Gaming International have taken our club hostage

[CP Gull]

Fair play to those fans that tried to save us from the clutches of GI - not surprised to hear how that played out though! There has been some criticism from some quarters that fans should have been more supportive of the Board, and yet when supporters and groups that represent them have reached out they have been turned away at every opportunity it seems with real disdain in my opinion.

Ultimately, I don't think it was Phillips calling the shots yesterday it was probably Peter Masters and maybe it was him you needed to convince yesterday morning rather than a lame duck Chairman? Ultimately Philips and Balsom et al took the deal that suited them personally best and not TUFC - it would appear that they may have got back every penny that they put in (I stand to be corrected if this proves not to be the case) and so their "investment" in the club will only in truth ever have manifested itself as a temporary loan - now repaid in full?

I also think that Peter Masters gave a rather telling interview to ITV after the deal was done - he did come across as pretty smug about the outcome, and his part in it yesterday, and stated that he had built up a good relationship with not only the TUFC Directors but also Gaming International over the last 12 months ... Interesting! Does anybody really think that we have seen the last of him and his involvement up here? I expect him to continue to be a major player in the months and years to come with events as they unfold at TUFC.

As for Gaming International it is I suppose only fair to give them a chance to put their "vision" of the way forward and to listen to what they have to say - but their total lack of interest in the progress of the football club over the last 12 months is perhaps a tell tale sign. Indeed can anyone confirm whether a single representative of GI has even attended a game yet? I know one of their crowd did attend Yellowfest - which again perhaps underlines that the football is of very little importance to their future plans for the Riviera Stadium - Yellowfest 3 to be held at the Willows c 2018 anyone?

It is galling to hear that there may still have been one or two interested parties that may have genuinely been interested in the FOOTBALL club surfacing at the eleventh hour but I suspect ultimately it was the guarantee that the Directors would get all their money back if they did a deal with GI now held the sway over any concerns they (the Directors) might have had over the future fate of a football club they profess to love ...

[Thegulls1981]

I can't also verify first hand that the directors were given a opportunity to delay handing the noose to GI until the end of Jan with fans clubbing together to fill the financial void at absolute risk. They agreed to do this and inexplicably changed their mind once the news was relayed to GI yesterday afternoon. What GI said to them to bring this change about I have no idea but the directors have acted shamefully in my opinion, giving up when there were still viable escape routes. This all goes beyond incompetence / mismanagement. It's far more murky.

This is exactly what Im referring too.

[Yorkieandy]

If you're going to get involved in running a football club it stands to reason that you'll have to put in some significant sums of cash at risk.

If Phillips sold the club down the Swanny for the sake of getting his 30 or 40 grand back then do we have any sympathy as gilbert a game seems to think we should?

Bearing in mind Thea Bristow wrote off millions for the best interest of the club.

Think about that for a second.

[Yorkieandy]

It's not just Phillips though is it.

Those cretins that booted Ling out then proceeded to run the club into the ground using mostly Theas money then buggering off when things got tough then fronting her up to the tv cameras.

Knill, Hargreaves, Dale frigging tongue, Karl Hawley, Bodin, just most people involved in running this club the past few years can just f*** off.

This is just the culmination of years of ineptness and unprofessionalism from many individuals.

If there is to be an AFC Torquay at any level count me in for sure but my God I'm so glad I've not given any of my time and money since relegation to the football club when it's ended up like this anyway.

You didn't really need hindsight on this particular occasion as it was there for all to see just waiting to happen.

[gullpower]

Yes, I think we will have some new contributions over the next few weeks. Most of it will be total BULLSHIT. Windup merchants, some associated with GI no doubt and others with God knows intentions.

But we all know who the regular contributors are.

The problem I have is what to do now. We will all have our starting positions I guess, our moral and political views, where the club fits into our everyday lives will be different as well.

So living in Basingstoke, both clubs are in a similar position, not exactly of course, but is quite a coincidence where both are from my point of view.

The thing is there are many different routes this can take. If the council refuse to sell the ground then GI have few options. Fold the club, keep it going part-time and live within its means, or full-time and invest. The third option I would guess isn't an option if they want to make money. So all this depends on the council. And I guess we might be able to affect that if we were to lobby the council.

The other option is the council sell the ground, then all is lost in my opinion. God knows what that would mean, a football club with a greyhound track maybe and retail, houses. The club would just be a tenant paying money to a property developer, the tenant would probably be a different company.

The best option as I see it, is don't sell the ground. GI can fold the club, but they cant do anything with the ground. They own the buildings I think or will. Im quite happy with a Pheonix club actually run by TUST. The club is the ground, its fans and its history. Nothing more. You can argue that a Pheonix club does not own the history, that's debatable. But we have the ground and Im guessing 1000 hard core fans. Buckland are trying to join the Southern League with how many fans. A nice little ground yes, but nothing like Plainmoor. We could join the Southern League, Part-time to start but would attract good part time players with the income we would have from attendances of 700 to 1000 (being pessimistic).

My preference and its not everyone's I can see from the postings is a new club run by TUST, with Plainmoor as the ground.

Ive just thought of this, mmmmmmm TUST as the tenant of a new ground owned by GI. Personally I wouldn't go for this, as I wouldn't want to line their pockets. So for me its Plainmoor or Im finished with it all.

Hard core fans would follow the name, colours and the history. And I would argue that the Pheonix club does own the history.

[westyorkshiregull]

Riveria stadium. ...guess that's new name for ground

[portugull]

I think the post from CP Gull sums up the situation very well.
In my view Peter Masters was pivotal to this deal going through.
It seems almost like we had a reluctant buyer in GIL, after all think how long they took to say "YES", and a Board who were so far out of their depth that in the end Masters persuaded GIL to pay off Phillips and that clinched the deal.
Maybe GIL felt that did not need to do a deal so they would get control at the end of January if their loan was not repaid.
This sad story has a lot further to run. Monday will fill in some of the conditions attaching to the deal but remember "the devil is in the detail"

[Gulliball]

Working name I would imagine. It'll be the whichever company pays the most stadium.

[Yorkieandy]

It's a fair post by give gilbert a game. I completely agree we are all guessing as to why Phillips has done this or what the rationale behind the decision was.

It's because nobody at the clubs talks. Nobody seems to be able to tell the truth and there seems to be alleged ulterior motives all over the shop. There is no communication. Fans get left to stew whilst decisions that affect their club get made without them knowing why.

If there are uncomfortable truths then lets hear them. I'd have more respect if honesty was aired no matter how detrimental to the club.

You are right. Nobody knows for sure how this will pan out now but without any explanation for it or actions to bend over backwards to try and keep fans from withdrawing their support in the aftermath then to blame fans for being angry is embarrassing.

As always. Those that run the club will make decisions that usually means the fans get mugged off yet fans are now suddenly supposed to believe that this sale has been done with the fans and the club at heart?

Ever heard of cry wolf?

The abuse is totally unacceptable . I include myself in that but why oh why can't folk just be honest instead of all this ridiculous smokescreen / cloak and dagger / conspiracy theory bullsh*t. It's tiresome.

Let's wait for people to tell the truth and come out and be honest about their motives then shall we? Have a long old wait then.

Nobody is accusing anyone of anything of any serious note but just questioning what the hell is going on.

I suggest we all sit back and keep calm in time honoured Torquay fashion as that has seemed to work in the past yes?

[Plymouth Gull]

Fair play to those fans that tried to save us from the clutches of GI - not surprised to hear how that played out though! There has been some criticism from some quarters that fans should have been more supportive of the Board, and yet when supporters and groups that represent them have reached out they have been turned away at every opportunity it seems with real disdain in my opinion.

Ultimately, I don't think it was Phillips calling the shots yesterday it was probably Peter Masters and maybe it was him you needed to convince yesterday morning rather than a lame duck Chairman? Ultimately Philips and Balsom et al took the deal that suited them personally best and not TUFC - it would appear that they may have got back every penny that they put in (I stand to be corrected if this proves not to be the case) and so their "investment" in the club will only in truth ever have manifested itself as a temporary loan - now repaid in full?

I also think that Peter Masters gave a rather telling interview to ITV after the deal was done - he did come across as pretty smug about the outcome, and his part in it yesterday, and stated that he had built up a good relationship with not only the TUFC Directors but also Gaming International over the last 12 months ... Interesting! Does anybody really think that we have seen the last of him and his involvement up here? I expect him to continue to be a major player in the months and years to come with events as they unfold at TUFC.

As for Gaming International it is I suppose only fair to give them a chance to put their "vision" of the way forward and to listen to what they have to say - but their total lack of interest in the progress of the football club over the last 12 months is perhaps a tell tale sign. Indeed can anyone confirm whether a single representative of GI has even attended a game yet? I know one of their crowd did attend Yellowfest - which again perhaps underlines that the football is of very little importance to their future plans for the Riviera Stadium - Yellowfest 3 to be held at the Willows c 2018 anyone?

It is galling to hear that there may still have been one or two interested parties that may have genuinely been interested in the FOOTBALL club surfacing at the eleventh hour but I suspect ultimately it was the guarantee that the Directors would get all their money back if they did a deal with GI now held the sway over any concerns they (the Directors) might have had over the future fate of a football club they profess to love ...

Good post as ever, CP.

Re the bolded bit - I know that's only your opinion but I also feel it could have been the case. If so... how on EARTH did the future of Torquay United get into a situation where it required a decision from a different club's chairman?! It seems incredibly bizarre.

Regarding the abuse of Phillips - there is bound to be some. I envisage Boxing Day being interesting - especially if we have not heard anything from our new owners, which I feel is unlikely. Phillips has openly lied to us - he said at the Fans Forum that the club will not end up in the hands of Gaming International, and yet here we are. He has been far from a saint in this whole process - but openly lying to the fanbase (when he considers himself as one, too) is horrific.

I am incredibly angry at the whole farcical situation, and then reading about the potential for other groups who needed an extra week or so - I don't believe that we were so desperate for cash yesterday that we couldn't hold on for one more week. Just another of Dave's dreadful lies.

I just hope this doesn't go on for another couple of years before we eventually go pop - I've invested too much over the years and can't pull myself away like others have.

[Thegulls1981]

I have been advised that there was a reason as to why the Chairman and co changed their mind last minute after yesterday morning agreeing to the offer I mentioned earlier which will soon become clear and they claim will show why the it wasn't their fault....

I think it's only fair to allow them the opportunity to justify their actions without receiving personal abuse.

[Glostergull]

I think we will now be known as Turkey United. after the sell out I feel we have been stuffed for Christmas. i am so angry. who can we ever trust in the future and what will become of the club. who feels like I do?

[Mrdistance]

I can tell the last person to post we did offer to buy club,agreed to all payments. Shares GI. Pete and fulfill shortfall for rest of season. We spoke on Tuesday and Thursday but club insisted we put in a amount to pay player and staff wages over xmas and new year. We refused as they would not draw up any paperwork We could only assume GI deal was done and were only being polite to talk to us and could not go back on there deal We we're happy to invest money to get club promoted , you are allowed your views , but I know the facts as I was there

[A Realist]

I can tell the last person to post we did offer to buy club,agreed to all payments. Shares GI. Pete and fulfill shortfall for rest of season. We spoke on Tuesday and Thursday but club insisted we put in a amount to pay player and staff wages over xmas and new year. We refused as they would not draw up any paperwork We could only assume GI deal was done and were only being polite to talk to us and could not go back on there deal We we're happy to invest money to get club promoted , you are allowed your views , but I know the facts as I was there

Why weren't you there before this week then?

[Dave]

Maybe because he/she is a bullshit wind up merchant.