Dave
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Post by Dave on May 26, 2008 6:57:42 GMT
I do wonder if after our great start to this season, if the fans just expected far too much. After all the events of last season the fact is that we are lucky still to have a club at all. Everyone seemed to think they would be happy, if we finished mid-table, while building a team to win promotion, maybe in our second season in this league.
We stated so well topping the table early on and I think we all dared to hope, that we would get back to the football league at the first attempt. Sadly we failed TUFC style at the very end and Exeter going up only rubbed salt into our wounds.
We can’t fault the work to rebuild our club that the new owners have done and the future does look a lot brighter. The need to get back where we believe we belong is very important for the rebuilding to continue. To long in this league, I believe will lead to falling gates etc.
The one major disappointment for me is how the club seems more distant to me now. I had hoped the owners and the fans would be so much closer, but I feel this has not happened. We hear very little from our chairman and even the manager does not say a lot. I hope that more effort will be made to really bridge the gap, so we can all feel so much more a part of the club.
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Post by andyparsons on May 26, 2008 9:13:37 GMT
The last paragraph of your posting has a 100% ring of truth in it Dave.
Under Mike Bateson the Club was very much a family concern we all know, but it also had its individuality.
Now that may well have been a bad thing in many peoples eyes, as indeed it probably lost the Club league status in the end,.
Sadly now TUFC is just another football club, and certainly improvements have been made by spending a lot of money, whose remains to be seen, but sometime the Directors will say enough is enough, as did Mike Bateson, and they will be looking for some return!
I hope they can buy their way back into the Football League, but maybe Bateson will be proved right when he said that Torquay was not really a Football League Club and it has now found its rightful place in the Conference.
Only time will tell!
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Dave
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Post by Dave on May 26, 2008 9:22:45 GMT
Yes I really was expecting the new board to form a much closer bond with the fans. m.Bateson had many faults, but I always felt, I could talk to him. He wanted to talk with the fans, even going on message boards to be able to do so. I hope that we do return to the level I feel we belong in, after all we spent 80 years there. Good old uncle Mike just may be correct, we will have to wait and see.
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Post by andygulls on May 26, 2008 20:56:18 GMT
Not sure I would agree that Torquay United is just another football club. However I would agree that communication is the aspect that the new board need to get to grips with. Alex sounds great on the radio but we do need to see improvements in the website, both in speed and depth of coverage. We need to see that before and during next season as I think that after the collapse at the end of the season the cynics and part time attendees will need a little extra push to get them to Plainmoor.
As to Paul Buckle, he is I guess learning the press game, but for me, whilst I do not expect him to single out players for criticism on a regular basis, a little more honesty, as opposed to the platitudes and most importantly he and not Shaun North or anyone else should be there answering questions when we lose and play poorly.
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Dave
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Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on May 26, 2008 21:07:26 GMT
Not sure I would agree that Torquay United is just another football club. However I would agree that communication is the aspect that the new board need to get to grips with. Alex sounds great on the radio but we do need to see improvements in the website, both in speed and depth of coverage. We need to see that before and during next season as I think that after the collapse at the end of the season the cynics and part time attendees will need a little extra push to get them to Plainmoor. As to Paul Buckle, he is I guess learning the press game, but for me, whilst I do not expect him to single out players for criticism on a regular basis, a little more honesty, as opposed to the platitudes and most importantly he and not Shaun North or anyone else should be there answering questions when we lose and play poorly. I fully agree that Paul Buckle should do after match interviews, Leroy would always have something to blame when we lost, but Paul as you say should be most honest as to the reasons, we may have lost. The website has been a big let down this season, while some may say running the club and team is more important, the fans need a club website to keep them up to date. Maybe its something they will work on. |
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Post by melloyello on May 29, 2008 8:43:48 GMT
Yes I really was expecting the new board to form a much closer bond with the fans. m.Bateson had many faults, but I always felt, I could talk to him. He wanted to talk with the fans, even going on message boards to be able to do so. I hope that we do return to the level I feel we belong in, after all we spent 80 years there. Good old uncle Mike just may be correct, we will have to wait and see. I have to say I really admired Mike B for that. There's not many chairmen who would take the time to reply personally to fans on forums. I'm sure a closer bond between the fans and the board will be formed in time. |
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Post by jimd on May 31, 2008 12:11:18 GMT
I hope I dont get lynched for this but I quite liked Mike B.
He did it his way, and maybe he got it wrong but he would always answer any question that was put to him and he certainly made me feel a lot closer to the club than I do these days.
Having said that I am so grateful to the current owners for rescuing the club from oblivion and if they dont want to be as open and approachable as Mike then so be it..it isnt that important.
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Dave
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Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on May 31, 2008 12:18:49 GMT
I hope I dont get lynched for this but I quite liked Mike B. He did it his way, and maybe he got it wrong but he would always answer any question that was put to him and he certainly made me feel a lot closer to the club than I do these days. Having said that I am so grateful to the current owners for rescuing the club from oblivion and if they dont want to be as open and approachable as Mike then so be it..it isnt that important. You won't get lynched Jim for having you own point of view. When m.B took over the club fans were so grateful that he had in fact saved it. No one can say we did not have some great, famous and good players while he owned the club. Sadly he made some big mistakes, giving the popside away, not just once but twice was one of them. I feel he grew tiered of it all in the end and sadly often lashed out at the fans. Despite that you could always talk to Mike and he did keep the club in business. |
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Post by andyparsons on May 31, 2008 16:35:32 GMT
Jim, I think you are quite right! Mike Bateson took on a loser from the start I think, and eventually was not prepared to put anymore cash into a money losing prospect. What started as a bit of 'fun' ended up as a millstone. Everyone called for his head, but at the end of the day there were no takers willing to buy him out...until the Roberts scenario.....and I think that highlighted just how desperate things had become, both for him & eventually the club. It was a pity that the consortium did not play their hand before Roberts came along, who knows what the outcome would have been that season ending...or where the Club would be now.  ( and I don't mean at the Rec!! ;D) |
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Post by andygulls on Jun 1, 2008 21:35:37 GMT
Yes I really was expecting the new board to form a much closer bond with the fans. m.Bateson had many faults, but I always felt, I could talk to him. He wanted to talk with the fans, even going on message boards to be able to do so. I hope that we do return to the level I feel we belong in, after all we spent 80 years there. Good old uncle Mike just may be correct, we will have to wait and see. You can talk to Alex Rowe, simply email the club! Don't forget that the new owners have other interests & concerns aside from the club running their own businesses & doing their own jobs! Mike Bateson didn't have that, his sole interest (Aside from breeding parrots!) once he sold Mod-Dec was the club In any relationship it takes two to make it work. It is no good the club sitting back and waiting for fans to contact them. If they want to attract and maintain support, particularly if the footballing aspects are not fully working out, they (the club) have to do their bit. So many other aspects of the way things are being run make the club barely recognisable from the rather amateur approaches of old. The dialog with fans, at all levels needs improvement. It is worth recalling however that for all Mike B's forums and board contributions, he only ever said what he wanted you to hear and was very astute at avoiding answering questions that many fans actually wanted to get some answers to. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Jun 1, 2008 21:44:24 GMT
I like so many, really believed when the new board set out, that it was there aim to get closer to the fans. I fail to understand how it seems the customers are put on the back burner.
Yes they have had a lot to get on with, but every business needs to learn first to look after its customers.
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Post by escortmad79 on Jun 1, 2008 21:52:15 GMT
With the OS being updated more often by Daryl Haggen then there maybe more chance of the ask the chairman feature to return every so often.
Try emailing Alex to see whther he would be willing to do so
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Dave
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Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Jun 1, 2008 21:56:18 GMT
Well that would be a very good start,but as before there will be those that ask daft questions etc, but I do feel the club needs to make an effort soon. As has been said Like him or Hate him, we could always talk to Mike.
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Post by escortmad79 on Jun 1, 2008 22:05:49 GMT
Then it's up to Alex to sift through them & answer the sensible, decent questions sent as Roberts & Bateson did!
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Dave
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Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Jun 1, 2008 22:13:47 GMT
I'm sure he will ,do you know if he has talked about it? and would he do it on the main site as before via email etc
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