Clarke Osborne

[Trojan 67]

Throwers and knowers, knockers and clockers.

Super, smashing, great.

Stay out of the flak and into the thread.

You cant beat a bit of Bully.

[tomogull]

Yorkieandy, I truly feel sorry for the problems you have experienced with your mental health. As quite rightly as pointed out by Scott Brehaut, this is not the right place to openly discuss your issues but I sincerely wish you well. Scott Brehaut, the reasons why I publicly made my comments concerning Southampton Gull on this forum is as he always seems to aggressively attack people in a demeaning manner, including myself, surely I have a right of reply via the same source.
I will however be making no further comments concerning anything not connected to the purpose of this forum unless I am aggressively attacked on this forum for voicing my options.

Frankly, DawlishMatt, I don't know why you chose to regurgitate this issue at this time. There is no doubt money has been pumped into the club, but remember it is a loan, and the appointment of Gary Johnson was a masterstroke (and to be fair, GJ said he was happy with the situation at the club). George Edwards appointment as chief executive, or whatever his title is, appears to be sound, although we don't hear much from him. We are enjoying the brand of football being played - better than for many seasons - which is bringing fans back to home games. The pitch looks great and the Youth System, whatever it is, appears to be producing players for the future. That's the positives. The negatives, of course, are that Clarke Osborne has no interest in football. I don't think he attended any games last season, not even the last game when we were presented with the trophy. He has several failed new stadium promises to his name, so what is his endgame? We must all remain watchful. If as you say he has had 'further discussions' with Torbay Council planners, we must insist that TUFC continue to play at Plainmoor until a new FIT FOR PURPOSE stadium has been built. I have serious doubts about the proposed Nightingale Park site.

I agree with Standupsitdown that there have been some 'disappointing' posts on this thread so keep on posting, especially if you hear any tittle-tattle about the talks with Torbay Council.

By the way, before Osborne took over, we were told the break even attendance figure was 1800. As we seem to be getting gates over 3000 now, are we going into the black financially?

[Plainmoor78]

By the way, before Osborne took over, we were told the break even attendance figure was 1800. As we seem to be getting gates over 3000 now, are we going into the black financially?

No it doesnt. That figure of 1800 was given by Dave Philips when Paul Cox was the manager and we had a playing budget of £300,000.
When it became clear that this was insufficient to keep us in the Conference Premier Philips borrowed £120,000 from GI so Kevin Nicholson could rebuild the squad during the mid season transfer window, and the rest is history.

[tomogull]

No it doesnt. That figure of 1800 was given by Dave Philips when Paul Cox was the manager and we had a playing budget of £300,000.
When it became clear that this was insufficient to keep us in the Conference Premier Philips borrowed £120,000 from GI so Kevin Nicholson could rebuild the squad during the mid season transfer window, and the rest is history.

I more or less thought that would be the answer - thanks for that PG. We really need someone like Boris who is able to pluck £££s off magic Money Trees .......

[culmstockgull]

How does anyone balance the books of a football club unless you adopt your local oligarch or better still a prince of a far east country as chairman.
Like many, I would love to run a football club but nothing in my career could have equiped me to deal with a business that haemorrhages money. Even if we doubled the crowds that we currently get through the turnastiles we may and I say may break even. That would equate to standing still and no room for further investment.
There has to be some very innovative thinking to produce a large and sustainable revenue stream that is outside of the football side of the club, even if we were fortunate enough to sell a player for a million that would equate to probably a season and a half or if very prudent two seasons on field spending.
I believe football is no longer sustainable as a stand alone venture, so it matters not whether Osborne or some other loveable rogue like father Christmas is chairman, the benevolent, deep pocketed, team supporting chairman is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
I recall that several seasons ago rumour had it that Smurthwaite was thinking of relocating to our part of the world and looking to offload Port Vale and the world of ever hopeful Torquay fans were desperate for him to take over and become the new messiah. His name, now that part of the story of his stewardship at Port Vale has come out makes Osborne by comparison destined for Canonisation by the Pope. So we should be careful what we wish for.
I know a number of local authorities financially supporting their local team, whether by zero rents, interest free loans, assistance with construction projects etc, if Torbay can justify spending over a quarter of a million pounds for ever air show that they hold on the basis that it brings revenue to the area then surely a successful football team encourages away supporters who bring revenue to the bay.

[tomogull]

How does anyone balance the books of a football club unless you adopt your local oligarch or better still a prince of a far east country as chairman.
Like many, I would love to run a football club but nothing in my career could have equiped me to deal with a business that haemorrhages money. Even if we doubled the crowds that we currently get through the turnastiles we may and I say may break even. That would equate to standing still and no room for further investment.
There has to be some very innovative thinking to produce a large and sustainable revenue stream that is outside of the football side of the club, even if we were fortunate enough to sell a player for a million that would equate to probably a season and a half or if very prudent two seasons on field spending.
I believe football is no longer sustainable as a stand alone venture, so it matters not whether Osborne or some other loveable rogue like father Christmas is chairman, the benevolent, deep pocketed, team supporting chairman is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
I recall that several seasons ago rumour had it that Smurthwaite was thinking of relocating to our part of the world and looking to offload Port Vale and the world of ever hopeful Torquay fans were desperate for him to take over and become the new messiah. His name, now that part of the story of his stewardship at Port Vale has come out makes Osborne by comparison destined for Canonisation by the Pope. So we should be careful what we wish for.
I know a number of local authorities financially supporting their local team, whether by zero rents, interest free loans, assistance with construction projects etc, if Torbay can justify spending over a quarter of a million pounds for ever air show that they hold on the basis that it brings revenue to the area then surely a successful football team encourages away supporters who bring revenue to the bay.

Good post Culmstock and I fully agree. I fear for the long-term future of many clubs outside the Premier because, as you say, football is no longer sustainable as a 'stand alone' business. Are Bolton and Bury just the tip of the iceberg? I wonder how many clubs are running at a frightening loss each year?

[Jerry]

How does anyone balance the books of a football club

Pay the players less. It really is that simple.

Unfortunately unless every club does it this would mean those that do being left behind on the pitch, and this will never happen. So we get the ever increasing arms race of players wages that we see today.

This is why I chuckle when people say that if the Premier League sent more money down the pyramid it would help smaller clubs survive. No it wouldn't because any extra money would just go to higher and higher player wages.

Until clubs are forced to live within their means by some kind of FFP or salary cap this will never be resolved.