Torquay United Fans Forum

"GI, who specialise in property development and stadium management, may be heading to Torbay with a new home for United uppermost in their minds.

But they are believed to have paid over a significant sum of money already as part of their agreement with the Gulls, money which has helped to boost Nicholson's playing budget somewhat."

You see the bit I'm struggling with is the Herald Express reported the above lines in an article this week. So we have people on here saying GI have put in nothing and our local press saying something to the contrary. Maybe just maybe we should wait until chastising the new owners. I'm not saying they definitely have or haven't put money in, but where I come from people are innocent until proven guilty or put slightly alternatively, given a chance.

forevertufc wrote:Odd's, laugh out loud indeed, Leicester City were 5000-1 to win the premier league. Odds are based on opinions as to what's might happen, not on FACT.

You do realise how Betfair formulate odds? I wasn't quoting a national bookmakers odds, I was quoting a person to person gambling site's odds, a site whereby the users can influence the outcome of the result. If people are offering long odds on Exit they are hardly going to be then going down the polling stations to cost themselves money. That is why the odds on the site speak volumes.

I merely hope that the majority is as strong as Betfair suggests as it will put this to bed. The very cost of this referendum which only came about because Cameron messed his pants about the Farage threat, which in turn only came about because of the Daily Fail tells me that the Nazis in charge of that paper have a lot to answer for

Just seen the odds on Betfair, safe to say this Referendum is done, for those who don't want to stay in the EU the exits can be found at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted to name but a few

Southampton Gull wrote: Yes I did. That was before it became public knowledge that he'd been trying to tempt players to the club by telling them the same thing. If you choose to believe it was me making up something out of thin air that's your choice. I also said Nicholson would keep us up if he was able to sign players of his choosing, even named Blissett and Harrad among others long before they signed. I'm more than happy to stand by my warning about Harrop.

Stick your head back in the sand but don't say you weren't warned.

So essentially you are saying you post what you hear on the rumour mill, but you are so sure in your opinion on this one that anybody choosing not to listen is "sticking their head in the sand". Interesting, if we have learned nothing else from Nicholson's first season in charge it is that we should let things materialise before jumping to a rash conclusion.

The facts remain that the current board cannot afford to run this football club (the accounts show this). Without investment Torquay United do not exist in the Conference in the upcoming season. GI look to have provided this investment so whether they have an agenda or not they are better than not having investment in place.

Whilst we may not want to accept that we need GI for footballing purposes we do need them for financial purposes and as we all know football clubs are businesses that means we need GI to exist at National League level next season which is what Kevin and the team fought for last season, to not accept this is...... sticking your head in the sand

Didn't you also forecast Nicho to be replaced by Harrop not long ago?

I don't think anyone yet knows the intentions of GI, but without them the club would not exist, you can call me simple but if it boils down to them or no club I'm of the opinion we may as well get behind them.

Racchi tweeted

Today showed the difference between top half and bottom half teams in this division. Like Eastleigh before them Tranmere came took one of the very few chances that came their way and took the points. We just don't seem to create anything clear cut against the top teams at home when the onus is on us to do so. Thats not knocking the lads, it is credit to the opposition and something we must learn to do moving forward.

We go again on Tuesday and I would bet a lot of money that if Altrincham came and performed as Tranmere did we will get a minimum of a point as they won't be so ruthless in front of goal. Certainly results have gone our way today, but we cannot keep relying on them to do so across the final 4 matches, we need to find 4 (with a win over Altrincham) or 6 points (should we not win on Tuesday) to guarantee our safety.

As for Brabin and Tranmere's gamesmanship I don't care, we're still well up following the win over a Brabin Cambridge team at Wembley

You can dress it up how you like, however the simple facts are 5 points from the last available 24 is relegation form and whilst people talk of a light at the end of the tunnel with improved performances the damage has already in truth been done. We will be relegated this season and face a very difficult situation regards moving forward.

I am unsure how the club will afford to attract players to tier 6 of football and presumably the salaries able to be paid are not significant enough to warrant professional status. The current board will take the flak but it is more than apparent that those who went before inflicted the damage by running the club not as a business but as a bottomless pit. I hope Phillips doesn't sleep a wink because of the damage done to our club, but given some of the things I've heard about his personality I'm fairly sure he sleeps comfortably in an expensive bed paid for with our gate money

Club loyalty: Garry Monk, loyal to Swansea for years took on the managerial job and got them to their highest points finish in the Premiership, first sign of a sticky patch and he was out the door, sacked by the club.

Player loyalty: Chris Brandon, injured pulling up a palm tree on Torquay sea front, club paid for rehabilitation during Spring and player left club in summer

I hope Luke Young is a TUFC player next year but do not blame him of he goes elsewhere as loyalty as shown by above doesn't have a great deal to do with it. Both clubs and players have shown that loyalty doesn't exist in football anymore and will do whatever is right for themselves.

What needs to happen is the club needs to develop alternate revenue streams. At present football isn't paying for the club's existence. Talk of relegation being the end of the club in my eyes is slightly erroneous, as relegation would potentially mean moving to an artificial pitch (I think Nicholson already mentioned that they weren't the worst things in the world). This pitch could then be utilised for a wide variety of sports and thus bring more revenue into the club and enable it's survival.

In the cold light of day: Torquay United can no longer be a successful football club in terms of achievement as the landscape of "the beautiful game" has changed and is now completely reliant on money, you can thank Murdoch and Sky for that change. Torquay United can however continue to exist as a business which pays for some people's livelihood, which in truth is at least something.

Note the opinions above are based purely on economical considerations and not my personal preferences. It is this way of thinking under Bateson however unpopular that kept this club afloat for many years and maybe at this darkest of hours needs to be revisited.

The club twitter announced that there was a pitch inspection to take place at 12:45 and then announced the postponement soon after result of said inspection and asked people to retweet as there was a technical glitch with the OS. Not sure what more they could have done in the situation, but I'm sure some will give some over the top example of what they could've done which isn't in the slightest bit practical

So we've established George and Mushroom are the same person. Someone who claims to know a lot of the finances of the club but cannot say how or why. I'll await further developments but so far it is apparent that these '2' users are dealing in hearsay and not a lot more.

I wonder if we can develop an ignore button on the forum so that way their protestations for freedom of speech would be upheld but those of us who don't care what they are saying could get the forum back.

We're level, reverse the bus into position now!

As a qualified accountant I can tell you there is no need for this. To produce this would cost the club money (which by all accounts (pun not intended) seems to be fairly sparse at the club at present). Additionally in my opinion no business of Torquay United (or Plainmoor Limited if you prefer)'s size is likely to give out such information to competitors when there really is no need!

I suggest you go away study the club's accounts (they are available from Companies House for a fee on an annual basis) and when you have conducted some worthwhile analysis come back and discuss your findings. I would recommend your starting point be the fact that the due diligence conducted when the current board bought the club pretty much said it wasn't a going concern, so maybe you should be thankful the club even exists instead of digging for a story.

The people in charge of the club know the financial limitations (I'm sure they would take this opportunity to thank you for reminding them of them) and know their statutory duties, which include not trading when insolvent. We have to trust that they do not know of any reason the club should not move forward. If you disagree with their opinion I suggest you move to remove them, but that will cost you some money and also the running costs of the club moving forward, which you probably wouldn't be too pleased about if someone tried to add them by requesting a Statement of Affairs!

Back 4 and goalie pick themselves, lack of creativity going forward is the real problem.

Sense all the eggs were in one basket with Young, which is understandable as at this level you simply cannot afford/it isn't possible to keep more than 1 decent quality creative player in the middle of the park or you most likely will get overrun.

I wish Kev good luck, however I sense he may find we are up a creek without a paddle