Football hurts. And perhaps that’s why we love it so much, says TUFC Co-Chair Michael Westcott
Across the country today, England supporters will be replaying the same moments and asking the same painful questions. What if we had kept going? What if we had stayed brave? What if, after taking the lead, we had continued trying to win rather than retreating into our shell?
As Torquay supporters, those emotions feel all too familiar.
Many of us were transported back, however briefly, to the play-off final at Hornchurch. Different stage. Different shirts. Different prize. But the same sinking feeling as belief gave way to anxiety and hope slowly slipped from our grasp.
Supporters recognise courage. We can accept being beaten by a better side. What is harder to live with is the sense, from the stands, that the intent to win gave way to a focus on simply holding on.
There must be time to hurt. Football asks us to invest so much of ourselves that defeat deserves its own mourning period — the silence, the frustration, the moments replayed in our minds and the lingering ache of what might have been.
But eventually, we look forward.
Our thoughts return to our club, our team and the season waiting just beyond the horizon. Yesterday, we unveiled our new kit: familiar colours carrying fresh ambition. Behind those shirts, Jimmy, his staff, the players and everyone across the Club are working relentlessly. The preparation has been detailed, professional and purposeful. No stone is being left unturned.
So, as we look forward, let’s remind ourselves that football can give us so much more than ninety minutes on a Saturday afternoon or a Tuesday night.
It gives us an identity. It gives us lifelong friendships, shared memories across generations and conversations that begin with strangers but end with a smile because we wear the same colours. It gives us away trips with family and friends, journeys measured not in miles but in stories that will be retold for years to come. And for our exiled Yellows, wherever life has taken you, it keeps you connected to the place that will always be home.
That is why, however much football hurts today, it will always be worth believing again.
Whatever this season brings, let us meet it with courage — mentally strong, fearless in our ambition and united in our belief. Let us be positive, let us be front-footed and let us have the courage to take the game to our opponents, trusting in the players, the staff and what this group is capable of achieving. Difficult moments will come, but what matters is that we face them together, without fear and without losing belief.
That is where hope lives: not in certainty, because football offers none, but in the courage to keep moving forward.
Come On You Yellows!
