TT BLOG
Chris Wade
@tufcchris
Chris looks back at the last few days
Wow. What a last few days. Thursday lunchtime’s announcements started a chain of events that has already led to huge change at our beloved football club. It really has been emotional.
I was eating my cheese sandwich at work when the news of potential pending administration broke. It really was a double take moment. What? Really? And the messages started coming in on various group chats. As I read what I could and started to understand what this could mean, it was a strange mixture of emotions immediately, something that has continued for several days. There was the immediate feeling of relief that our owner, that we all feared their intentions, was gone. But then the consequences. Financial ruin, administration and liquidation were all words that were buzzing around my head. The rest of the day brought concern, confusion, the departure of Gary Johnson and an emergency Gulls Eye View with the lads in the evening. So many questions.
But then the focus started to turn to what the immediate future held. The change in the club’s social media tone was instant, with news of money raising ideas, positive vibes and emotion, something we haven’t seen for a very long time. The most incredible part of the last few days has been the support of the football community. Genuinely staggering. Messages have come in from all over the country, from high and low in the football pyramid. The football world stands with Torquay United, our Torquay United, that means so much to all of us, and now we were on the lips of the whole country. The latest victim of the mis-balanced football structure. We were being chewed up and spat out by the game that we love.
But then a calm sense of optimism started to come over me. He was gone. We had our club back. Sure we are in for some difficult times, but we had a chance again. The uncertainty of what would happen when he took his money out was here. I became more and more hopeful of better times as all people I know messaged and stopped me to say how sad they were for me and the club they know that I love. But I met them all with stoic optimism, ready for the fight out the other side. Interviews with Interim Manager Aaron Downes, experienced pros Asa Hall and Dean Moxey boomed out from social media channels. Players tweeted their love and hope for our club and how they couldn’t wait to see us all on Saturday. Everybody was appealing to us all to be there on Saturday. Estranged Torquay supporters, who have been divided by distance, fear, anger and disillusionment were all back. Let’s do this we all hit the pillow shouting on Friday evening.
And then Saturday came. I had genuinely forgotten what waking up and looking forward to matchday felt like. Gone would be the simmering anger, frustration and shouting of the stadium. It would be replaced by pure, pure passion. This is our club and nobody will take it away from us without a fight. Nobody.
You could feel the change as soon as you walked into the stadium, with my two young sons, to whom everything at Plainmoor is exciting. And my Father, who I have stood and now sat with in this glorious stadium for over 25 years. It felt like the first day of the rest of our lives. My boys waited by the tunnel, patiently waiting for their hero’s to appear. As the players emerged and tapped hands with the two young boys, what it meant struck me again. Their hero’s had made their day.
As kick off approached, the stands continued filling, as did my heart when Children was being played. A song that means so much on an emotion filled day. The change in the players was clear from minute one. They appeared less shackled, clear minded and focused on the job in hand. Whilst there was only one change in personnel from midweek, the structure, work rate and desire was like a switch has been flicked. The midfield was more disciplined, Jarvis fought for everything and Ash buzzed about looking for opportunity. 1-0 became 2-0 as the boys up front found the net and the promise of the day started to be delivered. The atmosphere was brilliant, only slightly tempered by a debateable penalty right on half time. A 30 yard thunder bolt that fizzed into Halstead’s left corner further dampened spirits, although not much in truth. Chances to win the game came and went, but the day felt like much more than three points for once. Football, support and love was back in the stadium.
So what now after the dust has started to settle on a few tumultuous days? Sure the future is uncertain, sure it’s scary, sure nobody knows what it looks like. But what the last few days have shown is that nobody will let our club die without a fight. The unbelievable work already of all at the TUST, Torquay Talk and Torquay fans across the land has begun. We will do WHATEVER we can to save our club. But the love from all of the football world has shown us all something, something we all must hold on too and never forget in case this is ever another club. Football is for us all, and we support each other. Weymouth’s gesture to give £5 per way ticket to TUST shows that we all love each other’s club.
And do you know what is worth holding onto the most? The excitement in the faces of my two young sons when I told them I had bought us tickets to go to Weymouth on Saturday. That cannot be allowed to die. It just can’t.
COYY – CHRIS
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