Club Ownership

[Webber]

Not sure if the basic details of the TUST public meeting have yet been provided.

Wednesday 8 April at Torquay Museum 7pm to 9pm.

Open to all.

Includes the chance to hear about supporter/community ownership at other clubs - a representative from Supporters Direct will be present.

The way forward? We could be looking at total supporter/community ownership OR shared ownership as part of a partnership.

Have your say on the night!

[AustrianAndyGull]

Havn't joined the TUST - its a complete waste of time. The club is dying, lets face facts. We have still got a manager who would have been sacked if had been at any other club.
Bail out and do something else on a saturday (or if you want to watch pro football go to Exeter or Plymouth)
Sad but thats the reality of it I'm afraid.
And before anyone says it - I am not forking out seventy quid a game to watch Conference South football or lower - which is weher we will be in a couple of years.

Brucie, i don't know whether to laugh or cry with this.

The club is dying I agree. Fans are seemingly happy to let it die. At the very least you are putting forward your reason for not bothering with the tust but you are of the opinion that the club will eventually go under, as am I. Doing nothing will just see that the club accelerates the inevitability (imo) of it's closure so I cannot quite get my head around why a fan wouldn't want to do whatever they could to help rescue the club.

I knew that apathy and TUFC go hand in hand but I never thought it could ever be this tragic.

The situation with Thea was always going to come around at some point and to be honest it makes it even more of s backroom disaster when people knew this and yet still carried on as normal presumably until The as money ran out. We talk of CH's no plan B but the board can trump that hands down. Those that defend the board and cannot understand all the vitriol towards them will be doing the very same thing in a few years when there is no club or they at best case scenario are paying 20 quid to watch southern league football. Obviously you are entitled to your opinion and could be right that the board are going to ride in on white horses with some oil magnates and propel the club back into the football league. It could happen.

In the meantime while you are all waiting, how about joining the trust just in case those white horses turn out to be black sheep in some strange twist of zoological fate.

If not then you could regret it and the fate of TUFC will be fully deserved.

Brucie has given up and I too for my own reasons which I don't expect or need people to understand but if you give up too then it could be game over.

[gullintwoplaces]

Havn't joined the TUST - its a complete waste of time. The club is dying, lets face facts. We have still got a manager who would have been sacked if had been at any other club.
Bail out and do something else on a saturday (or if you want to watch pro football go to Exeter or Plymouth)
Sad but thats the reality of it I'm afraid.
And before anyone says it - I am not forking out seventy quid a game to watch Conference South football or lower - which is weher we will be in a couple of years.

For the attention of the moderators. Do we permit trolling by supporters of other clubs here? Exeweb, the forum of the club that this man supports, do not allow fans from other clubs to have a go at the Grecian Scum on their home forum. Nor should we.

[taxilady]

Havn't joined the TUST - its a complete waste of time. The club is dying, lets face facts. We have still got a manager who would have been sacked if had been at any other club.
Bail out and do something else on a saturday (or if you want to watch pro football go to Exeter or Plymouth)
Sad but thats the reality of it I'm afraid.
And before anyone says it - I am not forking out seventy quid a game to watch Conference South football or lower - which is weher we will be in a couple of years.

If anyone's interested in still supporting Torquay United, or even just proving Brucie wrong : best join the TUST ! £ 2 a month for a go at proving Brucie wrong ? BARGAIN !!!!!!!!!

[DevonYellow]

Think supporter presence on the board via the TUST would be a great thing for both parties.

I would be concerned with the TUST running/owning the club though. Sadly our fan base just isn't big enough and lacks the financial clout needed to sustain a football club. I fear a supporters owned model for our football club would be the next step towards part time football.

[hector]

Think supporter presence on the board via the TUST would be a great thing for both parties.

I would be concerned with the TUST running/owning the club though. Sadly our fan base just isn't big enough and lacks the financial clout needed to sustain a football club. I fear a supporters owned model for our football club would be the next step towards part time football.

There may not be an alternative - part-time football or closure? Take your pick.

A TUST-run TUFC will be more likely to prosper if those naysayers, coming up with every excuse under the sun why it won't work, actually joined. No it won't work if less than 200 join. But if a 1000, 2000 or more. Each new member is a step forward towards each achieving something more sustainable. Sit back to wait and see if it works, and nothing will happen and then it will be too late.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why any TUFC supporter, with their club on the precipice of disaster, would not join TUST, let alone chose to denigrate those trying to do something to avert said disaster.

A billionaire is not coming. Wake up. If it all goes wrong, I suppose those who tried can look back and think at least they tried, even if it is just paying £2 per month...or even an extra £5 for the lottery with a decent chance of winning a prize each month. Small gestures maybe, but better than sitting back like Brucie, predicting the end of the world and then being able to have the smug self-satisfaction of pointing out the blindingly obvious if it does all go wrong.

[gullintwoplaces]

Well said Hector. I agree with every word.

[DevonYellow]

Where did I say a billionaire was coming? Nobody thinks that.

Thea is offering the club for sale debt free. A club that needs no work doing to the ground and has been established in the football league in the past. It is an attractive proposition.

Obviously part-time football is better than no football, but in my opinion a better scenario would be an owner with TUST representation on the board.

For the record I do take part in the lottery. Trusts are great for generating extra income for clubs, helping the youth development, promoting the club to new fans - but I wouldn't want them running it.

[brucie]

gullinwotplaces - you are an idiot. The fact that I want to watch league football next season is up to me, whats that got to with trolling? - I would probably go and watch Plymouth if they were closer. Grecian scum? thats soooo boring, don't know where you live but seriously would you make a three and a half hour round trip every game to watch this garbage?
The thing that you and and quite a few others cannot seem to grasp is that Torquay United do not have a god given right to expect people to turn up and pay their money however crap the product is on offer.
If the product is better elsewhere ie in my case a shorter journey,better football,better players and a better manager, why on earth shouldn't I take that opportunity.
The TUST are not going to be in a position to finance the club, it isn't feasable.
It is sad but we will almost inevitably be relegated next season.
Uncle Bill Phillips as chairman, the tust, and Hargreaves as manager - enjoy it but its not for me thanks!

[BayGull]

My worry is - if the TUST were to obtain ownership .. how would they then pay all the bills with a membership of 2/3/4/500?

Thea has obviously been paying the majority of all the bills over the past few months/years with very little support from the other Directors, so once her cash-cow is withdrawn where will the money come from each month as the club does not generate enough income to sustain itself.

Also .. I wish people would stop referring to 'new investors' .. an investment is something that you put money into with the view to making a return on it - TUFC is a sponge that continually soaks up money .. the only return anyone will get is to be able to say that they own part of a football club.

[Scott Brehaut]

Andy, put your hand in your pocket, pull out a few grand you've got in there and give it to the club.
Donate 80% of your earnings to running the club, living off the 20% - you're rich after all....

[gullintwoplaces]

gullinwotplaces - you are an idiot. The fact that I want to watch league football next season is up to me, whats that got to with trolling? - I would probably go and watch Plymouth if they were closer. Grecian scum? thats soooo boring, don't know where you live but seriously would you make a three and a half hour round trip every game to watch this garbage?
The thing that you and and quite a few others cannot seem to grasp is that Torquay United do not have a god given right to expect people to turn up and pay their money however crap the product is on offer.
If the product is better elsewhere ie in my case a shorter journey,better football,better players and a better manager, why on earth shouldn't I take that opportunity.
The TUST are not going to be in a position to finance the club, it isn't feasable.
It is sad but we will almost inevitably be relegated next season.
Uncle Bill Phillips as chairman, the tust, and Hargreaves as manager - enjoy it but its not for me thanks!

It's not for you, that is your right. But please stop your smug trolling. Things are bad enough watching Torquay as it is without you calling in ever day to say how you are going to watch Exeter from now on, how you bet on Torquay losing and made enough for your season ticket at Sid James Park. Go, for Christ's sake, go to Exeter. Just stop being such a clever clever smug self righteous bore on here. You support Exeter now, fIne, post your bile on Exeweb. For me and many others, we can't switch off our loyalty like you.

[nickbrod]

What news of yesterday's heralded Board meeting that was supposed to be, potentially, the most important in the club's recent history?
Until the club communicates with us it's impossible to know how to go forwards. If, though, you are a true TUFC supporter then join TUST. If you can afford a season ticket/match admittance you can afford £2 a month for TUST membership.
We can't afford to do nothing and let OUR club disappear.

[houndtorgull]

Kelvin Thomas interview and update now available on youtube:



No news yet but discussions ongoing with five groups.

[username2]

My worry is - if the TUST were to obtain ownership .. how would they then pay all the bills with a membership of 2/3/4/500?

Jayzuz HC, how dumb do you have to be?! Why don't you understand how Community Ownership works, BayGull? It doesn't mean the trust members chucking fivers into a bucket every week until their bank stops their overdraft. You have read the SD pages, haven't you? Oh, that's the problem - not enough brain cells to understand the concept.

Did you read this at the end of the WMN article: "“It would be awful if we’re sitting here in nine months’ time and the club has gone into administration and we as a community haven’t made any attempt."

Give me strength. Our club needs supporters now, not fans sticking their heads in the sand.