Torquay United Association Football Club - Sole Director Clarke Osborne

merse btpir · Post by **merse btpir** » 14 Jan 2018, 19:30

portugull wrote: ↑14 Jan 2018, 19:26merse Toklon is the ultimate holding company of Gaming International and its subsidiaries

I've been aware of that and telling all who were interested on BTPIR that from the start.You're wasting your time with Thomas; he's so blinkerd and set in the old ways he is a waste of space.

He's not a solution to the problem; he's a big part of the problem!

gullintwoplaces · Post by **gullintwoplaces** » 14 Jan 2018, 19:51

Southampton Gull wrote: ↑14 Jan 2018, 19:11
And one thing, can we all at least spell the bastards name right. It's OSBORNE. (Not a dig at you but everyone who spells it wrongly)

Thanks Dave, noted and I’ll get it right next time! Although part of me wants to get it wrong because it might just piss him off (if he reads these scribbles, which I expect he doesn’t).

Glostergull · Post by **Glostergull** » 14 Jan 2018, 20:42

I was one of the first to tell you of the danger of letting Gi and Osborne get their hands on the club.I was following Rovers when they forced them out of Eastville. I worked for the board at the time. I knew Martin Flook and Barry Bradshaw. so I knew fully what Osborne and his ilk were really like. I was shot down in flames as one who would never give the new board a chance and they would change things. yeah they changed things alright. to the point where we are already relegated in my opinion. We have gone too far down the pan to be rescued now. Osborne has effectively won because there were too many spilt and the club was no longer United. and while we are split he is laughing all the way to the bank. unless there is an almighty upheaval in support and pulling together, this club will be dead well within the 5 years. will we have a chance to relaunch? I have my doubts. Nowhere to play. no funds to start another club. look at attempts to raise money. We will die soon and now I'm not only losing hope. I'm almost willing it to happen sooner rather than later if only to put us out of our misery.

Post by **Dave** » 14 Jan 2018, 21:14

Was discussing this with a another forum member at the match yesterday, like I said to him, and it's my belief, it comes down to human nature, as a race, we like and want to be told the truth, but only when it's the truth we want to hear, and not the kind of truth that hurts.

I appreciate the likes of Dave SG, Merse, Andy GG, Rob RJC70 and others who took the time to warn us of what was to come, but that's never going to be enough to win people over, there was always going to be the need to win hearts and minds, and that is beginning to happen now, and it's got nothing to do with Saturday's result.

But there's work to be done and time needed to win over enough people to move towards fan ownership, with I now believe is the only way forward.

merse btpir · Post by **merse btpir** » 14 Jan 2018, 21:38

forevertufc wrote: ↑14 Jan 2018, 21:14 Was discussing this with a another forum member at the match yesterday, like I said to him, and it's my belief, it comes down to human nature, as a race, we like and want to be told the truth, but only when it's the truth we want to hear, and not the kind of truth that hurts.

As one of those you name Dave; it is my impression that down there there are far too many peopple who do not like it when you tell it as it is.........

For instance did anyone at the club when Thea Bristow was spouting her nonsense and Chris Hargreaves was pulling his silly faces ever tell you that this league is such a challenging league to be a part of? No; the talk was as if it was going to be some sort of respite; a time when the club could re-gather it's lost energy and begin again.

Now I'm reading the same nonsense again about going down another level and football is simply not like that. It makes me want to scream and bang heads together, but Torquay United and much of their following are such a complacent bunch they have really been left behind in modern day football.

Take a rival chairman in Danny Hunter at Boreham Wood ~ nineteen years he's been there doing that and only in the last ten has he managed to pull them up three levels to their present status and yet I listened to the National Obsession podcast the other evening and there were Charlie Baker and John Cadigan taking the piss out of them, their ground and their efforts to being where they are which is nothing short of the hardest working, most visionary and ambitious little club in the country.

Torquay United don't have ten per cent of that ethic; and under the last regime I witnessed (whilst being in that boardroom as guest of the match ball donor) how a member of Dave Phillips' board totally ignored all there was to learn about how Bromley ~ another fast rising and highly organised and ambitious little club ~ went about their business because they had organised an 'Expo' that day aimed at their current sponsors, advertisers and corporate partners and pitching for new ones........was he interested? Not on your life he wasn't; there was second helpings of food to be had and it was free. So hog the food table and ignore what there was to be learned and taken back to Torquay......I reckon the only thing he took back as the sole representative of the board that day was a doggy bag!

This club, this support and this comunity are where they are in the football world because they are reaping what they have never sown!

Post by **Southampton Gull** » 14 Jan 2018, 21:45

No disagreement, it was the same while Buckle was here and unless the club grasp the notion that they need to engage with the public as a first priority then it will never change.

Yorkieandy · Post by **Yorkieandy** » 14 Jan 2018, 21:57

Thing is Merse you cannot force people to do things.

If the current custodians of the football club don't want to listen to anybody nor take any steps to address issues systematically nor improve things at the club then there is really nothing anyone can do. I say this about previous regimes too.

Some of the clubs you have mentioned in the past have overtaken Torquay by some distance purely by having dynamic and honest people in the club who feel compelled and who feel a duty to improve the lot for both the club and it's fans.

All Torquay have ever done these last few years is cut themselves off from the fans and create a huge gulf in between. In this inbetween festers mistrust, suspicion, disillusionment, anger, frustration, apathy amongst other negative, non productive things.

Most successful clubs at lower levels know that it's quite the opposite that needs to happen in order to get success and i'd like to think any human being without his brains in his anus would automatically know this but not at TQ1. Although having said that, i do think they knew only too well but it was just that they were disgusting dishonest people.

Burton Albion are a shining example. I was down there before Christmas with a Barnsley fan mate to watch Barnsley and it felt so weird being there having been there so many times as a TUFC fan in the away end in the conference and league 2. They have a structure that lives within it's means and gets everyone pulling together to enable the club to survive and prosper. Even in the Championship against top sides there are loads of empty spaces on the terraces so they are managing to stay up with not that many more home fans than in the lower leagues. Admittedly they get loads of revenue from more away fans but the way that club is run and the way it feels when you visit is the marker for clubs like Torquay.

Again though, it depends solely on if you have owners / key staff who know the value of it's supporters and work tirelessly to keep on communicating and improving their lot. All the people at TUFC has ever done is ignore and rip off.

Lack of communication and an arrogance that fans will just keep rocking up was one of the things that 5 years ago made me stop going. I felt like a mug and i wasn't about to let that happen anymore. I saved 5 years of time, stress and money.

Post by **Southampton Gull** » 14 Jan 2018, 22:05

I remember being told about two of our Directors, I think the Boyce brothers but not 100%, having approached the Exeter trust for advice and help on that very matter only to be told by Simon Baker that they didn't want to interfere with our commercial manager at the time, Dean feckin Edwards. That is the kind of lunacy that has prevailed at our club and people wonder why I am always criticising the Board.

westyorkshiregull · Post by **westyorkshiregull** » 14 Jan 2018, 22:22

Southampton Gull wrote: ↑14 Jan 2018, 22:05 I remember being told about two of our Directors, I think the Boyce brothers but not 100%, having approached the Exeter trust for advice and help on that very matter only to be told by Simon Baker that they didn't want to interfere with our commercial manager at the time, Dean feckin Edwards. That is the kind of lunacy that has prevailed at our club and people wonder why I am always criticising the Board.

Dave , that's just bloody mental

I'd have interphered with him alright in hindsight .......easy to say now

Post by **Southampton Gull** » 14 Jan 2018, 22:28

It's not like he was any bloody good at the job either but this is the kind of thing that has been going on for so long now. They never seem to learn from their mistakes and now we are where we are. I've taken so much stick on here over the years, some justified admittedly BUT I predicted this mess several years ago and we've been heading into it at speed. Merse has been saying the same and also taken a lot of stick, as someone else said, if you stick your head above the parapet expect more than a few potshots, goes with the territory.

Yorkieandy · Post by **Yorkieandy** » 14 Jan 2018, 22:36

westyorkshiregull wrote: ↑14 Jan 2018, 22:22 Dave , that's just bloody mental

I'd have interphered with him alright .......easy to say now

Eeeeek! Hope you were planning on wearing protection.

Yorkieandy · Post by **Yorkieandy** » 15 Jan 2018, 18:34

What i don't understand is though why CO never makes himself seen or heard? It's like he doesn't give a sh*t and doesn't try and hide the fact.

You'd have at least tried to placate the fans if you had 'other plans' for the club that you wanted to keep shtum and you'd do this by releasing cock and bull statements here and there about the state of the club and how everyone is committed to getting it right and showing yourself at games now and then making it look like you are really engaged with it and the fans.

But no. Just buys the club and then just f*cks off and does his own thing seemingly whilst everyone fights in the background about the chaos he's left behind.

This really DOES indicate that he's the owner and he can do what the hell he likes. He can.

Teigngull · Post by **Teigngull** » 15 Jan 2018, 19:24

Why would he show up when he's got that Muppet Harrop running the day to day business.
When you go to a puppet show you rarely see the puppet master do you !

Yorkieandy · Post by **Yorkieandy** » 15 Jan 2018, 19:27

Teigngull wrote: ↑15 Jan 2018, 19:24 Why would he show up when he's got that Muppet Harrop running the day to day business.
When you go to a puppet show you rarely see the puppet master do you !

Do puppet shows still exist?

Last one i saw was a punch and judy one on Swanage beach over the summer.

Annoyed the bejesus out of me. Supposed to be relaxing by the sea listening to the waves and all i can hear is two useless puppets going at it. Bit like the Torquay dressing room at half time then.

knightmaregull · Post by **knightmaregull** » 15 Jan 2018, 19:31

Would be interesting to see how many times his name appears in the Council House visitors book register ...... more than in the Plainmoor one?

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