Anyone fancy standing for our MP as a 'Save TUFC from GI' candidate?

[Southampton Gull]

I see where you're coming from, Duncan. Unfortunately an Admin of a fans forum wouldn't be heard any more than you would, we're just Keyboard Wankers like your good self.

[Rjc70]

Sounds like a very good idea.

Duncan - My guess is that TUST may have seen your very sensible proposal already. But if in doubt, copy and paste your thoughts at the link and send. Hope that helps. https://www.torquaysupporters.co.uk/contact

I would say it is very probable they may not wish to endorse any particular party, for obvious reasons, but may wish to pose questions to the candidates regarding Plainmoor and other matters concerning the survival of our Club, leaving supporters to assess for themselves. That's just my guess. I am just a mere member.

I agree with those saying it's worth joining. Doesn't cost much, £2 per month and we are owned by property developers with the track record that they have etc.

[hector]

Yes they did but they actually won seats on Greenwich Council. This is not a council election but a General Election

Yes, I appreciate the difference but whilst there would be no chance of a victory, for £500 you get the message, 'Save Torquay United from GI' into every household in Torbay plus some possible national exposure. Anything that can put some moral pressure on Gordon Oliver is probably a good thing.

[gullpower]

Yes, I appreciate the difference but whilst there would be no chance of a victory, for £500 you get the message, 'Save Torquay United from GI' into every household in Torbay plus some possible national exposure. Anything that can put some moral pressure on Gordon Oliver is probably a good thing.

[Neal]

Yes, I appreciate the difference but whilst there would be no chance of a victory, for £500 you get the message, 'Save Torquay United from GI' into every household in Torbay plus some possible national exposure. Anything that can put some moral pressure on Gordon Oliver is probably a good thing.

Obviously the candidate would not win, that is not the aim, the objective is to "trigger" more interest as Merse put it on another thread. This seems like an ideal trigger event.

I would propose that interested parties could agree on a leaflet or whatever you want to call it, and print 100 yourself and go out one weekend as a group and knock on doors or just post the leaflet. The aim is to get media coverage that's all.

[Soupdragon]

It's not a case of not being bothered to do it myself soupdragon. A request coming from the administrators of a message board that has a large membership could be used as a tool if such meetings were ever to take place.

Talking of tools it's little wonder I rarely post on here.

Apologies for pressing you, Duncan, but I had hoped to make a point. That point being that it’s no good any of us expecting others to do things for us in this situation.

I had surmised you weren’t a Trust member. We all know that any Trust member can send a rambling, nonsensical and frankly bonkers message to Michael and get a calm, considered and thoughtful note back in response.

I don’t know for sure, but as a Friendly Society/charitable organisation/whatever, the Trust’s constitution probably precludes it from getting involved in political matters.

Besides, who’s going to select any Trust candidate? The members would have to. I'm not having a candidate carry my Trust's name and not have any input into choosing who that candidate is.

Speaking personally, I don’t want my Trust membership fees spent on a fruitless and futile election campaign. And speaking even more personally, I hate to see the democratic process used as a joke. We have real, deep and immediate issues here in the Bay that go way beyond the ownership of a club ground, and putting up a clown candidate – and make no mistake, that’s how just about everyone would really see it – is just a waste of the £500 lost deposit. And if anyone thinks that's all we'd lose, then you're mad.

If anyone wants to go ahead as an individual and stand, well, that's up to them. I might well chuck a few quid in to support them, but there's no way I'd consider voting for them. It'd be a completely wasted vote.

Plus, just how can anyone propose to ‘save’ TUFC from GI? They are the proper, legal owner of the club.

As a group of fans, we’ve got previous in expecting others to do things for us. Last year’s Trust pre-share issue is a case in point: how many in the end actually stumped up?

I remember, going back some years now, how everyone, including on the Mervo-run forerunner of this site, got massively antsy about ‘franchise football’ when Wimbledon were franchised into MK Dons and this club (shame!) was the only UK outfit to agree to play a pre-season friendly against them. Much gnashing of keyboard teeth, much proclaiming and declaiming. Yet how many people turned up on the day to protest and hand out leaflets? Three. Just three.

[happytorq]

The realistic aim of any marginal candidate is not necessarily to win; generally the entrenched parties make that very hard to do. But a vocal outsider can shift the conversation of those mainstream candidates once they see that there's a will to engage on a particular topic. That's the hope that we would have - get Kevin Foster et al to make a commitment to ensure the club is something they're thinking of.

[Glostergull]

If anyone read my post properly that was just the point i was trying too make. its no good putting up a candidate for election as a gimmick. the public wouldn't vote for them and its plain neither would many of our supporters.
If your going to stand you have to do it properly and take in all the other issues as well. The stadium Issue would only sit well with the public if taken into consideration along with all the other issues like Abbey Gardens. The siting of the spare wheel. the Oldway Mansions debacle and the Pavilions. Then on top of that is the health service. Mental health. transport. many of which i also take a deep interest in.
there are many issues in our area that indirectly or indirectly affect us all and the stadium and football club is just one of them, I think a campaign I would carry would also include a plea for the local tourist board to promote the club as well. Many fans of clubs come down here for holidays and if they had a reminder I know some of not many of them would take in a football match as part of the holiday.
make Plainmoor accessible and inviting to other fans. include extra activities during summer hols too. all things an MP could push for.
A developer might not like too much of s spotlight on themselves from an MP,

[Louis]

I see where you're coming from, Duncan. Unfortunately an Admin of a fans forum wouldn't be heard any more than you would, we're just Keyboard Wankers like your good self.

Brilliant

[Soupdragon]

The realistic aim of any marginal candidate is not necessarily to win; generally the entrenched parties make that very hard to do. But a vocal outsider can shift the conversation of those mainstream candidates once they see that there's a will to engage on a particular topic. That's the hope that we would have - get Kevin Foster et al to make a commitment to ensure the club is something they're thinking of.

Quite.

But we don't need this 'vocal outsider'. I can see such a joke candidate blowing up in our faces and turning off any support we could get from the wider local population.

Just make sure that the mainstream candidates ARE engaged. That isn't hard to do. Turn up at all of the hustings and make sure to ask the hard questions. Write in to the candidates' websites. Get a commitment from them to publicise their views/stance in their election material. Etc and so on. Make it a platform THEY have to canvass on and we save ourselves time, trouble and not to mention a good few quid. Once they've all declared, I'll email them to get a view. I suggest others do, too.

But we mustn't lose sight of the issue : this is not something that will be dealt with by the local MP or any 'fun' general election candidate. It remains a matter for the mayor. He's not changing; he's there until 2019.

[happytorq]

Quite.

But we don't need this 'vocal outsider'. I can see such a joke candidate blowing up in our faces and turning off any support we could get from the wider local population.

Just make sure that the mainstream candidates ARE engaged. That isn't hard to do. Turn up at all of the hustings and make sure to ask the hard questions. Write in to the candidates' websites. Get a commitment from them to publicise their views/stance in their election material. Etc and so on. Make it a platform THEY have to canvass on and we save ourselves time, trouble and not to mention a good few quid. Once they've all declared, I'll email them to get a view. I suggest others do, too.

But we mustn't lose sight of the issue : this is not something that will be dealt with by the local MP or any 'fun' general election candidate. It remains a matter for the mayor. He's not changing; he's there until 2019.

having people in place to ask the question of each candidate at every event they attend is a more realistic aim. If Kevin Foster shows up at a church fete with the expectation that he's going to get asked "What about Torquay United's efforts to keep hold of their home of 90+ years?" he's more likely to consider the answer ahead of time. Same with the challengers.

I don't think a 'joke' candidate would ever be the way to go, and single-issue candidates are very rarely able to sustain any sort of momentum.

[Neal]

Well I bet GI are laughing all the way to the bank.

We are divided on here, the handfull of posters actually on here cant agree on nearly anything.

The proposal that there are more important thingsis ridiculous. Of course there is, but if you take that view then you can say that about anything. I would expect that view from a mainstream political party. Lots of voters vote on local issues of all different kinds, thats democracy and their choice, not yours. Lets just have a candidates from conservative, labour, and lib dems then.

A big issue nationally is building on just about anything the greedy developers can get their mucky hands on. School playing fields, parks, football grounds, just about anything. We will have no open space left if it carries on.

Basingstoke play probably their last game at the camrose this week, being built on and they have nowhere to go. Terrible. Give the f#cking lot to them.

And if you think any major political party will take the issue of development on community assets as a major issue your barking mad.

I will check the manifestos when they come out.

[happytorq]

And if you think any major political party will take the issue of development on community assets as a major issue your barking mad.

I will check the manifestos when they come out.

I feel that you're missing the point. A candidate who stands for a national office on a platform of one local issue will not get elected. (And definitely not in this election, which will be 90% Brexit stuff, I suspect.) More than that - they won't even get any sort of publicity. Local media will be all about the national issues. Pressing candidates to make a comment on a local issue is realistically, the best thing that we can do. We know somebody like Adrian Sanders has a strong affinity for TUFC, and it appears that the new bloke does too (I don't know him, so can't really comment) - if the local Westminster representative is on-board, that's a very public voice on *our* side, rather than a vacuum. Local issues do often get raised in Parliament, and while I wouldn't necessarily expect that to happen here, (it'll be too late, anyway) raising awareness of the trend of private enterprises attempting to capitalise on football clubs in hard times is not a bad thing. Hell, maybe with enough MPs who have a similar story to tell (Hereford, us, Basingstoke, and others) that could be a potential route to getting the issue raised nationally. That would be a good thing, surely.

Nobody here is expecting the Conservatives or the Lib-Dems to say on June 7th "And finally, our last manifesto promise is that GI will not be allowed to buy the freehold to Plainmoor". Instead we should be looking for the wannabe members of parliament in Torbay to go on the record about the issue. That way the local politicians - you know, those who actually might make decisions - are made aware of the will of their constituents.

[hector]

Nobody is suggesting a candidate is fielded in the hope they get elected.

That would never happen.

The suggestion is simply to field a candidate to draw attention to the club's plight. There is no need for any candidate to speak about Brexit or the NHS because fielding a candidate would simply be a piece of advertising. £500 for the message to get into every household in the bay, to have it broadcast on TV. Probably a fairly cheap piece of advertising.

Is the original poster willing to stand?

[merse btpir]

Instead of waffling about something no-one can agree on
There's an online petition.......
to the Mayor of Torbay Gordon Oliver to listen to the wishes of Torquay United supporters and on it they say......

"In times like this we need to show the mayor what the Torquay United brand means to this town and the clubs supporters. First step is to get some names down and start gelling people together. Support and solidarity. We are getting great support and advice from lots of other supporters who will also sign this petition also. Please share this petition as many times as you can."

Sign it now and boost the numbers!

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/gor ... n=sign-pet