Torquay United Fans Forum

gullsgullsgulls wrote: ↑29 Jan 2024, 06:37 Was looking at the latest from Swindon (see link below) and the announcement from before Christmas that Uncle Clarke has found a new site for the Speedway team who have played at Abbey Stadium since the 1940s (now a housing estate under Gaming International ownership, despite promises to the contrary).

Clarke was very pleased to have found a site ‘only’ 45 mins drive from Swindon which he described as “well within our drivetime criteria (sic)”. To me this implies he would have been happy with at least an hour commute from Swindon to ‘home’ events.

I have had a look at a map of 1 hour drives from Plainmoor and it is quite a large area - from Liskeard to Lyme Regis…

My fear is that any site found for a new stadium will be in such an unpopular location that people will understandably protest and Clarke can then turn around and blame the fans for not wanting the new stadium, before walking away. Job done.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/spo ... -speedway/

standupsitdown wrote: ↑27 Jan 2024, 19:42 No lack of effort again today, the players and tactics simply weren’t good enough to beat a good Worthing team.

Two games against Worthing and one against Worthing have shown that they are much better teams than we are.

We may still make the play offs but I can’t see us finishing second, so to win promotion we’d probably have to win at Worthing – if we win one or two earlier rounds – which may well be away.

Another rubbish ground but the most likely reason we won’t have to go back next year is that Worthing are promoted and we’re aren’t.

Dave_Pougher wrote: ↑27 Jan 2024, 17:13 Can’t hold on to leads, can’t install discipline, can’t win away, can’t, install belief, can’t avoid relegation, can’t face the truth, can’t face the support, can’t be bothered

Can anyone tell me what this management team is capable of?

Rjc70 wrote: ↑26 Jan 2024, 23:58 Those articles in Reading you posted (Mellow) were in 2012 and 2013. The stadium was demolished in 2008 AFTER his company had obtained outline planning permission for an alternative. Although in 2012 and 2013 Swindon were of course hearing all about their proposed new stadium.

Fast forward to 2023/4 similar articles appearing in Swindon regarding reviving the sport in the town after eviction and housing now up to and in the old car park at the Abbey Stadium and for as far as the eye can see. Onto the next project it is. And we are it.

I don’t know if anyone else noticed when Clarke Osborne was asked by Dominic Mee at that online fans forum about Swindon, that Clarke Osborne referred to it as a ‘success’. I’m guessing those who used to pay through those gates a short while before don’t regard the loss of their sport and lots of new housing in the same terms. Assume he was defining success rather differently to those fans.

But yes, football is different. Here’s what Clarke Osborne is reported to have said in 2018 about Bristol Rovers. Article Non League Paper July 2018 - Robertson (author) asked him how he felt about being responsible for his boyhood club being evicted from their Eastville Stadium (which he sold to become an IKEA store) Osborne said, “Unemotional… In football there’s a lot of emotion, ego and personalities that stretch over what I would call the basic business decisions you would make.“

Like Dave, I’ve tried to find an example of and have posed the question elsewhere of whether anyone has any knowledge of a Clarke Osborne proposed new stadium being built from scratch. I can’t find one. Just lots of proposed ones. I’ve also seen articles similar to what you say where others are ultimately blamed for it not happening. Be it bad luck, bad judgement, or something else, his proposed stadia don’t seem to ever get built. Other things do as part of the proposal/enabling development to get them done. But not the stadiums themselves. And bad news for current and potential future supporters often tends to follow.

I’m currently struggling to see any reason why we will be any different to all of those other places and why any other supporter thinks we might be.

SuperNickyWroe wrote: ↑23 Jan 2024, 23:21 Hardly GJ's fault if a player gets himself sent off.....