Torquay United Fans Forum

There are only 2 things weirder than the inner workings of my mind.

One is anybody who applies to appear on Big Brother and the other is dredging this thread up from nearly a year ago to post the pointlessness of what is written directly above. :)

Perhaps he is a combination of the two of them!

you know., He's right there! he's not Gengis Khan. He's Atilla the Hun

Perhaps Mr Osborne could get a few tips from Mike Bateson.. :)

Dave Thomas' part in all this stinks; utterly stinks and he's reduced himself to being no more than an apologist lap-dog in all this disgraceful affair.

To think of all the years he's made a living out of chronicling the club and now he stoops to this utter, gutter level.

The fact that Dave Thomas has still yet to ask one single question about GI's history of failures to build stadiums and their association with Bristol Rovers and Hereford tells you all you need to know about his relationship with GI. This information has been around the forums since last Spring for christ's sake!

[quote=midtable post_id=204671 time=1493208410 user_id=19364]
The strange thing is that Dave Thomas wrote an interesting article demanding that GI reveal whether TUFC will be full time or part-time next year but then fails to mention it in the interview. The whole article is so odd because it just reads like a PR leaflet from GI and no answer is challenged.
[/quote]

Good point. The overriding aim of this piece would appear to be to provide PR for GI.

GI didn't want Speedway to remain at the Abbey Stadium. Fact. It was the community and local authority who ensured they changed their mind on this. I don't know if anyone wants press links to this, but there are bloody loads of them. After some of the houses were built around Abbey Stadium, Osborne even went to the local press and said some of the homeowners didn't want the speedway to justify GI's position, before the local community got behind keeping the sport there. In 2006, GI said Swindon Speedway could share at Reading. Which they then demolished in 2008 and didn't replace.

To Dave Thomas, who asks not one single probing question about his track record, Osborne states "And do you think that the Council and the Mayor will just say: 'Yes fine, go ahead Clarke – off you go and help yourself'? No, of course not". Help yourself to what, Clarke? What are you getting at, because DT sure as hell didn't ask. Obviously it's very sad to hear he feels a bit deflated at the moment. It seems we only ever hear from them when fans raise the issue of the freehold via either the proper media or petition. Anyone else notice that?

www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/sport/15206034._No_new_home_for_Robins_this_season___admits_Russell/?ref=rl&lp=4

[b][i]"Gaming International Limited, the owners of the Abbey Stadium site, have not responded to approaches about the stadium delay from the Swindon Advertiser".[/i][/b]

The above is the latest I have seen regarding the stadium at Swindon from their local media. Osborne appears to be re-hashing a Bill Glass video interview earlier linked on here that predates the above link. Swindon readers would be aware of that.

If the HE really wanted to probe - which it clearly appears to have no desire to - mention of Bristol, Reading and Milton Keynes would have made sense.

[quote=westyorkshiregull post_id=204688 time=1493213642 user_id=18627]
Next logical step Mr Osborne is to face the fans at a public forum instead of bloody hiding behind Dave Thomas and the internal media people at plainmoor

Put yourself in front of us and have a discussion. Just maybe from your perspective you may get some people either on board or maybe you can mellow us [/quote]

...... or even agree to a request from Radio Devon/BBC Spotlight for an interview which Mr Osbourne has refused on numerous occasions. If as he states, TUFC will not move from Plainmoor until a new stadium is built, why is he so keen to get his hands on the freehold? The obvious answer surely must be that he wants to raise capital on the back of the freehold. I am absolutely certain that if the site earmarked for the new stadium is the old Barton Tip, there will be many 'unforeseen problems' which will push the project way over budget. What happens then ?

You would have thought Dave Thomas would have asked the bleeding obvious question - so why are you so keen to purchase the freehold of Plainmoor ?

Next logical step Mr Osborne is to face the fans at a public forum instead of bloody hiding behind Dave Thomas and the internal media people at plainmoor

Put yourself in front of us and have a discussion. Just maybe from your perspective you may get some people either on board or maybe you can mellow us

What i want to see if we are to even attempt to believe anything Osborne says is a viable plan for a new stadium. We hear how important the new stadium is, we hear he wants to build the new one before the old one is destroyed well show us some feasible plans then.

If it's that important then surely work is well underway and a site should not only have been identified by now but plans to actually develop it and get the necessary planning should be out there. I know there was one ages ago which if I recall correctly wasn't viable so where's the new one?

Unlike some I'm not against moving from Plainmoor in the long term, if you were to design a football stadium right now from scratch Plainmoor would barely tick a single box of the important things other than it actually being quite a nice football stadium. The ground makes next to no money other than a saturday every fortnight, the bar and shop makes money for separate companies not the club, there's no parking around it, it's miles from the nearest train station, access isn't great, there's no decent corporate facilities nor conference facilities and no extra facilities such as 3G pitches, hotels or anything likes that to make money for the club when football isn't being played.

But let's see a plan........if there is one.

I read somewhere that the club is set to undertake some kind of fans consultation via the Herald Express.

If this is the case, then I'd assume the HE will be paid handsomely for its part in this and that, in the meantime, DT has been warned not to jeopardise a lucrative pay day for the paper by asking Clark Osborne anything too tricky.

If this is the case, I think it stinks. We need the HE to be asking Osborne awkward questions, not getting into bed with Gaming International and giving their regime an air of legitimacy by teaming up for a cosmetic consultation exercise - the results of which will, no doubt, be ignored - in return for a few quid.

[quote=midtable post_id=204671 time=1493208410 user_id=19364]
The strange thing is that Dave Thomas wrote an interesting article demanding that GI reveal whether TUFC will be full time or part-time next year but then fails to mention it in the interview. [b]Truely bizarre from such a good journalist[/b]. The whole article is so odd because it just reads like a PR leaflet from GI and no answer is challenged.
[/quote]

But from Dave Thomas, not so much.

The strange thing is that Dave Thomas wrote an interesting article demanding that GI reveal whether TUFC will be full time or part-time next year but then fails to mention it in the interview. Truely bizarre from such a good journalist. The whole article is so odd because it just reads like a PR leaflet from GI and no answer is challenged.

That depends on whether it will be the club who will own it, or some other entity. In any case, any progress towards the building of a new stadium should be concomitant with the team's progress up through the leagues.

And anyway, these things take time. Rome wasn't built in a day. And Argyle are still waiting for their new grandstand to be built. And as for Truro City...