by A Candy » 01 Jan 2017, 09:47
Please see below the latest news from TUST.
TUFC – At the crossroads
This month, I have taken the editorial reins as Michael is somewhat indisposed at present (Get Well Soon Michael!)
A lot has happened in the world since last month, but the biggest event in the life of Torquay United Supporters took place on 20th December when the official announcement was made that Riviera Stadium Limited (a subsidiary of Gaming International) had purchased a controlling interest in Torquay United. The announcement heralded the end of a period of speculation over which way the gulls’ board would turn following their decision not to consider Community Ownership as an avenue to explore.
I think it is only right at this point to make one or two points very clear for those supporters who have formed an opinion on how TUST conducts itself. First and foremost, TUST is a body of people (our members). The TUST board consists of a small number of individuals who have agreed to take on the responsibility of attempting to represent the views of its’ members. We all have Torquay United in our hearts and the survival and prosperity of the club is our sole reason for being. It is the only reason I decided to get involved with TUST just over 12 months ago having started to become hugely concerned with what was happening to the club I had supported for the last 37 years. I wasn’t prepared to stand by and let my club die without at least trying to do something about it.
The TUST board have a range of skills and qualities, but none of us would profess to be experts in what we do. We are merely a group of individuals who are willing to commit our own time and efforts for the cause.
It has been said in certain quarters that we are a “group of lefties” or a “group of troublemakers”. Nothing could be further than the truth. I am a great believer in “perception is reality”, which effectively means we have some work to do in order to convince certain people of the role we believe TUST plays, is playing or should play moving forward. However, I have come to the conclusion there are too many gulls supporters who sadly are either not truly aware of our current predicament or believe that sitting silently and hoping for the best is the right thing to do.
Sometimes a little information is dangerous, but over the last 12-18 months as a TUST board we have been made aware of many situations, issues, actions, information which is not for the public domain. We wholly believe in transparency, but have respected the wishes of those individuals who have wanted to share details with us. However, there comes a time when you have to take a stance. The release of information in respect of the January deadline for the repayment of liabilities to Gaming International was one of those instances where as a TUST board we thought long and hard over. This information was released to us prior to the signing of a confidentiality agreement and we were requested not to share this with the wider public. However, we were not bound by any confidentiality agreement which came subsequent to this.
We agreed to this and hence kept this information to ourselves, but given the manor with which the TUFC board dealt with us over the potential to explore Community Ownership (having gone to further additional time and expense of committing a full Independent Financial Review) it was felt we had a duty to release this information. It was not “out of spite” because we had been snubbed as some have described or an “act of petulance”, but out of sheer concern that we could not see where the club could possibly go in view of the timescales the TUFC board had given themselves. It was no secret that cash flow was tight and therefore the only alternative we could see was the club falling into administration or being passed across to GI who in David Phillips’ own words “were not the best of bedfellows”. Therefore, by releasing such information to the wider public domain we were hoping to galvanise support either for an alternative option to come forward or for supporters to look towards TUST if needs be.
The TUST board have never said that Community Ownership was the “best solution”. Indeed, we have no idea if it would even work, but we felt it was worthy of exploring on the basis you would have the whole community potentially pulling together with a common cause. It wouldn’t just be about raising huge sums of money; we are under no illusions that the average TUFC supporter will not have large amounts of disposable cash. It would be about what we could do as a community to collectively work together to build the club and take it forward. Why have a few people owning a club when you can have input from several thousand in one way or another? The commercial benefits alone potentially are huge with the correct infrastructure in place. That is not meant to be a “slant” against the previous board or current employees, but it is common knowledge that financial constraints have left the club hugely under-resourced in so many areas.
We saw Community Ownership as being perhaps the “last resort”. We truly believed that was where we were and as such we were willing to invest the energy and time in an attempt to save our club.
Once the 16th December was announced as “Takeover Deadline Day”, TUST came up with the idea of a “Pre-Share Issue” which could be used potentially as a last ditch attempt to either save the club from administration or should the worse happen it could evidence to the administrator that we had the potential to raise capital for a Community Share Issue in an effort to keep the club going. It was about trying to establish some form of credibility. Once again, we have been criticised over the publicity associated with the Pre-Share Issue. We deliberately kept this low-key on the basis we did not feel it was correct to be jeopardising any other potential bids for the club that may be on the horizon by making lots of noise over the Pre-Share Issue. However, this was set-up in order that we had a platform to work from should we really need to go to town on the publicity stakes. Various actions had been agreed so that we were ready to launch in a “big-way” if necessary. These still remain, but with the outcome from the 20th December announcement, we have decided to take time to reflect and have a TUST board meeting arranged for the 7th January to consider our next steps.
In the meantime, our cash reserves (including funds deposited) as at 29th December stand at £37,152 across our 2 accounts. In addition we have a further £9,500 of pledges on top of this figure and this is merely scratching the surface.
On the 7th January as a TUST board we will discuss where we go from here and following our meeting we will seek your views and opinions in a democratic way. We are committed to working with our new owners and to do whatever we need to do in order to ensure the survival and future of Torquay United is truly at the top of their agenda. So far, the limited communication provided through the press has sounded positive, but words need to be followed by action.
However, we aim to continue to be the “critical friend” of the Torquay United board as we believe this is what our members want us to be. Whoever technically holds the “ownership rights” of our club in my opinion holds these rights on behalf of each and every one of those gulls supporters who so passionately support our great club. The club is greater than one or two individuals or temporary custodians and come what may we must not let our club die.
On a final note, I think it would not be right to end this year without a special word for Kevin Nicholson. I have huge admiration for the way that Kevin and his staff have conducted themselves over the last 12 months or so. The working conditions at Plainmoor cannot be at all easy and with so much uncertainty hanging over the club it would not have been a surprise if there had been some “restlessness” in the background, but somehow Kevin has kept a lid on it and continues to conduct himself in a professional and positive manner.
The atmosphere in the ground on Boxing Day was fantastic and was surely an example of just what a fantastic club Torquay United is. As much as anything, I hope 2017 brings greater fortune and success for Kevin and his team who deserve to be dealt a better set of cards by Gaming International…..
Happy New Year to you all
Matt Gorman
TUST Treasurer
Please see below the latest news from TUST.
TUFC – At the crossroads
This month, I have taken the editorial reins as Michael is somewhat indisposed at present (Get Well Soon Michael!)
A lot has happened in the world since last month, but the biggest event in the life of Torquay United Supporters took place on 20th December when the official announcement was made that Riviera Stadium Limited (a subsidiary of Gaming International) had purchased a controlling interest in Torquay United. The announcement heralded the end of a period of speculation over which way the gulls’ board would turn following their decision not to consider Community Ownership as an avenue to explore.
I think it is only right at this point to make one or two points very clear for those supporters who have formed an opinion on how TUST conducts itself. First and foremost, TUST is a body of people (our members). The TUST board consists of a small number of individuals who have agreed to take on the responsibility of attempting to represent the views of its’ members. We all have Torquay United in our hearts and the survival and prosperity of the club is our sole reason for being. It is the only reason I decided to get involved with TUST just over 12 months ago having started to become hugely concerned with what was happening to the club I had supported for the last 37 years. I wasn’t prepared to stand by and let my club die without at least trying to do something about it.
The TUST board have a range of skills and qualities, but none of us would profess to be experts in what we do. We are merely a group of individuals who are willing to commit our own time and efforts for the cause.
It has been said in certain quarters that we are a “group of lefties” or a “group of troublemakers”. Nothing could be further than the truth. I am a great believer in “perception is reality”, which effectively means we have some work to do in order to convince certain people of the role we believe TUST plays, is playing or should play moving forward. However, I have come to the conclusion there are too many gulls supporters who sadly are either not truly aware of our current predicament or believe that sitting silently and hoping for the best is the right thing to do.
Sometimes a little information is dangerous, but over the last 12-18 months as a TUST board we have been made aware of many situations, issues, actions, information which is not for the public domain. We wholly believe in transparency, but have respected the wishes of those individuals who have wanted to share details with us. However, there comes a time when you have to take a stance. The release of information in respect of the January deadline for the repayment of liabilities to Gaming International was one of those instances where as a TUST board we thought long and hard over. This information was released to us prior to the signing of a confidentiality agreement and we were requested not to share this with the wider public. However, we were not bound by any confidentiality agreement which came subsequent to this.
We agreed to this and hence kept this information to ourselves, but given the manor with which the TUFC board dealt with us over the potential to explore Community Ownership (having gone to further additional time and expense of committing a full Independent Financial Review) it was felt we had a duty to release this information. It was not “out of spite” because we had been snubbed as some have described or an “act of petulance”, but out of sheer concern that we could not see where the club could possibly go in view of the timescales the TUFC board had given themselves. It was no secret that cash flow was tight and therefore the only alternative we could see was the club falling into administration or being passed across to GI who in David Phillips’ own words “were not the best of bedfellows”. Therefore, by releasing such information to the wider public domain we were hoping to galvanise support either for an alternative option to come forward or for supporters to look towards TUST if needs be.
The TUST board have never said that Community Ownership was the “best solution”. Indeed, we have no idea if it would even work, but we felt it was worthy of exploring on the basis you would have the whole community potentially pulling together with a common cause. It wouldn’t just be about raising huge sums of money; we are under no illusions that the average TUFC supporter will not have large amounts of disposable cash. It would be about what we could do as a community to collectively work together to build the club and take it forward. Why have a few people owning a club when you can have input from several thousand in one way or another? The commercial benefits alone potentially are huge with the correct infrastructure in place. That is not meant to be a “slant” against the previous board or current employees, but it is common knowledge that financial constraints have left the club hugely under-resourced in so many areas.
We saw Community Ownership as being perhaps the “last resort”. We truly believed that was where we were and as such we were willing to invest the energy and time in an attempt to save our club.
Once the 16th December was announced as “Takeover Deadline Day”, TUST came up with the idea of a “Pre-Share Issue” which could be used potentially as a last ditch attempt to either save the club from administration or should the worse happen it could evidence to the administrator that we had the potential to raise capital for a Community Share Issue in an effort to keep the club going. It was about trying to establish some form of credibility. Once again, we have been criticised over the publicity associated with the Pre-Share Issue. We deliberately kept this low-key on the basis we did not feel it was correct to be jeopardising any other potential bids for the club that may be on the horizon by making lots of noise over the Pre-Share Issue. However, this was set-up in order that we had a platform to work from should we really need to go to town on the publicity stakes. Various actions had been agreed so that we were ready to launch in a “big-way” if necessary. These still remain, but with the outcome from the 20th December announcement, we have decided to take time to reflect and have a TUST board meeting arranged for the 7th January to consider our next steps.
In the meantime, our cash reserves (including funds deposited) as at 29th December stand at £37,152 across our 2 accounts. In addition we have a further £9,500 of pledges on top of this figure and this is merely scratching the surface.
On the 7th January as a TUST board we will discuss where we go from here and following our meeting we will seek your views and opinions in a democratic way. We are committed to working with our new owners and to do whatever we need to do in order to ensure the survival and future of Torquay United is truly at the top of their agenda. So far, the limited communication provided through the press has sounded positive, but words need to be followed by action.
However, we aim to continue to be the “critical friend” of the Torquay United board as we believe this is what our members want us to be. Whoever technically holds the “ownership rights” of our club in my opinion holds these rights on behalf of each and every one of those gulls supporters who so passionately support our great club. The club is greater than one or two individuals or temporary custodians and come what may we must not let our club die.
On a final note, I think it would not be right to end this year without a special word for Kevin Nicholson. I have huge admiration for the way that Kevin and his staff have conducted themselves over the last 12 months or so. The working conditions at Plainmoor cannot be at all easy and with so much uncertainty hanging over the club it would not have been a surprise if there had been some “restlessness” in the background, but somehow Kevin has kept a lid on it and continues to conduct himself in a professional and positive manner.
The atmosphere in the ground on Boxing Day was fantastic and was surely an example of just what a fantastic club Torquay United is. As much as anything, I hope 2017 brings greater fortune and success for Kevin and his team who deserve to be dealt a better set of cards by Gaming International…..
Happy New Year to you all
Matt Gorman
TUST Treasurer
