Torquay United Fans Forum

And just a side note Gloster if you don't need fans like me then how on earth would you have made it to the play off final at Old Trafford. Do you not remember me collecting you at Bristol?

[quote="taxilady"]We'm getting them road links now Gloster...you not been near Pen Inn recently ?(If you haven't...stay well clear til it's finished!)[/quote]
And a bicycle route... :~D

We'm getting them road links now Gloster...you not been near Pen Inn recently ?(If you haven't...stay well clear til it's finished!)

[quote="Gullscorer"][/quote]

Extrapolating the attendance figures of the Bristol City and Rovers stadiums, of that 400000 Rovers have an estimated fan base of 176000, City have 224000.

Torquay United's population base within a ten mile radius (which includes Paignton, Brixham, Totnes, Newton Abbot and Teignmouth) is 177000, pretty much equal to that of Bristol Rovers.

So why the large difference in attendances? This could be accounted for partly by the differing economic climates of the two areas, we have more poverty, low wages and seasonal work, combined with a more rural, somewhat larger geographical area, and the fact that cities and large urban conurbations are more football-focussed with better transport and so more easily able to sustain bigger attendances.


If you look at our respective populations over the years you will see that ours has changed more markedly than most.
Where as Bristol. Plymouth and Exeter have maintained a working population with a good spread across the demographics. Ours has lost many of the main working population type jobs. None of the traditional jobs in Torbay now. Only low paid service industry jobs. and not many of them.
We do not have many of the traditional posts we used to have. Much of the independent businesses that used to underpin many of the Torbay high streets have gone. tourism which was the mainstay of our the area has changed, from those taking holidays here to day trippers having a day out then leaving. No income generated for night life and Guesthouses.
Many of the young have moved away from the area to get jobs. Industry has to to a large extent gone. We used to have some factories. I doubt there are any large companies there now.
An influx of Umeployed into the area who cannot afford allegedly to pay to go to football or other types of entertainment (although they can afford the best mobile phones and creature comforts). on top of many new people arriving into the area who have come in having no real affection or affiliation to the Gulls. also an influx of Immigrants who have replaced many of the lower paid jobs and many retired who now come here to live a quieter life, and now you can see a different type of population.
we now have a much lower paid population than ever, No real affection for the area. no affiliation with the local football team and many of the old supporters left to find employment elsewhere. and a larger retired element who can't be bothered to follow anything much. The area seems like a dumping ground now.
Bristol and many of the other towns I have mentioned have retained their workforce and hencforth the support base for local clubs as they have well developed industrial bases. The Naval connected at Plymouth. Aerospace at Bristol. Not sure what the main things in Exeter but it is the 3rd largest employed base in the area behind Bristol and Plymouth. so I can imagine with better links and slghtly better placement they can attract industry better than Torquay. after all, look at the arguments that blighted the development of the road links into the area. what industry would want to settle in the area knowing that they have to queue for hours to get out. Rail links that relegate Torqauy Paignton and area to a backwater in the winter.. No airport. etc. Not hard to see why it's all going pear shaped for our beloved Torquay.

[quote="DevonYellow"]
Or maybe it's got something to do with the fact that over 400,000 people live in Bristol?[/quote]

Extrapolating the attendance figures of the Bristol City and Rovers stadiums, of that 400000 Rovers have an estimated fan base of 176000, City have 224000.

Torquay United's population base within a ten mile radius (which includes Paignton, Brixham, Totnes, Newton Abbot and Teignmouth) is 177000, pretty much equal to that of Bristol Rovers.

So why the large difference in attendances? This could be accounted for partly by the differing economic climates of the two areas, we have more poverty, low wages and seasonal work, combined with a more rural, somewhat larger geographical area, and the fact that cities and large urban conurbations are more football-focussed with better transport and so more easily able to sustain bigger attendances.

But, given our actual attendances and the club's current financial resources, I reckon the Gulls are doing quite well.

[quote="Gullscorer"]I agree with Glostergull.. :-D

By the way, Bristol Rovers' cheapest adult admission price is £18, £1 more than us, yet their attendances are two or three times as big and we're only two points behind them near the top of the table.

Either they must be doing something right, or we are..[/quote]

Or maybe it's got something to do with the fact that over 400,000 people live in Bristol?

[quote="Trojan 67"]Same old droning boring Gloster :zzz: :zzz: :zzz:[/quote]

Pah Bahh humbug. Walter!!

Shows where football is currently, £100m from tv revenue is insane!

Think the bubble needs to burst sooner rather than later!

I see the Hearald reported we got £1,500 for being on BTsport, woop-de-fricking-do! If we got a lot more revenue (tv or extra 2k on the gate) in we could get away with a max price of £15 for any ticket.

This subject crops up from time to time from a TUFC point of view and nationally as well. There seems to be a real lack of understanding just what a football club has pay out, and like any business if your paying out more than your bringing in, you'll close, if you've got poor cash flow, your forked all the way around.

It doesn't stop at the players wages, what about the manager and coach's wage, what about the guy that works in the office, who pays for the up keep of the pitch and training ground ? We champion our youth set up, they have a number of full time staff who pays there wages, for every £2 the club receives from EPPP it has to put £1 of it's own money in, where does that come from, then there's F.A affiliation fees , every time the F.A send correspondence , re; fines suspensions etc, etc, they charge administration fees, pretty sure the club has V.A.T to pay, and so the list goes on and on and on, where do some think this money comes from.

Some very good responses, as alluded to above, does our club make a profit, erm, no. Premier league clubs again covered above earn a fortune from the T.V, in fact I would imagine, most Premier league clubs will earn more income between now and Saturday's kick-off than our club will in a full year, I believe one year in the top flight is worth a reported £90 million, our clubs turnover if memory serves me right is around £2.5 million a year, some gap.

Yep you can go into a premiership match and pay not much more, but my suggestion there, would be go and buy a cheap premiership season ticket, or match day ticket, then go and take your seat and discover why, answer, you can not see sod all. Facilities/standard of football have nothing to do with what a club charges or what they can charge, as already said above, all clubs at our level are trying to be competitive, football is an entertainment service industry the price is the price, two choices pay it, or stay away.

Our club can drop the price to £10 a game, will we get our football league status back, not a hope hells chance, would be lucky to maintain southern premier league status.

:goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost:

I guess you can see both sides of this discussion and it depends on how fanatical you are (the route of fan).Loyal fans of Torquay United would pay the price to watch their team(any reasonable price) because its your team but there is the argument that you don't own the team,you follow them and hope they do well,the owners of the club are the custodians of the club and therefore have the first responsibility to keep the business afloat,not the fans.I have a loyalty to my plumber,we live in the same village , and he has done work for me for ten years,satisfactorly,but lately he has become a bit careless so do I tell him to get lost or continue to have shabby performances?.Loyalty is loyalty which ever way you cut it,if you feel you can spend your money in a better way then that is what you must do.Its all down to how you feel about the value for money in your opinion .I would pay to watch Torquay but somewhere along the line the board must take the responsibility of keeping the club afloat,as was said if they sold the club to some multi millionaire we as loyal fans wont be getting any cut on the deal,we are just fans.

I agree with Glostergull.. :-D

By the way, Bristol Rovers' cheapest adult admission price is £18, £1 more than us, yet their attendances are two or three times as big and we're only two points behind them near the top of the table.

Either they must be doing something right, or we are..

[quote="yellowmonkey"]. I would rather spend my hard earned cash on something more positive than overpaid footballers. :@ :@ :@ :@ :@[/quote]
And that is absolutely your decision ! However, don't think we've got too many of those at TUFC at the moment...even those left over from last season had to take a hefty cut in wages following relegation; several of the current team are (reportedly) earning 25% of the amount one of our top earners took home in 13/14.
Not supporting your local cinema is an interesting analogy on a 'use it or lose it' basis; let's hope it doesn't ever come to that at LWS Plainmoor !
Being a taxi driver, I can moan all I like about the price of fuel;but if I choose not to pay the price, I can't actually trade ! If I want to watch my team play ( & I do, it's an addiction ...otherwise why would I still be going, particularly after the last two seasons ?!) I have to pay the price ! Interesting that the BBC survey took no account of the 'early-bird' prices or the offers that the Club still has on offer, but I suppose that would be the case for all the other clubs as well !

[quote="Glostergull"]

Are You or are you not a Gulls fan. You say you follow United then say you shouldn't see why you should subsidise the clubs ambitions. I have heard some rubbish in my time but you have managed to top the iceberg by some considerable margin.
Boards ambitions indeed. So your saying you don't have any ambition to see us back in the football League then. You don't have ambitions of seeing if we can get into league one.ever! It's not the boards or clubs ambitions It all of ours. Not just the board not just the players and not just me or Matt or Dave, SG or Trojan assuming he has gotten over his beloved Doris leaving. Or even you.
How you can sit there and claim to be a supporter and yet have absolutely no ambition is beyond me.
The board actually subsidise your hobby. You have no right to tell them that you are not willing to pay your way if you want to watch the club and even less right to claim that they have to subsidise your hobby which i assume watching United is. as it is for all of us. It certainly confirms for me the selfish attitude that people like you have when it come to watching your team. I for one am now glad I didn't put in my sum to sit on the board to hear people like you moan and slag others off for not putting enough into the club so you can watch it for next to nothing. If you really feel like that then bog off and watch that plastic bunch of whingers at Man City. Your an insult to our intelligence
We don't want the likes of you around. You only bring our name dowm. :@ :@ :@ :@ :@ :red: :red: :red: :O[/quote]
I am also a big fan of movies but not going to pay extortinate prices to watch a film just so my local cinema can stay open!! Its called cutting your cloth accordingly and if the board dont want to stump up extra cash to get the club back into the league then why should the fans. At the end of the day they made the decision to invest in what is a buisness but want other people to pay for it, i dont think we would see any profit given back to the fans if the club was later sold at a profit. It's like Thatcher with her council house debunkle, we'll give you a house and give you housing benefit to pay for it then when you want to buy it we'll give you a massive discount for all the rent you paid.
This isn't a hobby to me, maybe to you and feel free to set up a direct debit to Mrs Bristow and Co. I would rather spend my hard earned cash on something more positive than overpaid footballers. :@ :@ :@ :@ :@

I havn't got a problem paying £21 for entry fee providing we are paying good football and up there and challenging. Mind you its more like £60 when you factor in the price of fuel to get there.
I attended all the home games up to Woking, missed the Dover game (due to finance). I didn't go to the Wrexham game because of the way we lost at Telford with Rice playing like a Western League keeper.
I won't be going to the Grimsby game either because of the latest pathetic effort against Alfreton.
So basically I am happy to pay the money but won't be stumping up when we keep conceding four against part time useless opposition.