What to do for next season

frenchgull · Post by **frenchgull** » 22 Mar 2014, 19:54

Now is the time to look ahead to life back in the conference.Taking it from the top we must look at the desision makers,the board.We must thank Mrs Bristow who without doubt we would have disappeared long ago but I have to ask the question dose she want to be here plus the only thing I suggest she contributes is money,,very necessary but so are football decisions and a desire to lead from the front which at Torquay we don't have,just a lot of people putting in their five pennyworth and coming up with nothing.
We have a management team that have absolutely no management expierence,nice people no doubt,but they are learning as they go,sort of apprentices really,maybe they have an aptitude for coaching but building a team and being ruthless who knows?.
There must be a big clear out of the present playing staff where if contracts allow,we need to start again with people who want to be at Torquay.So a very big job and maybe one that is one step to many for our club,still our expectations for next season must be is to stay in the conference and build for better things.

Post by **Dave** » 22 Mar 2014, 20:52

Trouble is French, until relegation is confirmed the club cant make sweeping statements or take physical actions, about/towards how the club will shape up for the conference, we're 6pts behind safety with some relegation rivals still to play, yes, I know our chances of staying up are slim, but the fat lady hasn't sung yet.

Also, notions of us once again enjoying winning games, fighting at the top end of the league, trips Wembley, enjoying life in conference like we did before, are some what romantic. I don't know, but suspect the club is in a very different financial position now, also, I suspect there will be a very real possibly that even Forest Green Rovers could be working of a budget equal to, maybe even bigger than ours.

It's a real shame, we as a club, had a big chance to build some thing special here, and forked it up. I will always believe some very poor decisions made as far back to when Paul Buckle was still our manager have set us on this road, that's why I don't fully blame Martin Ling or Alan Knill , we should have been promoted to league 1, success breeds success, confidence breeds itself also, sometimes when you speculate you can accumulate, but still harping on isn't going solve anything, what's done is done.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » 22 Mar 2014, 21:16

I think things need to get worse before they get better.

We've reached the end of a cycle, and need to rip it all up and start again. Perhaps that takes the form of cutting the playing budget right back, base it on 1200-1500 average gate and make the club sustainable again before we have another tilt at getting back in the football league. Throwing money at things for next season will only make the situation worse and with no guarantee of success

Post by **Dave** » 22 Mar 2014, 21:24

Agree Jeff, the time throw money at it passed when we're second in league needing a couple of fresh pairs of legs during ML's time, with the loss of income that will come with relegation, the club will have no choice but to cut heir cloth accordingly.

Post by **MidDevon** » 22 Mar 2014, 21:32

When your wage bill is £1,500,000 and your gate receipts don't even hit £500,000 you could say you have a big problem if you drop out of the league and in turn loose league money!

Can see the club being part time within 3 years....the worst thing the club could do is come up with one of those "5 year business plans" to set the club on a sound footing. When was the last time one of those worked? Weymouth have had 3 since the 80's ! Milton keynes were going to be premiership in 5 years time, and that was 9 years ago.

Quite simply the board must cut prices drastically, fill the ground, get some passion in the place and get rid of the old guard (in no particular order)

It is interesting how as the club is now struggling, some of the senior people are staying away, anything from going to watch the ashes to not even bothering to turn up at all.....the directors box was half empty today which tells a story in itself

Neal · Post by **Neal** » 23 Mar 2014, 07:02

I posted weeks ago saying no chance next season in the conference as we have too many crap players on league 2 money. We should not throw money at it next season as it will be a complete waste. That's also why our very few decent players who's contracts end this season will be off, and I for one don't blame them one bit for doing that.

If any of you think we will have an easy ride in the conference with the contracted players we will have your gonna get an almighty shock. I've seen a few conference south games this season and I can tell you a lot of our players wouldn't find it over easy at that level,

I Agree with the post above let's clear out, start again, even might have to wait till CH's contract is up as I'm not convinced about him yet.

AFC and Aldershot did it and they started what in effect was new clubs. We will not have to do that but it could be exciting actually. I actually think even if we were in conference south and doing well we would get 2000. That's made me think. What attendance do you think we would get.

So here is my prediction for attendances in different leagues.

League l doing well l doing badly

League 2 2500 1700
Conference 2300 1400
Conf south 2000 800

We wouldn't stay in conference south long with those figures. As teams like Basingstoke and Farnborough survive on 200.

budleigh · Post by **budleigh** » 23 Mar 2014, 07:21

.....the directors box was half empty today which tells a story in itself

Not really...

Two of the directors watched from the bench, one who would normally occupy a spot in the directors box.

One was on a long standing engagement to see her new born grandson in Australia; surely one can't begrudge her that.

One had an engagement abroad that had to be honoured; this being a director who rarely misses a game and will be back with us for the remainder of the season.

All the others that one would expect to be in attendance were as far as I'm aware.

Post by **MidDevon** » 23 Mar 2014, 08:42

You seem close to the board so I have no reason to doubt your judgement, and I am pleased to read that , judging by your posting, all the directors should stick around next season.

But the directors box has been very empty not just yesterday and that stands out.

When a director told me that Bill Philips was missing a large chunk of the middle part of the season (at a crucial time when the club needed steering) to go and see the ashes, I should have taken it for the joke it clearly was :Oops:

.....I am sure the directors box will be as full when we play Welling and Gateshead as it is was when we played Plymouth and Exeter this season.

brucie · Post by **brucie** » 23 Mar 2014, 11:37

Start watching Bideford.

Burnhamgull · Post by **Burnhamgull** » 23 Mar 2014, 12:10

Start watching Bristol City or wait another year and watch us play Weston Super Mare.

Post by **Scott Brehaut** » 23 Mar 2014, 12:32

brucie wrote:Start watching Bideford.

Could you go and watch Exeter for the rest of this season - hopefully the fact that every time you watch us we lose, your bad form will rub off on them.

If we're going down, I'd rather like them down too.

TUFCfan · Post by **TUFCfan** » 23 Mar 2014, 12:41

MidDevon wrote:When your wage bill is £1,500,000 and your gate receipts don't even hit £500,000 you could say you have a big problem if you drop out of the league and in turn lose league money!

Where are you getting those figures from? A basic estimate based on average attendance would put our gate receipts at around £1.2m by the end of the season, and that's not counting friendlies, cup games and any extra we may gain based on season ticket holders who've paid but don't turn up to every game. If that was our wage bill as well it would mean our average wage would be well over £1k p/w, and I sure we have some players around that figure but we also have quite a few young players who wouldn't be on anywhere near that. You're also forgetting that we have to adhere to the league's salary management protocol, which means we can only spend 55% of our turnover on wages, so a situation like you suggest couldn't be happening or else we'd have been hit with sanctions by now.

Post by **MidDevon** » 23 Mar 2014, 16:48

Here is how i came to those figures

I estimated 1100 season ticket holders paying £200 on average (obviously ex VAT and including concessions etc) = £220,000

1000 average home gate paying on the day , which I would estimate at £12 a time (again ex VAT and including concessions etc) = £12,000 a game = £276,000 over 23 games

Cup games and friendlies have to be exlcuded as non guaranteed income

£220,000 + £276,000 = £496,000

I think that is possibly generous considering the drop in away fans (remember the night Lewes brough 7 fans and Histon 21?)

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