Torquay United Fans Forum

Taelee73 wrote: 25 May 2025, 08:12 Torquay United have coaches that come in at lunchtimes at the school I work, I talked briefly to one of them ( a former player) and he thinks it’ll be this time next year that everything will be in place for it to start working for us and not for Exeter City etc. He gets frustrated that Torquay begin the process and then other teams carry it on and benefit.

It’s such a high priority, as the money City make from selling players is considerable.

I don't want to be too pessimistic but the idea that in a years time we will start to be challenging Plymouth and Exeter is not realistic. Both have invested significantly in their academies facilities in recent years and are miles ahead of us. We dont even have a proper training ground.

In answer to the question yes we have one, however in all honesty it's not fit for purpose in terms of producing players for the professional game. It may produce players that can go into semi-professional level at best. Any talented youngster in Devon will be snapped up by Plymouth or Exeter who run proper academies. If the club ever wants to be a serious football league side it needs ripping up and starting again.

Well I guess we will have to see what impact these prices rises have on attendances. Just saying well if we want a decent side you need to pay for it is fine, but how many fans will stay away meaning no more money comes through the gate. I don't think anyone predicted the massive increase in attendance last year, and I think these price rises put that at risk. Its really hard to argue we are offering value for money given the standard of football on offer. Look at Exeter (fan owned) ST prices for next season compared to us.

numpte wrote: 16 May 2025, 14:24 Sustainably run by fans. No one is pocketing any profit here. The team on the pitch is paid for by the fans at the turnstile and you get what you pay for.

I'm sure that's the case but I'm struggling to make sense of it. If we had gone up fair enough but it starts to look really poor value for the level of football. These prices wouldn't be out of place for a football league club. How many fans who have come back to the club will now stay away?

I agree with you here. I think they've got this wrong. I usually go with my son (U14) and it feels like they are forcing children out of Bristows Bench. At £20 for an adult we were already high price for the league but £22 just feels too much for NLS. I get the club need the money but Plymouth weren't charging much more than that for Championship football.

Its been a strange season. From what I've seen of us on the pitch we have been pretty average and never really looked like a title winning side. Despite that we have ground out results and somehow come within a few goals or promotion. It does still feel like a missed opportunity but all the sides in the top 6 will feel they should have won the league this year. Worthing were in prime position but couldn't get over the line. Dorking, Boreham Wood, us, and whoever else doesn't get through the play offs has had their chances to win the league and will look back on games where points were dropped.

Some fans just have unrealistic expectations and expect us to go out and put 3 or 4 goals past teams each week. That being said I would like us to play with handbrake off a bit. Use our home advantage and go after teams with much more intensity. Teams love coming to Plainmoor to cause an upset and will use every trick in the book to do it. The Chesham game comes to mind! But we have to be better than that and put these teams away. This is a massive summer for us. Keep the core of the side together (particularly defensively) and 4/5 quality additions and I think we are in a much better position next season.

Admiral wrote: 04 May 2025, 07:03 Has anyone got a list of how long players contracts are?

I've no idea but from what PW says the core of the squad will be here next season. Its fairly obvious where our deficiencies are. Defensively we are pretty good but midfield is our big issue. We are crying out for some pace and power across the midfield. Cody is so isolated upfront and the endless long balls to him just never work and we need another quality striker. Boreham wood just looked on a different level physically yesterday.

We basically played like we have done all season just today we were against a better team than us. The obvious difference was the physicality they were fitter, faster, stronger and seemed to be first to every ball. Our side are crying out for some pace and power but I'm confident this can be addressed for next season.

I know today is disappointing but i don't believe this side would have stayed up in the national league. Look at where we were not long over 12 months ago. Nearly out of business and left with 1 player! Today we had nearly 6000 fans there with an atmosphere better than any non league team. My plea to the owners, now is the time to invest, continue to engage with the fans get ourselves back in the football league.

Had absolutely nothing to do with her being a female ref. She just was not up to standard and had no control of the game. She tried to get control of the game by giving yellows but ended up giving out bookings for the wrong fouls. If the referee is that noticeable they've ruined the game.

2 points dropped. We missed 2 massive chances at 2-1 which would have killed the game. Main positive was Jordan Young who was brilliant. I hate to criticise refs I've been a ref myself and it's hard, but that was completely incompetent. Had no control of the game and that could be seen early on. Inconsistent decisions, gave out yellows for fouls which weren't even fouls and then missed so many clear free kicks. It was actually embarrassing.

Really goes to show what a disasterous job GJ and co did with assembling that squad over the past few seasons. Must have been far in excess of most teams in this league. How he lasted so long is beyond me. Anyway so fortunate we have been able to start again and rebuild the club properly.

Was very much a typical early pre season friendly. Game fizzled out particularly in the second half. Torquay dominated possession and territory without really creating many decent chances.

Buckland defended very well without really looking like scoring themselves. Would very much expect that Buckland side to be moving up to the Southern League in the next season or 2. Wouldn't read much into the result.

Any idea how many season tickets were sold last season?

At least the £2 match day charge has gone!

Ed Palmer has just left Truro so I'm assuming he is coming our way