FAC4: Torquay v Crawley 29th January 2011

Even more so when the lens cap fell out of his pocket and he had to bend down to pick it up

Behave yourself now mate, one of those admin types who have their names in red has just logged on

Right where were we as he's gone ;)they are worse than those Plainmoor stewards you know.

Forget my last post as he is back again ;D

Meerkat, that sounds shocking. Please make sure you complain in writing to the club, (probably via Lou would be the best option).

spoke to my disabled mate last night,we have been to 5 away games this year without one gliche,he informed me they asked him for his ticket every time he went to the snackbar,ludicrous,they were checking to see if he had a ticket for the family stand,hmmm,where else in the ground do people in wheelchairs sit then? absolutely barmy dis-organisation.Sadly the club got this all wrong,a shame as the present set up has made big strides forwards.After all this,does anyone need anymore proof that our stadium is outdated?

Well I have now had a day or so to get over Saturday and reflect on what the hell went wrong.

First thing I need to say is that I got it wrong in the build up to the game. I vehemently defended the club and Paul Buckle when I felt that some people were unjustified in their criticism of them, I now realise that I was wrong to do this. To start with the ticket fiasco, I was led to believe that after the Gillingham game last Saturday tickets could be bought at the ground, and ordered over the phone, for non voucher holders, just like it is for all ticket games. I appreciate that this wasn’t all ticket, but the principal for selling tickets should have been the same. To say it was a complete mess on Saturday is an understatement. One of the biggest days in Plainmoor history and with the eyes of the world focussed on us, it was an unmitigated disaster. We couldn’t even get less than 3000 paying people into the ground in 90 minutes. I took no comfort in not having to queue, particularly after listening to the stories from people that did, mostly followed by ‘never will I step foot in this ground again’, so way to go for trying to get these people back in again on a regular basis.

If that was bad enough the game was equally as disappointing. I still lay the main part of the blame on Paul Buckle. For the life of me I cannot understand why we adopted such negative and defensive tactics as we did. 4-5-1, at home, against lower league opposition, in the biggest game of their lives, and after starting so brightly in previous matches, are you kidding me? I was standing in the popside level with the penalty box next to the away end. I spent 45 minutes with a stiff neck straining to see all the play at the other end. We were so deep we could have been in the swimming pool behind the goal. We backed off and let them do what they wanted. We SHOULD have gone for the jugular right from the off, ala Crewe game. We SHOULD have taken the game to them. If we had started like we did against Crewe, and finished like we did against Oxford and Gillingham, we would be booking our hotel in Manchester this morning.

The formation was only part of the problem, the performance of the players was, well just plain bloody awful. Zebroski was having such a bad game that when he was sent off we actually looked a better team. The only outfield player who looked anywhere near his best was Manse, at least he looked like he was trying. If it wasn’t for Bevan the score line would have been embarrassing.

Another problem was that we looked like we were trying to play them at their own game. Stevens was charging around like a man possessed at times. I’m all for getting stuck in but it is difficult when players who are not renowned for it then have to start getting physical. We should have just tried to play football. Let’s face it they were no great shakes, a half decent performance from us would have been enough. I haven’t seen many worse teams this season in our league, so that shows you just how bad we were. The worst I have seen us play in as long as I can remember.

I don’t buy into the ‘I hope Crawley crash and burn’, good luck to them they came here did a job and were rewarded with what we all wanted. Look at the league position of the last non league club to get that draw, give it 2/3 years, like it or not, that’s exactly where Crawley will be. In fact I don’t buy into the anything about them, I would rather focus on our own ineptitude.

What I want to see now is the following;

Paul Buckle to come out and tell us he got it hideously wrong, that he is completely distraught (best he is because that’s how a lot of us feel right now)and tell us the steps he is taking to rectify this. Then closely followed by that I want to hear him saying that, Bevan apart, the performances of the players was woeful and that it is unacceptable for any player wearing a Torquay United shirt to ever put in such a woeful display as that and that he intends to do the following..... (whatever that might be, bring a player in, let a couple go). There is nothing wrong with a manager going public to bullock his players after such an inept display, they deserve it. I’m all for not airing your dirty washing in public, but sometimes things need to said out in the open, we deserve to hear what they are. You don’t become a bad manger overnight, but at some point you have got to start learning from previous mistakes, otherwise you can’t move forward.

Then I want the club to come out and apologise to every single supporter who had to queue to get in, tell us the lessons they learnt from this and what they intend to do in the future if a situation like this occurs again, as unlikely as that seems right now.

Do I think any of this will happen? NO I don’t. Do I think we deserve this, YES absolutely, get a spine and come out and tell what we want to hear.

The ONLY positive thing about the whole sad day was the cooked breakfast at Geno’s cafe at the junction by the traffic lights and the old community college, highly recommend it. Best fry up ever.

Now I am a massive supporter of the club and Paul Buckle, I am quite rightly portrayed as part of the fluffy bunny club, the rose tinted brigade, etc etc, however this last few days has now led me to question everything I have believed in. Will I go tomorrow night, of course I will, but not with anything like the enthusiasm that I have over the last few years. Budleigh says we might be surprised by our performance against Hereford, well we bloody well better be that’s I all can say.

I am normally a very positive person and my glass is ALWAYS half full, but when I look into this glass right now the liquid is a funny brown colour.