Can we raise £400,000. Yes or No?

ferrarilover · Post by **ferrarilover** » 18 Nov 2016, 19:01

If they haven't thought of a plan which amounts to nothing more than 'buying the club', then they're stupider than they seem. Quite an achievement if true.

Still seeing more words than actions.

Matt.

Todgull · Post by **Todgull** » 18 Nov 2016, 19:20

portugull wrote:Yesterday evening Matt decided to create a fund raiser on Crowdfunder proudly proclaiming that it took him 5 minutes.

What is the result? The result is zero other than his own pledge of £400, why? The reasons are numerous but can I set out how I would approach the fund raiser if by the 30 November the Board has not done a deal.

Firstly either TUST or a small group of fans need to call a press conference to launch the fund raiser for £400,000 to try and ensure that the news reaches as many people as possible via TV, Radio, the Press and Social Media.

The only way that we stand a chance of raising this sort of sum is by getting it out into the public domain as loudly and clearly as possible.

The key to success is to ensure that each contributor whether it be for £10, £100, £400 or £1,000 receives an appropriate number of shares in TUFC(2017) namely an equity interest in the new club which would be a community club of which there are many examples both in the football league and in the lower leagues.

We would have to ensure there were daily updates on the funds raised as momentum would be crucial to the success of the fund raiser. A launch date in the first week of December would give us approximately 6 weeks to raise the money which would first and foremost enable GI to be paid off. It would take too long to go into all the issues which would arise in this particular post but I hope I have said enough for Matt to realise that it is no good launching a fund raiser in the way that he has done. It simply wont work.

TUST member Rob so you think TUST would be agreeable and capable of running the campaign with effect from 1 December to raise the £400,000?

An absolutely excellent well thought through strategy.

lucy6lucy · Post by **lucy6lucy** » 18 Nov 2016, 19:24

ferrarilover wrote:http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/torquay-united-fundraiser

Matt.

Took me 5 bloody minutes!

Great idea. However in the unlikely event the funds are raised. What happens next, who runs the club, who has control considering everyone has put in equal amounts. Would it be best to raise money we own to GI( reported £120k).thus 100 people giving £120 is more viable to get rid of these vultures

Dazza · Post by **Dazza** » 18 Nov 2016, 19:37

Unfortunately that would only be the deposit.

Soupdragon · Post by **Soupdragon** » 18 Nov 2016, 19:41

Again, no money or time of mine goes into TUFC while the current board remains in place.

And the 'project owner' for this fundraiser is given as just a username on this site, someone I don't know from a bar of soap, and whose posts by and large I find tiresome, so no money or time of mine goes to that, either.

Post by **Gulliball** » 18 Nov 2016, 19:42

There's a chance that our fanbase could raise £400k. However as has been said many times recently, that would require an absolutely united and motivated fanbase. If GI take over then in six month's time we'd probably manage that, or if the club agreed to sell the club to the TUST then it could start a community share issue and raise the money. If Bath and Newport can do it then there's no reason why we couldn't do it in the same circumstances.

As it is, our owners have rejected fan ownership and haven't asked for anyone to put together a bid. In fact they've actively encouraged our fans to 'wait and see' or not 'rock the boat' (since about April) with constant snippets that wealthy benefactors are around the corner. We're now in a position that we've got about 12 weeks to save the club, and again the only message coming from the club is to wait for the 1/2/3/4 possible/probable bids to come in and they will decide.

Some fans want fan ownership, some want a wealthy benefactor, some just want to turn up on a Saturday. The club haven't put the club up for sale to the fans or sounded the alarm bells that we're in trouble. In these circumstances there's not a chance in hell of fans raising the money.

gullpower · Post by **gullpower** » 18 Nov 2016, 19:58

ferrarilover wrote:Olympic standard backpedalling here. Well done everybody.

Matt.

You’re berating fans for not jumping to pledge through your Crowdfunder. But what are you asking?

You’re asking them to hand over £400 that you will give to Dave Phillips and the current Board who will use the lion’s share of it to pay off debts that they have incurred. And for what in return? What guarantees do you have? Whose to say that once the loan to GI is paid off they won’t decide to sell the club to Peter Masters? What if that’s a complete anathema to some fans pledging? What say in the future of the club does the fan’s £400 gift give them? You’re asking fans to put an awful lot of trust in the Board.

The Board, while benevolent in their original investment, do not have the best track record when it comes to making decisions about who to sell the club to or who to accept loans from. OK, so you can argue that if they hadn’t received those loans we would have been relegated. But wasn’t it at that moment, when that money was needed, that the Board should have allowed the fans to invest in their club through TUST? Fan ownership doesn’t necessarily mean 100% or 51% ownership. TUST could have organised a community share issue for the 6 figure sum banded about in return for a smaller percentage and the Board wouldn’t have been paying interest on a loan.

I will give £400 to keep TUFC alive, but not as a gift to the present Board and only if it gives me a share in the club and in some way or another a say in how the club is run.

Rjc70 · Post by **Rjc70** » 18 Nov 2016, 20:24

Good to read that a good many regard there as being a better way of raising funds than Matt's crackpot idea of handing over money to an outgoing Board looking to get what it can from the Club's sale. Not that he believed (from his own words) it would succeed in any event, thereby rendering the entire exercise completely pointless.

You would hope he would read up on community share issues, and the experiences of Bath and Newport most recently, but as before when prodded in that direction, I suspect he either won't or will dismiss it out of hand, opting instead for something that can be in some way regarded as his idea. You'd hope not.

If only the energy was used more wisely.

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 18 Nov 2016, 20:28

gullpower if you read my post today at 15.13 I thought I had explained ferrarilovers fundraiser has no chance of working . After 24 hours not one pledge other than his own.

If the Board fail to find a buyer by 30 November and TUST or a group of fans raise £400k by mid January the Board will be left with a stark choice.

Give the Club away to GIL or sell out to TUST or whoever succeeds in raising the money. No way would the money if raised simply be handed over to the current Board. That would be madness.

gullpower · Post by **gullpower** » 18 Nov 2016, 20:36

portugull wrote:gullpower if you read my post today at 15.13 I thought I had explained ferrarilovers fundraiser has no chance of working . After 24 hours not one pledge other than his own.

If the Board fail to find a buyer by 30 November and TUST or a group of fans raise £400k by mid January the Board will be left with a stark choice.

Give the Club away to GIL or sell out to TUST or whoever succeeds in raising the money. No way would the money if raised simply be handed over to the current Board. That would be madness.

Dream in yellow. Join TUST.

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 18 Nov 2016, 20:40

Todgull thank you for your post. Appreciated.

Jerry I have just emailed TUST as you suggested.

Rjc70 · Post by **Rjc70** » 18 Nov 2016, 21:05

portugull wrote:Jerry I have just emailed TUST as you suggested.

One action worth more than Matt's misguided actions and thousands of words (with more to come) already. Nice one, portugull.

It may be that if the present Board were not fully behind it that it could not succeed as has been the case elsewhere. You would hope they would be a bit more inclined to support if it looks like GI will take over by default. Maybe, maybe not.

Either support from the Board or immense dislike of the incumbents have been the best sparks to ignite a share issue elsewhere. We have neither in large enough doses, but I have yet to read anyone being happy about GI taking over.

A tighter timescale exists as each day passes. Something I know TUST expressed a view on a few weeks ago.

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 19 Nov 2016, 00:09

Rjc70 wrote: One action worth more than Matt's misguided actions and thousands of words (with more to come) already. Nice one, portugull.

Okay - Matt's Crowdfunding idea may have had a few flaws in it, but at least it has concentrated minds, especially Portugull who has built on Matt's idea and come up with what I think is a very viable scheme. It also incorporates Chunkygull's view expressed months ago that there should be a Share Issue.

Plainmoor78 · Post by **Plainmoor78** » 19 Nov 2016, 00:25

Matt's intitiative was to show that whilst there were many saying that they would donate to save the club, when push came to shove everyone had an excuse not to join in. If the fanbase is not wiling, what chance is there of wider community iinvolvement?

Rjc70 · Post by **Rjc70** » 19 Nov 2016, 06:06

tomogull wrote: Okay - Matt's Crowdfunding idea may have had a few flaws in it, but at least it has concentrated minds, especially Portugull who has built on Matt's idea and come up with what I think is a very viable scheme. It also incorporates Chunkygull's view expressed months ago that there should be a Share Issue.

Portugull and chunkygull speak a lot of sense. Might as well have fans aiming to own the Club if the alternative is to end up with GI owning it. Propping up those who want out is never going to get many takers. Probably not even those who want out.

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