will be at one end of it so to speak..let's focus on what CAN be achieved; what can't and what more than likely won't be and that is being sensible ~ assuming there won't be any extra trickle down and realise we are where we are geographically!

I agree merse , what I will say that i used to think of it as the beautiful where money from the top would trickle down to keep clubs producing players and keep them also in business. Well the world of football has changed and indeed the football world must change with it. Never before has the lower divisions clubs must be managed with business acumen. Clubs that blow money on a dream must understand the consequences on there actions. It's a tougher world these days and not just in football , it's the same in my profession and many other people I know.

The world of football has indeed changed. It was in 1881 that the world’s first football league was launched in England . Half the 12 teams competing in the inaugural season came from the North and half from the Midlands; none was from south of Birmingham. Long after that it was “a game of industrial England” But this is no longer the case. Outside of the two cities of Manchester and Liverpool northern clubs could be said to be in decline. Take the Premier League, 9 from the south, 7 from the North, 3 from the Midlands and 1 from Wales. There a number of factors for this:

a) Regional economic decline has sapped northern clubs’ revenues.
b) Clubs in the financial hub of London rake in money from tickets and corporate hospitality.
c) Foreign owners snapped up clubs as trophy assets and the richest tend to go for clubs in or near London.
d) Attracting elite players to the north is another problem (outside of Liverpool and Manchester).

There is a trickle down effect of all or some of the above in non-league football which results in the likes of some small southern clubs like Boreham Wood, Bromley, Dover, Ebbsfleet and Eastleigh being rather successful whereas their northern/midland counterparts like Barrow, Guiseley, Solihull, Chester, Halifax and Hartlepool struggle.

MellowYellow wrote: ↑16 Feb 2018, 00:39 Regional economic decline has sapped northern clubs’ revenues.

There is a trickle down effect of all or some of the above in non-league football which results in the likes of some small southern clubs like Boreham Wood, Bromley, Dover, Ebbsfleet and Eastleigh being rather successful whereas their northern/midland counterparts like Barrow, Guiseley, Solihull, Chester, Halifax and Hartlepool struggle.

I agree with all of that; this is the price of progress for some and the reward for others. Just like society where the National Health, Social Housing and Education are relegated to also rans by the ruling elite; football is southern biased and rapidly moving away from egalitarianism.

Whilst I or anyone else do not either like or approve of that or not is irrelevent; it is the major factor that has to be addressed or face a massive unravelling of the game as we knew it once or even know it now.

I am not quite so sure we are not over simplifying . Where have Fylde and Fleetwood come from if that is the case ? The Northern National League looks stronger than the Southern League. Personally I suspect football is centring more and more on the major cities and a c thirty mile radius around them. Because football money is not spread evenly you need someone to underwrite lower league clubs when expectations are high and it's increasingly becoming the role of those wealthy people wanting to gain notoriety in their areas.

Very favourable results today with teams around us losing 4 games and only Halifax picking up 1 point.

Guiseley,Chester, Hartlepool and Maidstone all lost.

Like United Barrow and Solihull did not play.

Our 6 games in March 4 of which are away will almost certainly decide if we go into April with any chance of survival.My only hope is that the teams around us ,except for Solihull are on a terrible run and if we could somehow string 3 consecutive wins together we could still escape.

Keep thinking it's all over but then think well just maybe

It's the hope that kills you

It's pretty certain tonight that Guiseley are going, going gone but who will be the other three?

Chester, Hartlepool and Maidstone????
Wishful thinking I guess.
We will soon know.

Only if all 3 go into liquidation - very very unlikely but not absolutely impossible I suppose.

Spare a thought for Damon Lathrope tonight - he suffered a horrendous broken leg during Woking's game with Boreham Wood today. Seems that Torquay's bad luck follows its ex-players too. Wishing you a speedy recovery Damon.

Unsurprisingly tonight's Guiseley v Barrow match is off; might do us a favour as they now have to find another date as the season comes towards its conclusion.

Guiseley v Barrow tonight is off - again. Also Solihull v Bromley off tonight. After the recent pile up of snow, these clubs are facing a fixture pile up too.

Yep, we've got defeats already on the board