The Disgraceful Player Fund

TUST_Member_Rob · Post by **TUST_Member_Rob** » 17 Oct 2016, 10:28

A harsh title for it maybe but I came away from the ground on Saturday thinking the current board dont deserve any of my money without telling me whats happening with it.

I'm not knocking the Player Fund idea, its a great system, however its current set up is woeful and lacks any transparency, accountability or ambition.

The new website could have been an opportunity to do this simple options such as

1 - Every month an updated pot showing total donations in and any expenditure from it and what it was spent on
2 - A live (updated maybe every other day) 'totalizer' that people could actually see their odd £10 going into

At the moment donations goes into a black hole or the clubs main account - mistake - and we arent notified of what it was spent on and from a chairman and board who aren't publicly saying a word its not good enough!

Post by **Colorado Gull** » 17 Oct 2016, 10:58

That's probably because we have a woeful Chairman and a non-existent and incompetent board.

Yorkieandy · Post by **Yorkieandy** » 17 Oct 2016, 11:05

TUST_Member_Rob wrote:A harsh title for it maybe but I came away from the ground on Saturday thinking the current board dont deserve any of my money without telling me whats happening with it.

I'm not knocking the Player Fund idea, its a great system, however its current set up is woeful and lacks any transparency, accountability or ambition.

The new website could have been an opportunity to do this simple options such as

1 - Every month an updated pot showing total donations in and any expenditure from it and what it was spent on
2 - A live (updated maybe every other day) 'totalizer' that people could actually see their odd £10 going into

At the moment donations goes into a black hole or the clubs main account - mistake - and we arent notified of what it was spent on and from a chairman and board who aren't publicly saying a word its not good enough!

You would have thought that Rob but the board don't think like we do. Fans clamour for inclusion and communication and ideas, even putting their own forward like you have done, they don't have to even do any thinking, yet nobody at the club is ever interested in what fans think or what they would like.

Like I said in another thread. They can go and screw themselves. :slap: :~D

Useless and ignorant.

Nico is doing a cracking job by the way. Even linked with the York job up here until Gary Mills got the gig. Many York fans impressed with the job he is doing at Plainmoor. He had a lucky escape there did Nico! Stay put man and show these loser board members that you don't need them. Do it for yourself and the fans man. Nicholson! Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiicholson!

wivelgull · Post by **wivelgull** » 17 Oct 2016, 17:37

Interestingly (for tomogull and others) the Whitby Town manager Chris Hardy (aka Pep Chardiola) was also in the frame for the York job. He turned it down saying that his ambition was to take Whitby into the Conference North. Amen!

Yorkieandy · Post by **Yorkieandy** » 17 Oct 2016, 20:28

I heard that also from a good source but equally from another that he had no chance. Chairman McGill knew he wanted Mills and applications closed Friday. Mills, McNamara (who has now been appointed DOF - yes, gets even more bizarre than Torquay there) and McGill the chairman met in a hotel on Saturday evening I believe so less than a day for McGill to sift through all the applications, invite candidates for interview and then actually interview them which obviously didn't happen. It was Mills' job all day long.

bobby93 · Post by **bobby93** » 17 Oct 2016, 21:22

I'm not saying I disagree with some of the ideas here, and I have long thought that more could be done to improve the communication between the club and its fans. I also absolutely see the logic that more people might get involved with the Player Fund if they could see a clear and direct benefit, but I think it's unrealistic to expect the information we're discussing to be divulged so freely.

I'm genuinely not trying to be antagonistic, but truly what is it about football that seems to inspire people to think they need to know absolutely everything about the inner workings of their club? And what is it about (some of) these people that makes them think that even if such information was more readily available, that they are appropriately qualified to interpret it and act upon it? It's easy to criticise the club for their failings, and there are plenty I do agree, but I think a deeper exploration of what we are asking for would really entail - and how great the benefit would be - is worth thinking about. Would donations decrease if Nicho signed a player the fans didn't like, for example? Would rival clubs be able to make assumptions about our wage bill? Would this all entail additional admin costs? I don't know the answers, but I don't think the issue is quite as simple as we might first think.

Perhaps it's a question that could be put to Nicho or whoever at the next Fans Forum, assuming we still do those? Is there scope for greater transparency on the Player Fund, and if not why not? Then we know. Fair and simple.

gullpower · Post by **gullpower** » 17 Oct 2016, 22:03

I think that the point being made is that if fans are donating their hard earned pounds to the Players Fund they should be told (even have a right to be told) how that money is being spent. Disclosing which players get what isn't necessary, but at least what comes in and what is going out is not unreasonable.

Lloyder5 · Post by **Lloyder5** » 18 Oct 2016, 07:58

I don't think a running total is advisable for the reasons discussed above, but I do this a Player's Fund Annual Report is essential.

uffculmegull · Post by **uffculmegull** » 18 Oct 2016, 13:41

It is unfortunate but accurate to state that the chairman and board of Torquay United are behaving in an appalling way towards their supporters and the club they so proffess to love..
This is not North Korea where some inbred with delusions of grandeur decides whether you will live or die today, although you could be forgiven for thinking we are judging by the way we are treated and left to feed off scraps of information they deem suitable to drop at our feet. If the club and team were moving forward in a positive fashion we would be arguing and discussing about how many points we need to guarantee promotion, we are not, we are a struggling club in all respects, and as such the talk is all about whether we will be relegated, whether Nicholson will decide, sooner, rather than later in my mind that this club is a total basket case and he can do what he believes he is good at, at a far better run club than ours.
In terms of the players fund I believe it to be a laudable enterprise, but in no respect is it confidential in the same way as saying " I am the chairman and owner and I am not telling you how much I paid for the club", quite right too, I as a supporter have no right to that information. The Players fund is our money given freely to the club by supporters, but on the express condition that it goes towards the acquisition of additional players that will benefit the club and not as I strongly suspect that it is being used to pay our existing players wages and living costs thus absolving the board from their financial responsibility to run and finance the club.
Will any of this information come out, I doubt it, but it will not stop me asking the question at the forum.

Post by **Southampton Gull** » 18 Oct 2016, 13:45

Glostergull · Post by **Glostergull** » 18 Oct 2016, 17:39

It's not going to happen. publishing what goes into and out of the players fund is confidential exactly for this reason..The next player that was signed from the players fund would show up in the figures and some fans would then extrapolate that information to work out in their own minds what that players earns. this would not be allowed so for that reason no figures will be forthcoming. having said that.. the fund will be in the accounts at the end of the year as it is income received and has to show up unless they choose to bury it in with other income.

Post by **Southampton Gull** » 19 Oct 2016, 06:35

Of course there are never details published by other clubs regarding the players that have been brought in thanks to similar schemes ..............

westyorkshiregull · Post by **westyorkshiregull** » 19 Oct 2016, 13:25

I think at our level if putting money in we should see where it's going. For me that would encourage me more so. Our players I assume only on a number of hundreds a week so can't see much issue with people trying to work it out.

westyorkshiregull · Post by **westyorkshiregull** » 19 Oct 2016, 13:25

I think at our level if putting money in we should see where it's going. For me that would encourage me more so. Our players I assume only on a number of hundreds a week so can't see much issue with people trying to work it out.

Post by **Eirik** » 20 Oct 2016, 19:13

Our prayers have been answered? As of now the players fund have raised over £14000. http://www.torquayunited.com/news/artic ... 74763.aspx

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