TT BLOG

Thomas Kelly

@tommyktufc

LOOKING FORWARD

It’s been a long summer for us Torquay fans. Waiting to hear about news about our club’s future, having the Bryn Consortium finally completing the takeover of the club, waving goodbye to the likes of Clarke Osborne and George Edwards forever and see our football club begin to heal and recover from those who have done our proud club so wrong.

Recently the club announced that they had now surpassed the 1300 mark in Season Ticket sales, which in itself is an incredible number. To put that into some sort of perspective, when looking at the average attendance charts from last season, seventeen clubs recorded an average under 1,300, which furthers highlights the incredible loyalty of the Yellow Army who last season were chastised rather than praised for their support both at Plainmoor and on the road.

It is believed by some in the fanbase that last season the club sold 1,300 season tickets, however as was the case with the previous ownership, this was never officially confirmed. The communication from the Bryn Consortium is more than just night and day, it’s worlds apart from what we’ve become to expect.

It’s great to see that many of the fans have committed to purchasing a Season Ticket, myself included, despite living nearly four hours away and by no means being a worthwhile investment to many, to have our football club back under people who truly care about our future means that it will be worth every penny to me. I’m sure I’m not the only one to do so!

One hot topic was how the Bryn Consortium would approach the costings of Season Tickets. For many, the “generous” offer last year of freezing prices for our “incredible loyalty” despite falling into regional football was a tough one to swallow. We were offering the most expensive Season Ticket in the division, as well as offering the most expensive tickets for on the day purchases.

The caveat being that many would accept these prices if it kept us competitive and allowed for the club to remain full time. Don’t forget, last season was supposed to be “fun”.

The Bryn Consortium made the decision to interact with their supporters, providing an online feedback form to get the fans perspective, which was very welcome and further proof that the club is back in good hands. We even had a say on our new away kit, how good did that look the other day?!

After reviewing feedback, the decision was made to keep prices the same, which I’m sure would have frustrated a few hoping for a price reduction after last season’s disaster, however I believe that most of the Yellow Army will be more willing to part with their hard-earned money, now knowing that people behind the scenes will value every penny that comes through the door and that have our club at heart.

With all tax debts and creditors expected to be paid in full by the end of the year, it’s important more so than ever that all Torquay fans back our club with pride and in great numbers like we’ve done for so long. We fought for our club, we won. It’s time to show everyone in the footballing world that Torquay United are back and we’ll be stronger than ever.

One positive that has been taken onboard is the scrapping of the ridiculous £2 surcharge for on the day purchases. This fee was not limited to just Torquay United but it never made proper business sense to me to penalise supporters who have to make an on the day decision to attend matches at Plainmoor.

With Torquay being a popular British holiday destination, why not grasp into that market and get people through the door? We have many exile fans who may decide last minute to make the trip down to Torquay. It was an unfair fee and I’m glad to see it gone.

With talks of being able to pay on the gate being introduced, alternative food and drink options being brought in for the new season, the ground finally being given some TLC by volunteers, who by the way have done an absolute superb job (just check out the number 10 restaurant which in the space of a few days underwent an amazing transformation) and with interaction between fans and owners at levels never seen before, I’m so confident for our football clubs future going forward from here and that we have a club we can be proud to call ours.

With pre-season now underway, it’s important to manage expectations and not to panic if we suffer any disappointing results this month. We’ve had a good pre-season before and look what happened last season! With virtually a new squad, it will time for the lads to find their feet, but as supporters, we must embrace this era of Torquay United with positivity and allow time for things to flow. This football club will be successful, but things will take time and the Bryn Consortium will have my full support.

I look forward to being back on the terraces soon and let’s make Plainmoor a fortress of noise this season. Football is back baby!