Hand On Heart Time.

I cannot agree Dave.

Whilst in an ideal world all of the players would like to know where they will be next season as far as a contract offer is concerned, it is just not realistic.

The fact is, should we be promoted to League Two, our income will vastly increase from TV, sponsorship, on the gate and all the other ancilliaries ... programme sales, bar sales etc etc.

Should we remain in the Conference then a totally different set of circumstances will ensue!

Not only that, but from the Managers perspective there are probably some players within our squad who the Manager thinks could do a job in the Conference ... but wont cut it in League Two.

I couldn't agree more Pete, but I'm afraid that we belong to a generation who's acceptance of the reality of expectation is on a lot more realistic level than the evergrowing number of "we want success, and we want it now" merchants who are spoiling the party for me these days.

It's the same with the unrealistic demands of younger fans for a certain level of skill and entertainment......................they just don't seem to get it that the manager has so often to work with "flawed" goods when taking on players who have failed to establish themselves at a higher level.

That's how it is for clubs of our size and how it always will be, and if people want it to be any different then THEY have to come up with the goods and provide a level of support that in all honesty has never been shown in our club's case with the possible exception of the late sixties and the immediate post war years.

Summing up, even in the BSP we struggle to be one of the biggest half dozen clubs; so what right do folk have to be dissatisfied with a "near miss" finish?

Let me sign up to the Old Farts Club by nodding in agreement with these comments (and, of course, those of Pete's). I've highlighted the words "spoiling the party" because that's how I feel sometimes. Sadly, there are occasions when I dread discussing Torquay United because I know precisely where the conversation is going. I mean Paul Buckle must be to blame for everything, mustn't he? Aldershot getting 101 points last year - which may have been significant in us not winning the championship? - sort it out, Bucks! Burton still being on course for 95+ points...it's an outrage!

Let me also drag up three paragraphs from deep within a recent posting of Jon's which contain plenty of pertinent insights:



Well said, that man, especially the point about the club now being in the upper quartile of the league with respect to crowds, resources, etc. The 2007 takeover seemed to be accompanied by a widespread belief that we were now by far - if you were to listen to some observers - the richest, biggest club in this league. I dared to speculate on this myself but what did I know of the finances of other clubs in our league? Bugger all to be honest. And, anyway, if there's any truth in money guaranteeing success you've got to be significantly richer than your rivals. Consequently I think Jon is correct - at current prices - in going no further than his top 25% verdict.

Another point to make is the sudden importance of requiring to be champions in order to guarantee promotion. That's a massive culture shock, isn't it? In the top four tiers the championship only really, really matters in the Premiership. In the other three divisions it's a lovely bonus with the real aim being automatic promotion. It's particularly difficult for us coming from a division where there is a more generous allocation of promotion places than in any other league (something which came about in the horse trading that accompanied the creation of the national Division Four in 1958). I would imagine there are very few clubs - in any league - which can expect to win a championship. This season I would have expected Truro to win their league because they are incredibly wealthy in a poverty-stricken division. Well, they probably will do but it's not been the cakewalk they anticipated. Leicester in Lge 1? They haven't yet - and was it ever an absolute given? I think not.

On balance I'm a purist when it comes to promotion. I'd scrap the play-offs and promote the best two, three, four teams or whatever. However, I realised that from the day I saw one of the earliest play-off games - Oldham v Leeds in 1987 - I was captivated by the whole occasion and that the bloody things were here to stay (and I've since enjoyed many as a neutral). I appreciate it's an old argument but we know we could be runners-up by a country mile - and win the play-off semi-final handsomely - but still not get promoted. We also understand we could squeeze into the play-offs and win both the semi-final and final on penalties. The very fact we need to win the championship to ensure promotion may be distorting our view of how we feel the club is progressing. It's completely hypothetical but - even if it was two-up automatically - I reckon we'd be so much more optimistic and satisfied. Three-up automatically and we'd probably be very confident of promotion sooner rather than later.

That, in my opinion, is a testimony to the state of the club at the moment and I'm not sure how many other clubs could say the same. Cambridge perhaps?