Keeping Our Eye on the Ball

Discuss everything TUFC with fans across the globe.
MellowYellow
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1871
Joined: 26 Jul 2013, 15:26
Favourite player: Tony Scott

Post by MellowYellow »

KJF wrote: 15 May 2017, 23:40 Interesting to read the comments and thought it might be helpful to add a couple myself:

1. Any decision on Plainmoor Freehold would almost certainly involve all 36 Torbay Councillors as they can "call in" any mayoral decision on this issue so a sale would not take place on date mentioned even if Mayor agreed.
2. Most Councillors are, like me, very sceptical that any viable plan to build a new stadium will emerge and chances of them approving a sale are therefore next to nil. Many are fans of the club themselves. My advice to them would be to say no, although will seek a meeting with club after the election to see if any substance to their suggestions or reasons for wanting to buy it.
3. As one person mentions I have, sadly, seen this before at another club, Coventry City. Lots of pretty pictures, even a model made of a stadium with sliding pitch\roof (Yes seriously!!!) .Historic ground sold.....yet no business plan to underpin the new stadium and the site had not even been bought until the Council concerned stepped in.
4. Getting debates in parliament on a specific local subject not easy (Respect to my predecessor for his efforts on Smoke Detectors) although football governance an issue regularly picked up. I got the parking one by teaming up with a few MPs having similar issues.
5. It is possible a very wealthy person could come forward effectively looking to build something like Sandy Park, based on using league football as a brand to draw business on non-matchdays. Yet highly unlikely as this would depend on a wealthy owner\fans being prepared to cough the momney for it.
6. Have been commenting on this issue for some time, long before election called. Genuinely not sure if other candidates have had anything to say about it until now, but hope they take a simlar interest.
7. Finally always happy to engage with TUST and other fans on this via [email protected]

Kevin
Hurrah for Kevin Forster. I'm suitability impressed! He written more in one post on a forum than the Herald Express have since GI took over. Fair play to the man for hoisting his colours. Think he has spelt out loud and clear he has seen these property development shenanigans before and he is very sceptical. I don't think he can say 'no' when no official documentation for the sale of freehold has been put forward by GI yet! He's a politician - give him a break - you'll be asking him if he's voting for Jeremy Corbyn next!
KJF
Trialist
Trialist
Posts: 3
Joined: 15 May 2017, 23:24

Post by KJF »

merse btpir wrote: 16 May 2017, 09:52 Are you absolutely sure about this as a matter of stone walled FACT Kevin; because it is certainly not the widely held view?

Is it not a case of they could call it in but they are not necessarily compelled to?
They are not compelled to BUT the number of members needed to do so is rather low and from disucssions they could find grounds to do so. In essence the deal would have to receive almost unanimous support from Councillors to avoid call in and my understanding from speaking with members of Conservative Group (I expect you would get the same from other parties as well) is there is no support from leading members of it for idea of selling Freehold.
KJF
Trialist
Trialist
Posts: 3
Joined: 15 May 2017, 23:24

Post by KJF »

Thanks for comments so far,I thought it would be easiest to just reply. Seems midtable won't be satsified by anything said, perhaps because of his wider political views? In terms of seeking a meeting with club after election it is an easy reply for them to say "he has never spoken to us" as they did with the Guardian piece, hence looking to do so. I would alos encourage people to email their Councillor, you may well get a supportive reply regardless of their political colour.
Richinns
Country Captain
Country Captain
Posts: 3836
Joined: 06 Sep 2010, 09:56
Favourite player: Kevin Kalala

Post by Richinns »

I am really impressed Kevin has come on here and given this update. It is great to get an insight and some honesty about the situation and the feeling he (and what he perceives others have) towards it. As you all probably know merse and I don't get on but I agree with him (you will not hear me say that often!) in that we cannot take our eye off the ball and it is our job to maintain this collective feeling in order to keep it fresh in the minds of those who are elected to represent us.
We (as a whole) need to make sure that any potential deal presented is so water tight that either GI will walk from the table because they cannot exploit the club or the club and community gain from it.
TUST member 328
Your club needs you. Join the TUST now - http://www.torquaysupporters.co.uk/
gullpower
First Regular
First Regular
Posts: 327
Joined: 06 Oct 2015, 13:52
Location: Narnia

Post by gullpower »

samuel wrote: 15 May 2017, 17:07 I had a chance meeting with Deborah Brewer today the Lib Dem candidate for Torbay. A cheery soul, local girl and when asked whether Plainmoor would be safe she said, 'read my election literature, yes it will be'. She can't be a mason which is a big plus for me. Are any of the decision makers on the lease/freehold of Plainmoor women.
I have looked at the literature from Deborah Brewer that came through my door and there is no mention of Plainmoor. Maybe if someone from the local Lib Dems spots this (Adrian Sanders?) she could post something on here as Kevin Foster has.
merse btpir
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1860
Joined: 02 Jan 2017, 10:58
Favourite player: robin stubbs

Post by merse btpir »

KJF wrote: 16 May 2017, 15:02 They are not compelled to BUT the number of members needed to do so is rather low and from disucssions they could find grounds to do so. In essence the deal would have to receive almost unanimous support from Councillors to avoid call in
Thank you Kevin.....although I am vehemently opposed to your party's disgraceful national policy towards social inclusion I know from experience that no political party can be totally entrusted with looking after 'the little people'

I live in north London and this story is covered in the Evening Standard tonight:

Islington 'snobbery' row over plan to cut football pitch for picnics

Campaigners trying to stop a community football pitch being slashed in size to make room for a picnic area have accused rich “nimbys” of snobbery.
Islington council has approved plans to replace the borough’s only free 11-a-side pitch in Barnard Park with a seven-a-side version less than a third as big, allowing for a grassy space for picnics.
Hundreds of children use the pitch despite its dilapidated state. The Copenhagen Youth Project, which works with disadvantaged teenagers in the borough, had secured funding for it to be replaced with a 3G surface.

Opposition from a “small group” of people persuaded the council to submit plans to redevelop the park with a much smaller pitch, well away from the gardens of residents including Labour’s Emily Thornberry, who is seeking to retain her Islington North and Finsbury seat in next month’s general election. 
Critics said the decision was “illogical” and “flies against common sense”. They accused locals of wanting to turn the park “into the gardens of Notting Hill” and hope that the secretary of state for sport, media and culture will intervene following formal objections by Sport England, the Football Association and the Rugby Football Union.
Stephen Griffith, director at Copenhagen Youth Project, said many people had not been properly consulted. “The pitch is close to the nice houses and people don’t want young people in the park to play football and maybe be a bit noisy,” he said.
“Shrinking the pitch means a maximum of 15 people at one time using it. Think about the working-class people on the three estates around here. They do not have picnics with their families or lounge around, so that green is not for them.
"This has planned people out of the park. It’s not about the community, it’s about a few people.”
David Scrafton, who runs the Highbury Football School, which uses the 11-a-side pitch, said: “We have 100 kids training with us. We can’t do that on a seven-a-side pitch. Yet again, the little guy has lost out.”

Sport England said: “There are limited playing field opportunities and it is a significant reduction in pitch size that is being proposed.”
The council’s plans have been backed by community group the Friends of Barnard Park, who state that members include “park users, residents, park workers, Islington councillors and officials”.
The group initially backed proposals which got rid of the pitch entirely. They called the new plans “creative” . Chairman Dianne Browning, a landscape gardener, said: “Not every group is going to be happy but it is a very good compromise. It will create a welcoming park for all users.”
The council’s executive member for environment and transport, Claudia Webbe, wrote to residents saying: “It is recognised that users have different priorities for the park and that it is not possible to satisfy all the competing demands.” Karen Sullivan, its service director of planning and development, said: “The committee decided that the plans set out an appropriate balance.”
A spokesman for Ms Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “Emily met with Islington council and specifically raised the issue of whether the  11-a-side pitch could be included in the plans. It was for Islington council rather than her to make the final decisions.”


My youngest son is a part of the Highbury Football School and so I have taken an active interest in this dreadful example of the champagne socialists turning their back on the working class kids from the estates that juxtapose the mansions of the rich elite who are turning Barnsbury into another Notting Hill. Even firebrand orator Claudia Webbe is sitting on the fence of neutrality on this one and the sympathetic councillors were gerrymandered out of the public meeting at the Town Hall over this last week. Being a Labour council with a massive majority means nothing for the poor when people like Margaret Hodge and Thornberry have influence over them.

Barnard Park's sporting heritage stretches back over 200 years to when it was the home of the White Conduit Cricket Club who's groundsman and sole professional recommended they up sticks and left their then country field north of Clerkenwell ~ the haunt of brigands and highwaymen ~ and decamp to posher Marylebone. His name? Thomas Lord and his two subsequently historic cricket grounds and the club's change of name to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is the most treasured of cricketing and social history.

Not for a moment do any of these Philistine's even know of this story and it would be the same for Plainmoor and the legacy of the Vicar of Ellacombe if Clarke Osborne has his way.

Councillors need to be lobbied and put under pressure on a one to one individual basis to achieve the political decision we need, let no-one be unaware of that!

Image
Barnard Park: home to Raggy Arsed Rovers amidst the NIMBYS
MellowYellow
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1871
Joined: 26 Jul 2013, 15:26
Favourite player: Tony Scott

Post by MellowYellow »

"Islington 'snobbery' row over plan to cut football pitch" Merse, isn't Islington is were that rich “nimby” Jeremy Corbyn lives in his million pound house being MP there for the last 32 years. He's no interest in football either. Should get Kevin up there and elect him at least he appears to have some understanding on the game and what it means to people and the community.
merse btpir
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1860
Joined: 02 Jan 2017, 10:58
Favourite player: robin stubbs

Post by merse btpir »

No; Jeremy Corbyn lives in Islington North just off the Seven Sisters Road and opposite the very run down Andover Estate; no way is his gaff ( a two up, two middle, one down town house) worth a million quid...Barnsbury is in the Islington South & Finsbury constituency of Emily Thornberry.

Islington South probably has more working class Tories (taxi drivers, market stall holders) than Islington North but hasn't returned a Tory MP since 1931; the last time that Islington North voted Tory was in 1937. A part-grand, part-poor metaphor for New Labour; Tony Blair lived in Islington South (also next to Barnard Park) prior to his election as prime minister. Its dinner tables are routinely maligned as the natural habitat of the hypocritical, well-off, ostensibly liberal 'chattering classes.'

Islington North is a very different social entity with lower income families living on estates cheek by jowl with aspiring 'Yuppies' moving into the private housing stock which is mostly divided into flats in Victorian/Edwardian villas. A very diverse area both culturally, and ethnic and religious terms ~ Islington South it is not!

Jeremy is hugely interested in football being an Arsenal season ticket holder and regular spectator at the Market Road Midweek Camden & Islington Youth League where his son Ben (also an academy coach at Watford FC) enters sides and you'll often see Neil Kinnock there too watching his grandson Josh who lives with him in his home in Tufnell Park which is in Corbyn's constituency.

Image
Jeremy Corbyn's house: 2nd from left with the Wysteria growing in front
User avatar
Southampton Gull
TorquayFans Admin
TorquayFans Admin
Posts: 7675
Joined: 05 Sep 2010, 01:35
Location: Southampton

Post by Southampton Gull »

I used to work from a place in Tufnell Park many years ago. During the week my local was the Boston with weekends spent doing security at various gigs across the Capital. Buggered if I'd want to be living that lifestyle now.
Dave




Friend of TorquayFans.com
merse btpir
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1860
Joined: 02 Jan 2017, 10:58
Favourite player: robin stubbs

Post by merse btpir »

Ah the Boston! :bow:

A great music venue and I had to do a runner from there with my little boy a year or two back when his mate's birthday party turned into a good old Irish punch-up after two of the mums started arguing and their old men got involved.
Neal
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1283
Joined: 28 Nov 2010, 10:13
Location: Basingstoke

Post by Neal »

Islington where I lived in the late 70's, Packington St off the Essex Rd. Regular at the Hope and Anchor, and worked in the Shakespeare, great times :)
TUST MEMBER
hector
Plays for Country
Plays for Country
Posts: 2441
Joined: 30 May 2011, 08:24
Favourite player: jim mcnichol

Post by hector »

midtable wrote: 16 May 2017, 00:17 So Kevin Foster, the local Conservative MP still avoids saying if he supports the sale of the freehold. A simple yes or no is required. The Conservative mayor is in favour of selling so why is our MP unable to say yes or no?
I'm certainly no Tory but Kevin Foster has been vocal about this issue for some time - certainly long before the election was called, so I don't think his support is conveniently timed.

His appearance on the forum might be but to be fair to him, he has corresponded with fans on this issue for a few months now.

You would hope the local MP, of the same political persuasion as the mayor, would hold some sway, even though he does not have any vote on this, however, I do believe that supporters can count Kevein Foster as an ally on this issue.
desperado
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1661
Joined: 21 Jan 2017, 19:03
Favourite player: Robin Stubbs

Post by desperado »

Hope Merse is listening to Jeremy Vine today, all about Islington, surprised he has not been interviewed yet
desperado
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1661
Joined: 21 Jan 2017, 19:03
Favourite player: Robin Stubbs

Post by desperado »

Live from The Nags Head no less, you must be there Merse !
merse btpir
Top Scorer
Top Scorer
Posts: 1860
Joined: 02 Jan 2017, 10:58
Favourite player: robin stubbs

Post by merse btpir »

desperado wrote: 17 May 2017, 13:23Live from The Nags Head no less, you must be there Merse !
Not right now; but I was earlier and will be later.......

I patronise a great little Columbian café in there constructed out of a wooden chalet under the market roof and Bring Back The Love, a fantastic Caribbean kitchen.

It's the real Islington and the perfect example of what Jeremy represents...........and yes; he shops there; someone was punting the Urban myth that he buys his underpants in the market! Dunno about that ~ I use Sports Direct myself ~ but there are two Islingtons; poles apart and at either end of the social spectrum. I know which one I prefer, just imagine living cheek by jowl with Boris Johnson 'dahn the uvver end'.

More than a third of the kids in Islington North are classed as living under the poverty line; as far apart as the Nags Head and Richmond Crescent in Barnsbury where Tony BLiar lived are; I'm proud that 'my manor' is the second one and not the first...as I said yesterday; there are TWO types of Labour Party around there ~ it's the old North-South divide!

For the record I live in the constituency of Hornsey & Wood Green now ~ next door and represented by Labour's Catherine West backed by the largest percentage of party members per head of population in the country. My kids still live down there though and I'm in and around there very day......I'm very proud of it!
Post Reply