Fan Zone 12/07/2026
- TUST
- Jul 13
- 3 min read
FAN ZONE
By Nick Brodrick, TUST's Chair and TUFC board member.
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BELLINGHAM AND SPIDER CAM TO ENGLAND’S RESCUE WORLD CUP DREAM STILL ALIVE
UNITED’S PRE-SEASON CONTINUES WITH FITNESS AND NO INJURIES PRIORITY
FORMER CHELSEA OWNER VISITED PLAINMOOR FOR FISH SUPPERS
Is it? Could it? Will it? After 60 years might football be coming home?
As England go into only their fourth ever World Cup semi-final, Argentina await on Wednesday. But go back to late Saturday night with millions watching on TVs at home, in fan zones including a packed Abbey Park on the seafront and in a sold- out Boots & Laces not to mention inside the Miami Stadium.
With minutes to go to half-time and England were trailing Norway 0-1. Suffering rapid heartbeat, sweating and panic attacks? You showed all the symptoms of arachnophobia – a fear of spidercams. Did or didn’t the ball hit the cable?
Football, not that far back, used to be known as a simple game. Score more than the other team using a football and you win,
For this World Cup you play with a Connected Ball containing a microchip and according to FIFA, the ball in question or using their description, the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ did not show anything amiss.
Mind you based on recent events, and some going further back, how trustworthy is FIFA?
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At the end of the day or rather night, it was ‘Hey Jude’ we were all singing as Bellingham ‘rescued’ England, again, with Sunday’s paper headlines ‘Saved by the Bell’.
As against Mexico, England put up their very own ‘Wonderwall’ defence to keep out the marauding Norwegians.
Whilst he appears a hard task master Thomas Tuchel’s Tournament Tactics are working but what to make of England’s next opponents? There seems to be considerable controversy in Argentina’s last two matches with suspicions of bias so, let’s hope there’s nothing untoward on Wednesday.
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Of course, while the tension builds on the England front, pre-season for Torquay United gathers pace.
Tuesday night at Cullompton, a very compact little ground with cricket pitch attached, saw Jimmy Ball pleased with no injuries and good fitness progress on what was a warm evening.
Both Westendorf and Moore (two goals each in either half) showed their credentials and on this showing will be a handful to National South defences.
Callum Morton, Jake Wannell, Tyler Hill and Dom Bernard, amongst others, caught the eye.
Then yesterday (Saturday) another run out at Brixham with Ball once again grateful for no injuries and another fixture getting those important ‘minutes into legs’.
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TUST members will be aware that we are founding members, along with the trusts at Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle, of the South West Supporters’ Trusts Group which also includes Taunton Town.
There is a proposal to set up an online Young Fans Forum to meet via Zoom towards the end of the month, provisionally July 29th 6.30pm to 8pm.
As we do not, yet, have a young membership any member who has children or grandchildren aged 16 to 21 could put their names forward if they would like to be considered for participation.
It is proposed there will be a number of pre-set questions with answers submitted prior to the evening with one attendee nominated to read out the answers which are designed to start a discussion.
For the Young Fans Forum please send name, age, contact details to info@tust.co.uk.
We also need younger fans to become TUST board members and maybe some of our 16 to 30 age group could consider putting their name forward in the Autumn elections.
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Since last week’s Fans’ Zone, I’ve had a few questions you would like me to ask Jimmy Ball on July 20th, if you’ve forgotten you can still send me a question to fanszone.tu@gmail.com.
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Many of you will know of Ken Bates who died yesterday aged 94 in Monaco. He famously bought Chelsea for £1 in 1982 before selling to Roman Abramovich for £140m in 2003.
What fans may not know is that he, with his wife, occasionally sat in the Torquay directors’ box for, as he once told me, they enjoyed staying at The Imperial and having a fish meal in Number 7 restaurant.
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United’s Women started their pre-season with a Sunday trip to London play QPR losing a five goal fest 3-2, Sarah Stacey scoring both the goals.
COYY
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