Torquay United Fans Forum

Hector I agree with you 100%. I will email the Mayor today. We all should so he gets the message loud and clear.

I had the same reply, Mellowyellow - I suspect anyone who emails him about anything does. However, if there are enough emails about the same subject, then it becomes harder to ignore.

I wrote to the Mayor re: GI and got a automated reply, which says he see's the mail but only endeavours to reply - so not expecting a reply


"Thank you for your email. I can assure you that I see every email that arrives in my office, but due to sheer volume of enquiries, I will endeavour to reply where appropriate or pass it on to the correct Service Area for their attention and ask for a response to be sent to you directly."


Best wishes,

Gordon Oliver

Elected Mayor of Torbay Council

I wonder whether David Thomas will even mention that supporters are emailing the Mayor asking him NOT to sell the freehold to GI. That doesn't even require him to speculate, only to report. At least then, those fans - who do not frequent forums - who are crossing their fingers hoping for a GI takeover to go through might get access to a different opinion and start to ask questions of their own.

Imagine the galvanising force the Herald Express could be for a Supporters Trust, if they hadn't made it all about lawnmowers.

Parkys People wrote:An excellent post hector.

Hear, hear - that must surely be the post of the last six months. In slight defence of Dave Thomas, and I emphasise it is slight, I suspect that like everyone else, his hands have been tied by the Memorandum of Understanding gag, although all the detrimental reports on Gaming International is in the public domain anyway.

He was rather more hard-hitting in his report in last week's H.E. when he wrote that David Phillips and Clarke Osborne had brought criticism on them selves by not releasing any information whatsoever.

An excellent post hector.

As Dutchgull points out, David Thomas has been alarmingly slow on the uptake, preferring - it would appear - not to rock the boat. He seems to have a pretty dismissive attitude towards the TUST and his frankly ridiculous assertion - that many supporters fell for - that TUST is a glorified Supporters Club, either demonstrated complete ignorance of their purpose or intentional undermining.

Does he have the slightest awareness of the danger this football club faces from Gaming International? Has he expressed the degree of unease of supporters or displayed an ounce of journalistic nous to actually investigate what the future of TUFC might look like if GI succeed in buying the football club for their own profiteering wants?

He should be ringing great big alarm bells but he won't do that because that would be skirting on the edges of controversy and when does David Thomas ever do that? Maintaining a cosy, easy life is the name of the game for DT - not rocking the boat. If this was the Plymouth Herald, they would have been really delving into GI's murky past, if GI were looking into buying Plymouth Argyle. The Herald Express are always slow on the uptake. They were when Chris Roberts was running things, they were when Bill Phillips was doing his best to mess things up and they are now.

The very fact that - as the opening post on this thread seems to suggest - the onus seems to be on the Council is masking the issue that GI want the land, not the football club. If GI want our football club, then just buy it and build a new stadium regardless of what happens to Plainmoor after we depart it. That would be up to the council to deal with at that point.

Has it been explored why GI are holding a gun at the Council's head? Is it so the council be blamed if the deal falls through and the club are left owing GI money? Would that be the council's fault? I can imagine that is how it would be painted?

The fact that GI have been dilly-dallying around since March can hardly be blamed on the council.

David Thomas should be looking into the role of Peter Masters (rather than meekly accepting what the club say), into why GI have been given such a lengthy MOU but that would be acting like a journalist rather than virtually copying and pasting what appears on the TUFc website. The fact that DT has been so slow with this has meant those fans who only read the Herald do not have the same sense of urgency as those with access to forums. It's supporters who have been doing the journalistic digging, not the Herald Express.

I'm no legal expert, but if that 'loan' (if it was an actual loan) to the club was made in anticipation of a deal being made which included the Plainmoor land, and if such a deal was never concluded, then I should have thought that GI would have no claim to repayment of the said 'loan'. At the very least, even if the club felt morally bound to repay it, then the club should be in a position to decide the rates of payment and interest if any.

The crucial question, though, is: what was in the written agreement (or memorandum) ?

Of course, if the prospective purchasers genuinely have the interests of the club at heart, they could simply make an investment and acquire some shares in the club..

MellowYellow wrote:I speak through sheer frustration Portugull. I applaud the Chairman and Directors of Torquay United for steering us through a difficult period and will continue to do so, but I am frustrated by TU Board for not picking the right buyer for the club. The must have known how this corporate raider (GI) operates; they are in my opinion asset strippers. It they really wanted us as a football club why at this late stage is the deal all down to Torbay Council. I don't buy into 'we must have a new stadium. Plainmoor got a needed renovation in the summer of 2012 when Bristow’s Bench opened with 1,750 seats and new dressing rooms for the players and a new press box. The other stands at the ground are neat as the club and region has been able to spend money in order to get and keep the ground in solid shape. This ground is the envy of many a club in the Conference league and indeed the lower tiers of the football league.

If GI did have our interest at heart then they would buy TU as seen, and think about a new stadium once they had invested into our current infrastructure and taken us back into the football league. But we all know this is not the case, it will end up like GI's other proposed Stadia schemes at the Milton Keynes Bowl and North Star (Swindon), neither of which have been seen through to conclusion.

I agree with this. However, I would add, it seemed as if GI were the only ones who had any interest in TUFC at any level. A gamble to allow a pretty useless company in meeting targets to do what they want in order for a load of money to come our way? It seems that way and it seems as if that gamble hasn't paid off (ironically, we'll have to pay them off..).

I speak through sheer frustration Portugull. I applaud the Chairman and Directors of Torquay United for steering us through a difficult period and will continue to do so, but I am frustrated by TU Board for not picking the right buyer for the club. The must have known how this corporate raider (GI) operates; they are in my opinion asset strippers. It they really wanted us as a football club why at this late stage is the deal all down to Torbay Council. I don't buy into 'we must have a new stadium. Plainmoor got a needed renovation in the summer of 2012 when Bristow’s Bench opened with 1,750 seats and new dressing rooms for the players and a new press box. The other stands at the ground are neat as the club and region has been able to spend money in order to get and keep the ground in solid shape. This ground is the envy of many a club in the Conference league and indeed the lower tiers of the football league.

If GI did have our interest at heart then they would buy TU as seen, and think about a new stadium once they had invested into our current infrastructure and taken us back into the football league. But we all know this is not the case, it will end up like GI's other proposed Stadia schemes at the Milton Keynes Bowl and North Star (Swindon), neither of which have been seen through to conclusion.

MellowYellow we are a Full Time Professional Club competing in the 5th Tier of Professional Football. This cannot be denied.

We may have a small squad but we are still in business but only just.

If the good people of Torbay really loved their team we would attract gates of 5.000 but they do not. Sadly it is very difficult to make Football

a financially viable business these days.

If I was a multi millionaire I would buy the Club tomorrow. I think David Phillips on 1st August should advertise the Club for Sale because I really do not

think Gaming International are serious. They appear to be time wasters based on their track record.

The only thing which will save us is someone with the cash AND the commitment to get us back in the Football League.

Whatever you think of David Phillips remember he and his fellow Directors saved us from going to the wall a year ago.

I may be wrong, but I can't imagine Torbay Council selling Plainmoor; still less can I imagine them allowing redevelopment of the ground for housing. I always understood Plainmoor was intended for sports and community purposes for the town in perpetuity, which the people of Torbay still badly need. If the proposed buyers of the club want to build a new stadium elsewhere, with car parks and multi-revenue streams from various facilities, in order to provide sustainability for the football club, that is one thing. It is quite another to attempt to acquire Plainmoor for re-development. That the prospective new owners want to do this says something, perhaps, about their true intentions. Is it really the club and its future they're interested in?

Hi Portugull - do you think TUFC are professional then - in my eyes their the biggest amateur set up, I have seen in a long time, Squad smaller than my pickled gherkin, players on minimum wage, no budget to speak of, reduced season tickets ( money already spent repaying GI loan), need I go on. Given that even SB is not bothering to turn up for matches next season, things must be bad.

The sports clubs review was meant for discussion on the 22 July but it was felt important enough for them to be included as an appendix to the Council’s Corporate Asset Management Plan. A representative of Torbay Sports Council attended a meeting and shared the concerns of the Sports Council in relation to the proposals. This seem a little over the top to renew Babbacombe Cricket Club lease on Walls Hill, don't you think! unless there is something bigger in sporting terms to be brought forward to the meeting

About bloody time Mr Thomas did his job a journalist. Those who use another forum knew this months ago. Why didn't alert everybody before ???

TUFC already has a long lease of Plainmoor.

I read the above as applying to Amateur Sports Clubs but I could be wrong.