Club Ownership

[merse btpir]

Hence our decision to forget past events and allow Merse the chance to post freely on here. We're well aware of the tactics employed by concerns like GI and this is not the time to let petty squabbling divide the fans.

I think Merse got his idea about Bill Phillips from a conversation we had this morning where I outlined my fears that people were assuming it would be Alex Rowe when IMHO he'd be very unlikely to want to be their trophy chairman. The logical choice from amongst the previous board would be the ever ambitious and totally incompetent Bill Phillips. Make of that what you will.

Indeed it is a concerted orchestration to cause division and defect attention away from their agenda because they know they have been rumbled but that the silent majority of the support are still blissfully unaware of what they are up to.

My enquiries today lead me to believe that Alex Rowe has NOT (yet) been approached by GI, but the sudden appearance of Barbados Bill at the Braintree and FGR (where I stood within unnoticed shoulder rubbing proximity to him in the Green Man) away matches has got to lead to very serious suspicion. That might be a mistaken suspicion but a suspicion nevertheless. It was Bill Phillips remember, who introduced Peter Masters to Plainmoor too leaving the last board with a tenancy agreement with the Truro chairman that he subsequently withdrew from leaving them with a very serious hole in their finance projections.

Don't forget either that Gaming International were briefly involved with the sordid chain of events that lead to the demise of Hereford United before withdrawing almost as quickly as they appeared to join forces with that nasty bunch of bastards led by Tommy Agombar who has left fingerprints on quite a few abortive and successful attempts to relieve football clubs of their grounds.

[Southampton Gull]

Agreed. I was astounded to hear that Dave Phillips was more than happy to send Bill Phillips as a representative of the Club, what an absolute kick in the face for the memory of Paul Bristow who gave so much to be forgotten so soon in favour of a freeloader who took so much.

The history of GI has been laid bare on here although I fully understand you might not have seen it but we've collectively unearthed a lot of their dirty secrets.

Let the fight begin, if we can put aside our differences then anything is possible.

[Plainmoor78]

Indeed it is a concerted orchestration to cause division and defect attention away from their agenda because they know they have been rumbled but that the silent majority of the support are still blissfully unaware of what they are up to.

My enquiries today lead me to believe that Alex Rowe has NOT (yet) been approached by GI, but the sudden appearance of Barbados Bill at the Braintree and FGR (where I stood within unnoticed shoulder rubbing proximity to him in the Green Man) away matches has got to lead to very serious suspicion. That might be a mistaken suspicion but a suspicion nevertheless. It was Bill Phillips remember, who introduced Peter Masters to Plainmoor too leaving the last board with a tenancy agreement with the Truro chairman that he subsequently withdrew from leaving them with a very serious hole in their finance projections.

Don't forget either that Gaming International were briefly involved with the sordid chain of events that lead to the demise of Hereford United before withdrawing almost as quickly as they appeared to join forces with that nasty bunch of bastards led by Tommy Agombar who has left fingerprints on quite a few abortive and successful attempts to relieve football clubs of their grounds.

Just a completely irresponsible thought, but in previous postings Tired Old Gull did display some knowledge of the inner workings of the club including knowing Paul Bristow, who he inadvertently referred to as a loony. Is Tired Old Gull actually Bill Philips?

[Dazza]

I think Dave it might be time to establish what as fans and as the club we support both require to see put in place by the Council as full and enforceable conditions for the club to survive and have potential to return to the Football League and operate in it IF Plainmoor is to be considered by the council to be at some time in the future to be free of its current protective covenants and therefore available for sale. It occurs to me that a number of things need to be established before this could or should be a serious proposition.

My personal view is that we should be asking for the following conditions.

Firstly before the start of any development whatsoever could place at Plainmoor a replacement football stadium should be built by the intended developers with at least an equivalent seating and standing capacity to Plainmoor. The stadium should be to a specification that facilitates without further work an automatic return to the English Football League as it should be compliant with all their requirements. The stadium I feel needs to be designed and its footprint developed in such a way that allows future expansion to 8,500 ground capacity.

The existing covenant on Plainmoor should remain in place until after the first month of Torquay United Competative football League action at the new stadium .

A similar covenant to the one operating at Plainmoor should be established in relation to the entire footprint of the new stadium.

The full rent payable by Torquay United AFC for use of the stadium for an equivalent level of use to the clubs current use of Plainmoor should be in real terms at the same financial level as the Council currently pay to the Council to allow the club to remain a viable operation.

The new stadium shall be provided with sufficient public car parking to satisfy the requirements of the Highway Authority but there will in any event be constructed 100 free car parking spaces immediately adjacent to the stadium. These spaces should be available to the club as required by them free of further rental charge.

Others may wish to add to this but this to me seems to constitute the bottom line which might allow the opportunity for any ground transfer to be considered but does so in a way that protects the viable operating interests of Torquay United AFC as a potential English Football League club.

I personally think it is really important that the footballing and supporting side of the club sets out at this time a bottom line for Torbay Council to consider to ensure that a club now technically controlled by a company whose main interest is development does not lose sight of the required position for a Football League club to operate in the interests of the area as a whole.

[Southampton Gull]

Well thought out and would go a long way towards safeguarding the future of the club.

[Gullscorer]

If you're going to get anywhere at all in business you've got to think big. So: 15000 capacity stadium..

[SteveDeckchair]

Things must be bad if Dave and Merse have put aside their differences!

It saddens me immensely to hear Bill Phillips' name mentioned in connection to our club again. Nothing good has come since he came on the scene. If he is involved, rest assured you can be certain of GI intentions.

[merse btpir]

Things must be bad if Dave and Merse have put aside their differences!

Rest assured they were put aside a good time before the present.

I came on this site to reply in person to some pretty destructive posting aimed towards the opposition to the 'plan' of GI and certain emerging characters who have chosen to character assassinate me after a history of silence. Of course they know who they are but don't want to let YOU know who they are.....nobody can ever accuse me of hiding behind a pseudonym. Not my style and costs me loads of aggravation, but that is me ~ not everyone's cup of tea but I don't really want to be for that matter....if you are afraid of upsetting people or making enemies on these issues then forget it!

I will 'stick around though' if that is OK with the proprietor and moderators/management.

Dave Phillips will have now 'exited stage left' and flown to Australia if his plans have gone according to what I was led to believe ~ a modus operandi similar to Bill Phillips and Thea Bristow when the shit hits the fan if I'm not mistaken.

But hey; there are other malevolent and 'interested' parties we need to collectively keep an eye on. Expose for who they really are when they post on forums and their real objectives minutely studied like never before.

Now we have a 'Fishtowngull' admitting on TFF their motives and deception in putting them over on the most docile and ambivalent of the three forums whilst obviously registered with BTPIR or having access to someone else's registered access.....'doing it on someone else's behalf' eh?

I can tell you now that in recent times both Bill Phillips and Rob Stanley have registered on BTPIR; Dave Phillips and his brother-in-law as well as Val Balson have been long time members. We have players and former players on there all using pseudonyms and members of the media both local and national too and no doubt it is no different on here.

Don't be afraid to say what you really think and stand up to bullying, deception and avarice. INSIST that the local media make a fair and proper expose of just what is going on and hound and harry them for as long as it takes because believe me; there are people out there intent on killing this football club for their own greedy ends!

[Gullscorer]

Er.. what is BTPIR? I tried a search but nothing meaningful came up..

[hector]

Er.. what is BTPIR? I tried a search but nothing meaningful came up..

It stands for Beyond the Penn Inn Roundabout and has its roots in the Capital Gulls group.

http://thelondonlabia.proboards.com

It is possibly the busiest of the three forums now but it's web address and name do not, perhaps, make it as easily findable as the other forums, which is a shame, as it has much to commend.

It is a robust forum but you will find mention of all that is unfurling weeks ago, and things normally come to light a lot sooner than you'd ever hear about it from David Thomas and the Herald Express. I'm afraid, DT is part of the problem.

[Lloyder5]

No mention of this yet on the Herald Express; the biggest story for years

[torregull]

Editorial in today's Herald Express(Opinion column) says "United are moving in the right direction and 2017 could be a memorable year".They're basing these comments on the fact that GI "are thinking of looking to local people with a feel for the ups and downs of our beloved club to take on the day-to-day running". Wake up and smell the coffee Herald Express.

[Neal]

If you think of it, if the worst happens and we end up in a new stadium paying rent to whatever company GI choose. We would be in exactly the same position if we stayed at Plainmoor and TUST ran the club. Because GI will NOT put 100k's in every year to achieve success. How do I know that, BECUASE ITS BL**DY OBVIOUS!! The ONLY advantage would be if the rent was less than it is today. And the stadium running costs were say shared. I doubt VERY much if the rent was less.

My gut feeling is that in 4 or 5 years time a phoenix club run by TUST will be created, its success would depend on how many would come across. Unfortunately money talks, always has always will. Do I have faith in the council, not much to be honest, but I bl**dy well hope Im wrong. And we should do ALL we can to stop the freehold being sold.

[Neal]

By the way, good to see you on here Merse, Ive just registered on BTPIR, Im basingstoketufcfan before anyone thinks Im someone else with an ulterior motive.

[brucie]

Here we are, three weeks into Gi's tenure. Osborne has basically said nothing, bar apparently turning up to watch the Forest Green match wearing a Torquay scarf. He is lower profile than Dave Phillips and that's saying something.

Our main striker has been sold to Plymouth, there isn't a hint of a new signing player wise - yet lo and behold a meeting to discuss the disposal of our ground has been convened with the council.

Yet according to the Herald Express "we are moving in the right direction for 2017" - I mean you couldn't make this up.

I must admit I havn't faintest idea as to the workings of the local council, if they are anything like Torridge District they are worse than useless, the lot of them.

I am puzzled however as to why this meeting has been convened. No doubt there must have been something going on in the background.

If our previous chairman has gone to Australia then lets hope he was manacled and was transported on a sailing vessel.