Well done David Thomas.

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 21 Jul 2016, 12:20

A very well written piece published today by David Thomas in the Herald Express.

Surely the time has come for Torbay Council to issue a Statement on this important subject.

Mr. Mayor, Gordon Oliver, the time has come. Please inform ALL supporters of TUFC were the Council stands on this issue. Please no more secrecy

we need to know.

PhilGull · Post by **PhilGull** » 21 Jul 2016, 12:28

portugull wrote:A very well written piece published today by David Thomas in the Herald Express.

Surely the time has come for Torbay Council to issue a Statement on this important subject.

Mr. Mayor, Gordon Oliver, the time has come. Please inform ALL supporters of TUFC were the Council stands on this issue. Please no more secrecy

we need to know.

From the "The Gaming International Files" thread.

MF68 wrote:There is a Full Council meeting tomorrow night in Brixham which will be discussing Sports Ground leases and Council assets. I am sure it will be discussed there.

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 21 Jul 2016, 12:41

According to the Torbay Council website there is a Full Council Meeting at Brixham at 2.30 pm today 21st July.

I can see nothing on the Agenda about Torquay United.

PhilGull · Post by **PhilGull** » 21 Jul 2016, 13:05

Agenda is here.
There is an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions. Anyone local able to pop along?

MellowYellow · Post by **MellowYellow** » 21 Jul 2016, 15:55

The agenda wont be specific in naming Torquay United but rather as a sport club and slipped in to the Agenda under:

Amendments to the Corporate Asset Management Plan

It is proposed to amend the Corporate Asset Management Plan to include two additional appendices which will (1) set out a process to deal with applications for grants to offset market rent and (2) identify an overarching strategy for granting long leases to sports clubs. It is important that the Council has a clear process to consider any applications from tenants where a request is made for a grant in lieu of the market rent.

Decision type: Key

Reason Key: High level of public interest;

Decision status: For Determination

Wards affected: (All Wards);

Notice of proposed decision first published: 22/06/2016

Decision due: 21 Jul 2016 by Council

Decision due: 21 Aug 2016 by Mayor

Lead member: Mayor and Executive Lead for Finance and Regeneration

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 21 Jul 2016, 16:05

TUFC already has a long lease of Plainmoor.

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

Dutchgull · Post by **Dutchgull** » 21 Jul 2016, 16:53

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 ???

MellowYellow · Post by **MellowYellow** » 21 Jul 2016, 17:57

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 Councilâ€™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

Gullscorer · Post by **Gullscorer** » 21 Jul 2016, 19:02

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?

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 21 Jul 2016, 19:31

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.

MellowYellow · Post by **MellowYellow** » 21 Jul 2016, 20:21

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 Bristowâ€™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.

Post by **Colorado Gull** » 22 Jul 2016, 09:02

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 Bristowâ€™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..).

Gullscorer · Post by **Gullscorer** » 22 Jul 2016, 10:43

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..

hector · Post by **hector** » 24 Jul 2016, 09:22

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.

Parkys People · Post by **Parkys People** » 24 Jul 2016, 10:55

An excellent post hector.

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