Fan Zone 04/04/2026
- TUST
- 12 hours ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 12 minutes ago
FAN ZONE
By Nick Brodrick, TUST's Chair and TUFC board member.
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JIMMY’S EASTER WEEKEND GETS OFF TO A CRACKING START WITH WESTON EGGCITEMENT
AMMUNITION OFF THE BENCH FIRES UNITED TO THREE POINTS WITH DENNIS THE MENACE
LOCAL CHARITY READ EASY HELPING TORBAY’S NON-READING ADULTS
Turns out, not only was it a Good Friday, it was a bloody good Friday and it might have been the battle of the gulls but the Easter Bunny brought good Friday luck.
If there are still any doubters the evidence from the last two games is that the Jimmy Ball era has started with, importantly, two clean sheets alongside a refreshing aggressive, attack minded policy.
The Easter weekend, set up nicely following a comfortable 2-0 win over Horsham, who did everyone a big favour by beating Dorking yesterday, got off to a cracking start at windy Weston-super-Mare.
Where to begin?
Let’s look at Jimmy Ball’s backroom recruitment putting in place key appointments including Women’s manager Ryan Perks or what about how he has already changed the dynamics of the style of play or the sense he speaks in his interviews.
For me – and I suspect for many others – the telling comments he spoke about in his Press Call on Thursday were the importance of youth development to him. “They’re the future.” And he added when asked about how he enjoyed his coaching session with the Under-16s said, “There were really good, technical young players … we want to develop players for the future of the club.”
The dream, my dream, Jimmy’s dream is to develop our own players, see them in the first team and sell them for millions.
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Another big Plainmoor crowd last Saturday, over 3,700 helped by a respectable 250 away fans, saw Dylan Morgan, who Ball says doesn’t score enough, and an own goal (Kai Innocent was guilty) seal the three points but crucially no goals against.
Ball has, even in the short time he’s been here, changed the mindset amongst the squad. His preparations are meticulous and he is a great ‘stat’ person.
Pre-planning for as many eventualities as possible, show the kind of person who is leading the club’s charge for a confirmed play-off place.
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So, on to yesterday. Another fantastic away following, around 850 but probably more, only spoilt by a flare set off which is likely to lead to an FA fine. No doubt we’ll find out soon enough.
Two sides fighting to cement a play-off place, a match with nine yellow cards (six to Weston), a red card for Scott Rogers and fifteen corners for the home team played in a swirling wind which made where the ball was going and landing unpredictable.
Sitting right behind it, Matt Worthington struck the ball with the outside of his right boot and the wind caught it in mid-air to give the home keeper absolutely no chance.
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Pre-game Ball had spoken of the ‘ammunition on the bench’ and the introduction of first Louie Dennis and then Sonny-Blu Lo Everton, two exceptionally gifted players, put the game to bed with them combining to enable Dennis, after the first running over to celebrate the word ‘Dennis’ on the stand by the club’s directors, to score a double inside three minutes repeating the brace he scored in the corresponding fixture in December.
It was a very egg-citing afternoon and now it’s on to Easter Monday. Surely, the visit of Bath City will see a season’s highest Plainmoor attendance. Could we get 5,000?
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Non-League Day: 129 clubs out of 160 playing at Steps 1-4 last Saturday reported above average attendances – average increases per club 27.4%. The biggest increase was 217.6% at AFC Dunstable.
Non-League Crowd Watch: Good Friday: Southend 9,716, Carlisle 8,558, Scunthorpe 5,503, Kidderminster 4,213, Rochdale 4,183, Yeovil 4,020, Woking 3,517, Southport 3,176.
Top Ten Non-League Average Attendances: 1. Southend 7,942, 2. Carlisle 7,333, 3. York 6,511, 4. Scunthorpe 4,690, 5. Hartlepool 3,802, 6. Bury 3,437, 7. Torquay 3,351, 8. Macclesfield 3,071, 9. Yeovil 2,870, 10. Morecambe 2,809.
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United’s Women were involved in an eleven- goal thriller last Sunday away at Gloucester City in a league cup semi-final. Turning round with a 1-0 lead through Beth Everson nobody could have predicted ten more goals as both sides netted five each with United ending up 6-5 winners. Phew!
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TUST’s results of our consultation survey have been released with all the details to be found at www.tust.co.uk but the headline news is that of the 737 responses over a quarter came from non-TUST members. Of those who responded 87% are ‘supportive or very supportive’ of increasing our annual contributions to the club to £100,000. A tiered membership scheme is popular too.
More news about our plans for a way forward will be published soon.
You can also read my thoughts on the survey results ‘TUST Delighted With Survey Response’ at www.torquayunited.com.
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In the meantime, you are asked to cast your votes for the various Player of the Season awards to be given out at the final league home game on Saturday April 18th against Hemel Hempstead. You can vote either by sending your choices to yellowarmy@torquayunited.com or you can do a paper vote on Easter Monday before the Bath City game.
Look out for the voting tables outside the main entrance and in the Popside well.
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Regular readers will be familiar with local charity Read Easy who I featured last year and who were able to run a successful bucket collection at Plainmoor thanks to your generosity.
Team Leader Anne has updated me on their progress. She writes: ‘We are delighted that we are now helping 24 local adults to learn to read. We have trained several new coaches. Each adult has their own personal volunteer coach who will help them for as long as they need. Most of the coaching sessions take place in a library near to where the reader lives and they meet at a time which suits them.’
Anne would like to thank Jane who, through her Torquay United fan husband Terry, introduced Read Easy to the club. ‘Jane has volunteered with us for over three years arranging the recruitment of all our volunteers. We are sorry to say she’s moving on from Read Easy to do other things. We shall miss her very much.’
Read Easy are now looking to find a new volunteer to help with recruitment. If you are interested in joining Read Easy Torbay and South Devon in an admin capacity do contact Anne at torbayreader@readeasy.org.uk.
Also, if you know of someone who would benefit from help or you can display a poster please contact Anne at the above email address.
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There might be only four matches of the regular season left but as things stand nothing is decided so your support is vital – you can be the team’s 12th man.
Let’s hear it – Jimmy Ball’s Yellow Army.
COYY
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