TALKING POINTS

Joe Uglow – @Joe_Ugs

Joe discusses hospitality at Plainmoor!

AVELEY (H)

Two members of TorquayTalk were lucky enough to be invited to enjoy the club’s hospitality offering on Saturday as a thank you for sponsoring Jay Foulston this season.

It was an early start for a home match as I picked Dom (The Ed!) up from Torre Station and made our way to Plainmoor for a 12pm start!

A sign of the renewed atmosphere around Plainmoor this season, we joined a lengthy queue of fans who had booked their hospitality packages.

Once we were signed in and had received our tickets we made our way to ‘The Cove’ which looks absolutely fantastic, thanks to all the hard work by the TUST and the band of volunteers co-ordinated by the brilliant David McNair.

We took our seats and found that we were joined on our table by the two special guests of the day, (No, not Clive and Swanny from GEV, but more on them later!) Ex-Gulls Tom Kelly, and Russell Musker. Both were fantastic to speak to, as we discussed the crazy transfer deadline day deals, Chelsea’s bizarre transfer policy and plenty about Tom’s beloved Glasgow Celtic (TUFC a very close second he assured us!).

The stories Russell and Tom have of their time at the club were really interesting to hear, and their passion for TUFC shone through throughout, soon it was time for them to take their place up at the front of the room to share a couple more stories of their time at the club with the room.

Joining them were TorquayTalk’s very own duo; Clive and Swanny! A double act you don’t have to join a Ticketmaster queue to enjoy……yet!

The new ownership are keen to work with TorquayTalk to enhance both the match-day experience and the TUFC social media output, and Saturday was just the start, as Clive and Sam were given the opportunity to ask both Tom Kelly and Russell Musker questions posed by the Yellow Army from Twitter!

The food served was delicious, Chicken Forestiere followed by Apple Pie with a Cream Chantille, I was told by guests on the day who had sampled the previous regime’s offering that the quality was a million times better this time round, no longer resembling the school dinner offering from the previous incumbents. Just another improvement to add to the ever growing list since the Bryn Consortium took over!

More entertainment followed as Russell Musker attempted to read out the team sheet to the room without his glasses (Sorry Russ!), we’ll forgive him though as many of the yellow army are still trying to work out our Threlkeld’s from our Hasani’s. At least he didn’t have to contend with Dyer and Dreyer this weekend!

Soon it was 3pm and time to take our seats in the sponsors area of the Family Stand. I’m not a massive fan of the view from the family stand, but unfortunately what it did provide Dom and I, was a great view of the Aveley equaliser, you knew the moment it left his foot it was in, and the 24 Aveley fans rightly enjoyed their moment.

Another chance for Hasani in the first half provided a great view for us Family Standers as it looked to be sailing in the top corner, with the keeper unmoved, but frustratingly an Aveley defender was able to get his head to it to direct it wide!

I won’t bore you with any more detail on the game, instead check out Ben Wade’s excellent match verdict!

At full time it was time for one more beer before heading home after a thoroughly enjoyable day out at Plainmoor!

If you get the chance, do take up the hospitality packages on offer from TUFC, don’t be put off by the poor offering of the previous regime, it now really is a great day out and great value for money!

THE RATINGS!

Food – 10 – very tasty & catered for dietary requirements no problem!

Waiting staff – 10 – great table service, so no queues at the bar!

The Company – 10 – always a great afternoon spent in Dom’s company, even if he did jinx every one of Mussa’s set pieces in an attempt to grab some video content for the TT Twitter!

Special guests – 10 – incredibly entertaining stories from Tom Kelly & Russell Musker, including Tom’s story of when Wolves came to town in one of the last ever Saturday Night 7:30pm kick offs.

Unfortunately Wolves fans decided to smash up Torquay harbourside on the Friday night, which continued on Saturday and then they even stole the balls off the TUFC players during the warm up!

According to Tom, United’s goalkeeper ended up playing sweeper for the majority of the game to avoid the coins and darts that were being hurled at him and that was the end of Saturday Night matches from then on!

TT Cameo – 10 – Another superb performance from two parts of the GEV gang. Radio Devon last week, Plainmoor Hospitality this week, where will they pop up next? Wotton’s pre-match presser?

FORMATION

Seven Tables all laid out with a free programme for each guest, along with the ‘guess the minute of the first goal’ competition and a chance for each table to nominate a guest for the crossbar challenge! (Our table won by the way, good strike Ben!) A standard 3-3-1 formation was the order of the day.

THE OFFICIALS

Co-Chairmen Michael Westcott and Mark Bowes-Cavanagh were doing the rounds chatting with all the guests, ensuring everyone was enjoying their day, along with CEO Joe Lovell, all of them so approachable and not an AirPod or cheap grey suit in sight!

OPPOSITION

A decent turn out from the Aveley Directors who looked like they enjoyed the hospitality and their day out, they certainly would have enjoyed their view of their equalising goal!