Next season

[nickbrod]

We are still in a situation where it seems only a handful of long standing supporters understand the truth about what's going on off the pitch. Ask any one at random as they enter the ground for a match about their views on Clarke Osborne's ownership of the club and they'll shrug their shoulders. We know that David Thomas and the local media are no help so how do we get this message out? And once it is what can any of us do to save our club from folding?

[merse btpir]

It's worse than that Nick!

Through making this situation as widely known as possible; including the suicidal appointments of certain managers, I am in a situation where people with whom I used to socialise and attend matches with choose to treat me with suspicion and outright dislike.

Well nobody's got a thicker skin than me; no-one is more determined to speak their mind and tell it as it is and no-one is less likely to get sucked into the cosmetics of all this falling for the old 'friendly little Torquay United'.

I want an end to all this gullibility and ignoring the truth becauue it interferes with social niceties. I've no desire to be 'best mates' with transient players, managers or owners for that matter. The only continuity in my near sixty year love affair with Torquay United is Torquay United itself and it is being destroyed before our very eyes whilst too many of the supporters are scared to say boo to a goose!

[Southampton Gull]

I warned people about Dave Thomas a long time ago, I said then he was just content to cherry pick news from the forums and do whatever he could to remain cosy with those in power at the club. I've outed all the miscreants and their dirty little deeds and then taken on the likes of Mark Horler and his GI can do no wrong followers on other forms of social media. I warned people about Fatty Harrop but people still chose to keep their heads stuck firmly in the sand. Like Merse I couldn't care less what peoples opinion is of me, what has been and still is the only important thing in all this, is the longevity of the club we all support. Their game is to slowly lower expectations ~(as if that wasn't already happening) until such time as we no longer see much worth fighting for.

I never bought into Owers, the time it took to appoint him, the fact he came from a club in the lower reaches of the division below along with a man recruited from a bloody building site, what on earth did people seriously expect? The club is rotten to the core, no leadership and definitely no professionalism and certainly no understanding of the needs of fans, just a succession of half baked ideas designed to smokescreen the end game.

[nickbrod]

Well we can't sit behind a keyboard as the words we type are meaningless. Surely there is something collectively we can do that shows we all care about our Torquay United.
I can just about stomach National South for as short a time as possible but what I can't allow is the end of TUFC altogether.

[tomogull]

In March 2016 Gaming International signed a memorandum of understanding with Torquay United’s then owners for the purchase of the club and the rest as we know is history. The signs are that Gaming International has little interest in the affairs of the football club but plenty of enthusiasm for the construction of a new stadium. To this effect Clarke Osborne, chair of Gaming International, incorporated Riviera Stadium Limited of which he is the sole shareholder and now RSL have taken on the football club project cosmetically independently of GI.

Osborne baled out of the Hereford project in the face of intense scrutiny of the true motives of the BS Group and Chelverton. Nobody does anything for nothing at lower league football clubs nowadays apart from the troops on the ground; and there are now precious few of those at Torquay. Everything being pumped into the club by way of the finance that Dave Thomas is so enthusiastic about is a loan; make no mistake about that.

Okay - I fully grasp the similarity between the situation that brought down Hereford and the situation we are currently in. To paraphrase your post - TUFC is owned by Riviera Stadium, sole director Clarke Osborne. Riviera Stadium is a subsiduary of Gaming International (GI). GI are providing finance, presumably increasing almost weekly, to Riviera Stadium by way of loans which by now must be well in excess of £300,000 as a conservative guestimate. Are my deductions correct so far? If so, that leads to the nightmare question - what would happen should GI call in the loans? Is the obvious answer the demise of TUFC, alias Riviera Stadium, as happened to Hereford United? But how would that be of benefit ro Clarke Osborne or Gaming International?

[westyorkshiregull]

I warned people about Dave Thomas a long time ago, I said then he was just content to cherry pick news from the forums and do whatever he could to remain cosy with those in power at the club. I've outed all the miscreants and their dirty little deeds and then taken on the likes of Mark Horler and his GI can do no wrong followers on other forms of social media. I warned people about Fatty Harrop but people still chose to keep their heads stuck firmly in the sand. Like Merse I couldn't care less what peoples opinion is of me, what has been and still is the only important thing in all this, is the longevity of the club we all support. Their game is to slowly lower expectations ~(as if that wasn't already happening) until such time as we no longer see much worth fighting for.

I never bought into Owers, the time it took to appoint him, the fact he came from a club in the lower reaches of the division below along with a man recruited from a bloody building site, what on earth did people seriously expect? The club is rotten to the core, no leadership and definitely no professionalism and certainly no understanding of the needs of fans, just a succession of half baked ideas designed to smokescreen the end game.

I don't know what others think but I aboustley cringe at the YouTube tufc channel and whoever is the interviewer . It's like a propaganda machine the questions he asks , it's all a smokescreen to make club look good. It's so bad I now don't watch them apart from the highlights. Who is it ? Clarke osbornes son ??

[wivelgull]

I cringe too, but perhaps not as aboustley.

[merse btpir]

what would happen should GI call in the loans? Is the obvious answer the demise of TUFC, alias Riviera Stadium, as happened to Hereford United? But how would that be of benefit to Clarke Osborne or Gaming International?

It would only benefit (so they won't do it unless.....) the Councill agree to surrender the freehold of Plainmoor and even then it would go to the highest bidder and no-one has any guarantees on being that.

Why would it benefit? Because the development value of the land would rise through the roof without the sitting tenant being there; so the really winnable battle as far as the supporters are concerned is to continue to persuade the Council/Mayor that selling the freehold is a bad idea.

So all you locals; keep lobbying, keep this potential scandal in the public eye and remember who our friends are and more importantly ~ our enemies.

Unfortunately the Herald Express are the enemy with their 'Nelson's Eye' ambivolence towards Osborne's shocking track record of closing sporting venues and not replacing them ~ not once; ever!

The Mayor Gordon Oliver is a slippery so and so and there are people within the local bureaucracy who would kill off the club tomorrow given the chance if it helps them get their snouts in the trough of 'development'.

But never lose sigh of the FACT that politicians need the votes that keep them in power to serve even if they see it as being in power to rule which is the basic weakness at the heart of our so called democracy. So the more noise we make the more insecure they become and the more insecure they are the less likely they are to commit such a dastardly deed as finishing the town's football club off!

[tufcyellowarmy]

You know what !
As ready as I am to pull you up on some of your views I am with you all the way on this.
I have worked in the public sector for 30 years and know as well as anyone the poison of unethical leadership and unscrupulous individuals in positions of influence who manipulate and contrive for selfish means.
However we need to acknowledge that in all likelihood that those we wish to lobby are themselves are corrupt or at least prone to influence.
If there was a way we as supporters could somehow take control of the fate of our club by whatever means or at least legally block certain outcomes then I reckon we have hope ....

[Cruisinho]

Not sure if this has been covered, but is the trust still around? I would have thought they would be jumping up and down and shouting from the rooftops with what is going on now at the club.

[Plainmoor78]

Not sure if this has been covered, but is the trust still around? I would have thought they would be jumping up and down and shouting from the rooftops with what is going on now at the club.

The trust had been shouting from the roof tops about this but nobody wanted to listen.

[Cruisinho]

I agree when the takeover first happened the trust did say, but when was the last time they released anything about us being bottom? About us losing players but not signing any? Have they given up on the situation too?

[kevgull]

The club is starting to find its level without a sugar daddy.
With decent investment, we might achieve league status once again. However with only a home crowd to determine the budget, my prediction is that we will slowly fall to the level of Weymouth, Dorchester or worse.

[6667GULL]

The last 5 years have seen the gradual decline of our club,the next 5 months are only going to add to that with our relegation.
All the investment in the world will never get us back in the football league.

[lucy6lucy]

I wonder how Thea feels and thinks about the current demise, let's face it had she had good advice and a respectful side person, We might still be a league club. The vultures where here long before Osborne