TorquayDNA wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 09:55
Lots of questions in my head right now but the most prominent is this: What is GI's intention in buying and investing in TUFC? I'm trying to reason it all out but really struggling
No apologies for bringing this very important thread back to the top of the agenda but I want everyone to be aware of the 'slow burner' nature of the developer and what happens when they get their hooks into a sporting entity.......and development is the eye popping standout reason why Gaming International hung out the bait of a £100,000 plus injection into Torquay United's funds when the previous regime were struggling to run it without either a business pan or the financial wherewithal to sustain it and under the Svengali influence of Peter Masters who eschewed the potential involvement with the trust and community at large as a sustainable future because (in his eyes) that would necessitate the sort of substantial financial commitment to keeping the wheels on the cart such as GI are doing at the moment.
Torquay DNA then went on to outline his scepticism as to why a property development project should be interested in Plainmoor.....
TorquayDNA wrote: 13 Sep 2017, 09:55Development: This has been covered so many times, but I'm at a loss. I know GI have tried their hand at this more than once, but I'm really struggling to see why on earth they'd want to go through all this hassle and cost in return for a small piece of land in an area where house prices are below average. Surely there is almost no way they can make a good amount of money out of this as a development project? So, there you have it: open for sensible, reasoned discussion! I just cannot work out why GI have bothered to waste their time on this project. It doesn't seem to stack up on any level. However, if they could make their intentions clear then I'm sure it would help a lot!
The 'small piece of land' of course has much juicier links with land at Quinta which any potential developer would want to link in a joint parcel with the borough in exchange for building that 'stadium by 2002' in exchange for the Plainmoor freehold. Development is notorious for the slow burning approach and stealth like persual of public asset for private gain; now read this carefully about a semi professional football club who also sit on desired real estate and see how it illustrates their modus operandi:
Dulwich Hamlet "will be forced to close in the near future" following the withdrawal of support by the development firm that has been bankrolling them in recent seasons. One of non-league football's best supported and high-profile teams, Hamlet went six points clear at the top of the Isthmian (Bostik) Premier League, the seventh tier, this weekend but find themselves in the middle of a complicated dispute between Meadow Residential and Southwark Council. Meadow owns the south London club's Champion Hill ground and wants to build houses on that site and some adjoining land. As part of that development, which is worth an estimated £80million, the firm has promised to build the club a new 4,000-capacity venue and help it move into fan-ownership, free of debt.
......and as messrs Dave Phillips, Merv Balsdon, Harry Kerslake and their wives know only too well 'free of debt' is a very loose term as they found out when Thea Bristow bailed out leaving an insurmountable mountain of commitment behind her.
The council, however, believes Meadow's plans do not provide enough affordable housing ~ a minimum of 35 per cent of the development has to included to come within current legislation ~ and has taken court action to block its progress. The most recent move was to refuse Dulwich Hamlet's request to renew a lease on some land next to Champion Hill, which is currently occupied by an old style floodlit astroturf pitch on which the football club train but is crucial to Meadow's plan.
In a statement released on the club's website yesterday, Dulwich Hamlet's football committee said Meadow has told them it was no longer willing to subsidise the costs of the team. It said it has been told by Meadow it can have the net profit from match days but as
"we have no say in the management, pricing or efficiency of the match-day operations, our profit is dictated to us". I know the chairman Liam Hickey well enough to chat to and he told me that for instance the admission pricing policy is as laid down by the owner and not the club management; leaving them with a rapidly deteriorating ground in which grandstand seats that have been ripped out and stolen by vandals are not replaced to the ever increasing detriment of facility in the stadium because the owner will not release capital to carry out that very essential maintenance.
The committee claims it sent a "large list of concerns and urgent questions" to Meadow last week but has not yet received full answers. Meadow, however, disputes this account and says it cannot be blamed for no longer wishing to pour £170,000 a year into a club it does not own. In a statement of their own, Meadow point out it bought Champion Hill from the liquidators of a previous failed development plan that had left Dulwich Hamlet homeless. Subsequently, Meadow has managed and refurbished the stadium, provided free professional support and funded the team's relatively high wage bill of over £8,000 a week before tax. The developers say this has been part of their plan to find
"a solution that wipes out Dulwich Hamlet's substantial debts and provides a new stadium that can sustain a growing club".
On the wage bill, it said:
"We have not sought to 'run' the footballing side of the club. We do not own Dulwich Hamlet and our interest has been focused on the planning opportunity, rather than tackling the many operational issues that give rise to the club's unstable finances."
Meadow admits it was perhaps, "with the benefit of hindsight, unwise" to let the budget go beyond £8,000, including a "generous bonus structure" and a commitment to pay the players' fines, but its investors can no longer justify that expense without a deal on the development and a chance to recoup the "very substantial sums" already invested. The statement concludes by saying Meadow is "actively seeking to work" with the club and council on a way out of this "very difficult situation", as without Meadow's support Dulwich Hamlet "will be forced to close in the near future", and without the council's support the development plan is dead in the water.
Take note: development companies are not benevolent societies; they are in it to make money and whilst GI might to capitalise and run Torquay United in the short term, we can all see what their long term (slow burner) aim is!
