TUST UPDATE

[Rjc70]

Seen the below referred to in two busy threads now. Thought I would post it up here.



Plainmoor

Dear Member,

It has now been over 14 weeks since our Club was sold to Gaming International yet despite many promises to engage and involve supporters during this very difficult period in the Club's history, nothing has been forthcoming.

I will not list all of the things we were told, but notably:

There would be meetings with fans and other stakeholders to engage in discussions about a 5 year business plan.
There would be a Fans Forum within weeks of GI taking over.
Local people would be invited to join the Board.
Funds would be made available to the Manager to strengthen the team.
The match day experience at Plainmoor would be improved to attract and retain supporters.
GI have not delivered against any of these promises and therefore it is not surprising that the Club continues in a downward spiral both on and off the playing surface.

From the outset there have been genuine fears about GI's real interests in purchasing the freehold of Plainmoor, and many fans will be aware that GI have held discussions in private with Torbay Council on this subject. TUST and many individual supporters have raised their concerns with local councillors and there is now a growing army of resistance against the Council selling the freehold to GI without adequate safeguards built into any agreement that will protect the long term interests of Torquay United.

The mayor will be making a public decision about the disposal of the Plainmoor freehold at a meeting planned for the 26th April.

Our current precarious league position coupled with the failure this week to strengthen the team to help the fight against relegation only serves to reinforce the view that GI are indifferent to the club’s predicament and instead are only interested in the land the club has played on for over 100 years. Clarke Osborne and Chris Rich have failed to honour promises made to TUST and the absence of any information or actions to contradict and dispel some of these fears is cause for concern, worry and anger about the way in which the Club is being run.

The importance of the meeting on the 26th April cannot be emphasised enough as the outcome will go a long way in determining whether the freehold of Plainmoor is to be sold to GI or not. Whatever the decision we should have a clearer picture as to whether GI are in it for the long haul or whether they might walk away. TUST cannot predict the outcome of that meeting but is working hard to identify possible ways to protect the future of the Club if the nightmare scenario is realised.

If we are to believe that the existing covenants and proposed additional restrictive conditions will safeguard Plainmoor from the developers then we must ask the question why are GI so fixated on owning the freehold of a piece of land that seemingly has no commercial value?

Mr Osborne, you do not need to own Plainmoor. If you genuinely want to build a new stadium then build it first.

Whilst some supporters will be comforted by the sound bites emanating from Plainmoor the reality is we are potentially facing our darkest hour both on and off the pitch.

The nightmare scenario is the club going into administration, but as long as Plainmoor is secured by public ownership we will always have a home for a professional football club.

Supporters need to be concerned.

Please click on the following link and see what happens when the developers takeover.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39354998

If you are concerned about the future of your club I urge ALL supporters to make their feelings know to their local councillor. You can contact your local councillor by following the link below;

http://www.torbay.gov.uk/DemocraticServ ... aspx?bcr=1

Kind Regards ...

Michael

[Southampton Gull]

It's been posted by Andrew Candy, Rob. 2 posts back ^.^

[Rjc70]

It's been posted by Andrew Candy, Rob. 2 posts back ^.^

So it has.