TUST Updates

[TUST_Official]

TALK TO US! - PROTEST

The decision of the recent Fans Forum was to hold a legal, peaceful protest objecting to the complete lack of meaningful communication from the club owner about his plans for the future.

The Forum was open to all supporters and many attendees were not TUST members. The proposal to protest was a fans’ decision which TUST has agreed to fully support. We have made it absolutely clear that any protest must not breach the ground regulations or other laws or cause concern or distress to any other supporter. To do so would undermine the whole purpose of the action.

All fans are encouraged to stay in their position for 15 minutes at the end of the game on 2nd December against Tonbridge Angels. A chant of ‘Talk to us’ should be aimed at the directors’ box to get the message across.

In this way the protest and its purpose will be picked up by the media.

Supporters demand a club-led Fans Forum with Directors present to address our concerns and tell us about their plans for the future of OUR club.

[TUST_Official]

TUST REACTION TO TODAY’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Whilst TUST welcomes the interview with the football club’s owner Clarke Osborne, having waited
so long for this communication, it is disappointed that questions fans would like answers to were
not asked.

At the same time the club has bowed to increasing pressure by announcing an online fans’ forum.

Although this may be seen as a step forward TUST asks why this cannot be a face to face
meeting.

TUST acknowledges that whilst these may be seen as positive developments they do not meet
the criteria as set out at the recent Fans’ Forum.

As things stand Saturday’s sit-in protest goes ahead as planned

[WestLondonYellow]

I've taken this quote from Michel Thomas and to be honest I'm pretty stunned at the lack of foresight.

Most who know me will know that I've never been a fan of trusts or trust ownership but like others I've come to realise that our only way out of this whole mess with Clarke Osborne is for the fans to unite and work towards some kind of fan ownership. To this end I was hoping to see someone today and offer what little help I can and join the trust with a financial commitment too. I was absolutely astounded by this reply from Mr Thomas as I feel any chance to meet fans face to face and enlighten them as to the seriousness of our situation is an opportunity not to be missed.


The best and easiest way to get in touch, for us and for you, is to go to our dedicated website and send an email.Just to remind you, it is clearly indicated
below the recent TUST statement. We will then try to answer you as soon as we can.We are not looking to recruit members whilst at Plainmoor. However, if you know us, we are happy to have a chat. If you don't, just contact us beforehand.We are working at being more visible, and felt on this occasion we would make our statement available to all supporters. Normally, we would obviously post through our monthly newsletters and bulletins to our members.Personally, I am hoping that we can all establish some unity in our concern for some clarity,then to work towards a sustainable future for our beloved club.

I appreciate that the people running TUST are giving up their time for free, genuinely I do, but I find this attitude simply staggering and there isn't a cat in hells chance of the fans working towards the end goal of acquiring the club from the dirty mits of Osborne while this attitude prevails. Sending a monthly newsletter to members isn't going to achieve anything. Leaflets handed out to fans explaining the severity of the situation is one step and so is engaging people through social media. Too many fans are still oblivious to the real situation and while the trust take this attitude it'll stay that way.

Agreed 100%, i'll add, TUST should cease all communication with the people running the club and return the offer of their meaningless communication with the contempt it deserves.

TUST need to invest time and energy in recruiting more members to the cause and uniting the fan base. Make clear intention/mission statement regarding the removal of Osborne, Edwarda and the Johnson’s from the club and a fan owned and run club.
A peaceful sit in today will achieve nothing much at all, instead, draw a line in the sand between the fans and the current regime, hit them where it will hurt and at the same time increase the strength and position of TUST by boycotting games and asking those boycotting, who haven’t already paid for a season ticket, to donate the money to the TUST pot.

This is the way to get out club back. There is no worthwhile communication to be had with these people and playing along with their empty gesture only allows them to continue with whatever scam they are in the process of pulling off, whilst appeasing an already far to nice TUST membership.
We need to get some bite and venom in our approach because without meaning to belittle the real thing, this is already a war we are in if we really want to save the club in the long term.

Fight back now.

[culmstockgull]

I have re read the 37 pages on this topic and wonder who this guru that southampton gull, michael thomas refers to in his posting, is he some sage that I have not heard about, as for the comments of WestLondonYellow, where to start, calling for mayhem and full insurrection at the club is the last thing we need,boycotts, come on, what century are you living in, you do not understand what being a supporter means, you cannot attend one match and boycott the next becuase someone tells you it will have some effect, for most visiting plainmoor and supporting the club is their lifelong obsesion and weeky go too outing.
I believed when the TUST was born, it was going to be a positive bridge between club and fans and one I initially bought into,part of a movement for the betterment of torquay united,a catalyst to resolve issues that few believed existed back when Osborne saved the club from oblivion. were the TUST that insightful and foresaw issues that no one else could see. or was their birth a direct result of the postings of others who believed on previous dealings that Osborne was and still is the devil incarnate. No, they were created primarily as a social movement for fans ownership as a matter of principle regardless of how good or bad any football club owner was.
Moving forward to a hypothetical but quite believeable situation in May 2024, the verbal abuse of the owner has continued and some of our more hot headed so called supporters have taken it to the next level and he decides with ample justification to pull the plug there and then, has the TUST or anyone else for that matter got a plan in place for that eventuality, we have tried and failed big time with having owners with the best intentions but only a fiver between them.We will be short of a ground, manager and players even a strip to play in and undoubtedly no access to the lowest divion of local football, before anyone holds the belief that the council or the FA will permit us to carry on as is, firstly the 15K plus annual rent on the ground and the 60K plus deposit to the league as a guarantee of fulfilling our seasons fixtures is already in excess of any monies the TUST holds
Continue as we are with the negative infighting and will end in only one way, torquay united will cease to exist.We do not even own the name.

[WestLondonYellow]

Culmstock, you raise points of objection, some of which i have suggested how to resolve, specifically, how TUST can raise more funding. You seem to offer only criticism and no suggestion for solution other than to cross our fingers and continue doing nothing.

I wrestled with bothering to respond because unfortunately it seems that your response and mindset is very typical of the majority, a very naive, meek and unambitious outlook on the situation. This mindset is precisely what Osborne is counting on and it will result in the utter downfall of the club eventually, the very thing you fear would happen now if we actually took solid action, will happen in the near future anyway. But if you think people couldn't stand to miss a game now in order to work towards saving the long term future of the club, and they should do nothing except continue to attend, hope for good things but get nothing and then in time very likely have no club and no games to go to at all and no plan in place or funds to do anything about it because when we had the opportunity to do something (now) we all couldn't agree and wanted to live in hope that a man who has previous form for destroying sports clubs, wouldn't do the same to TUFC.

Everyone points to Osborne keeping the club afloat to the tune of £1m per year, has anyone seen the accounts to prove this is the case?

[culmstockgull]

I am not being negative if in my opinion I spell out realism, I am not in any way saying that I have the golden solution to our issues but I do know it wil not help the situation by abstaining plainmoor, with one family member my weekly outlay with tickets, food ,programme and a beer is close to 70 pounds,if we all as you suggest boycott the loss in revenue will cost people the jobs, not the manager or the players who get paid regardless of their performance but the backroom and others on miimum wage. continuing to attend and hoping for good or better things is the very defintion of a supporter and and as you say the najority of us mindless supporters do not subscribe to your philospphy.
Can we be run better, yes indeed, but the TUST is not the answer, if for example every hard core supporter say maybe 2000 of us joined the TUST and each paid 10 pound per month that is a million a year or exactly what we believe osborne admittedly by his own admission is forking out,so no better off, you cannot ask supporters to fund more on a regular basis, we are not a affluent area, if you manage to get a 1000 of those supporters to sign up it iwould be a miracle and those figures would drop through the floor if we were not anymore successfull under community ownership ,having a few more directors that actually invest money into the club would be a helpful start.

[portugull]

culmstockgull clearly simple arithmetic is not your subject.

£10 per month times 2,000 equals £20,000. Multiply by 12 months is £240,000 per annum. It is not sadly £1 million a year.

Your target of £1 million a year needs 2,000 of us paying £41.67 a month.

Did you use a calculator?

[nickbrod]

Hi culmstockgull, I'm not sure where you get your impression about TUST but as the TUST chairman I can tell you that we have no desire to take over or run the club for, as you suggest, where would we get the money to do so?
Our role is to ensure there is a club to support for future generations. For your information our membership has gone from 380 in April, round about the time of relegation to National South, to the current number of three short of 500. Fans who understand what is going on have increased our membership and as in everything in life, there's strength in numbers. You are welcome to become our 500th member.

[Dave]

Moving forward to a hypothetical but quite believeable situation in May 2024, the verbal abuse of the owner has continued and some of our more hot headed so called supporters have taken it to the next level and he decides with ample justification to pull the plug there and then, has the TUST or anyone else for that matter got a plan in place for that eventuality, we have tried and failed big time with having owners with the best intentions but only a fiver between them.We will be short of a ground, manager and players even a strip to play in and undoubtedly no access to the lowest divion of local football, before anyone holds the belief that the council or the FA will permit us to carry on as is, firstly the 15K plus annual rent on the ground and the 60K plus deposit to the league as a guarantee of fulfilling our seasons fixtures is already in excess of any monies the TUST holds
Continue as we are with the negative infighting and will end in only one way, torquay united will cease to exist.We do not even own the name.

With respect, and in my opinion only I believe you're looking at the situation at TUFC currently, in completely the wrong fashion. For a start Clarke Osbourne is not and never has been the type of person to shy away from a business deal because of either abuse or ill feeling, he's proved time and time again, saying there's ' no room for emotion in football' after leaving his own boyhood club homeless, and has faced countless amounts of abuse and vitriol regards his involvement with various speedway clubs.

He will only ever pull the plug on TUFC if he doesn't get land he wants, and he made an inference to this in his recent interview ' Yes us TUFC fans may well be called upon to save our own club' And it could at a guess be sooner than we think, and I mean guess.

I've had it said to me face to face and via the internet , where would us TUFC fans get the £1 million a year to run the club, this is where I think so many TUFC fans are guilty of backward thinking, we wouldn't need to raise £1 million, if Clarke Osbourne withdrew funding, TUFC would go bust and cease to exist, TUST/fans/community would then be faced with starting again, a phoenix FC Torquay, this in the first instance wouldn't need £1 million a year to be a successful project, also wouldn't need to own the name TUFC , wouldn't be able to use it if we did.

Yes FC Torquay would have to start from the SW Peninsula league, maybe Western League etc , look at the set up at Buckland on 200 gates and how far some of their players travel to play for them , not sure the of prices but it's lower than our admission fees.

Newport, AFC Wimbledon, Aldershot, FC Halifax, Maidstone, Boston to name a few phoenix clubs, who are at NLS/NLN up to the EFL shows it can be done.

A share issue amongst fans isn't the only way of raising money, sponsorship, whilst I'm no expert on this this, sure there will be other means including grants etc, I've said a few times costs can be kept to a minimum on running the ground also, through volunteering.

I'd put my money right where my mouth is, said it before would put in an initial £500 if a phoenix club is required, know others that would also.

Also think with fan/community ownership, which I agree is now the only way out of this shitshow, interest and attendances would go up, after all we'd own it.

[samuel]

This is all unnecessary, the TUST are the supporters representatives, speak to them. My step dad and mum were on the Paignton branch of Torquay United supporters club, we held fund raising functions for them and had a float in the carnival processions around the Bay. Any queries concerning the club was done through the supporters clubs. Money raised went to the club.

The club do not like the TUST and I think they regard them as 5th columnists. This stems from the TUST being instrumental in putting Plainmoor under 'an asset of community value'. I think the relationship went downhill from there. Whilst it does complicated planning matters slightly, it is not something which cannot be overridden provided it is transferred somewhere else as long as that need exists.

The rhetoric from the club seems to suggest it is the TUST that are being disrespectful, rude, whipping up illegal protest, probably responsible for the haranguing the board members get etc. I can't think of one instance when a TUST member, let alone a TUST board member has behaved in such a manner. Of course I do not know all the 500 members but as regard the TUST board, they are decent people, genuinely interested in doing their best for the club. I would have no problem at all engaging with them. OK, they may not operate to everyones liking, no organisation can, but I think they are doing a good job with a non-communicative club who seem to lay the blame at their door when said club are put on the spot to explain what is going on.

The boundaries of the club statement on TUST could be an extract from Chinese Communist Party rule book on conduct at their National Congress. Any supporter, whether a member of the TUST or not could air their views through TUST who can liaise with the club. That is the only structure that is needed.

I wish all this nonsense was out of the way. This new structure is plain daft, all these specialisms can be dealt with in the TUST. I can just imagine the on-line forum being hit with abuse by the fans prone to trolling or abusive behaviour (there are a few as at all clubs) or a plant does the same and the club making a big issue out of it. Lets see how it works out.

It's all about the communication for me and the side lining of an organisation that is truly representative of the fans. It is easily rectified (very easily) and I just wish it would all go away and I wouldn't have these niggles to think about or comment upon. Come on Torquay United, the TUST aren't your bete noire, they are an asset which you can call upon to help the club. It makes no sense to treat them like Pariahs.

[MellowYellow]

...also wouldn't need to own the name TUFC , wouldn't be able to use it if we did.

I could live with the name Torbay Riviera FC

[Southampton Gull]

The post of mine quoted above was almost 6 years ago and under new stewardship I'm sure TUST are more concerned now than they were back then.

I was of the opinion back then that we would end up with a Phoenix club and nothing since has changed my mind. Once Osborne has seen his plan reach fruition I'm certain we'll be no different to Reading Speedway or Swindon Speedway and a lot worse than Bristol Rovers. At least now we've had long enough to see the tactics employed by our illustrious owner, he really couldn't give a toss about the fans of TUFC or indeed the club itself. Quite why anyone would view him as some kind of saviour is beyond me and in Culmstocks short sighted view it's bewildering to the extreme.

This thread illustrates why I don't villify the manager, I save those sentiments for CO.

[culmstockgull]

Portogull, thank you for correcting my appalling maths, substuited weeks for months. I blame Audley park secondary for this failing.

[Southampton Gull]

Portogull, thank you for correcting my appalling maths, substuited weeks for months. I blame Audley park secondary for this failing.

Looks like the English department was also lacking

[SuperNickyWroe]

Looks like the English department was also lacking