Board resignations in the Herald Express

[gullintwoplaces]

http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/T ... story.html

I thought I would start a new thread on this, as it is now a done deal. No petition etc is going to change things. We have to accept this and move on now. I am saddened by the news, but there you go.

[CP Gull]

A sad day, but good to hear that at least they will continue to support the club and turn up at TQ1.

Of course, this statement doesn't really answer the burning question of .... WHY?

If it had just have been the one Director having had enough then that wouldn't in itself be that surprising, but when THREE Directors have had enough, in effect a MASS resignation then you really do wonder what is going on.

I think Thea and what is left of the Board need to have a long hard look at the way things are being run up there and take appropriate action.

We have unfortunately lost three (will it even stop at that?) key players, with Alex Rowe undoubtedly the highest profile, as former Chairman, current Deputy Chairman and the professional mouthpiece of the club when called upon, he in particular will be a considerable loss to the football club. But in some ways the loss of the Boyce brothers with all their historic connections to the club is more symbolic of the level of concern felt amongst the fan base, or at least it should be. WHY should they feel the need to resign at this delicate stage in the club's bid to try and retain it's Football League status.

Now that the word is out, I would hope we get an early statement from the football club as to their take on this development. That said, I doubt it will be anything other than the standard stuff that is always churned out at times like this .... we thank them for their past support and wish them well, blah, blah, blah ... In fact we could probably quite easily write it for them ... but we all know that the real story behind this will only be known by those within the Boardroom.

I guess that now leaves Thea, supported by her deputies Bill Phillips and Simon Baker, running the show now then.....

I may be wrong here, but to me this smacks of as close as you could get to a vote of "NO CONFIDENCE" in the current regime.

We will await developments with interest .....

[gullintwoplaces]

I hope that we do get an explanation from the club, but somehow I doubt that we will. These shenanigans do the club no good and make the fans concerned for the future. I believe that we can have faith in the integrity of Thea, although I worry about the ability of the remaining Board members to run the club well. I count my blessings though, when I look at Hereford and Salisbury, both of whom were taken over by people that you would not buy a used car from.

[Dave]

Absolutely no point what so ever in the club releasing any statements or explanations here. Can tell you right now it will simply be packed full of utter "bullshit" all ready seen the line peddled in the H/E "we've stepped aside to let new blood in" the same bullshit line was used a little while ago over the sponsorship deal, is was crap then, and is now, heard many a rumour over the last few years about certain members of the board wanting to pull the club in different direction to others, and I'm wondering whether some have finally had enough and walked away.

I think this is a massive blow, only time will tell how big an impact it will have on the club. The club has made some decent signings, had pretty decent pre-season, and all noises coming out of the club seem to suggest that bitter lessons had been learnt, and then this happens, once again my concern grows.

[bixieupnorth]

at least we have a fully formed squad, a great little ground. no need to panic just yet. bad news just before the start of the season i admit

[PhilGull]

at least we have a fully formed squad, a great little ground. no need to panic just yet. bad news just before the start of the season i admit

Apart from rumor and conjecture the only concrete quotes from inside the boardroom point to this being perfectly amicable.

[bixieupnorth]

watch out phil the american spelling police will be on to you!!

[hector]

A sad day, but good to hear that at least they will continue to support the club and turn up at TQ1.

Of course, this statement doesn't really answer the burning question of .... WHY?

If it had just have been the one Director having had enough then that wouldn't in itself be that surprising, but when THREE Directors have had enough, in effect a MASS resignation then you really do wonder what is going on.

I think Thea and what is left of the Board need to have a long hard look at the way things are being run up there and take appropriate action.

We have unfortunately lost three (will it even stop at that?) key players, with Alex Rowe undoubtedly the highest profile, as former Chairman, current Deputy Chairman and the professional mouthpiece of the club when called upon, he in particular will be a considerable loss to the football club. But in some ways the loss of the Boyce brothers with all their historic connections to the club is more symbolic of the level of concern felt amongst the fan base, or at least it should be. WHY should they feel the need to resign at this delicate stage in the club's bid to try and retain it's Football League status.

Now that the word is out, I would hope we get an early statement from the football club as to their take on this development. That said, I doubt it will be anything other than the standard stuff that is always churned out at times like this .... we thank them for their past support and wish them well, blah, blah, blah ... In fact we could probably quite easily write it for them ... but we all know that the real story behind this will only be known by those within the Boardroom.

I guess that now leaves Thea, supported by her deputies Bill Phillips and Simon Baker, running the show now then.....

I may be wrong here, but to me this smacks of as close as you could get to a vote of "NO CONFIDENCE" in the current regime.

We will await developments with interest .....

I think you articulate the concern we should have, very well, CP. With rumours that Alex Rowe resigned because of some sort of unconstitutional decision made whilst he was on holiday, it would be reassuring for fans to have some idea of the decision-making processes that occur at Plainmoor. I would imagine that Thea has enormous integrity but if we are brutally honest, she is probably not equipped to run a professional football club - why would she be? She is an ordinary mum, who happened upon a fortune and with her husband bought into the local football club. So who are her advisers and are they any better equipped to advise than she is?

As supporters we have never really been privy to much whilst the club has been under the stewardship of the current regime, despite the fact that the directors are supporters themselves and know exactly what it feels like to be us. As CP points out, we will be treated to the frustratingly, spin-driven, stupid one-word headlines on the website and utterly crap platitudes spouted that tell us nothing.

It feels a little like TUFC was this glorious firework that was launched 7 years ago - we reached the FA Trophy Final, had FA Cup runs, reached the play-offs 4 years out of 5, on the cusp of a 2nd promotion - each success, an explosion of colour - and then like all fireworks the lustre dies and ebbs away and the shell falls back down to earth with a crash and is extinguished. I don't think firework night is about to happen again for TUFC any time soon!

[wivelgull]

And, of course, all human endeavour is ultimately doomed to end in failure.

[nickbrod]

A rather sad and ill timed event on the eve of a new season. I echo CP's thoughts. We've witnessed off the field problems at other clubs impacting on the pitch so please don't let it happen here.
I'm sure CH isn't best pleased but will no doubt he will use these events to drive him to succeed.
The Boyce brothers I only knew in passing but sitting in front of Alex Rowe I know how passionate he is about the club. Such a shame to lose somebody so committed - a true Torquay fan.

[Kernowgull]

My take on events, based on nothing other than reading the Herald article, would be that new blood/investment has already been agreed, probably by the board members who haven't resigned. The three that have, were not consulted, or disagree. Hence the "make way for new blood" statement. That seems logical to me, but could be completely wide of the mark.

[Dave]

Don't know Alex Rowe, but he's always come across as a professional person of the highest order, and someone who will conduct his business in the right way, he was never going to say anything else, or anything other to what he did say, was he.

I've already read the board statement on this, amazing considering the fact they haven't done one. It will of course thank them for their hard work, it tell how this always a part of a long time agreed process, the timing just happened the way it did, etc, etc. Yep, whatever, no doubt the fully paid up members of the gulliball brigade will fall for that, but hey, their perfectly entitled to.

If Kernogull is right, that would suggest nothing amicable about this at all, and that would be a real shame, as we would have lost true fans and passionate board members as suggested above.

[Behind-the-Gulls]

We can only speculate on the reasons for this but Alex Rowe didn't look or perform like a Director(Vice-Chair) who was going to leave anytime soon at the last Fans' Forum;indeed he seemed to be taking more of a Board spokesperson role since we were relegated,particularly as Thea is not confident in these situations.
The Boyce's are very busy professionals with young families so may well have planned to give up their Directorships at some point;but a few days before the new season starts? Seems very unlikely to me that any of these resignations were planned.We are losing three of our best Directors,who are TUFC through and through,and I don't feel at all confident that those left are up to the job.

[PhilGull]

watch out phil the american spelling police will be on to you!!

I knew I'd spelt it right, damn spell checker!

Hang on, is that spelt or spelled? Oh lordy

[brooker]

Pretty disappointing before the beginning of the season, and cannot have been pre-planned, as the timing is awful. On the positive side however, I'd much rather have the board members that we have left than the crowd of d**kheads Exeter City have been lumbered with. They can't seem to get a penny together, despite having a stupid amount of commercial directors.