New Owners - Soon?

[PhilGull]

The annoying thing is that we had the sugar daddy/mummy. We had the money, we had someone willing to pump millions of pound in to the club and it was wasted, squandered by a succession of inept board members.
Compare Torquay now to 10 years ago - apart from Bristows bench what do we have to show for all that money? When the Eastleigh & FGR money-men leave they will be left with good infrastructure, good income streams that will see them going in to the future.

[Southampton Gull]

The people "you were aware of" seemed to be GI and Masters (or that was what you were telling us three days ago)

Do keep up. If you hadn't gone missing for a month while we were losing every week you'd realise that interested parties were ending discussions only for them to be re-opened, shock, horror, things don't always go the way some plan.

The annoying thing is that we had the sugar daddy/mummy. We had the money, we had someone willing to pump millions of pound in to the club and it was wasted, squandered by a succession of inept board members.
Compare Torquay now to 10 years ago - apart from Bristows bench what do we have to show for all that money? When the Eastleigh & FGR money-men leave they will be left with good infrastructure, good income streams that will see them going in to the future.

I'm not sure about FGR as they don't have the local population to draw from that Eastleigh do. The improvements they've made are remarkable though.

[Plainmoor78]

For all those who view Thea Bristow as a saint the fact is their lottery money and the inept boards led by Alex Rowe and Bill Philips led to the current situation. When we first went down to the conference the availiablity of too easy money led to lazy administration, without it the club would have been forced to adopt a more responsible business model. Instead when the chickens came home to roost Thea bolted leaving a basket case of a club with no finance. Yes she supposedly left it debt free but it still needed feeding. The current board had little option but to make savage cutbacks which means there is little opportunity to utilise what other funding streams may be available due to lack of manpower.
It is very unfair and misguided to constantly blame the current board for everything whilst eulogising Saint Thea.

[PhilGull]

For all those who view Thea Bristow as a saint the fact is their lottery money and the inept boards led by Alex Rowe and Bill Philips led to the current situation. When we first went down to the conference the availiablity of too easy money led to lazy administration, without it the club would have been forced to adopt a more responsible business model. Instead when the chickens came home to roost Thea bolted leaving a basket case of a club with no finance. Yes she supposedly left it debt free but it still needed feeding. The current board had little option but to make savage cutbacks which means there is little opportunity to utilise what other funding streams may be available due to lack of manpower.
It is very unfair and misguided to constantly blame the current board for everything whilst eulogising Saint Thea.

Thea Bristow didn't bolt. Her husband died and left her with a large some of money invested in a business that she cared for but had no knowledge of. Yes, in hindsight she made some mistakes in trusting people around her to do a job which they also were incapable of doing. She passed the business on to other people who she hoped (with at the time Deano and Breedy) did have some more knowledge of how to run a football club. Besides which she hasn't bolted as she is still a shareholder and still has money in the club.

You seem to suggest that we would have been better off without the Bristow's money! Without their money Buckle wouldn't have been able to assemble the squad he did and we would be now approaching 10 years as a non-league club without having had any of those Wembley or Old Trafford visits. And we would be playing in a three-sided ground as we would not have been able to rebuild the grandstand after it was condemned.

[SuperNickyWroe]

What an interesting thread this has become.....

I see what some are saying - you need (a lot of) money to run a football club whether it be Torquay United, FGR, Eastleigh or Manchester City.
It depends how well it's done. We were extremely lucky with Paul & Thea.... two people who loved the club and invested heavily, I suppose in the cold light of day this is where the problems started. Money available, people getting lazy, investing today and not for tomorrow or the week after....
As has been said - by SG I think, the chance to be successful came and went with league one or play off final. It was downhill from there with too many bad decisions to discuss now - it's gone.
However my respect for the current board with the exception of Edwards was great. Saving the club and having to make difficult decisions and with all honesty, not many on here would have liked to have had to make.
Steve Breed was already high in my estimation with his love for the club having met him a few times and the way he left was disgusting. As with many posters, my estimation went down for the current board when they got into bed with GI.
I'm hoping that there is an alternative to them on December 16th.

[Dazza]

I agree we ( the Board) need a selection of groups to be negotiating with. If it's just GI the Board need to be fair - tell us what is what and give those who truly support Torquay the opportunity to dig the club out of the hole. It is of no value to the club merely handing it over to a group who have demonstrated no empathy at all with TUFC and those who love it.

[Richinns]

Dave Thomas really needs to shape up. Takeover third (and last) in the running order on the podcast and massively misinformed providing false hope new buyers have been found. Shameful journalism.

Much better from Dave Thomas today. It seems he is now much more informed on the current situation and showing his (and our) passion for the club:
http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/u ... story.html

[Dazza]

GI or Smurhwaite ? Never mind talking about or around it. Never mind if it's a real choice or not. Let's assume ('for the sake of the fans giving an indication which is perhaps really important ) and say we can get both interested In some way - who do we choose..?

[Dutchgull]

Much better from Dave Thomas today. It seems he is now much more informed on the current situation and showing his (and our) passion for the club:
http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/u ... story.html

About bloody time !!!!

[Eirik]

I guess this was the Canadian consortium then.
http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/t ... story.html

[Dazza]

Nope is wasn't they were someone else again. Perhaps we just need to express an opinion. Who would we prefer Smurthwaite ( we're he willing ) or GI.? Sure as hell we won't get listened unless we call a name. We will just get a new owner by default otherwise.

[Eirik]

I see. Damn hard to keep track of all this.

[lucy6lucy]

The fact no one seems to know who is/could be taking the club/ or is sworn to secrecy for this take over is a credit to the board in keeping the potential take over secret. Even SG has all but admitted it's not GI or MR M. Some how I see the future to be good but what a week we have to wait

[Dazza]

Mmmmm. Wish it were that simple. I am not sure it is. Even though the Board can't talk about the direct discussions with the party they are negotiating with they could reassure more than they currently are. Silence may not be that golden.

[Glostergull]

IT's Me. Im going to find a way to inflict my jokes on you all somehow