TT BLOG
Thomas Kelly
@tommyktufc
Thomas talks about what makes TUFC special to him
MORE THAN A FOOTBALL CLUB
This football club eh?
At 1:05pm on Thursday February 22nd 2024, the fears of most Torquay supporters came home to roost as Clarke Osborne announced via a club statement that he would be withdrawing his financial support of the club, appointing administrators and stepping down as Chairman of Torquay United Football Club.
Deep down, we all knew this day was coming, just not as suddenly and abruptly as it’s transpired.
Like most, I’ve gone through all the emotions. Shock, anger, fear, sadness. The club we all love is now under serious threat. I’ve deliberately waited until now to write this piece. Like all of you, I’ve needed time to properly process the news. Some will say Football is only a game. I say it’s more than that. Here’s why I will never give up on this football club. This is our darkest ebb, we will come through this United.
FAMILY
Torquay United is more than just a football club for me. It’s a family. It’s become such a regular part of my life, I honestly don’t know what I’d do if Torquay United suddenly cease to exist. I wasn’t the most social of children growing up, my Mum once joked that she wished I would take more of an interest in football! Let’s start with my Torquay United origin story.
My grandparents introduced me to the club when I was 10 or 11 years old. Having moved from Fulham to Newton Abbot in the 1970s, my grandparents were regulars in the Grandstand, season ticket holders, enjoying the thrills that this small, then Division 4 football club had to offer.
Taking me to my first ever live football game sat in the Family Stand, watching us lose practically every time I visited! I was hooked immediately. Seeing 2,500 fans turn up to watch a Division Three side, Torquay United brought me closer to my family and became the norm every time my family would make the 4 hour drive to the West Country. It brought us together as a family. With my sister and almost 2 year old Niece now living there as well, that statement continues to ring true.
I lost my Grandpa to cancer in early 2019. I would chat for hours and hours about Torquay United to him, providing some well needed respite I’m sure for my lovely Grandma! When I found out we had won the NLS title after finishing work, my first emotion wasn’t to celebrate, I cried. Because that one was for him. I miss you Grandpa, your spirit is with me on the terraces and I wont ever give up on this club. I promise you.
FOOTBALL FAMILY
Dennis Bergkamp: “When you start supporting a football club, you don’t support it because of the trophies, or a player, or history, you support it because you found yourself somewhere there; found a place where you belong.
Never has a quote in football resonated like this one from Dennis Bergkamp. As a kid, it was so easy to change your alliance to the side who was winning everything. Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal etc. I’d like to think I was respected by my school friends for supporting a lower league club, wearing the Sparkworld home shirt and representing the Gulls.
My support has never wavered and that is something I will always be proud of. Whilst I did have a slight eye towards Tottenham & Fulham growing up, that quickly changed once I started watching Torquay United play. I don’t have a “big club” I support alongside Torquay, the Gulls are my ONLY club, which is why I’m so passionate when things aren’t going well.
I’ve met some fantastic people, so many in fact that it’s hard to pinpoint when the initial friendships were made, but as time goes on, they become apart of the football family that comes with supporting this football club. You quickly see them every week, home and away. We all become United.
A perfect example is when I came out to my close friend group. Being gay in football has continued to be a major & unnecessary barrier in the sport to this day. I wrote a piece about breaking the stigma about it for TorquayTalk last year.
I have been out since the age of 18. I’m 32 now and the support of my family & friends, especially in the TUFC community has been nothing short of magnificent. I felt accepted and I cannot thank all of my friends enough for your support, especially the ones who I join on my weekenders watching Torquay United together. You know who you are and I am forever grateful. You gave me the confidence to be proud of who I am and I thank you all for it.
Proud Gulls is here to stay.
COMMUNITY
If there is one thing to take away from the “Osborne & Edwards Era”, it’s this. Whenever the club arranged a Community Day, they managed to bring in the crowds of the local community. Whether it was to look good in front of the cameras or to hide flaws surrounding what was going on inside the club is another conversation entirely, however it was refreshing to see a lot of the youngsters within the local community visit Plainmoor and hopefully return in the future.
At any football club, you always have to look towards the future. Generations of football fans stem from getting the football bug at a young age and returning every other Saturday. I do feel the club do a good job in that regard and also to me that highlights the potential that this club has to grow within the local community and promote the football in whatever capacity we will end up in once all is said and done. I hope there is a big push in the future to really bring the local community together going forward as it will only benefit the football club succeed in the future.
The TUST used to offer a fanzone outside Plainmoor in the past that I believe was well received by those who used it and I hope whatever happens to the club, that they have a chance to offer a service again in the future. Engaging the local community should be a key aspect to the restructuring of Torquay United Football Club. Hopefully we get to see it in the near future under a new owner and board.
BEING PART OF TT
Dom asked me to do a match verdict for the first time for our FA Cup game away at Lymington. I can’t recall how or why he chose me but since that day, I’ve been proud to represent TorquayTalk in any capacity and it’s been magnificent to see us grow from strength to strength and that comes from all of the support from you Yellow Army. Thank you for supporting us. I never appreciated the reach TorquayTalk had until fans I never met before would approach me and have a quick chat about something I’ve said on YouTube and more so now with everything going on at our football club.
To be involved as one of the GEV four is also a wonderful privilege and the feedback since it’s inception has been nothing short of incredible. Whilst Osborne, Edwards & Johnson I’m sure would rather we’d be silenced over the last two seasons, I speak for all of us in saying that we are passionate fans who simply want this football club to do well, to be the best they can be and to be accountable for their failings, especially in recent years.
We hope that our honest views resonate with you all and I promise no matter who is in the team, who is the manager and who is the owner – we will continue to be honest and relentless in talking about all things Torquay United.
THE CLUB CAN BOUNCE BACK
Since the announcement, I do honestly feel that we as a club will come out of this stronger than ever before.
This season has been a complete failure and the continued silence and lack of action to change the alarming slide in form spoke volumes. This man didn’t care about the club, all he wanted was Plainmoor and nothing else. All that investment, hoping the council would buckle.
He took action with Gary Owers, brought in Johnson and saw immediate success, and the argument for a new stadium would have been a lot stronger had he focused more on getting the club into the EFL as per his 5 year plan and running it in a sustainable way. We almost got to League 2, we don’t need to be reminded but the decline has been rapid and now, he’s walked away.
Despite the concern and worry, Saturday should be seen as a proud day for our club. We all turned up in numbers, backed the team we all love and the support from outside the club has been nothing amazing. Thank you to everyone in the football community for your support. Whatever happens to our club now, we will not go down without a fight. That’s the Torquay United way.
Barnet away, Bryn the Police Dog, Nicho’s great escapes, a few examples from our history. Football is much more than a game. It’s everything.
COYY – TOM
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TORQUAYTALK 
Brilliant article Tom, totally agree with every word !
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