Torquay United
Just thought I would share with you a Guardian article over the weekend and the clubs extraordinary response.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...ears-plainmoor
http://www.torquayunited.com/news/ar...e-3678407.aspx
Always had a soft spot for torquay - a decent family club. As I remember we played an end of season game against them a couple of years ago but details are a bit hazy now.... Sad to see their plight now. Expect to see them in some sort of groundshare/merger arrangement with Truro City (100 miles away) shortly with a very low level phoenix club in Torbay.
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Neither of those pages seem to work anymore.
oops apologies. my typing I suspect.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/16/torquay-fans-fear-relegation-losing-home-96-years-plainmoor
http://www.torquayunited.com/news/article/2016-17/club-response-3678407.aspx
How is someone with that track record allowed anywhere near a football club?
Thanks Dev - grim reading. Always a favourite away game and had a special fondness for them and their fans after the great way they treated us that day.
An absolutely remarkable 'club' statement.
It reads like it was written in a fit of anger, 5 minutes after the author read the Guardian article. Perhaps next time they should sleep on it first. Amateurish and unprofessional in the extreme.
It's a very sad state of affairs that if Torquay do manage to stay up, it will probably be at the expense of another historic Football League club, poor old York.
When we see how "Rich" owners take over a football club we are better off without some bullshitter who will bring our club to it's knees like what's happening to Leyton Orient so a fans trust may be the way to go for more League 2 teams.
@robin League 2 not exclusive to fan ownership. AFC Wimbledon, Pompey & possibly Exeter to be in L1 next season? Realistically, I would imagine, that is as high as can be reasonably expected & I fully expect both AFC & Exeter to rejoin L2 after a few seasons. Pompey are likely to be the only ones to have a sustained stay with the possibility of travelling further up the pyramid.
Fair shout mate but what i was trying to say and failed is i would rather be a trust owned club rather than someone coming in and leaves us on our knees just to make a profit for themselves and not the club we all support.
Having read the comments about the Torquay official statement, I was expecting some real carnage, that'd make the Orient one look well written.
The truth is we have no actual way of telling if the original piece is accurate or not. And if it isn't, that club have every right to respond like that.
Do we really believe a player would be based in Birmingham, and live in Torquay most of the week, on buttons for cash, yet still deem it worthwhile to travel back straight after a game, immediately having to stand about bouncering until the early hours? Basically spending more than the earnings on the transport there?
Maybe finishing at 3am, leaving them with a lie in until perhaps midday, a few hours to relax, than a perhaps 4hour drive straight back down to Torquay for training the next morning?!
You rather miss the point of the Torquay story, Robin.
Torquay was a fan owned club in one sense - the Bristows were long standing fans who used their lottery winnings to keep the club going. They had the best of intentions.
When Mr Bristow sadly died and Mrs Bristow eventually couldn't go on funding losses, especially after relegation from the league, and a group of local small businessmen stepped in and by (mostly) common consent did their best to keep the club going. They ran out of cash too. Only way out of that days hole, to avoid immediate bankruptcy was to kick the can down the road by supping with the devil and borrowing from GI. The chickens have returned home, had their horlicks and settled down for a damn good roost now.
No ownership structure can give absolute security, that I am afraid is simply an illusion as Torquay have found (and Rushden before them) who relied on fans and Orient and others who relied on "sugar daddies). Judge any proposal on its merits if and when it comes.
Not sure I am in favour with the modern trend for petitions but if anyone believes in tis sort of thing, this seems a pretty good cause
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gordon-oliver-this-stadium-is-ours/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=button
Yes a very good cause lets all support this. We have had our own problems with owners and this lot look really bad. Save Plainmoor!!