The Trust

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Yorkieandy
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The Trust

Post by Yorkieandy »

Stick up for your members or bugger off! Waste of space.

The trust needs to be rallying round and getting memberships and funds in for when GI eventually jump ship and the fans have to step in again OR when GI get hold of the freehold and wind the club up. Then the trust need money to be able to commence a phoenix club. At the minute they seem to be taking money and doing p*ss all. Rather fits in at Torquay then doesn't it?

Unless they'd like to come out and tell everybody different of course?

I never joined the trust because i always thought them toothless and obssessed with admin and slowly trying to circumnavigate problems rather than tackle an issue head on and with determination and passion. I have never been able to identify with them or trust them (no pun intended).

The trust. Where are you? What are you doing? What are your thoughts about the current situation? What do you intend to do about it in terms of forward planning?
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Post by Yorkieandy »

I must however credit the people who gave up their time to form the trust and to make it become a vehicle for fans to get involved. It is a hell of a lot more than i have done to contribute and i acknowledge that but that's not the issue here. I don't contribute to the trust precisely because of what this thread is about. It's not fit for purpose and even if i paid in a grand a month the outcome and results would still be the same. No direction or clear objectives from what i can see and they are what are most critically needed RIGHT NOW.

It's just ironic that in thisera of easy instant communication and social media obsession there has been nothing but silence on all platforms from those who run the football club and the TUST.

Basically i'm furious because the supporters have absolutely nobody it seems they can rely on to voice their concerns or act on their behalf and in their best interests. This is what i thought the trust was formed to facilitate?

The fans once again shell out and once again get nothing in return.

Just my opinion. I am really interested to hear what confidence other fans have in the trust or from the trust themselves to explain why i and others are wrong to criticise. I think it's fair that everyone gets a right to reply to any criticism or negative opinions of them.
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Post by Admiral »

The Trust has been inactive for some time now and I fail to see any achievements by them in recent years depsite 5+ years of spiraling downwards. Convincing people to join will be the hardest part but a NEW organisation with transparent goals is needed in preparation for a phoenix club. This is not a negative mindset - we have to prepare.
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Post by Admiral »

Yorkieandy wrote: 06 Sep 2017, 12:54 Stick up for your members or bugger off! Waste of space.

The trust needs to be rallying round and getting memberships and funds in for when GI eventually jump ship and the fans have to step in again OR when GI get hold of the freehold and wind the club up. Then the trust need money to be able to commence a phoenix club. At the minute they seem to be taking money and doing p*ss all. Rather fits in at Torquay then doesn't it?

Unless they'd like to come out and tell everybody different of course?

I never joined the trust because i always thought them toothless and obssessed with admin and slowly trying to circumnavigate problems rather than tackle an issue head on and with determination and passion. I have never been able to identify with them or trust them (no pun intended).

The trust. Where are you? What are you doing? What are your thoughts about the current situation? What do you intend to do about it in terms of forward planning?
I have been in contact with another member in regards to taking discussions off the forum and preparing for life after G.I. Would this be something that you'd be interested in helping out with? A lot of preparation is needed..
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Post by Yorkieandy »

I don't see there is much i can do Admiral to be honest. Torquay has many fans exiled and i too live 250 miles away so that causes an issue from the start. There needs to be a core group of local based people , all with different skill sets and all with different temperaments IMO. I want some people involved who say things as they find and are direct and some calmer individuals who can look at things objectively. I hate committees that are all made up of dour men in suits comparing educations. We need a group of diverse characters.

Effectively at this stage all we need is a bank account to plough money into and someone obviously legally responsible for that. There needs to be just endless fundraising really. Treat the new entity as if it were a charity and get fans to do sponsored events and all sorts. We only need money and to start building it up. Easy in saying but as i am sure those at the current trust are aware not so practical to do in practice.

There needs to be a cultural shift in the fanbase to this way of thinking and for everyone to get involved.

Sadly i am only in a position to donate a few quid, get sponsorship from up here and maybe help out promoting at like away games or whatever. My distance from Torquay and minor disabilities exclue much more than that but like i said, we really need a group of local people, a bank account and then do whatever we can to save as much money as is possible for which each and every fan would have a responsibility to do so i reckon.

Keep it simple and just have the goal of saving money for when the sh*t hits.

I think overall i am coming round to thinking that there isn't the interest to revive a phoenix club should the current club go under. It's just s shame as we have a trust already set up and they are no help whatsoever or so it seems. Most of the hard work has been done but the trust just needs a new direction and a clear objective and to be active. Also to have people we can truly trust, believe in and respect so we buy into it and are happy to give up our money. I haven't been convinced so i didn't join.
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Post by Yorkieandy »

The thing worth remembering is that SISU still own Coventry as far as i'm aware. A big club, regularly on the news for protests and still get over 10,000 fans turning up yet they have been unable to get the owners to change their practices or sell up. They just continue in a state of flux with owners who just aren't interested and have not yet been able to make anything work.

Makes you wonder what chance to Torquay have with circa 1500 fans and only a handful making a half hearted protest once in a while? It's really sad.
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Post by Plainmoor78 »

Yorkieandy wrote: 06 Sep 2017, 13:53

Keep it simple and just have the goal of saving money for when the sh*t hits.
The trouble is this is what TUST tried to do. After being knocked back by the previous board because they didn't have enough ready money TUST launched a pre-share issue so that they would have a substantial battle fund "for when the shit hits".

Unfortunately the response was disappointing, just 19 out of approximately 400 members supported it. This might have been partly because the shit had not yet hit the fan, but shows the difficulty in getting people to walk the walk.

I wouldn't agree that TUST have done nothing. Less than a year ago they were commissioning surveys on community ownership in the belief that the old board would support them but they were then let down by that board. They also tried to protect plainmoor via an ACV only to be pissed on by the council.

Proposing a phoenix club is pointless while the original still exists. There isn't enough interest for two clubs in Torquay, and most people won't be interested until TUFC is dead and buried. The really important issue and the next battle to fight is for plainmoor, because if plainmoor goes then there is nowhere in Torquay for a phoenix club to play.
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Post by merse btpir »

Yorkieandy wrote: 06 Sep 2017, 14:15 The thing worth remembering is that SISU still own Coventry as far as i'm aware. A big club, regularly on the news for protests and still get over 10,000 fans turning up yet they have been unable to get the owners to change their practices or sell up. They just continue in a state of flux with owners who just aren't interested and have not yet been able to make anything work.

Makes you wonder what chance to Torquay have with circa 1500 fans and only a handful making a half hearted protest once in a while? It's really sad.

....and in that post you succinctly sum up Torquay United and it's tiny (& shrinking) band of fans. It's too late; the time to fight GI was when they were first flagged up as having their finger in the pie by way of putting capital into Dave Phillips' floundering board ~ bereft of business acumen and capital of their own attraction save for Clarke Osborne introduced by Pete Masters and encouraged by Geoff Harrop.


Osborne acquired the club through the stealth of the loan shark and they aren't going to go away until they either maximise their acquisition or decide to cash in their chips and move on.

The current trust officers and board are good people who very genuinely tried to hold out the olive branch of assistance to Phillips and Co but were **** off through Masters' aversion to such shared ownership and passing that mantra on to messrs Phillips, Balson and Kerslake. Small time, self made businessmen ~ bookmaker, retired head teacher cum property speculator and farmer ~ a more conservative trio of gentlemen you could ever wish to meet. To them the notion of community ownership smacked of socialism with a capital 'S' and so they were lured into Clarke Osborne's lair; swore blind to us through the chairman's lips that they wouldn't 'sell' to GI and promptly lost (by way of surrendered collateral) the club to them because they couldn't repay the debt.

Clarke Osborne is a hard nosed businessman so don't think a bunch of spotty oiks singing rude songs about him outside the ground on Saturday will make him do anything he doesn't intend to do.

Better to recognise that the officers of TUST are well intentioned and honest people who are doing their best with very little in the way of mutual respect from the last bunch of fans to own the club and actually putting their money where their mouths are from the membership.

Remember; Exeter City's fans did do just that and that's why they now own their club and have control of it's destiny. Conservative (with a small 'c') Torquay opts not to do that, and the result is there for all to see.

Many years ago now I was one of a small (very small; 4 in fact) group of exiles who came down to Torquay with the professional support of Supporters Direct to introduce the notion of setting up a trust and community ownership; we told you all that it would need to be locally led and locally driven and the result has been one long yawn and period of navel gazing. The bed was made and the locals have to lay in it!
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Post by Yorkieandy »

Thanks for that info Merse. Very interesting and i was perhaps harsh on the trust officers who like you say are probably good, well intentioned people. It's more the whole ineffectiveness of the trust that is disappointing. Plainmoor78 maybe explains this in part with the revelation that barely anybody signed up to the trust, including me. From my perspective i felt the trust weren't.......let's say.......aggressive enough for my liking. I'm not doubting they had the passion or the commitment but i just couldn't identify with them or their message at the time.

I am totally in agreement about the boat being missed when GI first rocked up onto the scene. The time was then but for myriad reasons it wasn't to be and like you say, despite all our huffing and puffing there has to be an acceptance that the bed is indeed made and everybody has to lie in it now.

I have now come to the conclusion that even if the club went under there will be no phoenix club. The interest just isn't there it seems on the face of it. So that leaves me with a continuing boycott of attending matches which has been quite a few years now. I will not go to any games whilst GI (or any owners so criminally ignorant of it's fans) run this football club.

Looks like i may have to continue getting my footy fixes from elsewhere then because i don't expect to back at Plainmoor again based on that premise. As is my right to do so. As i've said before, attend or not - GI don't seem to care. They'll just carry on doing what they want with the longest and shiniest of brass necks. I can't give them a penny.

Good posts though Merse and Plainmoor and made me think again about my original posts.
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Post by kevgull »

I decided to pay into the TUST dreaming that one day we might have some sort of say in how our club is run.
Join at start paying in, would be my advice.

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Post by arcadia »

Robbie has been in charge for several games I think he's had his chance. We need a committee of football people sanctioned by Osborne to take over the running of the football club in a voluntary position until their development situation is sorted. The committee would know the budget and make sure that a manager was employed knowing the conditions. We seem to have a few people running the club for themselves as we are getting no information coming from the people left in charge.
What do you think.
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Post by merse btpir »

Ain't gonna' happen Chris!
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Post by arcadia »

merse btpir wrote: 06 Sep 2017, 18:22 Ain't gonna' happen Chris!
This would be a simple way forward as there is obviously something wrong behind the scenes.
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Post by merse btpir »

Simple maybe; but is football success the first priority of the ownership? I don't think so and it is the ownership who call the shots.
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Post by westyorkshiregull »

Seems like the boat has sailed and is taken on water and we have no lifeboat.

Can't think of one single positive and it's not just being bottom with no manager and a owner we don't trust in terms of trust he has club at heart.

Does enough people care , my dad a supporter of 65 years always says the TORBAY public don't care about the club apart from a minority.

I guess if thea or her late husband had proper advisors and carefully managed each pound and maybe even wasted a few pennies instead of being just sucked dry we may not be in this position now.

Going forward?

We would need a messiah to come along ....

Is best we have is to keep plainmoor with a Phoenix club to rise from the ashes ....halifax did it ...chester did...hereford I think....i may be wrong..
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