Gulls must 'fight' for the fans, more than anything else

No one, least of all football fans, travels up to Weston-super-Mare on a filthy Tuesday night to boo.
There were more than 800 of them and, despite an apology for a performance there, the best part of 400 shelled out a load more cash and invested yet more commitment to turn up on the banks of the Thames to see Torquay United lose again at the weekend – 3-1 to Hampton & Richmond.
They didn’t go to the Beveree ground to boo either, or at Plainmoor over the last season and a bit as the Gulls have been relegated to the National League South and now struggle to make a real impact at that level.
One of the oft-stated reasons why the club’s owners and manager Gary Johnson came to Plainmoor was the size, passion and potential of its fan base.
Those supporters have continued to deliver in good times and in bad.
But their dedication has been sorely tested of late, and nobody should be surprised if some of them have lost patience and said so in no uncertain terms.
It’s never nice to see or hear, but it goes with the territory. We can all think of clubs where the ‘stick’ would have come far quicker than it has done here.
Less than two and a half years ago, the Gulls were a penalty kick away from returning to the Football League.
There wasn’t a team in the NL Premier – not Wrexham, not Notts County, not Stockport, not Chesterfield, none of them – who looked forward to playing them.
Now the only sides they’ve beaten in the last seven games are one from the Southern League and a Welling team that will do well to avoid relegation. United have conceded 13 goals in the process.
Professional football is, and always been, a jungle - you’re either a hunter or hunted. Right now, United are increasingly seen by their rivals as one of the latter.
They used to be, as Johnson often said with justification, ‘relentless’.
Just like the Yeovil teams he took to the Championship, Torquay were aggressive, high tempo, in your face. Remember ‘Gary-Time’?
Then, last season they folded in the closing stages of matches, conceding costly late goals week after week. They went down because of it.
And even then, most of the fans stayed with them.
Has anything changed on the pitch this season? Sadly not.
But what those now feeling the pressure at Plainmoor should remember is that the growing criticism from the terraces isn’t just out of anger, it’s also from fear.
Fear about the future if promotion is not won. Fear about the spectre of part-time football. Fear about almost everything.
Nobody in their right mind would rush to have a go at an owner who’s covered losses of around £6million over the last seven years.
Who would rush to step in if Clarke Osborne decided to cut his losses and walk away?
Osborne and CEO George Edwards have got so much right in the way the club is run.
But football fans don’t have to turn up each Saturday. It’s not like they’re ‘customers’ doing the weekly shop. And the board’s arms-length relationship with the supporters – not all of them are TUST members, by the way – is hurting them now more than ever.
United face two absolutely vital home games against Bath City (3rd) on Saturday and leaders Yeovil Town next Tuesday night.
Yes, there may be opposition to Johnson and the board. Yet when the first whistle is blown at Plainmoor on Saturday, the vast majority will be behind the team, as they always are.
When you support a lower division club like Torquay, you don’t expect to win every week. Far, far from it.
But the only way for United to keep that Yellow Army onside now is for the players to show the sort of, yes, ‘fight’ that’s been lacking too often this season.
Not for 20 minutes, not for 45, but for 90 – and even a bit of good old ‘Gary-Time’ as well.