Torquay United Fans Forum

Farnborough fan here in peace.

Firstly, we played 8 of the 11 that played the last game of last season, so any suggestion we signed 12 in the summer is just funny (we haven't).

It was a close game and the difference was Reggie Young turning his man and your right back missing his tackle. Stone wall penalty, converted.

We were better in the first half, you edged the second, but didn't make it count.

The bit that surprised me is you never tried to play through us, instead resorting to long diagonals - very non-League, in my opinion. Looks like both teams are going through a learning curve. It's August, not May.

TommyGunn wrote: 21 Feb 2024, 22:48 Dodgy
Blimey I remember his real name now you have told that story. He was on Wogan about 30 years ago.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/artic ... lieve.html

After one of the longest adolesences ever (yep, I've lived through a lot of it, being a Farnborough fan for 40+ years and counting) Spencer Day, now in his 50s, has grown up in recent years. Although still prone to daft outbursts, his love of the game shines through. He's passionate about football.

He has a fraud conviction, which will never be spent (he served time for it), so he can never be a director of a football club, or own one. However, he has a very good lifelong friend (who is very well-heeled in his own right) who controls Farnborough and, very clearly, sets out the rules under which he operates. Day is also a rich man, dabbling in hedge funds, property speculation and the like. He's not dumb.

It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it works, and has worked for many years. Day became our manager in 2011, 13 years ago. Long term Farnborough fans were well used to on the pitch stuff being completely undermined by events off of it, but we've been stable and adequately funded for a while now. It's almost become normal.

Something I'll say in Day's favour (he knows I haven't been his greatest fan, because of, ahem, previous interactions), he's so willing to give footballers who've screwed up a decent second chance. Sometimes it's worked and there are players now in the Football League who know what I'm talking about. Other times it hasn't worked at all, but he keeps trying, being mindful about his own major screw-ups when he was much younger.

bobbytanz1963 wrote: 22 Feb 2024, 20:31 Thanks for the input and as you say according to the league rules this isn’t a normal Insolvency. I’m intrigued by the phrase in the rules stating “other creditors are satisfied” in that does this mean 100p in the £ or an agreed settlement figure in a CVA which bound be pence in the £ ?

100p in the £ for the verified claim, however the amount being claimed by a particular creditor may be a moveable feast

bobbytanz1963 wrote: 22 Feb 2024, 17:05 I note all the comments in this thread and having been involved in the Business Recovery sector hit 35+ years there are a few things that need clarity.

The debt to CO (Riviera) is Unsecured

A new owner doesn’t have to repay the creditors in full

The Administrators will try and sell the business as a going concern and not choose to close it down.

Administration can last for 12 months and can trade during that period

I assume that the players contracts may have an insolvency clause in them and so they could become free agents

Most important thing is to support the club, support those attempting to save the club (TUST)

Farnborough fan here. We, Farnborough, have been through this more than once and the process can be incredible painful. I wish you well.

The main reason for posting is the message quoted above, which is what happens in a "normal" insolvency event. But, "normal" doesn't apply to National League clubs. The specific League rules concerning a member Club having an insolvency event are fierce, to say the very least, and go way beyond "normal" requirements. See this document - https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/file ... 057466.pdf - in particular Sections 2.9.2, 13A and 13B.

Essentially your club has from now until the next League AGM (in June?) to agree a deal where all football creditors' claims have been met in full and all other creditors' claims have either also been settled 100% or the League has agreed to a proposal that these will be settled at 100% in accordance with an agreed payment plan, otherwise your Club will be automatically relegated. Any proposal that doesn't satisfy ALL claims 100% is a completer non-starter and would result in an AFC Torquay starting off life at the bottom level of the pyramid.

Again I wish you well, but time is extremely short. Use it wisely.