Why do I feel like this?

I started to read your post Stu and half way down I thought I was going to burst into tears mate, I'm sure you will be able to get to some more games and hope when you do, all the problems are sorted out and you will see your mighty gulls flying again.

Stuart your not alone ive got another ten years on you but sadly the standard of football has plumeted dreadfully. You hope it wont and even try and will that it wont but there is no denying it. As a supporter you almost feel responsible.
I watched the Ebsfleet game on Setanta and it was truly horrible. The performance matched the weather on the night, it was just apalling tv viewing.
Over the years at times like this , and there have been many, i try and disconcet emotionaly.
For Instance I have decided to take up a bit of fishing now that our season is already in complete disarray. Never missed a home mach for years but now I have decided to at least try and ween myself off this addiction for my own mental well being.
Trouble is I know Its an impossible task and I expect the men in white jackets will soon be knocking at my door!

Chin up Stu mate! You could always wtch Merthyr....

Our future mayor the 92ndfish has talked about a real way forward not only for Torbay, but also our club. In his vision he can see times when the club could once again enjoy gates of 10.000 fans going through the turnstiles. The way things are now in the UK I can't myself ever see Torbay being able to make the changes needed, or the club ever getting those sort of gates again.

What has this got to do with this thread? I will tell you, ask yourself how many people do you know, IE friends, family, work mates etc, who all claim to have been TUAFC supporters. How many faces do you remember seeing at the ground, but you no longer see them at all.

I really could only ever make a wild guess, but if I was asked too, then I would say that if all the people who were once regular fans at Plainmoor and still alive, were added up, I firmly believe It would be over 12,000.

I wrote on one thread how it was for me in my mid twenty's and most of my thirties, while bing a milkman, what I did not say was that I had a milk boy helping me, He started at a very young age, six I believe and would be up at 3am and work the full day with me. Yes it was Ant, loved by all my customers,he really made the difference getting to a game or not, by helping getting those pints on the doorstep.

There was a time when nearly every milkman working for what was then Devonshire Dairies, would be a fan of TUAFC, they would all meet up and stand together, they knew each game who's turn it was to go and get the tea's, so what happened, what changed? as many stopped going and have never gone back.

I always was at the halfway line on the popside up against the pitch fence( now the walkway where those nice stewards move you on from)always with a lady called Gillian, sure she had something to do with the club and that Merse will know who she is. She sometimes had her granddaughter with her, a real bueaty of a young lady who had two different colour eyes. She still could have been a top model if she wanted to be.

Also Ant with me and my then best mate Brian, two add-ons not sure how or why, the very young romfordkev and his school mate Jerry. Dear old Roy, the man who always had the bag of sweets in his pocket to share around., he lived in Maldon close to the Church House Inn, he would get over on the bus to Castle Circus and walk up the hill to the ground. Sadly passed away a few years back, these really are my best times at Plainmoor and for me it will never be as good as it was in those days.

So if as I say there are all those 1000's of fans who no longer go to Plainmoor are still alive, just why did they give it up.I think for a large number of them, they all reached some low parts as a fan, questioned if feeling down and fed up, all because they were simply a fan of a football club, was ever worth feeling like that and having to also pay to feel like it!Just like the pain of ending any long term relationship, many have made the break away from watching TUAFC, they will follow the results, listen to games on the radio and even watch the team on the TV.

They will be happy if we win, but because they have been able to distance themselves they do not feel the pain of defeat that most of us will feel, that pain that hurts and takes a while to go away.Bateson also played his part in losing many fans, giving away the popside as he did and often having a go at the supporters, were many reasons others gave up going to games.

Many asked what was the point, the club was going nowhere, Bateson really only saw the club as a small town club and one that could end up part time.What I do know is that for what ever reasons people stop going, change what they do at weekends etc, once they have made the break, not a lot ever go back to being a regular at Plainmoor.

Our gates in the first half of last season, could well have tempted some back for the first time for a very long time, now we had a new board, the whole mood was very upbeat and people started to believe that the club would now move forward instead of all the backward movement, it has done over the last 10 years and even worse over the last four years.

We all know the pain and hurt we felt last season, salts really rubbed into our wounds when the club up the road took what we felt should have been ours. Then even before this season even started, seeing what we believe are good players joining the club, expectations went shooting far to high by far to many.

If things do not turn around soon, there will be fans who feel they need a break, find a less painful way to enjoy their weekends off, much deserved after having to work all week. Maybe they will just watch the TV or even start to watch some local football, where they can enjoy the game and not care about the result.

Look in their pocket afterward and smile because they had a good afternoon and it did not cost them the twenty odd quid they would have spent, going to Plainmoor. Got a cup of tea for 50p and a pasty for a pound, watched men and boys playing a game simply because they loved to play it.

The problem is, that once many do make the break, it will be forever, lost and never to return. Like it or not, football is all about results, its all about winning, its all about emotions and what effects being a fan can and does have on you. I hope some faith can be restored to those now on the edge, so If they fall, they fall back into Plainmoor and not end up watching football just at the local park.

Great post Dave. My reasons for staying away from Plainmoor were all done to Bateson & the Argyle stewards, 3 seasons on, I'm enjoying my football more than I have done over the past 10 years or so now that I don't go to Plainmoor (not even when the mighty Stevenage are in town)

Was on my way to game yesterday, got to junction 16 of M25 at about 13:15 - traffic was very slow and it took 45 mins to go 10 miles - so I felt that the best thing to do was to return to North London - and made the right decision
In the good old days of proper league footy and reasonable footy standards I would have made the match whatever.

If you sorted yer bloody life out Pikey and built some "delay time" into your travel arrangements as I do, you'd be OK.

Constantly leaving it to the last minute to get to places is shutting one's eyes to the reality of travel in this day and age.

Using the M25 on a Bank Holiday is also asking for trouble..................the next time you plan to go to a game use a professional to get you there - you know it makes sense! ;D