TUST_Member_Rob wrote:A harsh title for it maybe but I came away from the ground on Saturday thinking the current board dont deserve any of my money without telling me whats happening with it.
I'm not knocking the Player Fund idea, its a great system, however its current set up is woeful and lacks any transparency, accountability or ambition.
The new website could have been an opportunity to do this simple options such as
1 - Every month an updated pot showing total donations in and any expenditure from it and what it was spent on
2 - A live (updated maybe every other day) 'totalizer' that people could actually see their odd £10 going into
At the moment donations goes into a black hole or the clubs main account - mistake - and we arent notified of what it was spent on and from a chairman and board who aren't publicly saying a word its not good enough!
#lolz
This is the problem with football clubs, people with absolutely no appreciation of reality get involved and get to make stupid statements like this one. I see you're a TUST member, it's going to be good fun watching you try to run the place for about 15 minutes.
The new website was created by two fans with a little knowledge and some free time. They spent their time on the internet doing something positive for the club as best they could, rather than talking ***** on a forum. Still, just so long as you've joined the Trust.
If we have a pot of money available to buy players, do you think the clubs selling those players would A) offer the player to us at fair market value or B) offer that player to us for exactly the amount of money we have available to spend?
Equally, if us and another club are in for a player and we publish how much we have available to spend on that player, do you think they'll A) bid what they were going to anyway, because using that information to their advantage just wouldn't be cricket or B) take our figure and add in an extra 50p?
Similarly, imagine a player's agent negotiating the wages for his client who wants to move to us, would he A) ask for an amount which his client would accept and the commission from which will pay for a weekend in a caravan on Anglesey or B) ask for twice that amount, knowing that's how much we have in the kitty and the commission from which will allow him to take his tart to Spain for a fortnight?
You're the selling club and have sold us a player (for more than he's worth, because we published our financial wellbeing online to appease some ******* gimp on a forum) and have negotiated as part of the deal, that the transfer fee shall remain undisclosed. Torquay then publish the figure in a roundabout way by updating the information on their website. Do you A) forget all about it, it was only harmless and it shows just what a shrewd deal you secured or B) Sue.
You're the Chairman of Torquay United. Your days are typically 14-16 hours in the office with an hour's commute either end. You have a wife, two teenage children and a spaniel called Rex. Your BMW needs taking in for its MOT, the new washing machine is being delivered on Tuesday, you've got to take Rex to the vet on Wednesday and you're already scheduled to be in meetings all week. After all, you run a whole football club, you're a busy, busy man. Some **** on the internet is giving you grief because he wants to know EXACTLY how your business spends its money, information to which he has no actual right, but has assumed a moral right for reasons known only to himself and his God. Do you A) stay late in the office, missing dinner and pissing off the wife who you're sure is already sleeping with the postman all to write an itemised list of every single penny that has come into and gone out of the PF in the last month, including the £1.84 that you borrowed to buy a donut and coffee this morning or B) ignore the baiting and get on with your actual job of running a football club.
To answer some of the other burning questions in this thread, I visited, of all the obscure and bizarre corners of the internet, the official website of Torquay United. I know, right, I mean, who the hell would think to look there?
Amazingly, within seconds, I found the following information. WARNING - THIS INFORMATION MAY SHOCK!
So how will the ‘Players Fund’ work?
We are asking for donations from anyone that can afford to donate money on a regular monthly basis or even a one-off donation. This money will be earmarked to go towards the cost of a player, or players, weekly wage(s).
And even more shockingly:
The Board of Directors will assure you that all monies received through this scheme will be used purely to assist [the manager] in building his squad.
So there we have it, the answer to what we spend the money on is right there and has been since the day the programme was launched some 18 months ago. It's been spent on signing Bliss and Reidy's loan and GG's relocation costs and, one time, when their digs at Thea's farm ran out of bog roll, Sparkesy ran to the local Co-op and bought some more and claimed it back on expenses.
Feel better now? Going to double your contribution now? No, didn't think so.
Matt.