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Southampton Gull wrote: Giving preference to a bid over others when that bid gives you a chance to keep your seat in the boardroom is not and never should be the most important facet of an offer to buy the club. All this bid by GI has done is put the club at the mercy of money men who have already shown how much interest they have in the club. We are a means to an end,, if you can't see the risks then you will have to just keep digging an ever deepening hole for that head of yours. Short term air of prosperity followed by the harsh reality, these people are gambling with the very future of the club.

Totally agree!

There is no evidence that GI have invested any money yet in the club. Some on here might know more than me on the financial details, but I doubt it. Of course they could have invested some money already, but 1p would be theoretically money.

IF they want to own a football club so much why don't they just buy it. AND sort out future plans including a new ground afterwards.

I think some us know why

Nicholson is doing exactly what I said he would do when he first came here. He's trying to build a team we can all be proud of and so far he is doing a fantastic job of that. My concern is that the money generated from the season ticket sale will run out way before the festive fixtures are over, what happens when we end up with midweek fixtures, lower crowds and away team expenses for late postponements? So far GI have done nothing to fund the club, (someone please prove me wrong) they don't actually own it yet. Does anyone seriously expect the council to rush through a deal to help out some greedy developers?

I will be only too happy to publicly apologise if anyone can show me I'm wrong. This isn't a good partnership for the club, it is only potentially good for a certain organisation.

KeithMalone wrote: 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

So what you are basically saying, although it may not be what you intended to say, is that we're between the deep blue sea (going under) and the devil (Gaming International). On the TFF Forum, there is a contributor who calls himself Jon who provides sensible and well reasoned posts. In a recent post, he has included a link to the Speedway forum which paints an alarming picture of Gaming International's involvement with several proposed speedway stadiums which didn't materialise. The latest is Swindon which could result in the folding of Swindon Speedway. I really, really hope the current members of our Board have carefully scrutinised the activities of Gaming International.

I return to my previous references to Steve Breed. As far as I am aware, there has been total silence from Steve about the proposed Gaming International takeover. I might be wrongly adding two and two together, but I suspect he has concerns about GI and this is why he has been driven away from the club. Southampton Gull, like Jon on the TFF Forum, is right to raise serious concerns about the future and anyone who thinks everything is going to be sweetness and light if/when Gaming International take over is sticking their head in the sand. The link from the TFF Forum is below.

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/ ... 44&page=19

This is sounding like the "Marge vs. the Monorail" episode of The Simpsons!

I have thought about this for a while and can see one small ray of sunshine. Yes we are stuffed with no investment. Yes GI are not the investors we hoped for and I have serious misgivings about them from previous experience. But the one ray of sunshine is although this may and probably will end in tears for us with GI not doing what they promised, I hope we do have some backing from the council to make sure that if GI get their hands on Plainmoor for development that we will have something to fall back on via a commitment they can't get out of to build a stadium we cannot be forced to pay for. over and above what we pay now.or indeed a stadium is built before they are allowed to get their hands on Plainmoor and we will have at least bought ourselves some time to get something else in place. If we need to save up enough money to buy the club then time will be needed to do such a thing. In the meantime we have to sit with uncomfortable bed fellows. Time is what we need more than anything. the more time we get get the better our chances of actually finding a decent backer

I do not think GI want plainmoor. It is a the new stadium with TUFC as a tied tenant that they want. I have noticed that whilst Dave Phillips comes in for a lot of flak on here, there is no mention of the fact that the press releases of 16th March about take over being at an advanced stage coincide with the date that Thea Bristow rejoined the board, and I would have thought she would have more influence than Phillips. By the way what happened to the mobile version of this site?
Correction : Thea rejoined the board on 24th March

Thea rejoined the board?

Its on the companies house website. Unfortunately I do know how to copy links on here. It is also mentioned on the forum nobody uses.

"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.

Glostergull wrote:I have thought about this for a while and can see one small ray of sunshine. Yes we are stuffed with no investment. Yes GI are not the investors we hoped for and I have serious misgivings about them from previous experience. But the one ray of sunshine is although this may and probably will end in tears for us with GI not doing what they promised, I hope we do have some backing from the council to make sure that if GI get their hands on Plainmoor for development that we will have something to fall back on via a commitment they can't get out of to build a stadium we cannot be forced to pay for. over and above what we pay now.or indeed a stadium is built before they are allowed to get their hands on Plainmoor and we will have at least bought ourselves some time to get something else in place. If we need to save up enough money to buy the club then time will be needed to do such a thing. In the meantime we have to sit with uncomfortable bed fellows. Time is what we need more than anything. the more time we get get the better our chances of actually finding a decent backer

As far as I am concerned GI have made no formal comment to date, so what exactly have they not done what they have promised?. To date we are signing players we wanted, have a manager on a 3 year contract. I am not saying this takeover is the answer to our problems, but equally what have GI done wrong as you stated

Good point Lucy.

tomogull wrote:

Steve did make a post on BTIPR yesterday. He didn't go into any details but said that he wouldn't be returning as a fan as what went on had cut him very deeply.

A real shame that he feels like this and it seems he has been treated pretty shabbily.

Jerry wrote: Steve did make a post on BTIPR yesterday. He didn't go into any details but said that he wouldn't be returning as a fan as what went on had cut him very deeply.

A real shame that he feels like this and it seems he has been treated pretty shabbily.

That sounds serious to me. Not even returning as a fan, gee!

Torbay council "should" take their time. They have the responsibility for the whole area. And all this will require planning permission anyway which can take years. GI should know all about planning permission and the time it takes. IF and Im saying IF GI are putting pressure on the council to somehow fast track this through because the club might go bust I hope will not work. The club wont go bust anyway, it could get relegated over the years to the western league say, but it wont go bust. Buckland havnt gone bust. Basingstoke just gone full time and they have been relegated from conf south.

Running a football club is a unique business( I mean a manager gets sacked in the PL and gets 6 million payoff , who would be a manager, I would)it is ruthless and more than often these days it is out of touch with the real people the fans. I feel for Steve , but you surely cannot just stop supporting the team you love.

lucy6lucy wrote:Running a football club is a unique business( I mean a manager gets sacked in the PL and gets 6 million payoff , who would be a manager, I would)it is ruthless and more than often these days it is out of touch with the real people the fans. I feel for Steve , but you surely cannot just stop supporting the team you love.

Steve was a fan who became an employee and worked hard for the thing he loved. And by the sound of it was treated like shit. After that kind of experience I am not surprised he has lost his faith, it would be humiliating to go to Plainmoor and hand over your hard earned money at the turnstile knowing that the very people who shat on you are looking down from the directors box.