The Gaming International Files

[Neal]

Why does a small town football club have to have so complex business arrangements, so many fingers in the pie, so many companies involved, all no doubt making something out of it.

Im for a simple arrangement, one owner, OR Tust, and the club lives within its means, whatever league we end up in. The good old days of Bateson, Pope. We didn't worry about all this shite then, but then again some moaned and moaned then as well.

Portsmouth had a complex arrangement like this and it all ended in tears, now they are fan owned. Lets face it that's the best option for the future of the club. Ok we probably wouldn't be a Conf Prem club but there we are. But we are one of the best supported club in this league so why shouldn't we compete. DO ALL THE OTHER CLUBS IN CONF HAVE SHITE COMPLEX SETUPS LIKE WHAT IS ON THE CARDS HERE, doubt it, but I don't know, be interested to know the answer to that actually.

[Jeff]

This all just smacks as an "this could only happen to us" situation. Much like when Roberts took over the reigns, we just don't seem to be able to sort ourselves out when it comes to changing ownership. There are countless other clubs at this level who are owned by Supporters, or legitimate businessmen. We manage to get into bed with the shady development organisation who seemingly haven't delivered on their promises anywhere, ever.

The talk of this £50k loan seems ridiculous to me. Now I'll be honest - I've never bought or sold a business of any kind so don't know how commonplace this situation is. But I would have thought that if the club needed a cash injection to tide it over, you take it as a deposit of sorts - not a loan. If the deal goes through as planned then there are no problems, but if the deal falls apart then its tough luck - the deposit is gone. Not us - we end up in a situation where we grant an organisation exclusivity, only to have to pay them back if the deal falls apart if THEY can't get what THEY want. You wouldn't be able to buy a car, or a house on those terms but it seems that you can a football club?

If this isn't resolved favourably, I genuinely fear for the future of the club (and I'm normally the rosiest of rose-tinters). It seems we are up sh*t creek. If the GI deal goes through it seems they have no interest in the Football side and will possibly run the club into the ground. If the deal falls apart, we will have a miniscule budget again as well as having to find £50k down the back of the sofa to pay off GI.

The end of the club will be the end of senior football in Torbay. I just don't see that any group in the fan base has the minerals - or the population have the interest and momentum - to create a successful phoenix club

[PhilGull]

This all just smacks as an "this could only happen to us" situation. Much like when Roberts took over the reigns, we just don't seem to be able to sort ourselves out when it comes to changing ownership. There are countless other clubs at this level who are owned by Supporters, or legitimate businessmen. We manage to get into bed with the shady development organisation who seemingly haven't delivered on their promises anywhere, ever.

The talk of this £50k loan seems ridiculous to me. Now I'll be honest - I've never bought or sold a business of any kind so don't know how commonplace this situation is. But I would have thought that if the club needed a cash injection to tide it over, you take it as a deposit of sorts - not a loan. If the deal goes through as planned then there are no problems, but if the deal falls apart then its tough luck - the deposit is gone. Not us - we end up in a situation where we grant an organisation exclusivity, only to have to pay them back if the deal falls apart if THEY can't get what THEY want. You wouldn't be able to buy a car, or a house on those terms but it seems that you can a football club?

If this isn't resolved favourably, I genuinely fear for the future of the club (and I'm normally the rosiest of rose-tinters). It seems we are up sh*t creek. If the GI deal goes through it seems they have no interest in the Football side and will possibly run the club into the ground. If the deal falls apart, we will have a miniscule budget again as well as having to find £50k down the back of the sofa to pay off GI.

The end of the club will be the end of senior football in the pay. I just don't see that any group in the fan base has the minerals - or the bay has the interest and momentum - to create a successful phoenix club

This is my worry. The people of Torbay don't care about a professional football club with over a hundred years of history playing in a nationwide league, why would they care about an amateur 'phoenix club' playing at the very lowest level of local football? Players like Gerring would be out of our reach, Buckland Athletic would be a better team playing at a higher level!

[Neal]

You are right to some extent. If the fans of TUFC dont want to go through a period of rebuilding then yes the club is dead, if they do then its not. The club is the fans, if all the fans desert it then its goodbye.

I can't believe any real businessman would sign such a deal. GI cant lose, they get their money back whatever, ridiculous!!

[gullpower]

Eh?
Obviously the first team performances on the pitch have to be number one priority but there is much work that can be done regarding the ground and possible relocation that could have massive benefits for the club in the future.

I couldn't agree with you more that first team performances on the pitch are the number one priority. My point is that when prospective new owners are property developers with a history of telling porkies when it comes to promises of new grounds (and from the posts by those in the greyhound racing community this would seem to be the case with GI) they couldn't give a monkeys about first team performances or the future of the club - all they are interested in is lining their own pockets - whatever they may say in public.
A new all singing and dancing stadium at Nightingale Park with a 3G pitch and a station within walking distance would be fantastic but I would want to see it built and the club moved in before I believed the club was safe. But don't be surprised if the new ground is on the Heathfield Industrial Estate.
Like you I am a TUST member. When TUST are telling me that they have a plan to relocate the ground I will believe it is for the benefit of and in the interests of TUFC and the fans.

[TUST_Member_Rob]

I'm sorry but you have to beyond stupid to accept a loan of £50K and then presumably spend some of it with the understanding that if the deal falls through you have to give it back.

[Dave_Pougher]

Why am I starting to feel I'd rather be two leagues lower at Plainmoor without GI?

[Gullscorer]

This probably has no relevance here, but could somebody please remind me: why did Steve Breed part company with the club?

[S4fedr1ve]

Good question. probably have to wait for his memoirs.

M

[Dawlish Warren]

One of the first snippets which emerged about Gaming International was its operation of the Milton Keynes Bowl. The Bowl is a former clay pit which has put on concerts and other events for nearly forty years. From what I can gather it has very few facilities and is little more than a rudimentary amphitheatre with a stage. Gaming International has been involved in various capacities since 1999.

Matters may have been different, for a while anyway, had it become the first home of MK Dons after the move from South London. The plan, as this Telegraph story shows, was to build a temporary stadium prior to the construction of Stadium MK. This didn’t happen. The National Hockey Stadium was used instead:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... plant.html

It appears the Bowl has been underused for long periods of time. This article from Citiblog (published in 2014) - http://citiblog.co.uk/2014/04/30/opinio ... ional-bowl - contains a couple of telling observations:

“The venue was leased in 2006 by a combined venture of Gaming International and Live Nation, who pledged millions of pounds of improvements, including the construction of a year-round venue and expanding the venue to 75,000. While they did replace the aged stage at the venue, they achieved none of their planned renovations. This meant that it would spend some summers as empty as winters.”

“...mismanagement of the venue to not book any acts at all is a big issue – whether it’s a yearly festival like those that were held at the start of the 2000s or visiting travelling shows by major artists. This underuse of such a good concert venue is disgraceful, and the fact it took this long to give it a good spread of bands is a total mess.”

The 2006 proposals were set out in an impressive document that was published jointly by Gaming International and Live Nation, partners in the Bowl:

http://www.davidgrindleyarchitects.co.u ... tation.pdf

Together with an increased capacity these proposals included a hotel, a greyhound stadium, a car auction space, a skate park and a “racino” (according to Wikipedia a racino is “a combined race track and casino. In some cases, the gambling is limited to slot machines, but many locations are beginning to include table games such as blackjack, poker, and roulette.”)

As the Citiblog article suggests very little has happened in the intervening years. This isn’t to say that there have not been other plans. These have largely been driven by the Milton Keynes Development Partnership and have included a proposal to build an indoor water park, swimming pool, cycle track and football pitches. Moirai Capital Investments was named as the preferred bidder in 2013 but lost this status last year. Clarke Osborne expresses his disappointment with the news in this July 2015 article from the Milton Keynes Citizen:

http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/ente ... -1-6851219

Although it is registered in Bournemouth, Moirai Capital Investments operates from the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon. The company website mentions a big project in Swindon – the North Star Development – which will encompass an indoor ski facility, a music and exhibition arena, a hotel and a revamped leisure centre. The latest news appears to be this May 2016 story from the Swindon Advertiser:

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news ... undation_/

For our purposes there is an intriguing picture in the April 2015 edition of Link (“bringing Swindon together”) featuring the local council leader, the chief executive of Moirai and Clarke Osborne representing Live Nation which is "in partnership to manage the arena space”:

https://issuu.com/rogerogle/docs/swindo ... april_2015

If you live in Torbay you may be familiar with Moirai Capital Investments because it was company named in February 2014 as the “preferred developer” for a £45m “leisure resort” at Clennon Valley and Goodrington:

http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/6 ... story.html

By October 2014 it was being reported by the Herald Express that Torbay Council, following a decision not to appoint Moirai Capital Investments, was now going to review and redevelop Clennon Valley “in house”. Apparently “councillors were 'underwhelmed' by the plans and rejected the plan after three years work”:

http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/c ... story.html

[Neal]

A lot of clubs would love to have an average gate of 1800.

We have probably taken more in season ticket sales than half of the teams in this league will take all season.

I doubt there will be ANY teams in conf south with a better average.

We might even have a better ave than one or two in League 2

[Dawlish Warren]

The latest planning documentation and correspondence for the proposed Swindon speedway and greyhound stadium can be found here:

http://pa1.swindon.gov.uk/publicaccess/ ... Y9CPTHSC00

This includes an application form for planning permission logged on 22 June 2016 in the name of George Edwards of Gaming International. Mr Edwards has been a director of Gaming International since 2013. His previous directorships include those at Chorley FC and associated businesses between 2000 and 2006:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/offi ... pointments

Previous planning applications at Swindon have been made jointly in the name of Gaming International and Landvest PCC. Here’s the Swindon Advertiser reporting in 2014 that the two companies were planning to add another hundred houses to the development:

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news ... r_stadium/

Landvest is an Isle of Man-registered protected cell company, more details of which can be found at http://www.landvestinternational.com/

This mentions various projects including the Swindon site and a disused airfield in Fife. The Swindon Advertiser names Martyn Sutchbury as a representative of Landvest. This could be a misspelling for “Stutchbury” just as Clarke Osborne’s name is incorrectly spelt in the same article (the same mistake can be found elsewhere on the web). Martyn Stutchbury is a planning consultant who has worked on many proposed developments including Penns Mount at Kingsteignton.

We know already that Gaming International attempted to develop a new stadium – including a “racino”- at Reading. This was to have been done in partnership with Russell Management. By 2012/2013 these plans had encountered difficulties as these pages (each containing links to Radio Berkshire interviews with Clarke Osborne) show:

http://www.readingspeedway.com/news.php?extend.1735

http://www.readingspeedway.com/news.php?extend.1746

Around this time Gaming International was working with Citygrove Securities on a plan for the council-owned Poole Stadium. These minutes from a meeting with Poole Borough Council show how the prospective developers favoured finding a new stadium site together with exploring new uses for the existing stadium land:

http://ha2.boroughofpoole.com/akspoole/ ... =12&arc=71

Moirai Capital investments, with which Clarke Osborne and Gaming International have worked in Milton Keynes and Swindon, has now had a setback to its plans to develop land close by the cricket ground at Exmouth:

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/e ... story.html

[Dave_Pougher]

From today's charimans statement,

To be the Club that we want to be, and thrive in the League, we need a new home that can provide the facilities for our supporters, and the commercial revenues necessary for the Club to flourish in the next 25 years. We have the opportunity to achieve this, and we hope that our supporters will get behind the Club to help get us over the line.
David Phillips

Struggling to get behind Mr Phillips on this one and a move away from Plainmoot esp with these people give there history.
It's always going to be sentimental esp given Mr Bristows Bench and his wife's subsequent support that will all effectively evapourate with a bulldozer.

[Ottery gull]

Indeed. It is totally unbelievable that Mr Phillips is not aware of their business track record and their litany of failed enterprises. He must know they are nothing but property developers looking for any opportunity to turn a fast buck. So why is he continuing this charade of pretending they are anything else. He knows we won't get a new stadium this way. So what is really going on Mr Phillips? Treating supporters as though they are idiots does nothing for your own credibility.

[PhilGull]

Indeed. It is totally unbelievable that Mr Phillips is not aware of their business track record and their litany of failed enterprises. He must know they are nothing but property developers looking for any opportunity to turn a fast buck. So why is he continuing this charade of pretending they are anything else. He knows we won't get a new stadium this way. So what is really going on Mr Phillips? Treating supporters as though they are idiots does nothing for your own credibility.

Perhaps he has negotiated a deal that works for both parties?