According to a post on BTPIR a sponsored offered to cover the hotel costs for today's trip but the club wouldn't sanction it. How close to the truth that is, is anyone's guess but the fact they have travelled today is a worrying sign.
People who don't support Torquay United have often asked me "did they travel up on the day or stay overnight?". I've rarely known the answer; the policy seems to have changed so many times over the years. I
think I remember Mike Bateson, somewhat disingenuously perhaps, once arguing it really didn't make too much difference: teams usually lose away; you might as well do it on the cheap. If he didn't say that; it's certainly the sort of thing he
might have said.
But, should you ever be aiming to make the club "more professional", allowing for overnight stays will be extremely high on your "to do" list. Provided you have the finance. And that, from memory, is precisely what happened once the club changed hands in 2007. I'm assuming the policy has stayed in place pretty much ever since; I'm assuming too the team would have stayed overnight for a comparable fixture (such as Dagenham) in recent seasons. But I'm really not sure; these things may have been cut back slowly and surely. Anybody know?
And I confess I had not given the matter serious thought until the last few days. Had you asked me, prior to the season (and without studying the map), about the number of likely nights away I would have answered "fewer than in recent seasons" solely because of reduced revenue. Yet the distances, and the
desirability of an overnight stop, are generally the same in this league as the one above.
Are we now to believe there is a revised policy of reducing expenditure on hotel stays to an absolute, absolute minimum? Is there a category of medium-to-long Saturday journeys that will now be done on the day? If that's the case, where is the line drawn? Does it depend on the time of the year or how the team is doing? AA Routeplanner says Torquay to Dartford 4hr 19min, Alfreton 4hr 14min, Braintree 4hr 46min, Southport 4hr 53min, Dover 5hr 3min, Halifax 5hr 6min and so on. Which, if any, are overnights? We've done Gateshead. Grimsby is coming up soon. That's a bugger of a journey. Can the extended Hargreaves family help with accommodation?
This all, I would contend, brings us back to the matter of the extra funding that comes with Football League status. Whilst not seeing this as a key to fantastic riches or unparalleled success - that didn't happen last season after all - the extra dosh at least allowed us (presumably) to spend the required amount on travel and accommodation and, you imagine, to be "more professional" in other areas as well.
Historically I guess we're looking at travel as being one barometer of the club's finances. When there's more travelling on the day; it's a sign money is tight. What should be a "professional standard" becomes a luxury. And it's Sod's Law that wealthier clubs closer to the centre of the country have more of a choice about how to go about their arrangements. Maybe the club, if it hasn't already, should consider the business of commercial sponsorship of away travel and accommodation. It is, as we've always known, something that affects us disproportionately.
All of which, on the way back from Dartford, started to make me think of the last time we were in this league. Then it was evident that somebody knew it was
imperative we had to return to the Football League as quickly as possible. They had a pretty good idea of how much it would cost; they also had the cash. Two years of serious spending did the trick by a hair's breadth. It worked because it worked because it worked. If we'd failed at Wembley who knows how long the club could have been financed at anywhere near that level or, indeed, how long the overnight trips would have lasted. I've a reasonable idea and always felt we would have been in a pretty difficult place going into, say, what would have been our fourth or fifth season in the Conference in 2010 or 2011.
The sobering thought is that we may be approaching that very same place at the moment. Yesterday there wasn't a great difference between Dartford and Torquay United on the field (even though I'd be confident we may finish up to ten places above Dartford). What Dartford have off-the-field is all very admirable; I actually came home with a feeling we could easily "flat-line" not too far above them. Then, if we slipped, we probably couldn't match Dartford with part-time players and all the usual issues of travel and geography.
In terms of play yesterday we weren't dreadful. Nor were we particularly good. Each game at present tells us more about how the season may pan out. Each one is fascinating and even vital in that respect. I actually suspect it won't be too eventful a season and that, ultimately, we'll be watching a series of rather meaningless games. That's not exactly an inspiring thought but will do for now. Around the club in general is another matter; I wonder if the main interest this winter will be what happens in the boardroom? I'm not predicting catastrophe; I'm not seeking pools of blood on the Plainmoor carpet; I'm not pointing the finger or ridiculing anybody. But I sense the next few months may shape the club's direction for the next five or so years. Momentum has slowed; "ticking over" may already have become the most prudent option available; it may be worse than that. If we were to wake up one morning to news of a takeover - a good one naturally (no rubbish please) - you imagine it would be widely regarded as for the best by friend and (should they exist) foe alike.
