Torquay United set for a take over ?

[Dave]

Matt I couldn't give an arse whether there's a meeting or not, whether it's on Wednesday or tomorrow next and Friday, or who's going to attend. Plain simple fact as I suspected all he way along, with out any new investment, whether that's a takeover by a party or parties with just enough money to keep the club ticking over, or a group of the mega rich, the club will not be able to carry on in it's current form. The club with out new investment will have to downsize it can not carry on losing the sort of money it's rumoured to be losing every month, as you probably know it is.

[CP Gull]

Well perhaps Thea is fedup up with some supporters suggesting the Board has f'd up.

I don't like the sound of it, and I would rather have a club in the conference with Torquay supporters on the board rather than some business man like Roberts using the club for their personal gain.

Perhaps the fans shouldn't moan so much about the current boards decisions, I know if I was Thea and all that she has done I would be very pissed off with some of the comments on here.

With the greatest respect Neal, I would suggest that her decision to sell up - if indeed that is what she is intending - has nothing to do with stuff written on here, but everything to do with the fact that she and perhaps more importantly her family, cannot continue to sit back and see her personal fortune eroded any further.

Of course, if things were better on the field and we were still in the League and money wasn't quite so tight, she may well have chosen to stay on and continue to support the club as best she could, but that isn't the case and she is it seems now at the stage, which quite frankly was always likely to happen at some point, of deciding enough is enough and it's time for her to withdraw.

Where this will take us, we don't know yet, but it does seem as though we may be about to find out. As fans, we can only hope that if there is a takeover imminent that the people coming in are in it for the right reasons and can help our club to move forward on the pitch, stabilise our finances and improve our training facilities .... we are at least fortunate in that a lot of good work has already been down under the Bristow regime to improve the ground and it's facilities and of course the re-establishment of the youth set up.

It could well be an interesting week ......

[Neal]

Ahahaha, look at this place, full of chimps. Some random makes unsubstantiated claims about a "meeting" and suddenly we're either "going part time" (whatever the f*** that might mean) or we're going into administration. This is the club, remember, who are grossly unprofessional, a stain on the good name of the Football Conference and many other slurs. Do you really think they'd be sufficiently well organised as to call a meeting to announce this news to the staff, when much larger and "properly run" clubs (by comparison, if you believe the vitriol often repeated here and elsewhere) have failed to do so, allowing Sky Sports News to deliver the unhappy message?

You need to make up your minds. For months the current regime have come in for criticism by the Football Chairman experts. Now there seems to be talk of fresh investment (the very thing for which many of you have explicitly begged) and you're grumpy that it might be someone of whom you don't approve.

We're Torquay. Arab trillionnaires don't buy clubs like ours. You've got a couple of choices. Wealthy but not mega rich local businessmen, well intentioned but never rich or stupid enough (businessmen don't get rich by chucking money down the drain chasing a pipedream) to invest the tens of millions needed for genuine, sustainable growth. Alternatively, faceless corporations more interested in hotels and ice rinks than TUFC.

What's happening presently is awfully reminiscent of the last days of the Bateson era. We all remember how that ended. Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it.

Matt.

TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!!!

[Neal]

You are funny Neal. Maybe it's got something to do with the cub losing money every month, and unsustainable in it's current form as a non-league football club, just as I've been saying all season, the club needed to stay in the League or get promoted back at the first attempt, I feel sorry for those who rely on the club for their income.

Thanks It did make me laugh your response

[Neal]

With the greatest respect Neal, I would suggest that her decision to sell up - if indeed that is what she is intending - has nothing to do with stuff written on here, but everything to do with the fact that she and perhaps more importantly her family, cannot continue to sit back and see her personal fortune eroded any further.

Of course, if things were better on the field and we were still in the League and money wasn't quite so tight, she may well have chosen to stay on and continue to support the club as best she could, but that isn't the case and she is it seems now at the stage, which quite frankly was always likely to happen at some point, of deciding enough is enough and it's time for her to withdraw.

Where this will take us, we don't know yet, but it does seem as though we may be about to find out. As fans, we can only hope that if there is a takeover imminent that the people coming in are in it for the right reasons and can help our club to move forward on the pitch, stabilise our finances and improve our training facilities .... we are at least fortunate in that a lot of good work has already been down under the Bristow regime to improve the ground and it's facilities and of course the re-establishment of the youth set up.

It could well be an interesting week ......

That is probably true yes. BUT...... When your criticised for doing your best, it could have been the tipping point. I know Ive helped people in the past and found out they had moaned or something, and you just think, why am I bothering, its not worth it! One thing for certain the board of TORQUAY aint living off the club, its costing them, yes yes yes employing CH as manager "might" have been the wrong decision, but bloody hell if you were to do a survey now of all the football forums I reckon 90% will be saying their current manager aint up to it. Look at Sam at West Ham, gee they were calling for his blood last season, now look at them. There seems to be a good % of fans who just like moaning all the time. If their not moaning they are not happy.

[BayGull]

A bargain for just £500k - if you are daft enough that is!!

[Behind-the-Gulls]

Best case scenario:Thea stays on board and continues to support club financially and announces new credible investor with clubs' best interests at heart.
Worst case scenario:Club goes into administration.

Hope and believe the first is going to happen.

[AustrianAndyGull]

What are the options? Get taken over or continue to lose cash until the club goes under?

Ok so you spotted the deliberate mistake, the last one isn't really an option - it's an inevitability.

The first one is the only option. If some 'geezers' come in and destroy the club then it would have happened anyway. There is a slight chance that new investors could come in and stabilise things enough for the footballing equivalent of RMS Lusitania to limp back to port and be refitted. That is the hope and that is the only way forward.

There is / was another way forward which is the TUST and fans groups coming together to gradually generate capital and get a foothold into the club. Sadly, despite the newly found passion of the TUST, it has come too late. The demise that many fans saw coming years back is not far off and if fans had have done something proactive back then , well , it would have been better all round.

Torquay is miles from anywhere and although it does have hotels and sea, so does Bournemouth. A similarly sized club to Torquay if we are talking a few years ago but now look at them. They have found investors because they have the full package on their doorstep, a popular seaside destination, pretty easy access to London and the South East, plenty of potential for development, a fanbase that continues to grow (Torquay regularly got sub 4000 for home games in league 1 so even if that success was emulated once more, the interest just isn't there) and Bournemouth are within spitting distance of the Premier League.

Most struggling clubs in the past that have been taken over had massive potential to grow, attract fans and sponsors. Hull, huge catchment area and a large city, Swansea likewise. Fulham were perennial lower league strugglers in recent years but based in London (like Brentford who are doing well now too), even Brighton to some extent were struggling on low crowds a few years back.

Blackpool and Burnley to a lesser extent have both tasted success despite spending large periods in the lower leagues and they have grown their fanbase. Wigan too and their geography helped them in terms of attracting players etc.

Like others have said, Torquay United will never make anybody any money. I reckon if the club got into the Championship they would struggle to sell out Plainmoor some weeks. Anyone who buys the club needs to be a fan and genuinely wanting to see the club get back on track, possibly at a loss financially to themselves. Much like Thea although more Thea's would still be needed. If they don't fall into that category then they cannot have the interest of TUFC at heart simply because anybody else would either be investing for no or little return or perhaps even a loss. Again, like someone on here said, successful businessmen didn't get rich from buying tin pot football clubs.

The only way forward for TUFC is if the fans own it and run it so they can preserve it and blow all this pathetic babyish boardroom secrecy and silence out of the water once and for all. At the minute i see a take over as the only option short term and hopefully the new incumbents will have TUFC at heart and run it as a going concern until such a time as the fans can eventually have all or most of the say so in running the club.

The club belongs in the hands of the people who want to keep it going. Yes, other minor board members other than Thea have put money into the club to keep it going but if it weren't for 2000 coming through the gates still having been treated like they don't exist for the last few years then there wouldn't be a team to watch in Torquay. Because other than the fans, nobody else is in the slightest bit interested.

If the fans want the club to survive then they must own it.

The above probably has loads of technical inaccuracies in it and someone will no doubt post kindly informing me that i have no idea how a football club works and my ideas are ridiculous, unworkable pie in the sky and that's fine. I don't have much idea so you'd be right, and my God i hope you are too.

Fans are the past, the present and the future. Fans ARE the club. Get together and begin steps to save it, from little acorns and all that.

[Behind-the-Gulls]

Very much believe in fan ownership in principle but you only have to look 20 miles up the road to see the problems that can arise when its achieved.

[Neal]

unfortunately I don't think there are enough fans who could stump up £100, see the crowd funding total so far. And it would probably require 300 or 4 hundred to stump up at least £1000 each. It could be done, BUT... we would have to accept part -time football and most probably conf south. Which actually I would if I was an owner. The idea of TUST is great, the practicalities are not as I don't think you will find enough fans with enough money to put in. AND if you found the initial number to put in the required amount they would probably need to do this on a regular basis. THIS AINT GONNA HAPPEN.

IF..... 3 or 4 hundred did put up £1000 then I would also, but only once. So a fans buy out would definetly mean less money going into the club than what the board is now putting in. So for me that would mean part time. However, the plus point would be I would be a part owner and decision maker. mmmmmm pretty cool. But then we would be slagged off most probably every week because we had chosen the wrong manager, bad results, in a crap league. mmmm Is it worth it!!!! Probably not

[AustrianAndyGull]

unfortunately I don't think there are enough fans who could stump up £100, see the crowd funding total so far. And it would probably require 300 or 4 hundred to stump up at least £1000 each. It could be done, BUT... we would have to accept part -time football and most probably conf south. Which actually I would if I was an owner. The idea of TUST is great, the practicalities are not as I don't think you will find enough fans with enough money to put in. AND if you found the initial number to put in the required amount they would probably need to do this on a regular basis. THIS AINT GONNA HAPPEN.

IF..... 3 or 4 hundred did put up £1000 then I would also, but only once. So a fans buy out would definetly mean less money going into the club than what the board is now putting in. So for me that would mean part time. However, the plus point would be I would be a part owner and decision maker. mmmmmm pretty cool. But then we would be slagged off most probably every week because we had chosen the wrong manager, bad results, in a crap league. mmmm Is it worth it!!!! Probably not

I think you've sort of laid bare the grim reality of such an idea in your post Neal and although i don't like saying it because it feels like i'm criticising further but there just doesn't appear to be the drive or natural pull from enough fans at the club to make such a thing a viable long term option.

My vision for a totally fan owned club sadly doesn't stop short of chucking in a few hundred quid now and again either which makes it an even more daunting prospect.

I'd like the club to run sort of like a charity where first of all much of the money gets ploughed back into the club in some form or another. In addition much of the administration and commercial activity can be done by volunteers giving up their time to help out something they love. Just like an animal shelter for example. You pop down, give up a few hours say in the club shop if that's what you are particularly interested in and then go and watch the game. Programme compilers, there is no shortage of people on here that love to write and are interested in that side of things. Programme sellers - on a voluntary basis. Staff in the refreshment kiosk on a voluntary basis. Ok so it's a logistical nightmare but a paid volunteer co-ordinator could sort much of this stuff out and save the club loads of cash in wages for jobs that dedicated fans could do for free. You donate both time and money. Just like an animal charity.

Fans can do fundraising events to raise money, they can sell donated items, get involved in matchday activities and the possibilities are endless.

Obviously there are certain jobs at the club that cannot be done by volunteers but much of it can and in like killing two birds with one stone, the volunteer feels part of the club more than he/she ever did and the club saves cash.

I mean come on, the club has only a few thousand regular fans - how hard can it be to get things organised?

The voluntary sector is booming at the minute and i'm 100% sure that if the club forged links with local voluntary organisations then volunteering doesn't just have to be exclusively for Torquay fans. People interested in football, people NOT interested in football - it doesn't matter. There will be lots of things that volunteers can get involved with that will help their CV's and develop their social and employment prospects. Take the 2 thousand and odd Torquay fans and open this out to the whole of South Devon. These are opportunities, not problems.

As Neal said though, it would initially take a fair few quid and going forward much more devotion from people which is fine to profess to have if you are just rocking up every game and claiming to be doing your bit but the club needs a hell of a lot more to be sustainable. It needs to be self sufficient and so what if for the time being such a project could never work in the football league, currently Torquay are in the shtuck closer to the bottom of the conference with all and sundry pissed off to the eyeballs and firing off abuse and criticism at anything that moves on a matchday. All because of people who don't give a toss about the club. Whether it be players or some of those behind the scenes.

If you only have yourselves to be accountable to then there is nobody left to hammer. Issues get aired, everyone knows about them and they get sorted in an amicable democratically agreed solution. If Exeter fans or anyone else for that matter can't even manage this then they fully deserve a new investor who will come in and rip their club to bits. Serves them right.

I just hope everything gets sorted for you guys anyway and as quickly as possible because it's just been a conveyor belt of disasters at Plainmoor for few years now and you deserve a new lease of life and some real positive good times to enjoy and to look back on now with tales of how you got through it. I'll be watching what happens with interest but will only have something to say if it's positive. If it's more doom and gloom then i reckon you've got enough to worry about without my input. :}

Here's to Wednesday and looking on the bright side.

[arcadia]

I think we should all be thankful that the directors have put money in it's just a shame that they have not spent it wisely.
Perhaps they've just realised they have made a big mistake by putting their money into the football club.
If I was putting money into Torquay I would make sure that I had someone I could trust and had a football brain dealing with the finances.

[gullintwoplaces]

The term "investment" is inappropriate in the context of a football team, with very few exceptions. The more appropriate word is "donation" by "benefactors", because it is just not possible to produce any kind of financial return with clubs like Torquay. In which case the club are looking for "benefactors" with money who love football, the club or both. The reason I am concerned about how this will play out is because there are individuals around who aspire to take over football clubs, but have NO money to put in. Roberts had no money, nor did the toe rags that took over Hereford and Salisbury. There are many clubs who have been taken taken over by indiividuals who are as far from being "benefactors" as it is possible to be.

Now Torquay HAS had genuine benefactors in the Bristows, and all sane fans should be grateful to them for what that they have done. Please God that Thea can find like minded people to help her.

If a genuine attempt can be made to find enough fans to stump up money to work with Thea, I would be interested in helping but could not afford more than £1000. On that basis we would need a few hundred fans who could afford to contribute (not take over) which seems unlikely. But you never know.

[arcadia]

The term "investment" is inappropriate in the context of a football team, with very few exceptions. The more appropriate word is "donation" by "benefactors", because it is just not possible to produce any kind of financial return with clubs like Torquay. In which case the club are looking for "benefactors" with money who love football, the club or both. The reason I am concerned about how this will play out is because there are individuals around who aspire to take over football clubs, but have NO money to put in. Roberts had no money, nor did the toe rags that took over Hereford and Salisbury. There are many clubs who have been taken taken over by indiividuals who are as far from being "benefactors" as it is possible to be.

Now Torquay HAS had genuine benefactors in the Bristows, and all sane fans should be grateful to them for what that they have done. Please God that Thea can find like minded people to help her.

If a genuine attempt can be made to find enough fans to stump up money to work with Thea, I would be interested in helping but could not afford more than £1000. On that basis we would need a few hundred fans who could afford to contribute (not take over) which seems unlikely. But you never know.

brave guy

[lucy6lucy]

Matt is right. Where is the source and validity of this so called meeting in mid week. This thread though serious in context is slowly starting to become an Australian bush fire that is getting out of control.