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Dom Roman
@DomRoman
Dom discusses the Gulls
DRY JANUARY
I’m no fan of January, it’s a month where the fun of Xmas disappears and you’re left with very short days and cold weather, but what makes 2024’s version worse than many others is the struggles of Torquay United. Our bad run continued at Edgar Street on Saturday, and anyone who saw the Eastbourne game the week before (or been to any of our away games to be fair!) could see this result coming. Our away form this season has been abysmal. We don’t start with enough organisation and drive to quieten the crowds, allowing the home teams possession and space to make them believe it’s their day, and often it has been.
It all started of course with an ultimate ‘Torquay United banter moment’. New signing Duane Ofori-Acheampong pulling up lame after only a few minutes. This moment alone is a reflection of how we are currently doing as a football club. An Ex-Gull who has been ploughing his furrow in a lower league persuaded to return to Plainmoor in a desperate bid to give us something upfront, thrown hastily back into action on a very cold day in the West Midlands = an accident waiting to happen. We may officially be a professional football club, but it’s all looking so amateurish and this is latest sad example.
Torquay barely lay a glove on Hereford after that, one of our contributors commenting that the home team would not have had an easier game all season as Hall and Marshall tried to win knock-ons upfront. It all led to more frustration and pent up anger from the Yellow Army seeping out, much of it aimed at the manager, who swiftly made an exit on the final whistle, leaving Aaron Downes to face the music. Credit to Downesy, as one of this failing coaching partnership he is undoubtedly part of the problem, but he always fronts up to supporters and I’m sure he hates the current situation as much as we do. As a GJ disciple I don’t think we’d want the Aussie taking the reins though (frying pan into the fire comes to mind). We may well get more candour and honestly, but I’m not sure the football team would do any better.
I don’t like hearing about abuse being given out and arguments between fans, but we are emotionally invested in the club and spend good money and plenty of time following them, so it’s inevitable that after 2 1/2 years of downward momentum, supporters will make their feelings known in the heat of the matchday. By continuing to back this manager after relegation, the owners have failed to take the main footballing decision that would benefit Torquay United. This means any bad result or run feels worse, because it’s the same people making the same mistakes and losing more games. It feels like the owners have forged a relationship with the manager that is more important to them than their football team getting results, and that can never be a positive thing.
There are three more fixtures to enjoy in January, and that starts with bottom-placed Dover visiting Plainmoor on Saturday. Morale is so low at the moment that I don’t think any of us will head to TQ1 confident of TUFC grabbing all 3 points and that’s versus a team that have only won 2 games all season. Attendances have been pretty good during 2023-24 (the figures sugar-coated a little by free tickets being handed out to schools and others), but under an increasingly unpopular manager, I can see many giving this one a swerve (no queues for Mel Hayman anyway…). Is that an important breaking point for these owners? How bad do results and attendances have to get for Gary Johnson to receive his P45? Or is their loyalty to him unbreakable? I fear the latter.
My gut feeling is that results will remain inconsistent at best, but will pick up eventually as injured players arrive back on the scene, characters like Asa Hall, Aaron Jarvis, Tom Lapslie and perhaps Kevin Dawson influencing matters and making us into some kind of unit that wins important games and a play-off spot (mainly due to the over-riding inconsistency of the NLS). Expectations dampened down completely from last summer when we lowered our guards down a little and started to believe that Gary Johnson could have us pushing hard at the top of the NLS like it was 2019 all over again.
We were romantic fools to think the 2023-24 version of Torquay United were up to that challenge. This is a football club that, much like their unsackable manager, has lost it’s sparkle and has never had lower standards (even the shirts have got worse!). Wake up Torquay United and show us you care, January is bad enough without the football being such a shambles!
See you at Plainmoor. “One Club, United?” Do me a favour George.
COYY – DOM
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