If you won the lottery what would you do

[Neal]

OK
If you won the Euro millions this week, think its 60m

And other than family and friends what would your first phone call be regarding TUFC?

And how much of that 60m would you give to the club, and more importantly would it have any clauses attached to it.

Personally I would not want to run the club, I would be off. So that would mean basically giving it to someone to make the day to day decisions. And imagine if the team were still not successful, and as owner wasn't around, would get hammered on here. Wonder if it would be worth the bloody hassle.

[PhilGull]

First thing would be £50000 in the players fund.

I've said in the past I would want to invest but as I have no experience of running a business or anything to do with professional football beyond playing Football Manager I would not want to own the club. However, given everything that has happened over the last few years I think I would most definitely want a place on the board at least.

As for what I would do, the number one priority always has to be making sure the first team manager has the resources to make the first team competitive in the league. Beyond that I would want to make good investments in the future of the club. Spend some money on Plainmoor, tart the place up a bit(!) Invest in the ladies team, make sure they are fully integrated in to the club and have the same opportunities as the men.
One thing I do think is that it would be silly for a club our size to build a spanky new stadium but there is no reason why we shouldn't have truly world class training facilities and youth academy.

Lastly in this list but not in my thoughts is the community. I quite like the continental idea of a sports club, there is no reason why Torquay United just has to be about football. If I remember correctly one of the top Russian womens tennis pros came through at CSKA Moscow - would love to see local people able to participate in all kinds of sport.

[WESTWARDGULL]

1. Give enough to cover all club wages, playing and backroom staff wages for year.
2. Put enough into account for travel and overnight stays for all matches over a certain distance away.
3. Set up decent advertising in all towns in local catchment area.
4. Put 100,000 into exclusive transfer pot
5. Have an open gate, free home game, and pay what would of been taken on gates.

Added in 2 seconds:
1. Give enough to cover all club wages, playing and backroom staff wages for year.
2. Put enough into account for travel and overnight stays for all matches over a certain distance away.
3. Set up decent advertising in all towns in local catchment area.
4. Put 100,000 into exclusive transfer pot
5. Have an open gate, free home game, and pay what would of been taken on gates.

[RussianGull]

Lastly in this list but not in my thoughts is the community. I quite like the continental idea of a sports club, there is no reason why Torquay United just has to be about football. If I remember correctly one of the top Russian womens tennis pros came through at CSKA Moscow - would love to see local people able to participate in all kinds of sport.

Phil, a bit more on CSKA (ЦСКА). It means Central Sports Club of the Army. If you search CSKA then the Moscow football team will come first then not far behind it Hockey and Basketball, Volleyball.

You'll find them dotted through eastern Europe and beyond, but the central bit normally means that they represent the capital (SKA Saint Petersburg is an example of a non-central Sport Club of the Army). SKAs were a system of sports clubs and societies that have slowly turned professional and come away from the Ministry of Defense sports club system.

The only thing that would deter me from spending my millions on SDSC Torquay (South Devon Sports Club Torquay) is that the stadiums tend to have running tracks around them and I hate that! (Also not sure where we'd put the ice rink)

[Lloyder5]

I would invest enough in the team to arrest the decline and avoid relegation but my main focus would be sustainable income generation. What that would look like, I don't know but it would protect the club when I throw my toys out of the pram and storm off because I'm so sick of the negativity of the 10,000 plus fans on the numerous forums that have sprung up, owing to unprecedented success

[Trojan 67]

I would invest in Exeter City and give them Championship funding and an all seater all covered all singing all dancing 10000 capacity state of the art Stadium. After their one season wonder in the Championship, I would suddenly pull the financial plug and watch as they tumbled down the leagues and divisions. When they hit the Exeter & District Football League, the wider local community would enjoy fit for purpose facilities.

Am I a cahunt or what?

[SenorDingDong]

1. Give enough money to stabilise the club's current financial status, as in pay off all the debts we know are there but the directors won't/can't mention and won't pay off with their initial investment.
2. Invest heavily in the club to try and retain the team's Conference status this season - saving a season or two stuck in the CS would be an absolute godsend for the club. If not then take the pain and bankroll the club back into the Conference, taking necessary heavy loss.
3. Immediately begin planning to move the stadium out to somewhere in the Willows or near the new South Devon Link Road. Send out a large scale mailshot to people in Torbay asking what sporting and entertainment facilities they want in the Bay but it's lacking. Use the results of this to build those facilities alongside the stadium and make them directly owned by the club. This will help create substantial non attendance related income streams for the club and help fund it in the future.
4. Set aside something like £5m and put it into a trust where the money can only be used to fund youth development in the Bay via Torquay United. 5% interest on this sum is £250k a year - people with large bank accounts on this level get much more preferential interest rates than the crap us mugs get. All the interest gets used on an annual basis to fund the youth system, the original amount is never touched. More than a decent sum to help form the core of youth development on a long term basis with no extra funding required in the future.
5. Kind of a vanity thing here but switch the away kit back to a permanent black and white to respect the club's history and have the club's badge redesigned, the crap Motorola Gull needs to go, it doesn't say anything about the club and looks awful. Contract a decent kit maker for the club such as Adidas - even if it loses money.
6. Try to get fans to invest into the club in small amounts and let them vote on certain minor subjects - Spanish clubs do this, even Seattle Sounders in the MLS does to a lesser extent.
7. Attempt to set up kind of link with Southampton FC regarding youth development and the loaning of players. If they don't want to loan players, then a deal (paid for if necessary) where some of their youth development team works on training our youth staff and it's systems.
8. With some kind of youth system in place and new stadium complex in place, run the club entirely within it's means (aside from the odd transfer to help push for promotion in Jan or escape relegation). With the above changes, the club should be able to sustain L2 football, if it grows over them then maybe L1 as Yeovil managed for half a decade or so. However sustainability is the key word, I wouldn't throw cash at the club to get the team promoted, only for it to fall away a couple season down the line.
9. Commission a new club history book to update the one made in 1999 but of a higher quality print...and with less use of comic sans (who on earth thought different fonts for different chapters was a good idea?)
10. Beat Exeter City. Repeatedly.

[ferrarilover]

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats forever.

Close the thread, nothing'll top Troj's idea.

Matt.

[haz316]

First I'd pay off my mortgage
Secondly I'd buy a luxury villa in the sun
Thirdly I'd give my family enough to not work again and live in luxury.
Somewhere down the line I'd phone torquay utd and wish them good luck,as they seem to turn down all offers of help and they probably wouldn't want my money anyway

[Dave_Pougher]

Buy the club
Sack Nicholsoon
Sell the club

[Glostergull]

Dave. You might buy the club. and yes as owner.(assuming your allowed to sack the manager) you can do what you like.. but I wish you well when you come to sell the club. thats where everyone will stand by and laugh at you.

Added in 1 second:
Dave. You might buy the club. and yes as owner.(assuming your allowed to sack the manager) you can do what you like.. but I wish you well when you come to sell the club. thats where everyone will stand by and laugh at you.

[DevonYellow]

Buy the club
Sack Nicholsoon
Sell the club

This +1.

Don't think we're allowed to say this though, he's a "legend" remember?

[ROADRUNNER]

buy the club, sack everyone including the playing squad, get paul buckle back, put colin lee in as chief executive, give them a 1,million pound budget for the season and let the good times roll again!

[Burnhamgull]

I'd buy the club, close it down, sell the ground to a property developer and go and live in the sun somewhere.

I would be releasing 1,400 (it used to be 2000) individuals from anymore suffering.

I would not want a knighthood for this........I'll take an MBE though.....