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I assumed Dave was getting at the fact that Layla isn't bad looking from that photo but I may be wrong.

I had feared we would be seeking administration by now so GI to me is the better of the two principal scenarios. The Chinese alternative lacks credibility in my book and I can see why the Board may have seen GI as the only way to go.

Time will tell so the only rational response is to continue to give the Club maximum support and hope that Nicho can pull off another escape (because like it or not we are heading for another relegation scrap).

I think the whole Chinese thing was a hoax. The website appears amateurish, I suspect the two people who appear on it had their photo and profile cut and pasted from LinkIn.
The standard of English used is similar to that used by Colin Auters when posting on TFF.
I strongly suspect this was an attempt to discredit the TUFC board possibly orchestrated by person or persons formally linked to Torquay Fans Ltd.

Important clues as to the “Chinese investors” many lie in a website called, enticingly enough, China Investors: https://thechinainvestors.com/

This appears to be some sort of online hitch-up place for “investees” wishing to meet “investors”. Whether it is the real deal or a platform for wannabes isn’t immediately apparent.

Here is Sourish Mukherjee, partner of Layla Jenkins, presenting himself as an investee:

https://thechinainvestors.com/member/3931/

Here is a National Championship football Club for sale in England:

https://thechinainvestors.com/project/1 ... n-england/

This opportunity is a project tagged by Kennedy Chukwuodii, a sports agent based in the Czech Republic:

https://thechinainvestors.com/member/3514/

The National Championship football club is part of a wider sports “portfolio”. You can see Sourish Mukherjee, a keen cricketer in Wiltshire, has put his name to a “partnership” with Middlesex County Cricket Club:

https://thechinainvestors.com/category/sports-industry/

Layla Jenkins is a director of the Smash Cricket Company also based in Wiltshire:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... 8/officers

We may care to ask who is the author of the letter to the Herald Express. Layla or Sourish?

The “Truro connection” has already been queried. Just look at that address again:

Apt 5039
Chynoweth House
Trevissome Park
Truro
TR4 8UN

Telephone:+44 1249 325039

Nowhere in Truro is large enough to have an apartment 5039. Search online and you’ll see this address is a small business park – just a couple of sheds – next to the A30 at Chiverton Cross. It’s a mail forwarding centre. Hundreds of other business are “based” there; many with implausibly high apartment or suite numbers. The telephone number is Wiltshire.

Maybe Sourish and Layla have not been alone in attempting to facilitate the sale of Torquay United. Google “business consultant Torquay United” and you’ll discover a Linkedin profile for Lawrence Appleby of Newcastle upon Tyne, ‎Business Consultant at Torquay United Football Club.

Lawrence Appleby has many connections with clubs in the north east of England including Bedlington Terriers, Durham City and Morpeth Town.

Lawrence is on Twitter where he describes himself as “Consultant at Torquay United FC, CEO of a sports management company, working with players and clubs, selling clubs, also sending teams abroad”.

Lawrence is over-inclined to re-tweet but persevere and you’ll find attempts, dating back to September, to sell commercial opportunities and attract investment to an often-unnamed football club (which you may presume to be Torquay United?). His entry of 18 December suggests he is now on the lookout for another club:

https://x.com/lawrenceappleby?lang=en

What a mess.

Agree though Layla looks good to me.

That website could be done by any kid in about mmmmmm 5 minutes.

Are there really all these people trying to make a buck out of mmmm anything. The world is full of scams, lies, dodgy deals and whatever. I wouldn't trust any f8cker!

Ive read that website, its a complete comedy, very funny, have a read, it made me laugh and im bloody off sick with Flu

Dawlish Warren wrote:Important clues as to the “Chinese investors” many lie in a website called, enticingly enough, China Investors: https://thechinainvestors.com/

This appears to be some sort of online hitch-up place for “investees” wishing to meet “investors”. Whether it is the real deal or a platform for wannabes isn’t immediately apparent.

Here is Sourish Mukherjee, partner of Layla Jenkins, presenting himself as an investee:

https://thechinainvestors.com/member/3931/

Here is a National Championship football Club for sale in England:

https://thechinainvestors.com/project/1 ... n-england/

This opportunity is a project tagged by Kennedy Chukwuodii, a sports agent based in the Czech Republic:

https://thechinainvestors.com/member/3514/

The National Championship football club is part of a wider sports “portfolio”. You can see Sourish Mukherjee, a keen cricketer in Wiltshire, has put his name to a “partnership” with Middlesex County Cricket Club:

https://thechinainvestors.com/category/sports-industry/

Layla Jenkins is a director of the Smash Cricket Company also based in Wiltshire:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... 8/officers

We may care to ask who is the author of the letter to the Herald Express. Layla or Sourish?

The “Truro connection” has already been queried. Just look at that address again:

Apt 5039
Chynoweth House
Trevissome Park
Truro
TR4 8UN

Telephone:+44 1249 325039

Nowhere in Truro is large enough to have an apartment 5039. Search online and you’ll see this address is a small business park – just a couple of sheds – next to the A30 at Chiverton Cross. It’s a mail forwarding centre. Hundreds of other business are “based” there; many with implausibly high apartment or suite numbers. The telephone number is Wiltshire.

Maybe Sourish and Layla have not been alone in attempting to facilitate the sale of Torquay United. Google “business consultant Torquay United” and you’ll discover a Linkedin profile for Lawrence Appleby of Newcastle upon Tyne, ‎Business Consultant at Torquay United Football Club.

Lawrence Appleby has many connections with clubs in the north east of England including Bedlington Terriers, Durham City and Morpeth Town.

Lawrence is on Twitter where he describes himself as “Consultant at Torquay United FC, CEO of a sports management company, working with players and clubs, selling clubs, also sending teams abroad”.

Lawrence is over-inclined to re-tweet but persevere and you’ll find attempts, dating back to September, to sell commercial opportunities and attract investment to an often-unnamed football club (which you may presume to be Torquay United?). His entry of 18 December suggests he is now on the lookout for another club:

https://x.com/lawrenceappleby?lang=en

Amazing work, Dawlish. What conclusions would you make from this, relating to the article TUST released? Hoax or not?

Difficult to say, Hector.

There are plenty of chancers, dreamers and wannabes out there drawn to football like moths to a flame. This clearly impinges upon the process of selling a football club. Whatever you may say or feel about what has happened at Plainmoor, you can be sure many hours have been wasted on dealing with spurious bids for the club.

We all have our own interests and diversions. Some of us spend time on sites such as this; others are trawling “investment communities” like China Investor. Sourish and Layla may come into this category. Sourish Mukherjee appears to have been reasonably successful at work, perhaps he feels he can “cut it” on the wider stage? I believe this is to a more likely explanation than any link to Colin Authers.

Lawrence Appleby has the makings of an individual who is desperate to be a football “insider”; a punter who wishes to be seen as “a football man”. Perhaps I’m doing him a disservice but you have to ask how his association with Torquay United came about and to what extent it was endorsed by the club.

These people may be keen to leave markers for future projects and assignments. The letter published by TUST was, as we know, intended for the Herald Express (“esteemed” or otherwise). Executed professionally that could have left an online footprint telling all that “SL were in for Torquay United”. Instead it was a botched job and didn’t get past the newspaper’s gatekeeper. TUST’s release of the letter has at least given us an insight into a rather murky, shady and occasionally desperate side of football.

The “American bid” – or was it Australian? (or even smoke-screened as Canadian?) – was probably similar in the way Zenith Sports and Event Management publicised their retrospective interest. They put a statement on Facebook and – in their case – it was picked up by the Herald Express.

Zenith was an interesting one in itself. The name quoted was Jeff Johnston of Indianapolis. He was Zenith’s man in North America in the same way as the company had a representative in each continent. I’d check the details on the company website were it not unavailable at present. The Herald Express described him as “former American professional Jeff Johnston”. All I could find was this:

http://jjohnston000.en.ec21.com/company_info.html

As opposed to being an Indiana company Zenith is actually a sports agency based in Sydney run by a long-time agent called Chris Tanner. There are various online articles and videos which will tell you more about Chris Tanner and Zenith. None really tells you how successful an operator he has been. Nor is there much evidence of him representing leading Australian players. Why he should team up with his man in Indianapolis to make a bid for Torquay United is anybody’s guess.

Yes, well done Dawlish Warren,

On another site as a (retired) accountant I slightly light heartedly posted that 'Layla' had mistakenly stated that the club had a debtor rather than a creditor 'who was calling the shots'.

One has to assume that such a letter would have been drafted and redrafted before being sent so on reflection, and in the knowledge that her partner is supposed to be an accountant, the plot thickens.

It made me laugh as well Neal especially that bit about the owners of TUFC "the Club is owned by 5 pensioners".

Lawrence Appleby has been posting on here but I wouldn't read too much into this particular "Chinese" bid, it's a very good smokescreen

The Herald Express Procast is worth a listen.

Now lets get behind the team and help move this fantastic club forward.

Well done Dawlish Warren. You should get a job on the Herald. Oops, hang on a minute, they don't do investigative journalism do they.

For all the flack aimed at Dave Phillips and co (including from me) you have to give them credit for dodging that one.

Do tell us a tad more Southampton. You can't leave the plot there. The final pages and the revelation of the murderer is missing.

Smokescreen wise - Registered in Truro and lives in Swindon??