Reply With QuoteHopefully it won't actually be their demise. Fingers crossed for them. 'There but for the grace of God' etc.Originally Posted by Glad2BeAPie
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Today has been put into administration by their owner who has jumped ship
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68376328
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Hopefully it won't actually be their demise. Fingers crossed for them. 'There but for the grace of God' etc.
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Sad news.
I've had a soft spot for Torquay United since I was a young kid.
In my naivety as an 7/8(ish) year old I didn't really understand the idea of football clubs being businesses, but wrote in my scribbled handwriting to a few football clubs asking if they could send me some memorabilia. Most were the top clubs at the time, and Notts County, but Torquay caught my eye as the little underdog sitting at the very bottom of Division Four.
Unsurprisingly, most clubs didn't reply at all, and a couple sent me a price list, but Torquay United sent me some stickers, a club pennant and a recent match day programme from a game against Southend, accompanied by a compliment slip saying: "Sorry, this is all we have!"
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Their highest average gate over the last 50 years is a mere 3,511, which probably explains a lot, seeing that were elected into the FL in 1927 and first dropped out only as recently as 2008. They have the pedigree but not the support.
Fighting your way back into the FL only to drop back out again seems to put traditional league clubs with low crowds at high risk, Darlington, Chester and Hereford all did that and went under after being relegated out of tier 4 the 2nd time and all are now forgotten tier 6 fodder. York also sunk as low as tier 6 the 2nd time around and are now struggling to make an impression on tier 5, despite having a fairly decent history for a lower end FL league club.
I think Lincoln are the only club to go down to tier 5 twice and rise back as high as tier 3, but they were the first club ever to be relegated into tier 5 and climbed straight back out.
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It's maybe 50/50 in these situations whether a club really does go under (and has to start all over again at a very low level) or recovers. I kind of have a soft spot for them (no idea why) so I hope they are okay.
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Funnily enough I have always had a soft spot for Torquay as well. That was very decent of them. I will see if they have some kind of donation page and shove them a few quid.
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Had some great away days/weekends there
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Me too. I think my soft spot for Torquay stems from my days watching Soccer AM when it was introduced by Tim Lovejoy and the lovely Helen Chamberlain, who was a big Torquay fan. I seem to remember she came second in a big poker competition, winning in the region of $400K, and owned a couple of racehorses. I've also had some great weekends there over the years.
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Rochdale in the mire as well
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68353473
We were lucky with the Bros!
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Always sad to see this happen. Wouldn't wish it on any club (apart from maybe MKD, but even then, I'd feel bad for the fans who actually care about them). Torquay were such a tough side just a few years ago in the NL. They always knocked us around a bit, especially at their place. Hope they pull through this and move on up again.
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