Torquay United v Brighton & Hove Albion.17/01/53.

Many thanks Timbo for yet another wonderful programme, what is so great about reading these old programmes is you learn so much about the club and how things were for it back then.

When ever we hear the Rec ground mentioned, we always these days think about Chris Roberts and his plans to move the club to that site that was never really about TUFC or what was really best for it, no he was hoping to make money from the hotel and shopping complex that would have been built on that site.

One of his arguments used to try and sell the idea to the fans was the fact the ground would be next to the train station and therefore it would be easier for fans to get to the ground etc. While I’m sure some fans may well have used the train to get to the ground if it had been moved to the Rec, I feel the number would have been very low and I also feel we may have seen gates fall because those who come by car would have nowhere to park and might not be able or willing to have further expense such as having to buy a train ticket on top of the cost of getting into the ground.

As we know the Rec was once our home and in this programme we learn the club offered a £1000 a year rent bid to move back to the Rec, I would imagine that would have been seen as a large sum of money in 1953 and what is interesting is it was felt by moving to the Rec the club would increase its gates by 3000 fans.

Maybe I’m reading what was written wrongly, but I read it that our main heart of support came from Paignton, we do know Paignton had its own supporters club branch and its no surprise also to see the club mentioning the Newton Abbot TUFC fans as back then many Newton folk supported our club.

Maybe Jon or Barton can tell us what happened to this bid and why it did not get accepted, but reading also about the new covered accommodation built on the popside in record time and paid for by the supporters club, its clear it was built in such a way so that it could be taken down and then moved to the Rec ground.

In another programme you put up this week Timbo we learned the supporters club was just short of 2000 members, a very high number of fans at that time given the financial situation people were in back in those days. I say that only because you may remember I tracked down a Mr Reg Chapple last year as he owned a very beat up photo that had been used in the Herald Express of the 1954 Watcombe football team that my bosses dad was also in and I then spent a great deal of time repairing the picture. I have had a look on here for the thread, it is on here somewhere but there are so many places to look so when I do find it I will add the link on this thread.

One thing I leaned from him as he was going to Plainmoor in the early 50’s was that young working men like him could only just about afford to get into Plainmoor and buying such things as Programmes was simply not possible and you wonder if these great programmes Timbo now owns, were only bought by our well off supporters back then and you would imagine the programme sales would not have been very high.

That’s why I think the supporters club having nearly 2000 members was a remarkable achievement and it’s clear the supporters clubs were very much alive with weekly dances, whist drives, jumbo sales, in fact nearly anything that would raise money to help the club and they sure did raise some very large sums and were responsible for many of the ground improvements back then.

I would really like to find out just why things for the supporters club seemed to just decline over the years, was it the fact our gates went down to much lower numbers? Was it a case that the real hard working people who ran then died one by one and never really got replaced by people with the same drive in them?

I was asked a few months ago my views on if it would be possible to get a good supporters club up and running again, while I believe anything that gets fans more involved with the club and ties them in far more than just attending a game once a fortnight, I do feel the glory days of our old supporters club could never be repeated and we sure would not have all the different braches we had for different towns as we did back then.

Maybe it would be possible to tie in the new club card that has been launched recently with a supporters club membership and if it was done properly I do believe some tidy sums could be raised to directly help the club, its clear the club can’t just survive on the money they get from fans on the gate and anyway, anything that ties fans, the club and even the Torbay community closer together has to have real long term benefits that would help to play a part in keeping Torquay United alive and well for future generations to enjoy.

OK I have changed it as its not my aim to try and frighten anyone, being only 5 foot four and a half inch tall, it is not something I have have done with any success before.

Ah, a subject close to my heart!

My belief is, and always has been; that the actual location within a town of any football club is crucial to it's gate potential for gate potential can only really be maximised through the level of convenience available for those who must be construed as "marginal" fans or "potential" fans. In other word, the committed and loyal supporters will always come but the stay aways will always hit on some excuse or other to justify their decision not to get along to games.

Two provincial clubs who enjoy the best gate potential away from the old industrial/working class cradle of the game are to be found in Norwich and Ipswich, and don't forget that at the time of the programme featured were no more than contemporaries of ours and rather like ourselves able to draw on considerable support from outlying areas. Remember too, that in the immediate post war years the ownership of cars was minimal ~ certainly amongst the working classes who provided the bedrock of support; so being adjacent to a railway station was hugely beneficial. Another small town club similarly located and who were emerging at this time was Shrewsbury Town, and they too were located right by the railway station.

I know too from conversation with him many years later, that George Gillin was also very keen on re-locating the club to Newton Abbot Recreation Ground for the very same reason that he had unsuccessfully sought the Torquay Rec for the club....................he also recognised that NA was a far more working class area than balmy Torquay and was also very mindful of the FACT that such a poor percentage of the club's total gate actually lived within the town boundaries.

Remember too, that he was very much a Torquay town centre businessman (he owned the Belgrave Hotel) so he very much knew what he was talking about, and later became quite frustrated with the laissez faire attitude of the town towards professional football and turned his enthusiasm and investment towards Exeter City and then Plymouth Argyle, to say nothing of an attempt to create a professional football club in it's own right at the Newton Abbot Rec.

To return to Norwich and Ipswich, anyone who is aquainted with the two grounds will recognise the huge advantage they hold in that they are superbly located and appointed stadiums adjacent to both railway stations and city/town centre facilities........................unlike the stuck out "on a limb" new Colchester United stadium just down the road from Ipswich and the awful location of the new Shrewsbury Town stadium both of which have been located with the car driver in mind, which in this supposedly enlightened age of environmental awareness and "green" issues is truly appalling.


People of Torquay beware!

In my neighbourhood we have the Emirates Stadium which is fully integrated into local life even though it is but half a dozen years into it's existence.

When Arsenal were seeking to re-locate they were offered all sorts of tempting offers to move to Wembley, Kings Cross, Alexandra Palace; but chose to stay within 500 metres of their established home. Even this Monday my partner begins a course of education at the learning centre within the stadium complex, a centre that boasts more and better educational aids than I have ever seen in one place!

Accross the manor, Tottenham Hotspur have re-sumitted more sympathetic plans as regard their new build of White Hart Lane slap bang next door to the existing one as regards now retaining the old Edwardian buildings with regards to the history of the club.......................Warmington House, the former White Hart Lane pub,The Red House which used to house the old boardroom and offices of the Football Club and were due to be demolished and lost forever but which have now become the subject of insistence from English Heritage and the Government's Commision for Architecture that they be retained and included in the development.

Even at The Emirates the "summer snooze" does not exist....................a brand new Gunners' Square is being created at street and podium level featuring named paving slabs, benches and tiles so that fans and great players from the club's past will be enshrined in stone forever in their new home.

If club's do move to a new home they must ensure they maintain the links with the past and create a homely and inspiring environment that ensures their fanbase feel at home in the new surroundings and I for one applaud Harringey Council for insisting that the old is incorporated into the new!