Fans Forum-TONIGHT. Doors open 6pm for 7pm start

[lucy6lucy]

Couple of observations after watching the video.

1) Any investor would need to "invest" every bloody year. Its not a one off. And that would include TUST.

2) So the season ticket offer was actually for half a season if we dont get bought out. Perhaps thats why it was cheap. Actually it doesnt bother me, but they knew this.

3) TUST is probably the only long term solution, but it would most likely mean part time football and conf south at best.

4) I think the notion of "investing" in TUFC quite amusing. The reply from the board was, get prommoted a couple of leagues then sell on, make a profit. Bloody hell really, cant see that happening. Thea chucked in a good wad, got a crap manager, and that was wasted.

5) I thought they answered the questions as best they could actually. You cant be totally transparent during negotiations. Just like Brexit

6) someone said the board had had some bad luck. Yes and no. Some people seemed to do alright from it financially. Bad luck or bad judgement, who knows

I'm not a season ticket holder, but is it right what you stated in point 2,that unless we have change of ownership ASAP every season ticket holder will have to pay to watch matches at half time in home game number 12.5? Solihull end of November

[Neal]

I'm not a season ticket holder, but is it right what you stated in point 2,that unless we have change of ownership ASAP every season ticket holder will have to pay to watch matches at half time in home game number 12.5? Solihull end of November

No you misunderstood. I mean IF we are not bought out and were to go bust, then there would be no more games. It was said a bit tongue in cheek but there were questions on here(not by me) why they were so cheap and whether it was wise or not. The board knew that the loan had to be repaid OR shares get transferred to GI, who could of course just do what they like.

[Neal]

Anyway, I got the feeling from the video that its probable we will get sold, so I would assume that we would then make it to the end of the season at least

[Glostergull]

You mean "Turkey United, ready for STUFFING AT Christmas", which is usually the case and more apt than ever this time round. :}

Well you said it. i didn't like to put it in those terms or as someone once said you might think that but i can't possibly comment

as to an earlier post. who finds my original post astonishing. firstly I was not trying to defend the board but putting in an opinion that most have not thought of and if one or two of the board have called a small minority a name then its no more than has happened in the past.
Most of you are too young to remember the rescue of the club by Mike Bateson but i would suggest he probably thought much the same. and some of the behaviour from our so called fans was nothing short of disgraceful. he felt alienated. for all the good he had done the club. remember it would have died way back in 90 if it was not for him,. and we had some good years and we had some bad years. if fact not a lot different from how we have done in the new millennium bar the last 4 or 5. ooh that he was back running the club now. we would still be in the league.
Whether we want to admit it or not. unless a rich man comes waltzing along with wads of cash. i.e. millions and millions. ready to see the whole lot go up in smoke. we are not likely to see league 2 for a long time if ever. as some have said its more likely to be conference south. The minimum budget for running this club to a competitive level has to be at least 3 million a year now. we have to realise where this would come from. rather than sit at our keyboard making up pie in the sky ideas. a couple of thousand a week won't do it. we need several thousand a week.
Unfortunately I saw this coming 25 to 30 years ago as the money was gradually sucked out of the lower leagues by the top league and left us fighting over scraps. IT won't be long before they decide they are not going to pass any money down and leave us all to sink bar the few with rich investors who have money to burn on a pet Hobby.

[PhilGull]

I'm somewhat of a Bateson fan myself but don't rely on those rose-tinted specs too much. Don't forget that were it not for Stevenage's ground he would have had us in the Conference much earlier.

[Glostergull]

i doubt it very much that he was responsible totally for the poor season we had. we had Eddie may who may have been a hit at Cardiff but certainly wasn't at plaimoor. his side were abysmal

[PhilGull]

i doubt it very much that he was responsible totally for the poor season we had. we had Eddie may who may have been a hit at Cardiff but certainly wasn't at plaimoor. his side were abysmal

Of course, but my point was that there is no guarantee he would have us back in the Football League.

[S4fedr1ve]

The thing with Mike Bateson was that yes he was only ever going to get us very limited success on the field. But we were stable financially under his stewardship off the field.What we would give for that now.

[torregull]

The problem is, Dutch, that under the TUST, we wouldn't survive and we certainly wouldn't compete. The TUST simply isn't, can't and would probably never be able to finance a proper club. A pub team, Willand Rangers or Newton Abbot Spurs perhaps, but beyond this they'd have absolutely no chance.

The 'anti-TUST' feeling from the Board is probably simply frustration that they demand so much attention and want to make so much fuss when they have absolutely no practical way of buying and running the club for more than about a week. At a time when there are proper buyers looking to engage the club and those with more than £4.50 in their account looking to make offers, having some bloke from the TUST endlessly interrupting the Chairman's day with pie-in-the-sky notions is understandably irritating.

Matt.

No doubt the "Matts" of this world at Portsmouth,Chester,Wrexham,Exeter,Wycombe,AFC Wimbledon etc said the same.
"Proper buyers"- Matt-you reckon?

[Dutchgull]

Exactly torregull !!

[ferrarilover]

Portsmouth's most recent home attendance was 17.5k. Trying to equate our situation with theirs is beyond stupidity.

I hear a lot about how wrong I am and how TUST could run the club, but no-one ever gives me any figures.

How many members do TUST have?
What's in their account?
What's the income?
What guarantees of future income do they have?
What's their fully business cased proposal for sustainable growth?
What are the credentials of those who would take over running the place?

Community ownership is not a viable option for us and I've explained why. Any counter forthcoming which simply says, 'well other clubs have done it, why can't we?' will probably be met with the sort of reply which will get me banned again.

Matt.

[Colorado Gull]

I happen to agree with Matt on this one. Despite the idea of TUST running the club being a lovely one, it just would not work in these current circumstances. An example of how it could work...AFC Torquay, FC United of Torquay, etc, etc.

[Neal]

TUST would run the club within a budget that the club generates from income. Might that mean we operate part time or in a lower league so be it.

The alternative hasnt been that successful either. You need a very wealthy individual to pump in £100's of thousands every blimmin year with no guarantee of success. Thats what Thea did, and that didnt work.

There might be one of these people of course but aint seen one yet.

[SuperNickyWroe]

TUST would run the club within a budget that the club generates from income. Might that mean we operate part time or in a lower league so be it.

The alternative hasnt been that successful either. You need a very wealthy individual to pump in £100's of thousands every blimmin year with no guarantee of success. Thats what Thea did, and that didnt work.

There might be one of these people of course but aint seen one yet.

Don't often agree with ferrariboy but I agree re TUST.
However, I suppose a club to support would be better than not having one.
With regard to Thea, if she'd had better advice and direction I'm sure she'd have been more successful - and anyway we still owe her and Paul's thanks for what they did.

[Alpine Joe]

Neal

TUST would run the club within a budget that the club generates from income. Might that mean we operate part time or in a lower league so be it.

The alternative hasnt been that successful either. You need a very wealthy individual to pump in £100's of thousands every blimmin year with no guarantee of success. Thats what Thea did, and that didnt work.

Fair play to Thea, who in many ways resembled a one woman TUST, putting in donations to keep the club going, and being a genuine fan of the club.
Although it has to be admitted that whatever ownership model is in place, it's going to be a severe drain on your resources if you've decided to have a manager of the ineptitude of Alan Knill making expensively bad mistakes month in and month out.

I'd be surprised if we get new owners who are keen to invest in us just so that they can lose hundreds of thousands of pounds over and over again. A properly well thought out business plan with some radical ideas and the initial finance to back it up is clearly what we need. TUST'''s guesswork as to what money they might possibly be able to raise, plus their confession they've no actual business plan properly drawn up, did rather sound like a claim that the dog had eaten their homework. Entertaining sideshow that they've provided, but we can now at least look to the future knowing that we've dodged the bullet of TUST ownership.

Neal's suggestion that we could operate part time or in a lower league is quite true and it's a view that would attract some agreement. But while initially there are some willing to see the club shrunk down to the size that would fit in with TUST's meagre resources, just how long does it take for even the most ardent TUST supporter to go off the idea, once of few seasons of the cold reality of it has sunk in ?

As gullone highlights on TFF, AFC Telford's Supporters Trust have had more than enough of that cold reality, and accordingly have just voted overwhelmingly to ditch Trust ownership. Yes of course Telford could have shrunk down to a 5 a side team that played on Wednesday evening at the local Recreation Centre, but the fans wanted something better, and had the good sense to realise that Trust ownership would need to be binned to get that improvement.


“We have urged the Trust Board to put in place a process to enable urgent changes to the ownership model of the club which would allow external investment.

“It would not be right for us to comment at this stage on the limitations of the model that we currently operate which we believe are currently hindering the business.

http://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.co ... ownership/



The Board of the Football Club note that the Members of AFC Telford United Supporters Trust voted unanimously to approve the transfer of shares in the football club from the Trust back to the Football club, following the football club boards press release of the 11th October. The club board are greatly encouraged by the emphatic support of Trust members to support this move. The board of the football club are also encouraged by the number of possible investors who have contacted the club board since the 11th October announcement, this includes some potential investors who have previously contacted the club and several local business who have contacted the club for the first time since the 11th October.

http://www.telfordunited.com/News.aspx? ... eSupport=1


Shutting out investment while maintaining politically correct principles might provide a warm glow to a few dozen TUST militants for a season, but for the vast majority of ordinary fans 'so be it' wouldn't offer much comfort as the consequences of 'Community ownership' begin to hit home.

What will be needed now is for all fans to get behind the new owners. It would also be an ideal time for TUST to turn over a new leaf, and make a real effort to lose their reputation for constantly sniping from the sidelines. Lacking in cash and membership numbers we accept, but sometimes they overplay the role of constant irritant that finds fault with anything and everything. Once 'critical friend' crosses the line and becomes 'critical pain in the arse' then it becomes no surprise when membership numbers start to stagnate. There's also no guarantee how tolerant new owners might be, especially if TUST's understanding of 'verbal agreement' differs from theirs.

Let's hope everyone participates fairly and properly as this new era dawns.