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Mellow Yellow wrote: I'll rephrase the question. How can the TUST run the club with 5,000 members, @ £2 a month.

Umm, because they will have other revenues, like people paying to watch matches and sponsors and stuff.

RoadGull wrote: Brian Palk is still serving on the board is he not?

Yep you could be right, just repeating what was suggested to me, Brian Palk's name may well have been forgotten.

Mellow Yellow wrote: I'll rephrase the question. How can the TUST run the club with 5,000 members, @ £2 a month.

With the right people not bad with that many members

RoadGull wrote: Brian Palk is still serving on the board is he not?

Am I missing something ? When do Bill Phillips become a board member?

if we did go bust and I mean "if", we will have to do a Wimbledon / Aldershot, so be it, that's life, that's where we will be. We either roll our sleeves up and treat it as a challenge and get on it with or go and support oh yes Exeter is the cool option it seems.

Well if that happens I will get more involved with TUST (already a member by the way) and do what I can to help. I would get a lot of satisfaction of helping TUFC climbing the leagues (which they would) because we do have people who would get involved. I would certainly NOT be terrified, concerned yes but in the end optimistic as you have to be in competitive sport. AFC Torquay?

Dave_Pougher wrote:
Am I missing something ? When do Bill Phillips become a board member?

He's been on the board for some time, believe he's currently acting as chairman to boot.

In that case I have missed something as I thought to be a board member you usually had to contribute something financially. I had not been informed that Bill Phillips had.

I see on forums from time to time that Bill Phillips 'works for nothing' so I understand that to mean that he undertakes a role at the Club which normally would be paid for; but I know nothing about what role that is, or the details of the directors...I was still 'in exile' when the 'current' consortium took over.

Mellow Yellow wrote: I'll rephrase the question. How can the TUST run the club with 5,000 members, @ £2 a month.

I suppose you simply don't spend more than you get in.
Perhaps a new board would have to set a budget based on average gates of 1200, something really conservative, maybe lower. That would be Hargreaves budget to build a team once all other income and costs are considered.

We have to face it, that the quality of our team is going to be poor next year.

But if TUST owned the club, one would hope supporters would forgive this. Fans of FC United didn't start watching their new club because they were expecting to watch part-time players stroke the ball around like Cantona or Beckham. But I don't suppose that mattered too much because it was THEIR club, the same as TUFC could be OURS.

I don't want the club to fold and become a phoenix club, therefore essentially a different club. Even if, the worst comes to the worst, and we have to function at Southern League level or Conference South, if we are TUST owned, there is really something to get behind and help to build. Other 'fan-owned' clubs have done it, so with a sizable support at this level, there is no reason why TUFC cannot as well.

There is no white knight coming in and therefore I cannot think of any reason why any supporter would not join TUST as it is possibly our only hope and in the long-term, it could be our best one.

It is correct that we must have at least £250,000 by June 3rd in order to satisfy the Conference board?
If so, are we likely to achieve this if we are only asking a TUST member to contribute £2 month.
Does anyone know what the approximate TUST balance sheet is to date?

We need to be debt free football club, season after season and I for one, don't intend to throw any more money down the drain until this structure is in place. If this means part time with no Acedemy and job losses, so be it. If it also means dropping down the leagues, so be it.

I will not be giving extra finacial support for now, as we have been living a Champagne life style when we only bring in Beer money!

Kevgull,
As far as I am aware, the bond of £ 250,00 is only required by the Conference IF they consider that the Club does not have a realistic business plan and resources to complete the season. Clearly, the way things are going, that could well be the case.
Even if TUST had this sort of money (which clearly they don't), I do not think that TUST could or should be expected to pay this as things stand.
The only exception would be if TUST owned and ran the Club as they see fit and on behalf of the supporters - and this is hardly likely to happen within the next two weeks!
What is clear is that the more members that TUST has and the more funds that TUST can raise with the Forever Yellow Fund, the more chance TUST will have in the future of any potential rescue that might be needed.
The deafening silence from Plainmoor is just not good enough! Surely the supporters deserve to have at least some information as to the current situation and what is expected to be achieved in the short term future?

Surely the current board have already worked on & finalised a business plan that will satisfy the Conference. I have no doubt that this will require savage cuts, if savings of thousands of pounds per week are to be acheived. What they have prepared can only be guessed at, but we will find out very soon.

wodger of awabia wrote:Surely the current board have already worked on & finalised a business plan that will satisfy the Conference. I have no doubt that this will require savage cuts, if savings of thousands of pounds per week are to be acheived. What they have prepared can only be guessed at, but we will find out very soon.

Maybe they intend to shop at Lidl for the boardroom bar stock in future!

I'm going to put my head above the parapet and probably get shot down. I have supported this club for 60+ years and over that time have ploughed in a small fortune as have other long-standing fans. I believe that we will be playing Conference football next season and I will probably be 'signing up' for TUST (I was a member of the original TUST) but I will not put another penny into Torquay United until we have some definite information about what is happening about the club ownership. Furrthermore, if we are not playing in the Conference next season (i.e. we are demoted to the Conference South) I will no longer be a supporter. I have become that disillusioned. The running of the club over the last three seasons (possibly longer than that) has been shambolic and that's no reflection on what Thea Bristow has done to keep TUFC afloat.

tomogull wrote:I'm going to put my head above the parapet and probably get shot down. I have supported this club for 60+ years and over that time have ploughed in a small fortune as have other long-standing fans. I believe that we will be playing Conference football next season and I will probably be 'signing up' for TUST (I was a member of the original TUST) but I will not put another penny into Torquay United until we have some definite information about what is happening about the club ownership. Furrthermore, if we are not playing in the Conference next season (i.e. we are demoted to the Conference South) I will no longer be a supporter. I have become that disillusioned. The running of the club over the last three seasons (possibly longer than that) has been shambolic and that's no reflection on what Thea Bristow has done to keep TUFC afloat.

The best way to stop us being in the Conference South next year is to join the trust now.

It only takes 5 minutes and need only cost you £2 per month.

You're already online now so why put it off?

http://torquaysupporters.co.uk/Join.aspx