Count down to TORQUAY

Tringreen wrote:

It should not be deemed as 'impressive' that PAFC, England's most underachieving city club, draw 10k fans to HP on NYD for a local derby.

That kind of thinking is part of the problem.

  

Rather poor attendance I thought, especially now all ST holders are counted.Two years ago, to the day, the same fixture attracted 13,000. Admittedly Torquay were a bigger draw then having an attractive successful footballing team.
But an "official"  3000 drop is a 3000 drop and probably gives an accurate measure of the falling interest in a club wallowing around with little to excite those that have turned their backs at the years of dross and unpleasantness. And if the club continue to insult those that have chosen to do so, things won't improve much short of a massive change in fortunes on the pitch. That takes investment or a change at the heart of a club. Glad to hear there wasn't any of the turnstile nonsense that happened a couple of years ago.

I remember a Christmas derby with Exeter a long time ago that only attracted 9000 odd in similar weather, and recall thinking how far things had fallen at the club. An unheard of low crowd for such a holiday derby. These dips go on for years without REAL change. I've said it before, football is a habit, and habits need feeding on a regular basis.
  

All The President's Women?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

 

10,000 - when measured against the company we have is impressive, in my opinion.

10,000 - when allowing for the appalling weather that may or may not have put off local people but would surely have put off people coming any distance.

10,000 - when Torquay brought less than 900 of that total is pretty good. (How many did Torquay bring the last time when they were a bigger draw?)

Actually it was 10,126..... but who's counting?

With better weather i'm sure it would've been 12,000ish, i know several people who didn't go because of it.

I always think the weather thing is overplayed. Holiday attending, even for POTDers, is usually planned well in advance with friends and family with little regard to weather.
It's a big drop over 2 years, especially considering Argyle's position and results are far better now than then. We know now that regular increases in attendance are hard to come by these days. Once fans are lost, they don't come back so easily as they used to, especially considering the POTD prices. We saw that with Holloway's success. Football is more of a ghetto thing with just the odd holiday day out.
As for the actual football, no point in my commenting, I wasn't there  but while McCormick's return has definitely helped things, I detect the improvement has come about since  Lavery has come in and in turn helped Reid. The trouble is neither are Argyle's player. The same sort of improvement happened when Banton appeared from Palace, and then that was that.
Sooner or later the club has to decide to contract such players properly, and build a team, or it all falls away as soon as they go back to their parent club. Lavery will be gone in 4 weeks by the look of it. Most long term football people know a couple of good players at that level can make a huge difference one way or the other. And while I don't want to be disparaging of Sheridan's continuing efforts under this present reluctant owner, he hasn't half gone through a ridiculous number of loanees in his time here to only find two that have anything about them.

Well it's a fact that my old man and his 2 pals decided at about 1pm to not bother because of the torrential rain and they only needed to drive about 8 miles to get to the ground so i'm pretty sure others travelling from further afield like Torquay or Cornwall may also have stayed away. Totally agree with your second point regarding the short termism of loanees.

I looked out of the window at 13:00. I was going to the match with wifey but it was absolutely hammering it down so I had a decision to make. Snugged up on the sofa watching a film, eating xmas munchies with copious amounts of Jack Daniels Honey and Stella Artois, or go to the match.

Feck the match.   


yeh, I know, I'm naaaaat a praaaaaper fan. Yeh, and?

I know a fair few that would have POTD had the weather not been so atrocious. But as with hundreds of others I suspect their decision was made around mid-morning to lunchtime. The ironic thing was that by 2.30 the rain had stopped and it didn't rain again at all after that!

Another whinge- Argyle are losing hundreds of pounds in lost sales EVERY GAME due to the inept way that catering is set up. The refreshment kiosk at the Lyndhurst around block 10 is a joke. One queue forms that snakes back about 30 yards! This is enough to put people off just on that alone. The fact is if you wait till the halftime blows and then queue for your beer/pasty, you WILL still be queuing when the game kicks off again.

That in itself is rediculous. Feckin sort it out Argyle!

Dougie wrote:

All The President's Women?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

In unrelated news, I fell out of my chair when told a couple of weeks ago that a famous ex (twice  ) manager had settled into his love nest in Cornwall with a cheerleader. Find it hard to believe myself, something may have been lost in translation, shame Ponty's not on here anymore to let us know the facts...hi Steve  

I confirmed myself as a fair weather fan yesterday, no way I was making a "pilgrimage" in that weather!!

Charlie Wood wrote:

Dougie wrote:

All The President's Women?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

In unrelated news, I fell out of my chair when told a couple of weeks ago that a famous ex (twice  ) manager had settled into his love nest in Cornwall with a cheerleader. Find it hard to believe myself, something may have been lost in translation, shame Ponty's not on here anymore to let us know the facts...hi Steve  

I confirmed myself as a fair weather fan yesterday, no way I was making a "pilgrimage" in that weather!!

Please tell me he's not shacked up with one in the same age bracket as those in that photo?   

Czarcasm wrote:

.......
Please tell me he's not shacked up with one in the same age bracket as those in that photo?   

Oh, I don't know - if he has then there's hope for more of us.   

It would be wrong to consider Argyles attendance without taking into account the national picture, sky tv and tv in general have taken a massive chunk from the revenue of clubs, it is probably more accurate to look at attendances V clubs in the same league. If we look at the attendances of 18k ten years ago that may look like a purple patch now, will we ever see such attendances again?
  

Iggy wrote:

It would be wrong to consider Argyles attendance without taking into account the national picture, sky tv and tv in general have taken a massive chunk from the revenue of clubs, it is probably more accurate to look at attendances V clubs in the same league. If we look at the attendances of 18k ten years ago that may look like a purple patch now, will we ever see such attendances again?
  

Oh, I don't know   . I think the Manchester thingy is a figment of Peter Jones' rather vivid imagination while out on that mythical rolling ocean of his.

knecht wrote:

Iggy wrote:

10,126 real fans at HP today, good turnout all things considered.

By some way the highest in the division. The only two that came anywhere close were the team at the top & one just outside automatic promotion. That's impressive.

Quick, quick, alert the media, west country footballing juggernauts attract a bigger crowd than Dagenham and Redbridge giving their ageing support a much needed excuse for one off the wrist.

Lord Tisdale wrote:

knecht wrote:

Iggy wrote:

10,126 real fans at HP today, good turnout all things considered.

By some way the highest in the division. The only two that came anywhere close were the team at the top & one just outside automatic promotion. That's impressive.

Quick, quick, alert the media, west country footballing juggernauts attract a bigger crowd than Dagenham and Redbridge giving their ageing support a much needed excuse for one off the wrist.

pathetic

Tis is cracking one off just imaging 10k at Sid James.

I thought Argyle deserved to win the derby,Torquay looked dire and you can see why they are down there in the bottom two.

Lavery is quality. Reid was hassled out of the game by Torquay,but he did have a couple of chances to score,but screwed them up..

Decent sized crowd for a wet and windy day [perhaps a few more would have turned up had the weather been a tad better].

Only downer was that they had sold out of pasties at half-time in the Lyndhurst [14 & 15]..

Nice to see 10 pts gained over the festive period..

After the game,my mate and his stepson were going to a bash in a tent near the Barn Park End. I tagged along and paid a fiver at the door. Entertainment was an Irish Chappy who sung some good tunes,coupled along with witty chit-chat.

VillageGreen wrote:

I thought Argyle deserved to win the derby,Torquay looked dire and you can see why they are down there in the bottom two.

Lavery is quality. Reid was hassled out of the game by Torquay,but he did have a couple of chances to score,but screwed them up..

Decent sized crowd for a wet and windy day [perhaps a few more would have turned up had the weather been a tad better].

Only downer was that they had sold out of pasties at half-time in the Lyndhurst [14 & 15]..

Nice to see 10 pts gained over the festive period..

After the game,my mate and his stepson were going to a bash in a tent near the Barn Park End. I tagged along and paid a fiver at the door. Entertainment was an Irish Chappy who sung some good tunes,coupled along with witty chit-chat.

No, it was a worryingly low crowd and the weather had absolutely nothing to do with it.   

VillageGreen wrote:

I thought Argyle deserved to win the derby,Torquay looked dire and you can see why they are down there in the bottom two.

Lavery is quality. Reid was hassled out of the game by Torquay,but he did have a couple of chances to score,but screwed them up..

Decent sized crowd for a wet and windy day [perhaps a few more would have turned up had the weather been a tad better].

Only downer was that they had sold out of pasties at half-time in the Lyndhurst [14 & 15]..

Nice to see 10 pts gained over the festive period..

After the game,my mate and his stepson were going to a bash in a tent near the Barn Park End. I tagged along and paid a fiver at the door. Entertainment was an Irish Chappy who sung some good tunes,coupled along with witty chit-chat.

and very good it was. Two hours non stop..Black Jack Davey. Great dancing by Ed Shillabeer..Quite a few ATDers in there as well.

Iggy wrote:

Tis is cracking one off just imaging 10k at Sid James.

Would that figure be a half season one at SJP?

greensleeves wrote:

VillageGreen wrote:

I thought Argyle deserved to win the derby,Torquay looked dire and you can see why they are down there in the bottom two.

Lavery is quality. Reid was hassled out of the game by Torquay,but he did have a couple of chances to score,but screwed them up..

Decent sized crowd for a wet and windy day [perhaps a few more would have turned up had the weather been a tad better].

Only downer was that they had sold out of pasties at half-time in the Lyndhurst [14 & 15]..

Nice to see 10 pts gained over the festive period..

After the game,my mate and his stepson were going to a bash in a tent near the Barn Park End. I tagged along and paid a fiver at the door. Entertainment was an Irish Chappy who sung some good tunes,coupled along with witty chit-chat.

and very good it was. Two hours non stop..Black Jack Davey. Great dancing by Ed Shillabeer..Quite a few ATDers in there as well.

He was ripping in to a few that's for sure.

I thought that 10000 was disappointing given that it was the only game over the Christmas period for us but had Torquay sold their share the gate would have been 11000 and that wouldn't have seemed so bad.

The truth is that the recent histories of both clubs and the dreadful weather was never going to encourage a massive turn-out.

So I suppose that 10000 is a middling enough figure for anybody to use to back up just about any theory they might have.

VillageGreen wrote:

greensleeves wrote:

VillageGreen wrote:

I thought Argyle deserved to win the derby,Torquay looked dire and you can see why they are down there in the bottom two.

Lavery is quality. Reid was hassled out of the game by Torquay,but he did have a couple of chances to score,but screwed them up..

Decent sized crowd for a wet and windy day [perhaps a few more would have turned up had the weather been a tad better].

Only downer was that they had sold out of pasties at half-time in the Lyndhurst [14 & 15]..

Nice to see 10 pts gained over the festive period..

After the game,my mate and his stepson were going to a bash in a tent near the Barn Park End. I tagged along and paid a fiver at the door. Entertainment was an Irish Chappy who sung some good tunes,coupled along with witty chit-chat.

and very good it was. Two hours non stop..Black Jack Davey. Great dancing by Ed Shillabeer..Quite a few ATDers in there as well.

He was ripping in to a few that's for sure.

He plays at the Cider Press most Sundays and takes the piss out of most people. He was even the entertainment at my mate's wedding in the summer and didn't hold back there either