Torquay United Fans Forum

[quote="Neal"] The continual slagging off of the current directors who are the ONLY ones as far as I can see who actually are trying to do something pisses me off. I don't know how many of you are in business, but making decisions at a managerial level isn't easy!! VERY easy to criticise that's for sure, and plenty do that on here![/quote]

And that is precisely the crux of the matter. Making decisions at a managerial level isn't easy ! I know absolutely nothing about what goes on at Board level but Messrs Phillips and Baker have been at the heart of the Board during the past three disastrous seasons at least. For whatever reasons, during that time we've lost four very able directors - Alex Rowe, Ian Hayman the the two Boyces. You can be pissed off but I fear that if that duo continue with no input of new blood with business acumen, the downward spiral will continue. That's not whingeing - it's facing the brutal truth. Neal, I sincerely hope at the end of next season you will be able to tell me I was sooooo wrong. Thea has ensured that at least we will be in the Conference/National League for 2015/16 but another week has gone by and there's still no news about the future ownership of the club other than the current Board members.

[quote="Neal"]I should have said the ONLY ones and TUST of course

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There are times when its no point obviously, some business just come to the end of their life span. But, TUFC is not a lost cause by no means, might not be a league club for a while but "Football is a funny game" :)

I see it at work, in the pub, on this forum, people moaning and whinging all the bloody time, AND these are usually the people sat on their arses doing nothing, that's what pisses me off. No hopers, losers, cant see anything good in anything, gee got me going now :)

I agree totally with that last paragraph ChunkyGull so not sure why you started with I don't agree as that's been my mantra for a long time.

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Just like to add I am def NOT IN THE KNOW, and dont really care about any status that some people think it has.[/quote]


There was nothing in your post I didnt agree with, as you say the area gets the club it deserves for the time, effort, support and backing it gets from the people, but unfortunately we live in an area that is financially poor and is not fanatical and passionate about its team, unless we get a big cup tie or a wembley its the same old story. Surely there is more the club to do to change this and encourage prople to come and watch. £21 a ticket for non league football wont do this though. I have read and heard stories, one in particular of people offering help, expertise and services for free to the club which would have greatly benefitted, the services went elsewhere and worked well, the pig headed arrogance and short sightedness of a few inside the club turned away or ignored this help and look where we are at.

I should have said the ONLY ones and TUST of course

[size=85][color=green]Added in 5 minutes 53 seconds:[/color][/size]
There are times when its no point obviously, some business just come to the end of their life span. But, TUFC is not a lost cause by no means, might not be a league club for a while but "Football is a funny game" :)

I see it at work, in the pub, on this forum, people moaning and whinging all the bloody time, AND these are usually the people sat on their arses doing nothing, that's what pisses me off. No hopers, losers, cant see anything good in anything, gee got me going now :)

I agree totally with that last paragraph ChunkyGull so not sure why you started with I don't agree as that's been my mantra for a long time.

[size=85][color=green]Added in 2 minutes 53 seconds:[/color][/size]
Just like to add I am def NOT IN THE KNOW, and dont really care about any status that some people think it has.

[quote="Neal"]

[b]Good point, if we "the so called fans who only have the best interests of the club at heart" cant organise ourselves to take some responsibility and control then that just about sums it up. The bay doesn't deserve a professional football club if that's the case[/b]. Waiting, even expecting a white in shining armour to just turn up, empty his pockets and do everything "we want" is naïve and shameful. In this life, if you want to get on, be successful you have to get off yer butt and bloody do something, I have several times pulled myself from the floor I can tell you. AND now is the time for US fans to take some responsibility and get up off yer butt. First thing is to join TUST and support it in any way you can.

The continual slagging off of the current directors who are the ONLY ones as far as I can see who actually are trying to do something pisses me off. I don't know how many of you are in business, but making decisions at a managerial level isn't easy!! VERY easy to criticise that's for sure, and plenty do that on here![/quote]

Doesnt deserve a football club is one way of looking at it, but it is more a case of Torbay not really giving a shit about a football club or some not even wanting one. You have to remember it is only a small percentage that is bothered so you will get no thought, care, help or support from all the rest. We are an eclectic mix of people from all over the country, there isnt a great majority who have emotional ties to the area so they dont give a toss.

As for getting off your ass and doing something, well sometimes you just have to realise when the task is too mountainous and you are just pissing against the wind.

The problem with our directors is there are a lot of people who feel they are "in the know" and obviously there are things that have gone on that are not popular. We are pissing money away somewhere so the housekeeping and organisation are poor, that is the job of the TUFC board to keep the club in order and afloat, they chose to be the custodians and with that comes responsibility and accountability.

I dont agree that benefactors or directors should be putting their hand in their own pocket all the time, all clubs should be self sustainable, if they cant afford it they shouldnt spend it. All the clubs should live within their means and eventually the obscenity of players wages will have to realign with reality. Fans at a lot of clubs expect the board etc to constantly stump up funds from their own money but why should they. Look at Newcastle, the most whiney, deluded fans in the country, they bemoan their owner constantly, he ploughed hundreds of millions in at first then said enough, he has tried to make the club self sustainable and they turned an £18 million profit last year and the fans are up in arms that money hasnt been spent, in premiership terms 18 mil is peanuts, you would barely get an average player, it is not gonna change Newcastles fortunes, but its all the owners fault coz he wont spend any money (who's money would it be), if he wanted to take that 18 mil as a return on what he has put in then quite rightly he could but he hasnt, so what is it they are asking.

[quote="Southampton Gull"]


That's a fair assessment as is the one by Hector.

I for one wasn't mocking how Exeter go about things, as much as I dislike the Club as rivals I do have a lot of friends who support them. Because of that I'm well aware of the work the Trust there undertake. I have a dislike of bodies like a Trust or a union for my own reasons, but I do respect the choice of others to disagree with my views. If it got to a situation where I felt joining TUST was the only way to help save my club then I'd be happy to join and also pay the money they would have gained if I'd joined earlier. For now though I prefer to wait and see how things transpire.[/quote]

Good point, if we "the so called fans who only have the best interests of the club at heart" cant organise ourselves to take some responsibility and control then that just about sums it up. The bay doesn't deserve a professional football club if that's the case. Waiting, even expecting a white in shining armour to just turn up, empty his pockets and do everything "we want" is naïve and shameful. In this life, if you want to get on, be successful you have to get off yer butt and bloody do something, I have several times pulled myself from the floor I can tell you. AND now is the time for US fans to take some responsibility and get up off yer butt. First thing is to join TUST and support it in any way you can.

The continual slagging off of the current directors who are the ONLY ones as far as I can see who actually are trying to do something pisses me off. I don't know how many of you are in business, but making decisions at a managerial level isn't easy!! VERY easy to criticise that's for sure, and plenty do that on here!

I really, really don't want to sound negative on here but, quite honestly, what is happening at Plainmoor right now does not give any cause for optimism. So we now have tweedledum and tweedledee in charge. I'm sure they are ardent fans who truly believe they can run a football club but the last two seasons, going back to the amateurish way Martin Ling was dismissed, has shown they don't know. Who will be chairman? Simon Baker ducked out and left Thea in the lurch so that leaves ..... Bill Phillips who has never exactly been a fans favourite. As Soton Gull says, there has never been anything that gives us confidence they can do the job.

Middevon and chunkygull have posted on another thread about the feeling of apathy at Plainmoor over the last couple of seasons. They are right. In over 50 years of supporting the club, this is just about the lowest ebb it has ever been. Do you remember Woolworths? Nothing ever changed and the company slowly went down and down until oblivion. That's like the feeling when I go to matches now. I remember the words of an old mate who hadn't been to Plainmoor for several seasons but was persuaded to go to the FC United of Manchester match. He said it was the worst Torquay side he had ever seen and was shocked how far the standard of football had fallen in half a dozen seasons. He hasn't been back. As Forever says, we may struggle on through next season but the club needs a fresh injection of, I don't know, business acumen or something to stir things up and give the fans hope that they can put together a team that can be promotion challengers. But I fear it's going to take a long, long time, if ever.

Agree with the above, however I don't know, but am pretty sure the remaining board are talking to parties, hopefully they'll make the right decision for the club going forward, that remains to be seen. Also I will suggest that the remaining board would much rather have maintained the status quo and continued to run the club whilst having the ability to tap into Thea's wealth a route now closed, this notion that they some how planned against her in order to force her out and take 80% of Thea's shareholding for the total of one whole English pound is a fanciful one.

Does anyone actually believe that Thea was ever in control? I raised concerns last season and I'm glad she's cut her losses. After the way her late husband and subsequently Thea herself have bankrolled the club it had to end sooner rather than later for the sake of decency if nothing else. I think she's made a mistake handing it all on a plate to the remaining directors. I think harder times lie ahead as they've done nothing previously to garner any faith that they know what they're doing.

No matter what we think and feel about the remaining directors, how they've gone about their business as directors and mistakes they may have made, it's entirely unfair to suggest they wanted to take control from Thea, it's unfair to suggest they're not prepared to talk to other parties, or suggest they're not already talking to other parties, it's highly likely they are, although I have no idea who.

This is some thing I've been stressing for a while now, next season was unlikely to be problem, although for a short while it looked like it could be, quite few have been going about 'debt free' and no commitments, I've been trying to say, what happens the season after next and beyond with out Thea's money ( perhaps not to clearly) yes budget cuts and re-structuring will help the club live with in it's means, but that could take 2-3 seasons to filter through, losses in the mean time have to be covered, it says in the article the directors have the ability to run the club 'next season' this something I'd grasped awhile ago, it's after that, that's the problem.

I too am struggling with this, although I do appreciate Thea had little choice left.

Who exactly are the remaining directors and who owns what? Is it proportional to the amount of money they individually put in? If so then fair enough. However if the "directors" include people who haven't put any cash in but have wormed their way in to a position, such as let's for arguments sake say chairman, now hold those shares then I'm afraid my worst, long held fears are slowly horribly becoming relaity.

Without new ideas, impetus and cash I fail to see how the directors who failed WITH Mrs Bristows money will turn the club around WITHOUT it.
I really hope someone new can come in as otherwise I fear the same mistakes will be repeated.

I hope I'm not putting too much of a negative slant on things, but if the club has effectively been taken over by the same people who have been running it to date, what's going to change? [i]Something[/i] needs to, because the club isn't currently sustainable, but the lack of fresh investment is disappointing. I hope they're planning on making some serious changes designed to substantially increase the gate and get revenue flowing inwards.

Sounds like the remaining directors have likely got exactly what they wanted all along. If she has given her shares to the plonkers that are left on the board then thats the end of us pretty soon then. R I P TUFC! :'(

thea hands over her 80% of shares,

http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/TORQUAY-UNITED-Mixed-emotions-Thea-Bristow-handed/story-26555167-detail/story.html

[quote="Richinns"]
Too true - perhaps those who agree should advertise the TUST and their own membership number in their signatures?[/quote]

good idea.