The future of Torquay United

[culmstockgull]

Football has changed out of all recognition in the last decade, as they say, the rich get richer, we on the other hand have staggered from one penniless hobby owner to another, never thinking further than surviving the season let alone planning for the future. Even Spurs has said that football on matchdays alone will not support any club let alone the 1500 to 2000 we attract which barely covers the office costs, insurance and floodlights and we are not alone in this situation.
Much has been said of our owner, he is an asset stripper, not going to argue that point with those that supposedly know him better or have believed everything they read on google or wiki. but think on, when he did his due dilegence and believe me what he did he discover that he could he asset strip, we owned nothing, even a share of bristows is retained by Devon County Council, but never the less he bought the club, the only alternative was that phoenix club everyone raves about. Look at Hereford, double our crowds but still cannot break the glass ceiling of the national north.
From day one, Osborne's vision was away from Plainmoor to a new venue which could be self sustainable with week long revenue streams that would support he club and reduce his personal outlay, huge amounts of people objected to this for their own reasons, poison was dripped into councilloors ears from many angles, the press were fed dubious stories long on rhetoric and short on fact and elements of supporters clubs lobbied the local MP in an attempt to promote their own agenda.
As a result Torbay council has been anything but helpful over the last few years,The council believed they had the upper hand in all negotiions on our future venue , in reality Teignbridge has plenty of land their side of Hamelin way.
So if we do not come up with an imaginative, alternative and forward thinking plan our future is bleak, we have tried everything else and failed, if our owner walks away we have only ourselves to blame,if we do nothing you, me and a hundred others will be watching the team in the southern league, if we are lucky.

[happytorq]

Not sure what point you're trying to make here.

If Clarke Osborne had put together meaningful plans of a new home for TUFC, I don't think anybody would have held him back. The problem has always been that he's spoken about the need for one but has never produced anything that suggests he actually intends to follow through. The laughable mockup that was shown on Devon Live is suggestive of a lack of seriousness, and given his track record, it's entirely reasonable that the Council would want to ensure there actually was something in the works before coming to the table regarding Plainmoor.

My sense is that he bought the club really cheaply given the financial issues it was in at the time, and then expected the local authorities to roll over before anybody realised what was happening. Fortunately, people cottoned on to the plan pretty quickly and the set things back.

I've said time and again that I have no issue wth GI (or anybody really) making some money out of the club if they're upfront with their intentions and do the things that are required to make it a vibrant part of the community and local economy. Sadly, that has never appeared to be part of the plan, since there has little to no engagement with the supporter base (believe we're still waiting for the Fans' Forum?) and radio silence from the owner except for yearly (ish) press releases on the club website about 'onwards and upwards'.

Of course - I don't know the owner, I'm merely an interested 'outside' observer without any 'sources'. And I don't doubt that long term, TUFC would be better served with a facility that allows us to generate outside of the 25-30 matchdays per year. I don't think Plainmoor is a space able to accomodate that, so that does mean finding somewhere else. It's very questionable that it's something that should be at the forefront of anybody's mind right now, given the parlous state of the team, of course. But if we were ever to find ourselves as a stable League 2 side, a new facility could probably enable us to take that next step. I just wish the owner would at least be a little bit forthcoming about what his plans are.

[Taelee73]

Well in a short while we'll find out more.
With the season nearly over, Johnson will be gone whatever and a statement will have to be made.
If we're in the South, then you'd hope for positive noises and again a one season real push to escape it.
If that failed, then some sort of deal may be done with the council to pay Osborne off and retain some form of a club. Would Plainmoor be sold, would he be given some land at a reduced rate? Would we become part time? Who knows.
If we stay in the National league, then a new manager, maybe the new guy as player/manager? Or again a one season last big effort push to escape, with a familiar name in charge.
I think next season will be the most important in our history.

[knightmaregull]

Not sure what point you're trying to make here.

If Clarke Osborne had put together meaningful plans of a new home for TUFC, I don't think anybody would have held him back. The problem has always been that he's spoken about the need for one but has never produced anything that suggests he actually intends to follow through. The laughable mockup that was shown on Devon Live is suggestive of a lack of seriousness, and given his track record, it's entirely reasonable that the Council would want to ensure there actually was something in the works before coming to the table regarding Plainmoor.

My sense is that he bought the club really cheaply given the financial issues it was in at the time, and then expected the local authorities to roll over before anybody realised what was happening. Fortunately, people cottoned on to the plan pretty quickly and the set things back.

I've said time and again that I have no issue wth GI (or anybody really) making some money out of the club if they're upfront with their intentions and do the things that are required to make it a vibrant part of the community and local economy. Sadly, that has never appeared to be part of the plan, since there has little to no engagement with the supporter base (believe we're still waiting for the Fans' Forum?) and radio silence from the owner except for yearly (ish) press releases on the club website about 'onwards and upwards'.

Of course - I don't know the owner, I'm merely an interested 'outside' observer without any 'sources'. And I don't doubt that long term, TUFC would be better served with a facility that allows us to generate outside of the 25-30 matchdays per year. I don't think Plainmoor is a space able to accomodate that, so that does mean finding somewhere else. It's very questionable that it's something that should be at the forefront of anybody's mind right now, given the parlous state of the team, of course. But if we were ever to find ourselves as a stable League 2 side, a new facility could probably enable us to take that next step. I just wish the owner would at least be a little bit forthcoming about what his plans are.

[brucie]

We have no chance of staying up

[SWgull]

We have no chance of staying up

Correct. We are a shambles both on and off the pitch.

[SuperNickyWroe]

This post is from 2018???

The council refused the plans for a new ground.

They have not identified any possible site with Torquay.

We know all this.

The land at Plainmoor is valueless for property or development.

We knew all this 5 years ago.

When we go bust Plainmoor will be turned into a council leisure centre for sports and recreation use.

Known for 5 years.

Blimey next you be saying we will stay up this season.

The merger with Truro F.C and ability to get the Cornish Pirates rugby here was dismissed when council refused any new ground.

We all know this.

1. The council wanted assurances from Osborne that he wouldnt give.
2. A site was identified.
3. Any site could be made for devleopment - including Plainmoor.
4. Truro and the Pirates had no intention of sharing a ground with TUFC,
Those are all facts that have been in the public domain that you - as usual - choose to ignore to continue to push your negative agenda.

[kevgull]

35 players used this season
-24 goal difference
GJ and his team should have walked in November

[Joshtufc]

I see that accounts for CO's companies are starting to be released and just came across this Riviera stadium limited company when having a browse. Interesting reading on the final page of their unaudited abridged (whatever that means) accounts that the amount now owed to this stadium company from the club sits at just above £3.5m quid. Difficult to decipher all of these differing figures considering CO has his fingers in many different companies but it will be interesting when accounts for this year come from the club what the financial health really looks like! To be seen if the what we think will happen and we are relegated to the NLS at the end of this season, if all of this stadium debacle goes away, of CO finally provides some clarity on what the heck is going on behind the scenes at our wonderful football club

Link here if anyone is interested.
https://find-and-update.company-informa ... ng-history

COYY

[standupsitdown]

Interesting that the debt has increased by only £190,000 from March 21 to March 22.
This is much lower than the average for the years Osborne has owned the club.