Torquay United Fans Forum

Hi, ferrarilover, J5, Matt or whoever the little voice in your head ,that only you can hear is telling you are today. I wanted to thank you for marking my homework, its always nice to get practical and constructive feedback.
I did think of showing my reply to our local nursery teacher, you know check the grammar etc. Prior to getting your approval of my post, but then I realised it would make very little difference unless your mum was present to read it to you.
But moving on, I see today that our chairman has stated there are debts that need repaying in the new year and the reporter has correctly deduced these are due to Gi , with no denial from the chairman and no mention of any amounts owing to Masters. If you are being candid and releasing bad information he might as well have declared all debts, it would not make any difference to the supporters who have long since realised we have no money or assets. It would make no difference to any potential new owners or partners, our financial situation is the worst kept secret in the county.
You state that Masters is a multi millionaire, have a look at his declared assets on a company check, last years figures show debts of over £900,000 and assets of just over £300,000, multi millionaire on paper he may be, but if the worst came to the worst and he had to realise his assets against debts how much would he really have, like the majority of business people who have fingers in many pies , its not their money they are using.
Well, there you go plenty for you to get your teeth into, go for it.

Well who are you, ferrarilover, J5, Matt and I suppose that you have many more aliases, I see you have posted deranged rants on several subjects on the current forum, most of which you so obviously know little or nothing about. other posters disagree with your myopic ( I will help out your simple english, it means shortsighted) viewpoint so they must be wrong and be abused, please go back to taking your medication and leave the grown ups to have an intelligent exchange of opinions.

I am not sure any of us, other than members of the board or the TUST now they have done there financial review know exactly what monies the club owes, however the TUST has stated that their are several debts due for payment in the New Year, these could be monies owed to GI or loans that Masters requires repaying, if he put any money into the club in the first place, or they could be innocent matters like the Income tax and VAT bill falling due for the year. I realise like most of us sceptics we fear the former but hope for the latter, either way there is no money in our pot.
The board has several options, one the least profitable for them it seems would be community ownership, the monies the TUST would hope to raise from a share issue would go to paying off any debts not to give anything back to the directors, so it will come down to a simple choice, do they directors like their bank balance more than their stated love for the club. Their decisions up to now have been perverse so I have no reason to believe their future decisions will be any different.
I never thought I would say this but if it comes to a straight choice between Masters and Administration, then I would take the latter and the TUST or other community group could make a compelling argument to the liquidators for ownership of the club, besides if Masters has loaned the club money then going into administration would cost him dearly and adversely effect him finding the money to buy the club on the cheap. it may be time to think about starting again, afresh, with all our debts cleared and people running the club who besides being fans actually know something about business. Masters can see there is no long term mileage or profit in Truro but Torquay is a different ball game with the prospect of a much bigger weekly crowd and maybe a new stadium.
Controversial I know but I have followed the progress of Hereford as they have wrecked havoc through the lower leagues on their way back from liquidation and there is no reason we could not do the same.

Most definitely agree with Lloyder 5 , that was a hard earned point, and there was a fighting spirit about the team that I have not seen this season, I heard Mcginty giving some verbals or encouragement which ever way you look at it to Chaney who was having one of his day dreaming periods and he seemed to respond , there was a lot more talk going on amongst the players. I cannot agree with Nicholson that the injury problems we are suffering are caused by long journeys in cars, or not having their mum to tuck them in at night or whatever reason that is trotted out from any professional managers book of 101 excuses. These players,and I can understand why, are brought back too early from injuries, we are painfully thin on players, Rotation is a word that will never exist in Nicholsons vocabulary because he doesn't have that luxury and probably never will do.
This season if we put up a fight in every game like we did yesterday I will be content considering everything.

Now on a normal Saturday at home I have one eye on the game and one on the time on the big screen hoping that it will go quicker because we are getting stuffed . But very oddly the first time I looked today was at the eighty fourth minute, not sure it was that totally absorbing watch but there was plenty going on, mainly in our half. Enforced substitutions aside, I so want Nicho to reach his three hundredth game but please can he wait until later in the season when we are safe in the league because a tortoise could have done him for speed today, and while it is universally accepted that we lack pace throughout the team we do not need to compound the problem by putting Ward in front of GG, probably two out of the three slowest players in the squad, and while I am having a small pop at GG, when he does his back four warm up routine with Nicho before the game his heading is superb, once the game starts every time he heads its like a spot the ball contest, it goes anywhere except where he intended. LRT had a good game and looked like he played centre half as a regular. Young and Richards played as we have come to expect of them and I am loathe to overly praise Moore who was outstanding because the last time I said that he had a nightmare the next game.
All in all a very credible fighting draw, but could some please explain that for a club that is so stretched for cash and on one of the brightest and sunniest afternoons so far this season we had the floodlights on all match, lastly what was Phillips doing in the dugout all match other than giving the impression we have more bodies available than we actually have, I hope he wasn't trying to give tactical advice.

For thirty years our local reporter has been the first point of contact for all things United, before social media, and for those amongst us who spent the majority of our working life many miles from our home club the highlight of the week was receiving the back pages of the herald from dear old mum, and woe betide her if she used the pages for the weekend peelings.
In those days match day reports was never afraid to call out a player for having a nightmare of a game or give criticism to the manager who had misread the game and chosen the wrong formation, his reports were truthful,accurate and impartial.
Many a home game I would see him in the club bar with at least one director in earnest conversation,he undoubtedly, more than anyone else knows where the numerous skeletons are buried.
The last few seasons his reporting has changed and not in a good way, If its a home match his reports are superficial and seem to bear little resemblance to the match I and many others have watched, if he is the match analyser on away matches he seems more intent on preparing his match reports for other outlets than making incisive comments, either way I prefer the commentary on the local radio station, at least they do not have a reluctance to tell the unvarnished truth about our performance.
Perhaps he is keeping his powder dry and is busily writing a block buster modern history of United for which he has unparalleled knowledge or perhaps over time he has become to close to those that wield the power at United.
Dave, by your use of the journalistic pen you can influence more people in one concise , honestly written article than any social media comment, you have more power than you can imagine in influencing the direction our club takes, perhaps it is time to see the journalist of old, please.

You cannot make a comment like that without giving us some more, especially as I building a scaffold for the perpetrator as we speak.

Agree fully with your sentiments Lucy, however I still have grave misgivings about community ownership although if the alternative is adminstration I will sing the praises of such a model. There are no white knights waiting in the wings that is obvious, probably a few vultures though. My problem is that there are no successful community owned clubs, I do not mean successful in terms of declaring big end of year profits but I do mean the possibility of promotion. Yes I am sure that if the TUST or some other community owned body took over the club and called for a big financial contribution from the fans , as a one off event it would be a success, then what, where would the continuing finance come from to continue the progression, we are not a rich, high earning area. We get little or no support from the council, we would be hard pushed to qualify for lottery funding.
Football clubs suck up money like sponges with very little return especialy in the lower eschelons and without a constant revenue stream not connected or dependent on successful cup runs or feet through the turnstiles then we along with many other clubs will struggle or tetter on bankcruptcy.
Which ever model takes us forward they must realise very early on that saturdays is only one of seven days in the week that we need to raise money and throughout the year not just the football season, as yet how small clubs generate cash on the other days of the week unless you have a five star hotel or michelin star restaurant within the ground remains a mystery.

Just got a communication from the TUST to say that after the meeting with the board today it was agreed that due to the considerable amount of information that was reviewed the TUST have decided to consider their position and report back by the 31 of this month, they finish by saying "a formal announcement will be made by the club and TUST soon after this decision has been made"
Make of that what you will.

Why would the finance officer resign midway through a financial year, at the end fare enough and having given enough notice to have a replacement already in place, why was the fans forum cancelled at such short notice, Phillips saying they were short on numbers, hello, all you need is Phillips and Nicholson for the fans forum , did the forum cancellation take place after the meeting with the TUST this afternoon. Does it have anything to do with not receiving the cash that we would have had if we had won last night, These and many more conspiracy theories will undoubtedly abound and breed in a information vacuum, well they will in my mind, I like facts, not rumours but there is no smoke without fire and too many coincidences especially at our club spell disaster

TIME FOR A RAMBLE AND RANT METHINKS.
In the same way that Nicholson does his post match Blah Blah (Explanation of blah blah) speaks lots says little of inportance comments which have gone past the credible in terms of explaining how we lost yet another winning position, by extension, and as a direct result anything he does say of interest will ultimately be seen in a similar fashion which is unfortunate in so many ways.
No matter what the board and Kevin may think we are not idiots, we know when players are not putting in a full shift, when they are struggling at this level, when they believe they are better than they actually are, after the garbage and frusration we have had to endure in these last weeks it will be very frusrtaing if Nicholson has kept money back to bring in a batch of quality loanees as he did last year becomes it means to me that his reputation is more inportant than the club, and I do hope I am proved wrong.
I think that going into adminstration as another contributor has suggested will gain us nothing unless it becomes the last and only resort for the club, although I agree it has to be on the minds of the directors, | see another director left today, other than a damaging points deduction and trying to catch the players as they run for the M5 and encouraging the Masters Mafia from Cornwall from trying to acquire us for next to nothing, what possible benefit is there for Torquay.
The phrase due diligence in relation to prospective purchasers obviously means something totally different to the board than it does to us mere mortals.
How can Masters have beeen considered a preferred bidder when the club he currently owns is being run into the ground, begged for half a million of investment pre season to keep them going at this level, is arguing over control over the new ground that may or may not come to fruition, and hands out banning orders to fans like confetti that have the temerity to argue with his view of life on social media, can you imagine how few of us would be left going through the gate if he arrived, One of our directors should take a drive to Truro and spend a few hours asking random people what they think of the masters family, are they trustworthy, do they have any money of their own etc, but heh,what do I know, I would be looking for an owner that could take us forward , had some investment money obviously, doesnt have to be a life long fan , prefer a background in running a large business as opposed to a corner shop, I wouldnt be looking at a preferred bidder on the sole basis of what I am going to make out of it.
I understand that the TUST are having a meeting with the board this afternoon after they commisioned the financial report on the club, Interesting to see what comes out of that from either side bearing in mind the TUST had to sign a confidentality clause before been allowed access to our club.
Got go sign off now clarity medication is wearing off!!!!.

Listened to the commentary on radio devon, so can only base my opinion on the what was said. This seemed to be groundhog day , good first half, crap second, what the hell was verma doing at centre back, he is not even a back four player although in fairness he has made a reasonably competant right back, Moore concedes a penalty then saves it, what can you say other than safety and consistency should be the watchword for a keeper, not outstanding one minute and saturday park keeper the next. No LRT anywhere and no comment as to why.
If there is another change of formation on saturday with the exception of those that are caused by injury then the assumption must be that Micholson is sinking in deep water and is tinkering, just to see if by some miracle he can happen upon a team that can play together for ninety minutes and grind out a result.
I do not wont to hear another trite comment that the team is young ,inexperienced and will learn from this harsh experience, nonsense Mr Manager you signed them, you knew what last season was like, you knew what this season would need in terms of players but still you signed players that are young, inexperienced and are obviously not learnig from harsh experiences.

It is unfortunate but accurate to state that the chairman and board of Torquay United are behaving in an appalling way towards their supporters and the club they so proffess to love..
This is not North Korea where some inbred with delusions of grandeur decides whether you will live or die today, although you could be forgiven for thinking we are judging by the way we are treated and left to feed off scraps of information they deem suitable to drop at our feet. If the club and team were moving forward in a positive fashion we would be arguing and discussing about how many points we need to guarantee promotion, we are not, we are a struggling club in all respects, and as such the talk is all about whether we will be relegated, whether Nicholson will decide, sooner, rather than later in my mind that this club is a total basket case and he can do what he believes he is good at, at a far better run club than ours.
In terms of the players fund I believe it to be a laudable enterprise, but in no respect is it confidential in the same way as saying " I am the chairman and owner and I am not telling you how much I paid for the club", quite right too, I as a supporter have no right to that information. The Players fund is our money given freely to the club by supporters, but on the express condition that it goes towards the acquisition of additional players that will benefit the club and not as I strongly suspect that it is being used to pay our existing players wages and living costs thus absolving the board from their financial responsibility to run and finance the club.
Will any of this information come out, I doubt it, but it will not stop me asking the question at the forum.

Well what happened to the apathy,judging by this thread it has all but disappeared I'm glad to say, several comments on the postings, one, and this was something I heard from another group in the family stand so I cannot take any credit for it other than it was very accurate, Woking hunted in packs everytime we tried to pass a ball there were three opposition players all over the receiver of the ball and it is something that should have been identidfied far earlier, also was I the only nervous one who thought this is going to go wrong when we were in our crisp fast passing period of the first half. it wasn't the surface for it and although I think it is part of Nicholsons philosphy of playing football there are times and games when the big hoof forward is the simple and correct way of doing things. Lastly hands up who wants a complete and utter madman running the club, present board excluded, because those of you who suggest that Bateson be invited back to run the club must realise he would have to be totally and completely certifiable if he ever considered the idea.